Web Augustine

🚀 What makes a founder “Techstars-ready”? According to Misti Cain, Managing Director of Techstars San Diego powered by SDSU, it comes down to having a 10X idea - not just a 2X improvement. “10X is changing policies. It’s changing laws. It’s changing the status quo… You look at it and think, Whoa—I didn’t even know that was possible.” And it’s not just vision. Misti wants to see traction signals: Waitlists LOIs Landing page traffic + conversion intent Even if the product isn’t live yet—founders need to show the demand is real. 🎧 Hear more of Misti’s no-BS advice on the latest Tacos and Tech Podcast: https://lnkd.in/g3AZAUvQ Techstars Techstars San Diego powered by San Diego State University

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Q2 2025 brought an array of developments to the San Diego startup ecosystem, despite a notable global and local venture capital slowdown. Business San Diego's recent VC report highlights both the challenges and triumphs faced by our city's innovative companies. Here are some key takeaways: 🔹 Funding Landscape: - Q2 startup funding reached $500 million, a decline from $1 billion in Q2 2024. - Major investments in late-stage companies: RayThera ($110M), Biolinq ($100M), Linear ($82M), and more. 🔹 Top Deals: - Bio sector: RayThera ($110M), Actio Biosciences ($66M), HAYA Therapeutics ($65M) - Tech sector: Linear ($82M), Flock Freight ($60M), Clearspeed ($60M) - Seed stage: WeGive ($2M), EyePop AI ($3M), RetroRate ($2.6M) 🔹 Rankings and Transactions: - San Diego holds the 7th position in the US for venture capital activity. - Deal activity fell to 37 transactions, down from 48 in Q2 2024. 🔹 IPO and M&A Highlights: - Aardvark Therapeutics is the only company to have gone public this year. - Carlsbad-based Carlsmed filed for a $100M IPO, signaling growth in medtech. The resilience and innovation within San Diego's startup community continue to shine. #VentureCapital #SanDiegoStartups #Innovation

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If you're into AI and SaaS... Last night hundreds of C-suite-level leaders, operating partners and investors, across four continents from and within the private capital-backed SaaS and AI space, dialled into Camino Search's June Global Webinar: "The Transition From AI To SaaS Pricing". 📹 🔗 Watch more here: https://lnkd.in/eB5fGkAr 📹 🔗 Head of C-Suite Practice EU, at Camino Search, Oliver Dunne chatted to SaaS and AI's 'go-to' pricing expert, Marcos Rivera, CEO, Pricing I/O, on our Camino Search Global Webinar. Marcos also recently featured as a guest contributor in Issue Three of the Camino Search Global Report - our twice-yearly publication, which has now also been seen by leaders across the private capital space more than 200,000 times across 14 countries! Dialling in from San Diego California, Marcos discussed four key pillars of focus, aimed at adding value to CFOs, CCOs, CEOs and CROs within the sectors, including: 🟢 The Mind-set shift in capturing value/ pricing increases in AI and SaaS products 🟢 How do I get off charging for seats? And how to move to a hybrid model/ AI consumption base? 🟢 How to maintain a "predictable" revenue stream - And the Shift from gross margin to contribution margin. 🟢 Explore a Summary of the current and up and coming ‘AI Eco-system’. A massive thank you to Marcos Rivera and everyone at Pricing I/O for helping us put this webinar together. Thank you also to everyone who dialled in across the world. Great work Oliver Dunne for organising the webinar with our Camino Group marketing team. -Sachin --- #CaminoSearch #SaaS #ExecutiveSearch #AI #Artificialintelligence Mariola Bonnici, Tom Garratt, Harry Hewson, Oliver Dunne, Nathan Placks, Oscar Cabrera, Rob A., Lily Durand, Matt Newman

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We are bata testing our first company. It is a needed tool in the age where all resumes are written by AI. Check it out and send it to your friends in Small businesses who need to hire smarter.

