Angela Wu Li

Another Ramp fundraise is in the books! https://lnkd.in/ehQxWFuJ People often ask why Ramp raises so much money and hires so much world-class engineering talent. The answer, in part, is that it's because we're trying to reverse one of the great trends in macroeconomics: Total Factor Productivity stagnation. The TFP metric is essentially a ratio of output to input: how much economic value can be produced with a given amount of labor and capital. Despite all the advances in computing, it has remained stagnant over the past several decades. At Ramp, our mission of saving companies time and money is core to everything we do. If the companies which use our product to see a meaningful uptick in their own TFP, and we are able to sell our product to a significant percentage of businesses across America, then this company could play a part in increasing TFP of the entire economy! It's been an honor to work with Eric Glyman, Karim Atiyeh, Colin Kennedy, Michael Manne, Nik Koblov, Geoff Charles, Diego Zaks 💳, William Petrie, Veeral Patel, Samay Shamdasani, Jared Wasserman, Jacob Wallenberg, Jacob Söderstjerna, Max Freeman, Sam Buck, and so many others over the course of these 5 years. And special shoutout to Leo Mehr, Braden Little, and Paola Noun who just joined last month - we're going to achieve great things together!

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Want a front-row seat to the frontier of tech? We’ve got the role (or two) for you! We’re expanding our frontier-tech team at Blackbird by hiring a Frontier Tech Investments Associate and Foundry Fellows! Got questions? We've got answers... 1️⃣ What are the roles? 🧪 Associate = a full-time VC investment gig in our Blackbird Investments team, working directly with me. We’re looking for someone with a science and/or engineering background and more curiosity than they can handle. You’ll grow your own investment brand and practice, support our portfolio founders, and will help build Foundry, our early-stage frontier-tech accelerator. ✨ Foundry Fellow = a casual/contract gig in our Blackbird Investments team, ~15h per week for 3 months. The Fellowship is ideal for PhD students and ECRs who want to learn more about startups and VC. You’ll go deep on emerging areas relevant to your expertise (or curiosity!), get a front-row seat to groundbreaking companies in those areas, build out your non-academic network, and develop a solid writing practice. 2️⃣ Why are you hiring? We love frontier tech, and we’re ready to grow our team. 3️⃣ Wow, it’s so great that you’re starting to look at deep tech! Look, we get it: we don’t make a lot of noise about our frontier tech investing. Buuuut we’ve been deep-tech investors since we backed Tim Kentley-Klay to found Zoox back in 2014—we’ve been on incredible journeys with PsiQuantum (building the world's first utility-scale quantum computer right here in Australia!), Inventia Life Science (transforming drug discovery with high-fidelity cell models), Remedy Robotics (surgical robots for remote endovascular procedures), Opto Biosystems (minimally-invasive neural implants to treat cancer), and more. We believe that frontier technologies, and great frontier-tech investing, will be part of the solutions to the greatest problems humanity faces today. 4️⃣ When do applications close? May 31st at 11:59pm AEST. 5️⃣ I have more questions! I’m sure you do! Clare Birch and I are hosting an AMA to answer any and all questions about these roles. Want to know what a week in the life of our team looks like? What’s keeping us up at night? What our ideal candidate looks like? Come along and find out - registration link in the comments 👇 Apply for these roles: Associate - https://lnkd.in/gCfj4EUJ Foundry Fellowships - https://lnkd.in/gj6ATZVZ If you know anyone that we should meet, send me their details! Cameron Elise Ben Andrew Robin Joseph Adelaide James Olivia Lucinda Raghav Jesse Christie Mohamed Tom Amee Pablo Haya Loong Hon Joshua Benjamin Megan Harry Denzil Matthew Diana Daniel Tom Deanna Justin Amar Lilly Stone Thomas

