Amulya Parmar

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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🚀 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀! 🛠️ As part of my journey with the Included VC fellowship, I had the incredible opportunity to dive deep into an often-overlooked topic: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩. In my latest article, "𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗪𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗼𝗱", I explore why understanding the foundational technology is critical—not just for engineers, but for investors, founders, and anyone shaping the future of tech. 📌 Highlights include: 1. Why tech infrastructure is a key differentiator. 2. How VCs can benefit from asking deeper technical questions. 3. The need for more discussions about scalability, resilience, and adaptability in tech stacks. I’d love to hear your thoughts - how do you assess the "𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙" when evaluating startups or scaling your own ventures? 💡 Your insights are invaluable, especially as we work to create a more inclusive and informed tech ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/g6zbbZ3n

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Silicon Valley Slackers: Myth or Reality? We sat down with Menlo Ventures’ Deedy Das to discuss his viral tweet about underworked engineers earning $300K+ and the phenomenon’s broader implications. Mouse Jigglers & Ghost Engineers: Deedy shares wild stories of remote workers gaming the system, from "working" in Mexico for years to productivity software catching patterns of inactivity. Misaligned Incentives: Deedy argues that middle managers prioritize headcount over productivity, creating an environment where underperformance is overlooked. Measuring Productivity: Lines of code and git commits aren’t enough. Engineering productivity remains complex and difficult to quantify, so there’s no silver bullet. Viral Backlash: Deedy’s anecdotes sparked heated debates in tech, with some engineers admitting to coasting while others criticized him for "narking" on the culture. Should companies rethink how they measure and incentivize performance?

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When I created Founders Game, I wanted a space to empathize with founders at my level. That's why we required founders to have either raised $1M, or generated $500K ARR to even apply. Now, we're opening it up founders at all levels. If you want to join the closed beta, leave a 2 sentence pitch of your startup in the comments below.. I'll be DMing select pitches with a link to an application.

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I'll be co-hosting a Cap Table Management Workshop with Fidelity Investments on Tuesday, 11/19! This will be part of a series of Startup Workshops that help founders with practical tips and actionable learnings. If you are a founder looking to raise future rounds of funding, this workshop is for you. Learn how to create, manage, and scale your cap table! https://lu.ma/vp0tzwtm

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Success in deep tech, like any other startup, hinges on not running out of money It’s more pronounced in deep tech since business metrics won’t happen until after several funding rounds So founders need to convince investors and employees that whatever they are raising now will generate results (with ample buffer) that will entice investors to put in more money, even though there likely still won’t be a business that traditional investors can underwrite. Pure technical progress won’t cut it. It’s about turning armies of talent, customers, and partners into believers of the future you’re making possible Props to Becky Pferdehirt, PhD and Rajesh Swaminathan for a fantastic convo and Matt Caspari for hosting and moderating!

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Did you know that YC founders get a secret weapon… and it’s not what you think. “Bookface” is YC’s internal social network. It was needed because YC had funded larger batches and the hardest part of a community is knowing who is in it and who you can trust and ask for help. On the platform, founders share real methods and advice that would break if it were shared widely It’s secret knowledge shared with a trust-first community - answering 80% of the questions a founder can have about building and selling a product, be it to clients, candidates or investors. Before the platform, if you had a B2B startup, you had to reach out cold to potential customers. Now there are over 1000 YC companies you can sell your service to and all of their contact information is in Bookface. As a result, YC alumni companies are often over 50% of your new sales during YC. It’s superpowers like this that make YC deals so attractive compared to the norm. You are investing in a founder with a 10x network already!

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A common mistake early-stage VCs make is confusing good decisions with good outcomes. Good outcomes don’t always mean good decisions—luck often masks flawed reasoning. Focus on process over outcome bias. Invest in strong decision-making frameworks, not just duplicating “wins.”

