Stephane Giraudie

Seth Levine nailed it! The concentration problem isn't just a GP pain point... it's choking innovation. When capital pools around the same 20 funds, emerging managers and founders get shut out. Love that he's using his platform to call this out. Foundry has backed 50+ emerging managers. That's the diversification the ecosystem needs. This is exactly why Carta exists — making capital allocation visible and accessible. Capital Evolution hits at exactly the right moment. Thanks for having us Daniel Dart. Team Carta loves the community of FUTURE TITANS you have built 🚀

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💰That thought that all funding is smashed and gone in these times? Read about LabStart's program and squash that misinformation. Funding, positivity, and progress are here- be part of it-jump in, cuz the water is warm (and needs conservation, but that's a different convo 💧😉 ) TL;DR: SNAPSHOT: LabStart empowers entrepreneurs—including first-time founders—to commercialize breakthrough climate technologies with: 💲 Up to $100K in funding for entrepreneurs 🚀 Access to frontier climate technologies 🔬 Expert mentorship and guidance 🌎 A community of climate innovators Applications close July 7, 2025. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gSAg-KkU Tova Lobatz Kristy Drutman Jennifer Hanke Felix Antonio Padra Emily Alvarez Emily Chu Carolina Larrahona ImpactPHL Sustain SoCal Chloe Rowsell Rebecca Shirey Green Standards Waste Not Consulting Ashlee Baker, TRUE Advisor Tova Lobatz SOCAP Global The Ecology Center Jonathan Zaidman Eliza Baron Kriss Kokoefer Amit Sharma AQUATRAX USGBC California #ClimateInnovation #ClimateEntrepreneurship

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I’ve been talking with founders about how painful enterprise customization still is — even in 2025. David Dworsky and Gordon Ritter just put words to what we’ve been seeing: the age of point-and-click configuration is ending, and the next category winners will make customization conversational. For early-stage founders, this is the wedge: - Own one painful workflow - Capture the data - Build toward becoming a system of record If you’re building in this space, I’d love to hear how you’re approaching it. Link to the full article on this in the comments. 

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Skilled labor is the bottleneck in industrial ops. Elevāt's platform basically tries to “productize the expert” using machine signals + docs + prior fixes. Now they have $12M to scale. Congrats to them. In industrial AI, the tech is usually the easy part....adoption is the battle. Curious what you think is the real gating factor:  -- trust (techs believe it’s right and won’t get them hurt),  -- workflow integration (it fits into CMMS/ticketing/parts + works offline/on-device), OR  -- incentives (the field team is rewarded for using it vs “just fixing it their way”). Which one kills deployments most often in your experience?

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U.S. energy demand is surging — don’t get left behind. New gas projects and large industrial loads are reshaping power markets at breakneck speed. In this high-stakes landscape, timely and accurate data is essential. Halcyon’s Data Products, powered by a regularly updated authoritative data catalog of 4.5+ million documents from all 50 public utility commissions, ensure you always have the latest energy market intelligence. Download this guide to see how AI can help power sector stakeholders find new growth opportunities first.

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Building a startup is hard. It is especially hard in a country like Nigeria, where the ecosystem is yet to mature, and there are still many challenges to navigate. It is confusing, lonely, and full of uncertain decisions. Founders, especially early-stage founders, need as much support as they can get. Not “inspire to perspire” posts, but practical support on hiring, operations, funding, customer research, and navigating the regulatory landscape. Too many founders are surrounded by noise, surface-level advice, and generic content that does not reflect their current realities. What they need is a community that understands exactly what they are going through and can offer context that is immediately useful. Sierra Collective exists to be that community. A space where founders learn from one another’s live experiences and shorten the painful trial and error that usually defines the early stages of building. At Sierra, we believe that the most valuable support comes from those who are active in the trenches, navigating the same obstacles. If you are an early-stage founder, you should join the Sierra Collective. You do not have to figure everything out alone. As the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Join Sierra: https://lnkd.in/d-Nzmtkq

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Project Vend reads less like a capability story and more like a governability story. Phase two improved because institutional scaffolding (tools, procedures, role separation) reduced predictable judgment failures—persuasion, compliance blind spots, boundary confusion, values drift. The board-level question isn’t “can an agent run a business?” but “what governance primitives must exist before we delegate authority.” Until incentives, escalation rights, and refusal boundaries are structurally enforced—not merely prompted—agents remain high-performing managers, not autonomous executives.

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Verdantix just dropped their analysis of software for carbon management -- the "green quadrant." We're honored they found Watershed to be a leader, with the strongest capabilities and momentum in the industry. They know this space better than anyone, and the report is chock-full of insights on driving real ROI, the role of AI, and more. Link to the full report in the comments.

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Leading product teams in regulated environments requires a different kind of discipline. In this episode of the HTD Agile Leaders Podcast, I sat down with Melissa Douros, CPO at Green Dot Corporation, to talk about how product leaders can move faster without sacrificing trust, governance, or customer safety. I enjoyed this conversation on product delivery, AI done responsibly, and what it really takes to lead transformation at scale.

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I’ve come to believe that early experiences carry disproportionate weight - far more than we often acknowledge. For designers and builders, “minimum viable” may suffice for validating core functionality, but it rarely earns trust or sparks genuine delight. While velocity matters, I’ve always struggled with the notion that early versions should be merely viable, especially in a world where attention is scarce and emotional resonance is everything. This extends beyond product. Do you show up as the minimum viable version of yourself in your work, your relationships, your craft? I would encourage you to challenge the conventional MVP framework. Replace it with the Minimum Awesome Product. This doesn’t mean it’s fully-featured or pixel perfect. But it should be worthy of attention. Memorable, even evocative in the way it triggered emotion. The kind of product that prompts someone to say, “I didn’t know I needed this, but now I can’t live without it.” You can refine mechanics over time, but the emotional experience of a first interaction is singular and unrecoverable. Don’t settle for viability. Build something worth remembering… and make it awesome! ❤️‍🔥

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What do creative technologists build? At Baukunst, we’ve spent the last few years answering that question in real time. We are a collective of builders — operators, designers, engineers, and investors — committed to advancing the art of building at the frontiers of technology and design. We lead pre-seed rounds with conviction, often as the first institutional capital a founder takes, and we invest deeply in the messy, magical early days of company creation. This deck is the portfolio behind that philosophy, or rather that portfolio that has grown up out of it. We have chosen to champion these companies, and they chosen to co-create with us. These are companies built by creative technologists, founders who think in systems, design for real people, and push beyond the familiar. 

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Owning your narrative is leadership. Last week in San Francisco, we gathered with AAF SF Bay Area to talk about positioning in competitive markets. Three themes emerged: Be memorable. Be clear. Be consistent. The market doesn’t reward talent. It rewards clarity. Grateful to everyone who showed up thoughtfully. #personalbrand #careergrowth #leadership

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