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Here's my 2024 LinkedIn Rewind, by Coauthor.studio: GATHER THE F***ING DATA. That's the real lesson from 2024, and it's why we launched Founders First Fund, kept Demolicious roaring, and continued pushing Portland's startup ecosystem forward. This year wasn't about me. It was about proving that overlooked founders in the PNW have the chops to build incredible companies - they just need the right support, data, and a community that refuses to let them fail. At NSIN, we connected defense and commercial startups. Through Founders First Fund, we made our first investment in Airbuild Inc. And with Demolicious, we gave 90+ founders a stage to share their vision. Three posts that captured our journey: 1. Early-Stage Startup Reality Check "Don't write any code! Don't build a website! Don't create a social channel! GATHER THE F***ING DATA!" https://lnkd.in/gQfMPaRi 2. Demolicious Champion of Champions "We had over 90 founders pitch throughout the year with the top founders pitching last night at the Mission Theater in front of a packed house." https://lnkd.in/gySaA--3 3. OEN Awards Reflection "We are really lucky to have an insane number of people who care deeply for the founder community here in the state." https://lnkd.in/g3ejZrPt Key moments: • Launched Founders First Fund - $5M focused on PNW startups • Ran 12 Demolicious events with 90+ founder pitches • Continued NSIN work connecting startups to defense opportunities • Celebrated UpStart Collective's 2-year anniversary 2025 is simple: Keep fueling the engines of founders who most people overlook. Because talent isn't distributed evenly, but opportunity shouldn't be a privilege. To every founder grinding away in their garage, basement, or coffee shop - we see you. Keep building. #LinkedInRewind #Coauthor #2024wrapped -- Get your 2024 LinkedIn Rewind! Go to coauthor.studio

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Insightful breakdown from my great Partner Omri Amirav-Drory on the simple factors that really separate the top 1% of investors from the rest, and how more operators should become investors! https://lnkd.in/gEiZdT2h

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Employee terminations: they're a topic no one wants to discuss but that every company has to navigate. Thankfully, Melanie Naranjo and wonderful Ethena advisor (& Gusto's former People Leader) Jess Yuen are tackling this tricky topic for the next Ethena webinar. Register if you want to learn more about these topics: How to pressure test whether or not termination is the right course of action Best practices for communicating termination decisions How to minimize risk and choose the best course of action when things get tricky Critical pitfalls to avoid

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To help bridge the information gap between founders & investors, Nick Khormaei & I built a comprehensive map of the Seattle venture ecosystem. Check out the slide deck below for a breakdown and reach out to us if you'd like to see our full data-set!

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🚀 How do you get a pre-seed or seed round done *quickly* in NYC? ✅ Assemble a list of over 80 of the earliest-stage fund and angel investors in town ✅ Curate a dozen or so of them based on relevancy ✅ Break bread together. That's what nextNYC is doing with Checkwriters--and applications are OPEN. We're looking for pre-seed and seed NYC founders to pitch at our dinner next Wednesday night. The only criteria is that you have to have at least one *professional* investor committed to a currently open round--be it a fund, angel, scout, etc. 🗓 Applications are due *this Thursday*: https://lnkd.in/epJjny4P 🤝 Shoutout to the folks at Orrick Tech and Rho for helping to make this happen: Orrick is a tech-focused law firm passionate about helping entrepreneurs, innovators and investors push boundaries. Through our extensive client portfolio, deal volume, and relationships in the ecosystem, we provide commercial insight to each client’s strategy. From financing to protecting IP to retaining talent to advocating for innovation-friendly public policy, we offer a holistic solution across the tech & venture lifecycle. Rho is the business banking platform with everything founders need to manage their company cash and grow their business. See how they are supporting founders in NYC (https://lnkd.in/ef7uzDQv) – and earn rewards for switching your operating account to Rho.

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I enjoyed this conversation on the Shift podcast talking about how the Embodied AI and automotive industry's roadmaps are colliding! Thanks Pete Bigelow!

