Kevin Yu

Harpoon Ventures + Black Flag is teaming up with Microsoft for Startups to provide founders with access to up to $250,000 in Azure credits, empowering builders to scale faster, train models more efficiently, and access world-class AI infrastructure. What’s included: ⚡ Up to $250K in Azure credits (usable across Azure OpenAI, Grok 3, Llama 4, and more) 💻 On-demand GPU VMs for model training and fine-tuning 🧠 Access to GitHub Enterprise + Microsoft 365 Business Premium 🤝 Dedicated Microsoft technical + GTM support This partnership is designed to give deep-tech and dual-use founders the tools and resources they need to win. Because when they win, we all win. 🏴‍☠️

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Had a great time at DC Startup & Tech Week (Formerly DC Startup Week) moderating a panel with Scott Christensen (Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund (CBSCF) , Faith Davis (Exelon) and Bill McNulty (NextEra Energy Investments), convened by the great C'pher Gresham. Here's a quick recap: 1) The panelists were phenomenal - a mixture of corporate, state and foundation-backed VC's all focusing on climate. They're actively funding companies across a range of sectors - e.g. nature-based solutions, energy + AI, water, etc. Point being, we were lucky to have experts with such broad purviews. 2) The current climate could be pushing at least some climate VC's to focus on software and move away from hardware, at least temporarily. This type of capital may indeed just be better suited for software companies at this juncture. It also reflects the fact that certain segments of the climate-tech market are just more mature than others - e.g. software performs best once the hardware and the business case around it are solid, then it becomes and optimization and efficiency game. 3) Founders need to target "must-solve" climate problems from the investor lens. In other words, yes there's a sea of climate challenges where startups can be additive. However, in this environment, few of these areas are attracting meaningful capital. There's nothing wrong with tackling problem areas that are under-invested, we need this in spades. However, for those trying to get capital in the door, realize the constraints that come with targeting problems that investors just aren't prioritizing. 4) Look to funders overseas. The EU, where so much climate finance, policy and general expertise has come from, could be playing a much more important role. I'd also argue that Gulf countries like KSA and UAE are going to be critical here too, not to mention China, of course. 5) We need mentoring and coaching to be at an all-time high. With so much uncertainty, networks/communities where both founders and investors can learn from/lean on each other have never been more important. The panel/audience was a nice microcosm of the types of support networks we need to be actively building. Big thanks again to C'pher, Faith, Scott and Bill, as well as the whole DC Startup + Tech Week team. Til next year!

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We’re creating a bunch of citizen software tools. They’re inherently insecure, hard to manage, and incomplete. I’ve been down this road before with Filemaker, Microsoft Access, Webflow, Airtable…and on and on. The tools change, but the core story has not.   That said, we will see the face of SaaS change as people do start to build their own agents and tools over top of existing software. But, why do we need a completely different CRMs for every company? We don’t. The core functionality of horizontal solutions like CRM will be delivered by a SaaS-like provider, but the features will likely be much shallower. Most companies will be build the strategic features they need ON TOP of these products. And that’s where real strategic advantage is built: by layering your strategic processes on top of existing tools.    But, let’s be real, many processes don’t provide strategic value. Plenty of companies can run the exact same HR playbook as everyone else. Why do I need to create my own? So, don’t look for traditional SaaS style software to go away any time soon. Thanks to Erik Andersen for sharing!

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Founders like John Kennedy don’t treat community as a side project. They build it into the company. At Actual AI, the team believes the future of software isn’t just shaped by better models. It’s shaped by people building together. That belief is why they built Seattle’s largest dev tools meetup and why culture and trust sit at the center of how they hire. When it came time to grow, they didn’t want resumes. They wanted real conversations. At a MeeBoss Hiring Festival, one of those conversations turned into a hire. Not because of keywords, but because alignment was obvious the moment they met. That’s what happens when community isn’t a brand value. It’s how you build your team.

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Reading Metronome’s Monetization Operating Model, I kept coming back to one idea: pricing has become product. Software now delivers outcomes, not access. Yet most companies still charge as if they’re selling seats or licenses. That disconnect creates friction: for customers, unpredictability; for companies, stalled growth. The paper’s argument is simple but sharp—monetization isn’t a late-stage decision. It’s strategic infrastructure. Pricing needs the same ownership and iteration as any feature. Treat it like a surface that customers touch, not a spreadsheet buried in finance. If value is continuous and dynamic, pricing must be as well. That means product, GTM, finance, and engineering working from one system of truth. How many of us still treat pricing as an afterthought—when it should be a growth engine? https://lnkd.in/gnH7WzYf #Monetization #ProductStrategy #AI

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