Capital Chronicles #9

Hello there! Welcome to Capital Chronicles, saving you hours every week with ~2-3 minute summarised insights from the best venture builders, investors and capital allocators out there. This week: creating value with Equal Ventures, evaluating AI with Mosaic Ventures, Insight Partners share their growth acceleration framework and Bessemer Venture Partners release their State of the Cloud for 2024.

As subscriber #TBD, each web link below takes you to:

• A link to the original article (read time: varies)

• Summary / insights / implications per article (read time: 2-3 minutes)

Now, read on for the latest…

🛠️ On venture building…

Rick Zullo (Equal Ventures) shares his playbook for value creation. A blueprint outlining the strategic phases a software company must navigate to develop a sustainable competitive advantage and secure its market position.

• Why you should read it: establishing a ‘competitive moat’ is essential for winning a market. Rick shares a hypothesis-based approach that takes a high-level concept and breaks it down into a series of more manageable, actionable stage gates to help drive focus and improve the odds of developing long-term durability.

🧭 On venture investing…

An investing framework for LLM applications, thanks to Chandar Lal (Mosaic Ventures). Chandar explores the evolving landscape of generative AI applications and provides a framework for evaluating investment opportunities.

• Why you should read it: while a VC AI investment thesis is a dime a dozen these days, the Mosaic team are based out of Europe which has a slightly different take on the technology compared with other developed startup ecosystems. The EU’s aggressive stance on AI policy and regulation makes following the activity of leading European VCs worthwhile for comparing and contrasting their approach with major Silicon Valley investment firms.

📖 Learning resource…

A blueprint for scaling go-to-market, with Insight Partners. The team introduce a detailed framework designed to help software companies of all sizes grow and scale effectively.

• Why you should read it: the framework has been developed as an all-encompassing resource for growing and scaling a software company. Alignment across all go-to-market elements is critical, integrating best practices across product, technology, marketing, sales, and customer success. Bonus: if you are looking for a practical example, Insight Partners applied the framework to entering new markets and customer segments.

📊 Market insight…

Bessemer Ventures Partners, and their State of the Cloud for 2024. Their report outlines five key trends shaping the AI Cloud era, emphasising the decline of the legacy cloud and the rise of AI-driven applications.

• Why you should read it: again, while a VC AI investment thesis isn’t particularly unique in itself (see above), Bessemer are well known for their roadmaps, and this one on software + AI is arguably one of their most important given how quickly the underlying technology powering AI is improving and subsequently disrupting traditional cloud computing. This one is a must-read for entrepreneurs and investors alike!

🎲Lucky dip essential reads…

• A Primer on Vertical Market Software

• How VCs Think: The Psychology That Drives Investing Decisions

• A guy walks into a bar and orders a $17 Martini. Is it MRR?

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• Investment toolkit: tools, templates, and how-to guides to help you evaluate and analyse venture investments. (3 referrals)

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Have a great week!

Josh