Initialized Capital

The rate of change in AI is astonishing, but sometimes it’s hard to know whether you’re walking towards an oasis or a mirage. Last night, Gautam Bose and Ivan Lee gave us a peek under the hood. They shared how to build nuanced evals in-house, improve your team’s productivity by over 20%, and where to find the last mile that model providers won’t own.

I heard Slush was the best startup conference in the world right now, so I had to check it out for myself. A few things that set it apart: - University students help run the conference and decide the programming, so the talks felt way less promotional and more substantial - The conference feels quite global (with booths set up by country) so it's a great way to gauge what's being built around the world - Time was spent focused on the details, like serving only vegan food (whole conference was zero waste), dimmed lighting, sleep pods, loads of meeting areas, and great integration with the city of Helsinki Some personal highlights for me were seeing Robert Brunner talk design (throwback to my fuseproject days), a great talk with Robert Reddick at WIRED and Twelve on commercializing science, a really honest conversation with Annu Nieminen and Jack Mardack on founder mental health, and of course, seeing Brett Gibson and Tanay Tandon dive into acquisition strategy. Now enjoy this 80s montage of random footage I took from the conference while I fantasize about going back next year.

Last night, we hosted an engaging dinner discussion in our SF office with early stage founders focused on AI and automation. Thank you to Gautam Bose (Automat AI) and Ivan Lee (Datasaur) for sharing how they’re building solutions that drive real customer value. We look forward to continuing these conversations in our dinner series as AI reshapes how we work and build.

Grateful for our team in every season - and every step of this extraordinary journey. Episode 5 of Transmissions from AstroForge is a special one, featuring multiple voices from our incredible crew: Emerson Vargas Ni?o, Wesley T., Ethan Long, Jordan Diggs, Josh Greenstein, Nathan K., Rachel LaBrasca, Kieran Shanley, and Lawrence Bell. Their passion and dedication fuel our mission. If you’re looking for a workplace where your contributions are valued and your ideas take flight, we’d love to hear from you. Apply today to join us: https://lnkd.in/gmjzX5Bh YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g7XwjbuH

Check out Diana Olick’s latest “Clean Start” segment on CNBC, featuring Reham Fagiri, cofounder & CEO of AptDeco and our own partner, Zoe Perret. They discuss how AptDeco is transforming the furniture resale marketplace by helping to keep items out of landfills. "Contributing to the circular economy through its logistics business is a great example of the types of climate adaptation companies that we see as having longevity in the next phase of climate tech." — Zoe Perret, Partner at Initialized Capital. Link to the full CNBC segment in comments ??

Portfolio Job of the Week: TigerEye, an AI Analyst for everyone in go-to-market. Open Roles: AI Engineer and Sales Development Representative (Remote) Why You Should Work Here: Join second time cofounders who are solving some of today’s toughest challenges in AI, machine learning, and infrastructure. Jobs??? https://lnkd.in/es6QYwzR Learn more about the company ???https://www.tigereye.com/

Partiful is a Finalist in this year’s App Awards!?#AppStoreAwards?Apple We might have to buy another cake?????

Loved the intimate discussion hosted by Parcha at Money20/20. Adina Tecklu and Angela Strange represented the funders in fintech. Abiel Gutierrez, Thomas Piani, AJ Asver, John Baunach, and Nayeem Mano - BBA, MBA shared the ground truths of those closest to the metal. Can't forget to thank our bank partners who are helping to bring us into the fold.