Rebellion Ventures

🚀 Big news in AI software development: OpenHands has just released the world’s strongest AI software development agent as open source, earning the # 1 spot on the AI software engineering leaderboard (SWE-bench). 🌟 It’s the first AI engineer to score over 50%, making it the highest-performing AI software developer to date. What makes this even more impressive? It’s fully open source, reproducible, and available for anyone to use. Topping this benchmark is huge for an open-source project, especially in a field characterized by proprietary AI software backed by big funding. The open-source approach of OpenHands brings greater transparency, accessibility, and extensibility, building better trust in AI software development agents. All Hands AI, a Rebellion Ventures portfolio company, is the pioneering startup backing the OpenHands project. They’ll soon offer an online version of OpenHands to make it easier for everyone to access and benefit from AI software development agents. Visit their website to learn more and join the waitlist. https://lnkd.in/gyCTgppr #AI #OpenSource #SoftwareDevelopment #AIAgents

Are you focusing too much on a product feature battle while missing the bigger strategic picture? I see too many entrepreneurs fighting a tactical battle over features, while losing sight of developing a more fundamental competitive advantage. Entrepreneurs often view their competitive advantage through a matrix of their product features vs. those of their competitors. This approach is typically too tactical and narrow. This isn’t a new problem. Abernathy and Clark highlighted this back in 1985 in their classic paper on innovation:  “𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦.”   Many successful entrepreneurs take a more fundamental, strategic approach to developing their competitive advantage. They: 1. Develop deep insights into customer needs and gaps in the market to serve the market differently than existing players. 2. Pioneer new strategic dimensions of value, creating new ways to compete (new “axes of competition”). 3. Target underserved segments or expand into new types of customers. 4. Bring in unique competencies others lack or overlook. 5. Exploit the limitations of existing players, such as legacy business models and architectures. How are you thinking about developing a competitive advantage beyond feature-level battles?  Know someone for whom this post would be helpful? Share it or comment and tag. Reference: Abernathy, W. J., & Clark, K. B. (1985). Innovation: Mapping the winds of creative destruction. Research Policy, 14(1), 3-22.

We are hiring for a VP of Engineering at Quandri. We're Series A and will be raising a Series B next year, we're growing fast (4x ARR growth over last 12 months), and are focused on an industry and space that is in big need of a product like ours (insurance brokers & agents). Our platform is interesting and combines elements of RPA, OCR, ML, data engineering, and a beautifully designed front-end web app. We need an engineering leader who can be a strong voice at our leadership table, and take our engineering team to the next level as we prepare for the next phase of growth to scale our platform across North America. If you or someone you know is interested and think you're the right person for the job, you can reach out to me directly.

"Rebellion looks beyond conventional AI systems." This is a well-written article by Venture Capital Journal (by David Bogoslaw) about our Rebellion Ventures announcement last week. It reviews artificial super capability (ASC) and our debut fund focused on autonomous operations and AI agents, leveraging a community of 70+ unicorn founders, operators, and industry experts in AI and automation. Check out VCJ's article below - worth taking a look. https://lnkd.in/g6HDmZ8P

Excited to publicly announce today that Rebellion Ventures emerges to build the future of AI super capability, generating 10-100x productivity gains. We've been partnering with entrepreneurs for some time and oversubscribed and closed our debut fund but haven't publicly disclosed it until now. We announced today our inaugural fund, which is dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs to build what we coined the era of artificial super capability (ASC) through autonomous operations and AI agents that have the power to revolutionize business models and unleash the greatest productivity boost in human history. We foresee the shift from passive, intelligence-focused AI to action-oriented artificial super capability that drives business outcomes autonomously. In the real world, it is the context-specific ability to act that delivers results, rather than general intelligence. AI capabilities will evolve to be superior to humans in areas such as speed, cost, and accuracy. This shift will create an era of artificial super capability (ASC), with the potential to increase productivity by 10-100x. We see the emergence of a diverse AI workforce across industries, including AI workers, digital humans, autopilots, and autonomous agents. These will continuously learn, observe, think, and act 24/7 to proactively achieve business goals and elevate human work. Through the fund's companies, we target to collectively create at least $100 billion in annual productivity value for customers by 2030 based on initial ROI metrics. Our fund brings an operating track record of building companies to multi-billion dollar IPO and M&A exits and an advisor network of over 70 unicorn founders, operating executives, and industry experts in AI and automation who are LPs in the fund. We'll provide access to industry relationships, operating playbooks, and critical expertise that entrepreneurs need to build and scale disruptive startups. Our fund has thus far partnered with 12 pre-seed/seed startups creating or enabling autonomous operations and AI agents in areas such as engineering, sales, financial services, insurance, and healthcare (over half of these have already raised more capital at higher valuations). We'll partner with 25+ additional startups over the next 18 months. Recognizing our responsibility in this new era, we seek to be a force for good by elevating human work, committing to ethical practices in AI and automation, and contributing positively to societal and economic development (including pledging 1% of our profits to give back to the community). More details are in the announcement below. https://lnkd.in/gBbnAr3p