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The newest issue of The Pragmatic Engineer found a surprise uptick in eng hiring in the typically slow summer season - I'm curious to see how the macro environment impacts this uptick as we head into the fall, but I remain hopeful. I asked Gemini to give me the tldr of the article to share with my team (sorry, Gergely Orosz) and found it missed one of the most interesting pieces of the article. Gemini's highlights - Unexpected surge: Tech recruitment has seen an unusual spike in June and July, contrary to typical trends. Increased demand: Startups, especially AI-focused ones, are driving the hiring uptick. Global phenomenon: This trend isn't just limited to the US; Europe is also experiencing increased recruitment activity. Reasons for hiring: Companies are backfilling positions, investing in growth due to improved financials, and responding to increased VC funding. Challenges remain: While the job market is improving, finding qualified candidates and offering competitive compensation remains difficult for many companies. What I found most interesting - The nature of the backfills: the article finds that a lot of new headcount are actually backfills of folks that were "over-slashed" during rounds of layoffs. Not entirely surprising with the "trim the fat" and "rebuild lean" mentality, but interesting nonetheless. Either way, the uptick is encouraging (and don't always rely on Gemini's tldrs). #hiring #startups #VCbacked #softwareengineering

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Some midweek wisdom from Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham, on why startups shouldn't stress over competitors. According to Graham, based on Y Combinator's extensive data set, few of their startups are actually killed by competitors. He compares the protection a startup has against competitors to the vastness of space, emphasising that the market is large enough for multiple players to thrive. Graham's analogy likens encountering a competitor to suddenly finding another runner in your race lane - the best course of action? “It’s sort of like if you’re running the hundred meters and suddenly a lane appears with another runner in it. What should you do? Run as fast as you can, just like you presumably were.” #Startups #Competition #Entrepreneurship #wearehiring

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🚨 Founders, I hate to throw another thing on your plate, but there's a new required government filing that might be costing you $500 / day. Luckily, it's simple to do. Here's everything you need to know. First, what is this? The Corporate Transparency Act now requires companies to continuously report beneficial ownership information (BOI) to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s FinCEN. Deadlines: - Incorporated in 2024? You need to file it within 90 days of incorporation. - Incorporated in 2023 or earlier? Need to file by Jan 1, 2025. I recommend just doing it asap and getting it over with. Consequences if you don't: Fines up to $500/day and criminal penalties, including imprisonment. Here's how to do it. File it on "fincen dot gov" (don’t forget to update it as info/addresses change) Or, DM me and let Central do it for free.

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🚨 AI-Powered 911 Assistants Will Revolutionize Government Services and Save Lives. They are the future of emergency response for civil services for the following reasons: - Faster Response Times: AI can quickly analyze and prioritize calls, ensuring the most critical situations get immediate attention. - Accurate Data: AI can gather and process data swiftly, providing emergency responders with precise information, reducing human error. - Enhanced Efficiency: By handling routine inquiries, AI frees up human operators to focus on more complex and urgent issues. - Cost Savings: Automated systems can reduce operational costs, allowing governments to allocate resources more effectively. - Scalability: AI systems can handle high volumes of calls, especially during crises, ensuring no call goes unanswered. - Training and Support: AI can assist in training new operators, offering real-time guidance and support. Embracing AI in 911 services is not just a technological upgrade—it's a life-saving innovation. Let's drive government services forward with AI! 🚀 Benjamin Sanders Damian McCabe #AIAssistants #EmergencyResponse #GovTech #Innovation #PublicSafety