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🚀 *“Launch fast, iterate quickly”* has become a guiding mantra in the startup world, but is it always the right move? Take **Zoom** and **Clubhouse** as examples. Zoom’s early backers, like Emergence Capital and Sequoia, supported a strategy focused on product reliability and quality before scaling. When the pandemic hit, this approach enabled Zoom to scale smoothly and establish itself as a market leader. Meanwhile, **Clubhouse**, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, followed a different playbook: launching quickly, even with limited features, to capture initial user interest. This approach drove rapid growth but also brought challenges, from scaling to competition with bigger platforms. The “launch fast” philosophy—championed by Y Combinator with advice to “launch something bad”—often works well in **tech**, where products can be iterated rapidly based on user feedback. However, **in the entertainment industry, first impressions are everything**. A poorly received launch can damage credibility, making it difficult to recover. Quality expectations are higher, and you can't always "fix" a show, game, or movie after release. 🎬 *In entertainment, initial development, QA, and polish are crucial before launching.* When the first impression counts, launching too quickly can be a recipe for failure. What do you think? Should entertainment startups follow a different path than tech, or is there room for a hybrid approach? #startups #venturecapital #tech #entertainment #productdevelopment #launch

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Please go through our GP, Gautam Kapur’s thoughts on founder’s deep understanding of the problem v/s potential market opportunity! Chanakya | Puneet Malik | Gautam Kapur

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📣 Announcing Velocity, our new program built specifically for pre-seed founders. 👇 We back you with checks up to $1M, a peer cohort, AI resources, and the flexibility of being fully remote. We’re also teaming up with Microsoft and OpenAI for an AI specific track. Who is right for Velocity? 🌉 Exceptional founders seeking greater Silicon Valley connectivity, whether in SF or  elsewhere 🏗️ Experienced operators starting a company for the first time and seek a strong community  🤖 AI founders who want to learn from brilliant AI luminaries 💸Founders who want an edge when raising an epic seed round What do you get? 💰Capital – Up to a $1M investment from us and our close network of angels and funds 🤝Peer Community – Join like minded founders in masterminds for accountability and peer support 🌐The Village Network – Find customers, experts, and your next investors 💽Microsoft and OpenAI Credits and Resources – Up to $350k in credits from Microsoft for Startups, $10k from OpenAI, and more Ready to build the future? Apply now. 💡 https://lnkd.in/gQn7kP4S

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Founders, here’s something I learned the hard way: The TAM-SOM Paradox: We often hear about needing a huge market (TAM) to attract VCs. Yet, when you're in the trenches, your world revolves around SOM. Every move, every decision — it's about being lean and effective. To succeed, you must start uncomfortably narrow. But VCs are eyeing the TAM. I've seen many founders, including myself, grapple with this. Start too broad, and you’ll scatter your resources too thin. Fail to communicate your TAM, and you’ll lose top-tier investors. It's a paradox, but it's also the key to success. So, my advice? Perfect your SOM, but plan for TAM. Show VCs not just where you are, but where you could be. You don't need to compromise on vision for execution. Focus on your SOM for efficiency. But never lose sight of your TAM for growth potential. What do you think? Loads more great content in my hot 🔥 Newsletter for you and your network to enjoy & repurpose ✅ - https://lnkd.in/ejecDs9Z This post comes from my book “The GTM Handbook for SaaS Leaders” co-authored with Richard Blundell & Paul Watson #BrainDumps 🧠 💩 // Brain Dump #19

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Founders–before you pitch your product, investors want to know: Can you sell? Grace Gong shared why this skill matters more than any metric. Grace Gong is an author, angel investor, founder of Smart Venture Media, and host of the Smart Venture Podcast. She offers practical guidance on navigating the startup ecosystem in her books 'How to Be a VC' and 'How to Be a Successful Founder'. Known for spotting promising founders, she emphasizes sales skills, strategic thinking, and execution. In a recent conversation with Grace, one big takeaway stood out: The ability to sell is non-negotiable for early-stage founders. Whether you're pitching to investors, securing a design partner, or recruiting top talent, the question is the same: can you sell? Grace emphasized that, as an angel, she looks for founders who can demonstrate this skill early—often before the product is even fully formed. Here’s what selling means in practice: 👉 Convincing a lead investor to anchor your round 👉 Recruiting the best talent to bring your vision to life 👉 Securing letters of intent from potential clients or design partners 👉 Building a cap table that shows the confidence of your network (past bosses, coworkers, or even friends willing to back you) Grace shared a great example: after introducing a founder to a potential client, she watches closely to see how the founder engages and closes. A founder’s ability to sell, she says, is about more than just metrics—it’s about proving you can create buy-in at every level. As a founder, if you want to stand out, start honing your ability to sell: 👉 your team 👉 your vision 👉 your product 👉 and yourself It’s one of the clearest indicators of future success. Founders, how are you developing this skill?

