01: State of Venture Capital 2024 with Arjun Arora
We're all discussing current market conditions - valuations, AI hype, fundraising challenges... Before we kick off our planned interview series on First Funders, we sat down with our friend Arjun Arora to discuss the Trends in Venture Capital 2024. As investors, we always look ahead, making this a great way to start 2024.
Highlights from our discussion:
Highlights from our discussion:
- What to expect in round sizes and valuations
- Anticipated returns from the AI hype
- The significance of data-driven decision-making for VCs
- The rise of hyper-specialized funds
You can read the full report here: https://www.arjundarora.com/trends-report
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 01: State of Venture Capital 2024 - Arjun Arora
- (00:49) - Guest: Arjun Arora on the State of Venture Capital 2024
- (01:24) - Arjun's Founder Background
- (03:03) - Format One and how they help founders
- (04:41) - Are Mega-deals only happening in AI?
- (06:07) - How should early-stage investors consider exit strategy?
- (08:02) - Is AI coming for venture capitalists?
- (10:36) - Social signals inform investors about founders AND teams
- (11:51) - Later-stage investors use prior investors as a signal
- (13:57) - Are crowd-funded companies legit investments?
- (16:01) - Do funds focused on a niche limit returns and increase risk?
- (22:25) - Don't go chasing Unicorns?
- (26:41) - Where's crypto and blockchain?
- (27:27) - Do founders want to do one-and-done raises?
- (29:17) - Can seed funds less power law, higher average outcomes?
- (31:45) - Will AI generate returns for investors?
- (33:35) - Advice for founders in this market environment
- (35:21) - Key Take aways: What we learned from Arjun's report for our own seed investing strategies
- (43:00) - Outro
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Creators and Guests
Host
Aamir Virani
Helped 50+ orgs grow product and scale teams.Software Engineer โก๏ธ Product Manager โก๏ธ Founder (Nest Cam fka Dropcam) ๐ Investor, CRE, Founder@pifgov 2021
Host
Shaherose Charania
Venture Investing at @CakeVentures and @joindvc | Always helping founders | Raised on Atari, MS-DOS, Bollywood & Hip Hop. ๐จ๐ฆin ๐บ๐ธ
Guest
Arjun Dev Arora
Now: Format One; Prior: Expa, 500Startups, ReTargeter; Passionate: startups, venture capital, learning, people, philosophy & life.