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Imagine going public without the headaches of a traditional IPO. That’s exactly what a tech firm did with Bowarr and saw their market cap soar. Issac Qureshi, CEO of Bowarr, shares in his Xraised interview how their Nasdaq direct listing solution is helping businesses get fairly valued while staying in control. It’s not just innovation. It’s transformation. 💼 Curious how Bowarr is making it easier for companies to scale, sell or grow globally? Dive into the interview now 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dWgCDFbB . . . . #GoingPublic #BowarrSuccess #IssacQureshi #XraisedInterview #FinanceInnovation #Nasdaq #StartupJourney #CapitalRaising #InvestorRelations #BusinessGrowth #GlobalMarkets #IPOJourney #TechLeaders #DirectToMarket #ScaleSmarter

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🚨NEW EPISODE: Recorded live at FUTURE TITANS 2026 - Jeff Perry of Carta sat down with the iconic Seth Levine, co-founder of Foundry. Seth has been in venture for 25 years, built Foundry from scratch as an emerging manager himself, and has backed about 50 emerging manager funds through his fund of funds. He has genuinely seen every side of this table. They went deep on building Foundry, why VCs are in the influence business, not the decision business, and why the concentration problem in venture is not only bad for LPs, but also for the innovation ecosystem overall. And why Seth's new book, Capital Evolution, is so important for the future of America. 🎧 Links to listen... Apple: https://lnkd.in/ehQUQ2EM Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eU4FExpg

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Sourcing for a $500M+ fund shouldn't look like a sales department. It should look like an engineering lab. If your team is spending 60% of their time on manual outreach, you're missing the "Cluster Mapping" that reveals roll-up opportunities in fragmented markets. AI.DA 3.0 maps the operational DNA of entire sectors to find the 5th and 6th tuck-in acquisitions before the market knows they exist. Systems build pipelines. People just manage the relationships. #PrivateEquity #Automation #AIDA #RollupStrategy #ValueCreation

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😃Hello from San Francisco!🇺🇸 The podcast "AI Founders' Mindset" 194. No More Cold Outreach:Why Referrals Win Every Time - Nathaniel Mahowald Founder CEO Pickaxe 1 👉The full episode is here: https://lnkd.in/gEBv7MXv 👉Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gUTp5rcj Thanks to the Founders Running Club, I met this wonderful founder Nathaniel Mahowald, and we had great conversation. In this 2025, my big topic is "How to get your first paid customer". Because, many founders are good at to build AI products, but not good at sales activities. So, Nathaniel Mahowald shared his great story how he got his first paid customer and the secret too. Nathaniel Mahowald: https://lnkd.in/gmQ4UFnz Pickaxe: https://pickaxe.co/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 Key Takeaways from Nathaniel Mahowald Part 1 1. Don’t just give your clients a deck — give them a smart AI assistant Instead of handing clients a PDF or presentation they’ll never open, Pickaxe lets consultants and small agencies build their own ChatGPT-like agent — like a “mini-you.” For instance, if you’re a branding consultant, you can build a custom AI agent that speaks with your insights. Your client can ask it questions anytime — and you keep adding value long after the project ends. 2. Start free, charge small, and iterate — your $10 moment matters Nathaniel Mahowald’s first paid customer was a real estate consultant in Alaska who found Pickaxe via Reddit. They paid just $10 — but it was unforgettable. Like baking cookies for friends before opening a bakery, free experiments help you refine your product. Start small, learn from users, then slowly raise your price. You build value with your customers. 3. Skip cold emails — grow through real communities and referrals Instead of spamming inboxes, Nathaniel Mahowald built trust on Reddit, Product Hunt, by answering questions, sharing tools, and being part of the conversation. Growth happens when people find you because they trust you — not because you forced your pitch. Affiliate programs, real testimonials, and helpful content build more momentum than cold outreach. Special thanks: Iuliana Golub Katherine Lam Wefunder Leia.ai

