Bee Partners

How long should a founder be doing founder-led sales? What milestones signal that you're ready to make your first sales hire? I frequently hear founders say they plan to hire for sales once they get to $1-2M in ARR (where they're using MRR to project out ARR, or calling revenue "recurring" even when it isn't). Kira Noodleman, a VC at Bee Partners, thinks this is way too early; she's looking for a founder to be at the helm of sales until at least $3-5M in revenue. Kira says the founder's job is to "integrate all the parts of the business into how you're approaching a customer." That takes way more time and dedicated effort to achieve than leveraging your network and friends to get your first few customers. You need a repeatable sales process, tailored around a very specific ICP in order to scale successfully. Whether you like sales or not, you as the founder are the person who is best suited to build this initial sales process. If you need help with this, let's talk. Follow me ?? for more nuggets from my interview with Kira about her VC perspective, and for other practical advice for doing founder-led sales.

Why invest in the application layer? Value creation and value extraction are not the same thing. Historically, the best way to capture value has been to go after an end user and solve hard and economically valuable problems. The proper framework for this is use cases. Technology changes, products change, but use cases don’t. They don’t change but grow in size with new tech and products that reduce friction and increase access.?If you look at tech IPOs in the last 20-30 years, the use cases are the same and repeat every ~10 years (thank you Keval Desai) Some use cases are more valuable than others, so the value of the application layer is not evenly distributed. Some AI applications will reduce the cost of delivering a service, but we’ll realize the value of that service is capped. Applications going after these services will run into heightened competition and decreasing margins. Others will reduce the cost of delivering a service, but we’ll realize that service is incredibly valuable, and demand will increase. These are the winners: those that reduce costs and shift the demand curve, so more people now want more of that service at a slightly lower price. This is value and GDP creation in a nutshell. #applicationlayer #aiapps #verticalapps #horizontalapps

I spent the first 15 years of my career as a hard-core engineer. IN. THE. TRENCHES. Doing everything from early AI research (shouts genetic algo’s), mobile dev, embedded systems programming, and more. I could code. Then I moved up into leadership roles while quietly quitting programming. Over the last decade my programming extent has been baby excel scripts and website tweaks. I was washed up, outdated, and outpaced by new languages, technologies, and people. Anytime I’d even try to get vs code up and running I’d get discouraged and fall back to my management brain of “delegate to someone that knows more than you”. AI, and the newly minted term “vibe coding”, has brought me back from the brink of obsolescence. I can finally, once again, “git push --force” my halfway decent code out to the world. I’ve seen a number of others that were once relegated to the outskirts of software creation using AI to build tailor made apps that solve their acute pain points. Kevin Roose actually has a great piece on this, link below. I truly believe that for all the negative energy from senior devs against AI created code it is a good thing. Mario Rodriguez , the CPO at GitHub, once told me his vision to bring 1 billion new developers into the world – to do that you have to change the game. AI coding, code gen, ai assist, whatever you want to call it, changes the game. but. It’s not perfect. A lot of it today is hype, some reality, but it is something. Something that we can’t ignore. https://lnkd.in/eTAEWCki

Physicians, healthcare system leaders, health technology experts: What were your key takeaways from #HIMSS 2025? A few thoughts from our team, specifically about #ambientAI: ?? The ambient AI learning curve has ascended quickly: Healthcare organizations know their stuff, a sure sign of how fast the technology has become part of day-to-day workflows - and conversations. People want proven documentation excellence, of course. But they also want to see an innovative product roadmap and quantifiable ROI. ?? Health systems are increasingly concerned with getting clinicians to adopt ambient technology. Without solid adoption, investments in ambient AI fall flat. (For more on this, check out this article from our CEO, Matthew Ko: https://lnkd.in/erf937qi) ?? All AI vendors must better understand the most pertinent ambient use cases and involve clinicians directly in solution development. This collaboration is more than a smart move - it's a responsbility toward building the most effective tools. #AIDocumentation #AIAdoption #PhysicianWellbeing #FutureofAI