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Team San Diego! I though you may find this as surprising as I did...we are not alone. Read this quick article from Jon Prentice's (Silicon Valley Bank) interview with with James Newell (Voyager Capital), published in GeekWire on Seattle's innovation ecosystem....they lament the SAME issues as we do in San Diego: * Lack of angel investors, (Especially, it calls out, given the local giant tech co's) * "We need low-conviction check writers." * Lack of "cachet associated with being an angel investor" - We have similar efforts (as described in the article) to drum up angel activity: NuFund Venture Group and, Interlock Capital (read the article and you'll see why the Interlock effort is tops as relates to "paying back into the ecosystem") Connect.org strives to 'connect' innovative companies with investors of all types (angel, VC, PE...) - just see "Innovation Day". Their Springboard program provides another great way for experienced entrepreneurs to give back through mentorship...as for the companies going through Springboard: "Ask for advice, and you often get $$" Your thoughts on the article or San Diego innovation ecosystem? https://lnkd.in/gfwq6mfq

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+1 this wholeheartedly. I don’t even love calling it “Support” and prefer something like “Customer Experience Engineering.” These folks are a direct line between customers and product engineering. Reduce that friction, and assuming you act on the feedback, you’ll reduce frustration-related tickets coming through this channel. Funny enough, when you do that, you can have these same folks focused more on proactive solutioning with customers vs. just reactive support, thus scaling the role from cost-center to revenue-generator. 🚀🚀🚀

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WE DID IT! After 2 years of pushing through the biggest downturn in VC in decades, Matthew Stotts 🌐 and I made it to the finish line with Fund I! We couldn't have done this without One Small Planet (Will Peterffy and Jack Wielebinski 🙏), Regen Network and Regen Foundation (Austin Wade Smith Gregory Landua and Will Szal), and a dozen other family offices and angels who believed that we can build a nature-positive economy utilizing our eye for software and our history as founders from day 1 A shout out goes to all of our founders (only four announced today, but watch this space - there are multitudes!) who trusted us enough to give us a spot on their cap table for this 10-15 year journey. This is the best job in the world, and it's because we get to work with people like you who have weird ideas in the best possible way. Using Bitcoin as anchor base load to decarbonize residential housing in America's most expensive energy market? Make every complex supply chain legible to machines so we can find and eliminate deforestation in commodity supply chains? Build deeply liquid environmental asset markets to price ecosystem services, on a blockchain, that no one needs to know is a blockchain? I'm so excited to get to work on this stuff for the next 10-15 years minimum, and to see what we can accelerate with our tiny fund in the next 5-6 years as we approach 2030 Onward! https://lnkd.in/gy3B-DFe

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Gusto Empowers Non-Tech Staff in AI Development Edward Kim, Gusto's co-founder and head of technology, challenges the prevailing notion of replacing existing teams with AI specialists. In a recent discussion, he emphasized the value of non-technical team members in AI development, highlighting their deeper customer insights over conventional engineers. Gusto, a payroll startup boasting over $500 million in annual revenue by April 2023, innovates by involving its customer experience team in creating AI solutions. One notable outcome is "Gus," an AI assistant designed to interact with customers based on "recipes" written by these non-technical members, marking a significant departure from traditional software development paradigms. Kim illustrates this transformative approach with the story of Eric Rodriguez, a former customer support team member turned influential software engineer, thanks to his self-taught AI prowess. Rodriguez's creation, a CoPilot tool for the customer experience team, streamlines workflows by providing instant, accurate responses sourced from Gusto's internal knowledge base. This example underscores Kim's vision of leveraging non-technical employees' domain expertise to enhance AI applications, making software development more accessible. Gusto's strategy of empowering non-technical staff to contribute to AI development without coding knowledge reflects a broader shift towards a more inclusive, bottom-up approach to technological innovation. By providing tools that translate their domain knowledge into AI functionalities, Gusto not only democratizes AI development but also aims to improve efficiency and customer service. Kim criticizes the industry trend of hiring expensive AI specialists, arguing for the value of upskilling existing employees to advance AI applications, a philosophy that promises to reshape the company's workforce composition and operational dynamics in the face of AI integration. https://lnkd.in/dQkKDZVk Platform: TechCrunch Author: Anthony Ha #technology #ai #artificialintelligence #gusto #techindustry #techstartups #aidevelopment #techstaff