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What Actually Gets You Into YC? Have you read Saad Bencherif’s recent piece about his journey to YC acceptance? His insights are fascinating. Most founders get the application process completely wrong. They think it's about perfect preparation and polished pitches. But here's what actually worked for his team- Their failed interview = 3 days of intense prep and mock interviews… • They got "destroyed" by Michael Seibel because they were too rehearsed, too rigid. Their successful interview = Zero preparation. • But backed by a year of actually running their business, understanding their market, and knowing their numbers cold. The difference was the deep understanding that only comes from doing the work… not a better pitch. Another counter-intuitive insight from Saad: YC partners send rejection emails that aren't always just rejections. When they suggest pivoting "and letting them know," they mean it. Many successful YC founders took this path. His data point about application time is telling too. Each reapplication took just 30 minutes - simple progress updates rather than complete rewrites. This matches perfectly with YC's philosophy -- spend your time building, not perfecting applications. The real secret to getting into YC is about having a real story to tell.

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How I Used ChatGPT to Write "Venture Capital’s Wild Ride" People have asked me how I worked interactively with ChatGPT to write my latest article, "Venture Capital’s Wild Ride." So, I thought I’d share the process. I started with rough notes on how the 2021 venture capital boom impacted the Channel Islands. I used ChatGPT interactively to refine the structure, clarify key points, and create engaging section titles like "The Market Reverses Course" and "The Promise of AI." It wasn’t just about editing - ChatGPT helped me reword complex ideas, improve the flow, and ensure every section fit seamlessly into the overall narrative. I even used ChatGPT to write this post! If you’re interested in the full conversation that led to the final article, check the comments for the link. #founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic More at unbundled dot vc.

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A few insights into the startup fundraising process from last week's talk with Chelsea Zhang (Equal Ventures) and Michelle Liao (DayZero) When you’re starting to fundraise Assign one founder to lead the process - Designating one founder to spearhead the process not only ensures a cohesive narrative and pitch but also effectively divides the demanding tasks of running the company and securing funds. Do your research - Tap into your network to glean insights from those who have raised money before. You can learn a lot from their experience. Thoroughly research potential VC funds to pitch, find the ones that are aligned with the vision and stage of your company. Don’t waste your time reaching out to investors that invest outside of your scope. Gaining momentum VCs move fast - VCs often operate with a clear investment thesis, having extensively researched the sectors they specialize in. As a result, they have a precise idea of what they're seeking and can swiftly recognize it. For example, before Chelsea came across DayZero - she had already seen 40+ variations of the same model. When VCs identify an opportunity that aligns with their criteria, they move fast. The investment process between Equal Ventures and DayZero took ~2 weeks. Gaining momentum during the process is important - Its important to end your VC conversations around the same time so you can round up all interested investors. Generating momentum involves prompting VCs to take action, which might entail instilling a sense of urgency or fostering a bit of FOMO to encourage swift decision-making. Closing the deal Be ready to negotiate quickly - Understanding which deal terms are important to you you as a Founder is crucial to research in advance. The process can unfold rapidly, making it overwhelming to decipher your priorities afterward. Dealing with rejection - Receiving a "no" from an investor doesn't invalidate your startup. Investors operate based on specific investment criteria, so it's important not to take rejection personally. There’s an investor out there that is probably a better fit; the key is to keep searching until you find them.

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FOUNDERS STOP DEMOING On net, early stage founders should stop demoing their products on the first sales call. I've watched dozens of Fathom videos of pre-seed and seed stage founders I've invested in, and its the number one culprit for wasting time and derailing your sales motions. Your product demo is SACRED and should only be shown to qualified buyers. In complex sales, the goal of your first sales call is NOT to sell, but determine whether you are talking to a qualified prospect: an influential champion at a company with a real usage case, that will actually buy your product in a reasonable amount of time. Demoing can incite an excitable stakeholder with no power, and organizations with no real need, to progress a deal. This false sense of progress creates an escalating sense of sunk cost that makes it hard for founders to abandon the deal. You end up spending a ton of time in follow up hell chasing a bad prospective design partner. In the early stages, all you have is time and resource costs. Don't squander it chasing bad customers. While its tempting to use slides or a product demo as a crutch, it completely derails your ability to run a productive "discovery" call. FOCUS on the conversation and if necessary prepare a list of 20 questions, sequenced by batches, that unlocks true understanding of the stakeholder's role / power, their organization buying process, and whether they may have a real usage case and urgency to make a purchasing decision in the next 2 quarters. If they don't, throw them in your nurturing campaign and move on. Your time is better spent focusing on setting more meetings.

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