Calling all innovators in the labs! Grit is excited to launch a new workshop series, Lab Fuel, targeting Principal Investigators in the nations top labs, with Bee Partners and The Engine Accelerator. We are collaborating with Kira Noodleman and Ian Johnston to create some incredible content for the journey from Labs to Launch. See description and sign up link below! ? Are you a researcher or scientist considering the leap from academia to entrepreneurship? Navigating the transition from lab to startup can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. ? Join us for an exclusive?one-day workshop?designed to equip you with the?fundamental knowledge, strategies, and connections?you need to successfully spin out your technology and launch a venture-backed company. ? This interactive session, led by?investors, startup CEOs, and experts in commercialization, will cover key topics including: Spinning Out 101?– How to leverage available resources, avoid common pitfalls, and structure your path forward. Customer Discovery & Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy?– Understanding market fit and how to position your technology. Financial Modeling & Fundraising?– From early-stage funding strategies to crafting a compelling pre-seed pitch deck. CEO Panel: Lessons from the Trenches?– Insights from founders who’ve successfully gone from lab to startup. Carly Anderson from Prelude Ventures moderating! Meet Leading Accelerators?– Learn about programs?that can help fuel the next step of your founder journey. This is a?must-attend event?for deep/tough tech innovators looking to turn their research into a high-impact venture. Connect with peers, investors, and ecosystem leaders who can help you navigate the commercialization journey. ? Spots are limited – sign up now! https://lu.ma/b02k1yor #gritventures #venturecapital

???We are hiring! Looking for a hands-on AI/ML engineer excited to build practical solutions with real-world impact?in the industrial automation sector. This role is fully remote; you just need to be in a US-friendly time zone (bonus points if you're in the US, Mexico, or Colombia). You'll join a?fast-paced startup, where you'll have the opportunity to define and shape our AI technology stack. If you’re passionate about bringing practical AI to life, helping sales teams close more deals faster, and making a meaningful difference in an industry that shapes our everyday lives—let’s chat! ?? Apply here: https://lnkd.in/ggtMyJYJ

Introducing Warp’s National Retail Distribution Solution Retail distribution shouldn’t be a bottleneck—it should be a competitive advantage. Warp gives you instant access to 50+ third-party cross-docks across the U.S., eliminating the need for costly facilities while unlocking advanced multi-modal capabilities. With end-to-end visibility, you can optimize labor planning, speed up shelf stocking, and drive higher sales. Plus, our intelligent routing ensures agile PO fulfillment, keeping inventory replenished and revenue flowing. It’s time to move freight smarter. Let us transform your supply chain. Book a call now: https://lnkd.in/gdK6irjJ #supplychain #logistics #transportation #NationalRetailDistribution

Big news! ?? InnerPlant's CEO and co-founder Shely Aronov has been named to Inc. Magazine's 2025 #FemaleFounders500 list! The list recognizes the most innovative and inspiring female leaders who are solving some of our world's most pressing problems and driving their industries forward. This recognition is a testament to Shely's extraordinary vision and leadership, as we work to create a more resilient agriculture system that finally puts plants at the center. ?? Congratulations to Shely and all the other honorees on this year's list! ?? Check out the full list: https://bit.ly/4kC0LNb

We just ran a fascinating experiment with Alibaba's new QwQ-32B, and the results speak volumes about what Infactory brings to the table for developers looking to innovate in AI. First, we ran QwQ-32B locally on a MacBook (impressive in itself!) and asked it a question. It took 13 minutes of processing (!), produced lots of rambling text, and ultimately failed to answer the question correctly, demonstrating that these smaller models may be getting better at reasoning, but still struggle with recall. Then we connected the same LLM to Infactory and asked the same question. The result? A precise, correct answer rooted in real data in just over 2 mins. (with the first minute simply being connection time). This is the Infactory difference: whether you're building enterprise AI assistants, agents, or chatbots, our Unique Query Methodology transforms any LLM into a deterministic powerhouse that delivers: ? Faster responses (5x+ speedup in this test) ? Accurate answers rooted in real data, not hallucinations ? Reliability your business can actually depend on for critical decisions No more token-wasting fluff or probabilistic guesswork. Infactory lets you harness the power of any LLM while ensuring it delivers trustworthy results from your data, every single time. #AI #GenAI #EnterpriseAI #LLM #AIWithoutTheMaybe