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If you missed key insights from Matt McIlwain(Madrona) at Seattle Venture Day I took some time to summarize a few of the key points! How should small startups or emerging companies think about partnering with enterprises? Enterprises are very motivated to have better solutions, Early stage startups have to think differently and think outside the existing structure silos that the current SaaS applications represent, think outside the generally structured data that lives in databases. Think more about data lakes and unstructured data and crossflows, flows that live across current Saas and structure application. Matt thinks its in the crossflows with the differently structured data that’s where some of the big breakthroughs are going to come with breaking into working with big enterprises at the agentic layer. Overlaps between the current AI boom and the .com boom in Seattle? Less GTM talent than Engineering talent here in Seattle. A lot of corporate capital here, Microsoft and Amazon market cap is over 5T today so a lot of the experts that helped build these companies and worked on cloud technologies, applied AI, Robotics, etc.. have helped grow the startup ecosystem here in Seattle. What is Matts framework for selection companies that are investable in this AI boom? The chip layer is saturated with capital from big cloud and harder to return capital. Matt thinks the agentic and enabling layer there will be a lot more winners. Functional and domain specific solutions are great – Gradial is an example on the marketing side. Madrona wants to see founders who infatuated with the problem they see and are better suited to solve that problem than anyone else. Matts thoughts on the M&A and IPO markets? IPO markets have pretty much stayed soft this year, but M&A is going to pick up a good bit.  There is pressure on the Mag 7 and larger companies from the FTC but a lot more happening in the middle market like Atlassian and Docusign, etcc. Companies that are between 20b and 100b in market cap have to figure out how to increase their market position/AI talent through acquisitions. PE is also hungry to put their capital to work and very aggressive at putting their capital to work. Matt believes he will see VC groups getting bought up by PE groups in different forms. They may allow VCs and founders to keep some of their capital and to re-up in some of those deals. What should founders look for from investors? Matt believes having a consortium of investors is largely a good thing and having great early investors are important in helping you grow. It’s also valuable to have someone who is your lead champion and will roll up their sleeves with you every week. Madrona loves founders who are coachable but not too coachable – If the investor has all the best ideas something is not right. The founder should be leading the way! Pablo Casilimas Justis Mendez OneSixOne Ventures

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I've spent the last two years building Golden Valley Strategy – and as we enter 2025, everrrything is changing! What began as "30 meetings in 30 days" turned into supporting 25+ CEOs/founders from companies at every stage imaginable. There were scrappy AI startups converting design partners > paying customers, established players eyeing that $100M ARR milestone and everything in between. Pattern matching across different companies is a wonderful experience. It gave me a completely different vantage point to the threads that connect successful growth, strong teams, and killer products. Which is why I'm especially excited to share that I'm making the leap back into company building as Chief Product Officer at DeleteMe. In 2011, Rob Shavell started the company and established an industry designed to give people power over their data. Since then, privacy's moved many steps from buzzword towards birthright – with our digital and physical footprints more blurry by the day. All it takes is seeing a parent's email, a grandparent's phone number or even your own address online to realize how much information could be used to target you, your family and your colleagues. At a time when personal information has never been more vulnerable or valuable, we're building products for individuals and businesses that put the control back in the right people's hands. After already having spent a few weeks ramping up, we're hitting 2025 at full speed. We’re continuing to grow the entire product org – from PMs and designers to ops and analytics (and most other teams, too). So three things... 1. If you're looking for a fractional product leader or would like to chat about the fractional work, I'm more than happy to make referrals/connections/share experience. 2. If you're passionate about privacy, excited by the challenge of delighting B2C and B2B customers globally, and want to build a badass, industry-leading team – let's connect. 3. I've got a discount code for all of ya'll in my network (my holiday gift to you!) -- and we've got a very nice referral program in place for folks who introduce us to their company. The best companies protect their employees.

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