Entrepreneurs (especially first-time) may be surprised by how much investor/VC pipeline is needed to close a Seed round. Often, entrepreneurs need more “top of the funnel” than they’d think. A successful Seed raise may require targeting 100 VCs or more due to conversion rates at each stage of the process. An illustrative, simplified example of potential conversion rates at each stage: • 100 “qualified” VC prospects whose thesis/sector, stage, and geo fit your startup, and your pitch gets introduced to them by connectors (existing investors, friends, etc.), and/or you directly connect with them (note: indiscriminately spamming investors that aren't a fit doesn't help). • 40 of them take the 1st meeting. • 20 of them proceed to the 2nd meeting. • 10 engage in due diligence. • 5 invest (e.g., a larger lead and a few others). Individual mileage varies a lot based on the entrepreneur, the strength of the network/relationships, and the nature of the opportunity and startup. Some entrepreneurs may need outreach to much more than 100 prospective investors, whereas, more rarely, just a handful of conversations is enough (perhaps a successful repeat entrepreneur coming from a big exit with strong existing VC relationships). Conversion requires not just a strong pitch, a great entrepreneur, and a fit with the VC’s thesis but also factors largely outside the entrepreneur’s control. These outside factors can include, e.g., alignment with the VC’s near-term focus, how the VC prioritizes his/her pipeline of potential deals, bandwidth, timing, capital availability, etc. 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Build a big enough qualified top of the funnel when raising a Seed round. Even if you don’t need all of it to raise the round, it’ll help you find, prioritize, and select the right investors you want to partner with. #entrepreneurs #startups #seed #fundraising #VC

What do successful Seed round pitch decks convey to investors? 🚀 While each story is unique, see below the archetypal contents and messages of successful Seed decks. ℹ️ Note: Crafting a compelling, insightful, and unique story isn't a template-filling exercise. The order and flow of these contents vary, and each topic may be covered over one or more slides, depending on how to tell the story. These archetypal contents can serve as a directional guide and a checklist of topics for a Seed deck. 💡 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀: • Powerful, inspiring 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 • Significant, pressing 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 • Compelling 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 to the customer problem, creating significant 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 • Possibly an 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱/𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼 to make it easy for investors to understand • 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁 (customer validation is highly valuable, although the level of adoption and revenue vary greatly at Seed) • Clarity on the 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 (a thoughtful initial customer focus and GTM approach) • Large 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 (implies potential to build a large business) • Possibly clarity on '𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘄' if not already evident from the problem, solution, and market opportunity • 𝗔𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘃𝘀. 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: a clear understanding of the landscape and well-justified advantages or reasons to succeed • Sound 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀/𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 describing how the company will make money • 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 that's positioned to succeed; brings valuable insights, talent, and expertise to solve the problem and build a business • Promising 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 with projections, metrics, and/or milestones for growth • 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 that makes sense for the opportunity and stage with clarity on where this round will take you (including Series A) 🧑🤝🧑 While 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 looks like just one topic in the pitch deck, it’s disproportionately important. Further, the team's capabilities are reflected across the story, showing special insights into the customer problem, deep understanding of the market, creation of a novel solution, clarity of the story, progress made thus far, etc. Decks for later rounds share many of these same contents but with a progressively greater focus on growth, scaling, metrics, and financials and a higher bar for evidence, especially for product-market fit, demand, customer acquisition, and unit economics. #startups #entrepreneurs #seed #fundraising #VC

Sharing takeaways from attending Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote yesterday at Nvidia GTC: 1. Generative AI continues to drive the need for ever bigger computing scale and acceleration. In turn, those new computing advancements enable significant improvements in Generative AI, i.e., it’s a symbiotic loop.   2. Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture enables bigger AI models (up to 10 trillion parameters) with much faster throughput (claimed “up to a 30x” performance, e.g., tokens per second) and “up to 25x” reduction in energy consumption. This can support more capable models (e.g., multimodal) with a faster user experience.   3. While many still think of Nvidia as a semiconductor company, it continues to expand as a broader platform and infrastructure systems vendor. The size and complexity of those systems has increased significantly. The latest system weighs 3,000 lbs.   4. The innovations in these systems, particularly in the new Blackwell platform, go well beyond the traditional semiconductor innovations. For instance, Nvidia has made major strides in networking with their NVLink Switch (1.8TB/s), which is important for overall AI infrastructure performance.   5. Jensen repeatedly said that Nvidia is working on “the full stack.” Software investments are a big part. Besides embedding software in its systems, Nvidia is broadening its software platform. For instance, Nvidia launched NIM - Nvidia inference microservices built on its CUDA platform - to make deploying pre-trained, packaged generative AI models in applications and co-pilots easier and faster.   BTW - Nvidia’s software/services revenue crossed the $1B annualized run rate last year (though still a small % of the total). Today, Nvidia mostly monetizes S/W indirectly through differentiation, ecosystem building, demand for its systems, and customer/developer retention for the platform.     6. These new computing advancements, system-wide innovations, and platform & ecosystem developments are a key part of Nvidia’s strategy to defend its moat vs. competitors and new entrants, protect its lucrative share of the industry profit pool, and position the company at the core of GenAI.   7. Jensen also highlighted opportunities in robotics (announced Project GR00T, a foundation model for humanoid robots), digital twins, and “omniverse” (announced Omniverse Cloud APIs for industrial digital twin software tools), particularly for industrial, manufacturing, and logistics. AI is a key enabler for these, too.   8. While the keynote covered a lot of ground, one notable topic it didn’t discuss was responsible & ethical AI and AI security & governance, beyond Jensen briefly mentioning that the Blackwell platform has improved encryption to protect AI models and user data.   Overall, as “a developer conference,” Nvidia GTC has significantly broadened its audience, and the keynote at the SAP Center was packed. Some people compared it to a rock concert (and Jensen wore a new leather jacket).