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High-earning California business owners!!! If you’re generating $500K–$1M+ in operating profit from an advisory practice, professional firm, or closely held business, you’re likely doing three things: - Paying a painful combined tax bill to the IRS and Franchise Tax Board - Leaving a huge chunk of your balance sheet exposed to lawsuits and creditors - Using retirement tools (401(k), IRA, SEP) that barely make a dent relative to your true earning power There is a more strategic way to play this game. In my latest Wealth Matters 3.0 article, I break down—step by step and in plain English—how a California small business or advisory practice owner earning around $750K in pre-tax profit can: - Use a California Private Retirement Trust (PRT)to turn a meaningful portion of those profits into exempt retirement assets under California law, with: - Strong lawsuit protection as “private retirement plan” property - The ability to self-direct investments into stocks, bonds, gold, silver, or even Bitcoin through appropriate custodial and plan structures - Significant tax-deferral by having the business make large, actuarially supported contributions instead of funneling everything out as fully taxable compensation - Then layer a Wyoming Asset Protection Trust (WAPT) on top for the surplus and dynastic capital that doesn’t need to sit inside a retirement structure, so you can: - Move longer-term, multi-generational assets into a Wyoming qualified spendthrift trust with strong self-settled protection rules - Take advantage of Wyoming’s trust-friendly statutes, long-term dynasty potential, and favorable tax environment at the trust level The article walks through: - A simple, practical narrative of how a CA owner with $750K profit can structure contributions, choose investments, and phase funding into each structure - The key legal distinctions—what makes PRT assets exempt under California’s retirement plan statute vs. how a Wyoming trust relies on its spendthrift and look-back rules - Tax positioning in human language: what’s deductible at the entity level, what’s deferred, and where you’re still exposed - The real-world trade-offs: cost, complexity, timing, and the importance of not treating these like last-minute “hide the ball” moves in front of a creditor or court This isn’t a theoretical whitepaper; it’s written for owners and advisors who actually sign tax returns, manage staff, and live with California risk and volatility every day. If you: - Run a profitable advisory or professional practice in California - Want more control over *what* you invest in (including alternatives and sound money assets) - Care about shielding wealth from future litigation while being smart about taxes Read the full article here on Wealth Matters 3.0 and subscribe if you want more practical structures for high-net-worth operators: https://lnkd.in/g4CTisft

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Many business founders overestimate their early-stage value—and it's costing them technical partners. In his latest piece, Verdi Kapuku highlights a harsh truth: an idea alone isn't enough. Execution matters most, and non-technical founders must prove their worth by building customer traction and networks early. Generating a waitlist, securing LOIs, and fostering a warm network are the real differentiators. If you want to be seen as an asset (and not just another dreamer), this is your playbook. What’s your approach to proving traction before building? https://lnkd.in/gaxjEb2e #Startups #FounderAdvice #ExecutionMatters

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Two articles I've been thinking about together this week: Amir Kabir at Overlook VC on "the defining tension of 2026: extraordinary concentration at the infrastructure layer, extraordinary democratization at the application layer" Take a read: https://lnkd.in/gyaFg-nB And Isaac Arnold's framework for what actually makes an application layer company durable: workflow entanglement, domain specific knowledge, and data that compounds from usage rather than just intelligence. Take a read for yourself: https://lnkd.in/gSDXA-vH Amir identifies where the opportunity is, Isaac identifies why most companies building there won't capture it durably and what separates the ones that will.

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Today, we're welcoming ORION Security to the Norwest portfolio. The #DLP market has grown to $5B, yet most solutions are still built on thousands of static, human-authored policies. Spending time with Nitay Milner (CEO & Co-Founder) and Jonathan Kreiner (CTO & Co-Founder) in Tel Aviv reinforced why ORION stands apart. Their work is grounded in firsthand experience with the limitations of legacy DLP, guiding their passion and urgency to pave the way for an autonomous, context-driven approach that confronts today’s evolving risks head‑on. Looking forward to seeing what the team builds next as enterprises adopt autonomous DLP at scale. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gH7vXs4x  

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🚀 Verif-y is redefining digital record management. With 9 State DOE contracts, 200+ institutions onboarded, and 90%+ margins, this AI-powered SaaS platform is solving a $20B+ global problem: fragmented, insecure, and outdated education and credential systems. Now raising $5M Seed funding to accelerate U.S. and international growth. 👉 For VCs and institutional investors: this is defensible, AI-driven SaaS with regulatory moats — the right product, right time. See www.verif-y.com Then DM me for more info. Join us on this funding round? Follow me on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/e8bZ8srt

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There’s a lot of conversation about how AI is concentrating capital. That’s real. But I’m also seeing how it’s expanding what small teams can build. At ThriveLink, AI has allowed us to move faster, reach more patients, and build technology that helps families navigate systems that were never designed to be easy. We’ve been able to do with a small amount of capital what used to require entire teams and millions in funding. The tools are changing. The mission isn’t. Thankful to the Los Angeles Business Journal and Plug In Ventures for highlighting the changing venture landscape and what founders like myself are navigating right now.

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If you aren’t able to text message at work, you need to be asking compliance to upgrade with Archive intel It’s a no brainer. Text, WhatsApp, social media all in a compliant manner!

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As a marketer, I'm always on the lookout for tools that not only perform well, but also offer flexibility and potential for commercial applications. That's why I was excited to come across this article discussing the Apache 2.0 license and its benefits for businesses. The combination of performance, portability, and a compelling license make it a valuable option for any marketer or company looking to enhance their offerings. #marketing #licensing #commercialpotential https://lnkd.in/eKAkJrKw

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