Josh Rochlin

I’m thrilled to officially announce our $3M seed investment in Propel People, a company we built inside the 1848 Ventures studio to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the #construction industry today: the skilled #labor shortage. For small and medium-sized contractors, hiring isn't just a challenge. It's the number one threat to their growth, profitability, and safety. With 94% of contractors struggling to find qualified workers, it’s clear that traditional hiring methods aren't built for the trades. That’s why we built Propel People. It’s a mobile-first, AI-powered hiring platform designed for how construction actually works: in the field. By leveraging smart candidate ranking, instant #SMS-based screening, and a fully #bilingual interface, Propel helps contractors build great crews faster and more efficiently. I’m also thrilled to formally announce that industry veteran Dexter Bachelder is at the helm as CEO. Having worked with Dexter and the team over the last few months, we've already seen the impact of his leadership. His 25 years of experience scaling construction tech companies will be instrumental as Propel People enters this initial stage of growth. This investment reinforces our core thesis at 1848 Ventures: building AI-native companies that solve fundamental pain points for the #SMBs that form the backbone of our economy. A huge congratulations to Dexter and the entire Propel People team on this milestone. We are incredibly proud to partner with you to support the people who build our world. Read the full announcement below. #constructiontech #venturecapital #seedfunding #ai #skilledtrades #smb

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When MedScout was ready to level-up retention, they turned to one of the most powerful tools early-stage startups can build: a customer maturity model. Thanks to the guidance of Mandy Cole, Partner at Stage 2 Capital, and LP advisor Parker Chase-Corwin, MedScout didn’t just improve their renewals, they redefined how their customer success team worked. Key shifts included: → Moving from reactive renewals to proactive lifecycle planning →  Segmenting accounts by value and use case—not just size →  Building a structured customer maturity model to tie product use to business outcomes The results? Lower churn, increased NRR, and a CS leader with a seat at the strategic table. This story is a must-read for founders thinking about retention, especially before your next fundraising round. 🔗 Pop over to the blog to read the full post: https://lnkd.in/g9JJFDmk

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Bootstrapped with Vision, Not VC Pressure In this clip, Austin Long shares how Youtooz scaled without leaning on massive VC rounds. With early seed support and a smart preorder model, Austin and his team kept control building profitably and on their own terms. Discover how they designed and launched a category-defining D2C brand, without compromising the mission. 🎧 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠: 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲: https://lnkd.in/gJMXG5y3 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆: https://lnkd.in/gVT_yQ4i 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲: https://lnkd.in/gW-gZ68E 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: https://lnkd.in/g9MaMY72 Sam Mahmood #Youtooz #AustinLong #EcommerceStrategy #Bootstrapped #DirectToConsumer #CreatorEconomy #StartupJourney #BuiltInAmerica #BusinessGrowth

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Selling is often misunderstood as manipulating the customer to buy what you are selling. No, real selling is about figuring out what the customer needs. It starts with customer discovery. But to do that, you need to get the customer engaged in a conversation. For which you need to "sell" yourself as someone they care to speak with. How do you "earn the right to ask"? Focus on that challenge as the 1st step

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What if the biggest challenge facing innovation leaders right now is knowing where AI will actually deliver ROI? Here's what Department Heads & Innovation Teams need to know: - 95% of enterprise AI pilots are failing according to recent MIT research - Scribe just hit $1.3B valuation by solving this exact problem - mapping workflows to reveal where automation pays off - Companies using Scribe's approach save 35-42 hours per person per month - The key insight: Without knowing how work is actually done, it's impossible to know where to improve it Scribe's success proves that the winners aren't just adopting AI - they're strategically identifying the highest-impact opportunities first. Their Optimize platform mines workflows to show exactly where AI agents and automation will generate measurable returns. This is exactly why INTREST creates custom AI solutions for Department Heads & Innovation Teams - from intelligent chatbots to autonomous agents and full-scale AI applications. Ready to explore what custom AI can do for your organization? 👉 www.intrest.io What's your biggest challenge in identifying AI opportunities? Share your thoughts below 👇 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/g82YXScr @INTREST - AI Systems #ArtificialIntelligence #CustomAI #AIforBusiness #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #TechLeadership #EnterpriseTech #BusinessInnovation

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Childcare is a movable barrier and the care economy is workforce infrastructure. Siran Cao dropped so much truth on First Builders this week and shared why even capitalists in a vacuum should care.

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I’m thrilled to announce defy.vc’s investment in Birches Health as part of their $20M combined Seed and Series A funding round, alongside incredible partners like AlleyCorp, General Catalyst, Will Ventures, and others. As someone deeply passionate about backing companies that tackle important problems for our society, I couldn’t be more excited about what Birches is building—a national virtual clinic dedicated to treating gambling addiction and related behavioral disorders like gaming, sex, porn, and internet addictions. What excites me most is Birches’ innovative health assurance model: proactive, accessible, and affordable care that’s evidence-based and delivered right at home. With the explosion of legal sports betting—think nearly $1.5 billion wagered on this year’s Super Bowl alone—we’re staring down a looming public health emergency. Traditional options like hotlines or generic therapy fall short for this high-acuity issue, but Birches changes that by offering specialized therapy from trained clinicians, multimodal treatment, and peer support, all covered by major insurers like United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. It’s available in all 50 states, breaking down geographical and financial barriers that have left so many without help. The impact is already profound: 96% of patients report an improved quality of life, and 94% give Birches a 5/5 rating. By partnering with state governments, payors, and policymakers, Birches is pushing gambling addiction into the spotlight of behavioral health conversations, where it’s been neglected for too long—often leading to shame, worsened outcomes, and higher suicidality risks. This funding will supercharge their growth: expanding the provider network, boosting clinical excellence, scaling infrastructure, and deepening insurance and state partnerships to meet surging demand. Very excited to partner with Elliott Rapaport and the entire Birches team! See more about our POV in the blog post linked in the comments. #GamblingAddiction #BehavioralHealth #HealthTech #VentureCapital #Innovation

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📣 Female Tech Founders in NYC — New Accelerator Alert! Scale Ready Studio is a new 12-week, revenue-focused growth program for women building tech startups in NYC, created by Women.NYC in partnership with Get Sh!t Done. This program is designed to help founders scale sustainably through: - Revenue and profit growth - Strong systems and operations - Weekly strategy labs - Hybrid coaching (1:1 + group) - Technical assistance - In-person Founder Days The program culminates in a Deal Day, where participants pitch to a curated group of investors. 🗓 Applications close January 12

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AI doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does need to work for society’s most critical industries. From healthcare to defense, current solutions lack the deep knowledge to solve organizations’ highly complex use cases. Enter Trase, led by Grant Verstandig, Baskar Sridharan, and Joe Laws. Trase is combining industry-leading tech with deep domain expertise to deliver autonomous, end-to-end, turnkey agents designed to drive real ROI across highly regulated sectors, with compliance, trust, and security guiding their every move. Today, Trase launched out of stealth with $10.5 million in pre-seed funding from Red Cell Partners and VIPC | Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation. Learn how we’re enabling last-mile AI adoption across various enterprises, starting with healthcare, energy, and national security: https://lnkd.in/egJYdNKz

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