Dear reader,
In each issue, we spotlight:
startups that are actually worth your attention,
break down what featured angels and investors are really looking for,
share events that are worth leaving your laptop
Oh, and because no good dealflow comes without a side of drama, expect a sprinkle of spicy tech tea to warm up.
Startup Spotlight: Vanka AI
One Line Pitch: Vanka is the autonomous AI platform for company creation.
Raising: Just closed a seed round.
Team: David Lee, Co-Founder & Co-President; John Lagerling, Co-Founder & Co-President; Satoshi Kataoka, Co-Founder & CTO;
Why yes: Vanka AI offers not only idea validation, they also have a seed fund and provide AI-evaluated investing in startups. Apply here or join our live podcast with the founder on Tuesday!
Link / Contact:1 Reach out to the Founder
Interested in getting featured? Apply here.
Tech Tea:
Stephen Ross, the owner of Miami Dolphins and billionaire, bets on flying cabs to beat the traffic. He has agreed to join with Archer Aviation to help build a network of launchpads with electric-vehicle charging stations to power a fleet of flying vehicles.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees Monday that the company was declaring a “code red” effort to improve the quality of ChatGPT and delaying other products as a result, according to an internal memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The recent release from Google’s Gemini and their consistent user base growth since the August release of Nano Banana.
Character.AI has been creeping out on the kids and has been ignoring suicide threats. The bot has encoraged minors to remove clothing and writing sexual contect. Since the backlash, they have started their age regulation first in the US market and offered alternative tools for teens instead.
ArtBasel flaunted some cool shows, including robot dogs with tech mogul heads by Beeple. The somewhat disturbing robodogs were walking around “pooping” printed images that link to NFTs. The name of installation is “Regular Animals”.
Forbes 30u30 is out and they featured some familiar (for tech) faces. Luana Lopes Lara, the co-founder of Kalshi, is now the youngest female billionaire. She pushed Lucy Guo and Taylor Swift of the pedestal. The other co-founder, Tarek Mansour, did an interesting but brief AMA on Reddit almost a year ago.
Featured Events in LA:
December 9, (UN)SOLICITED IN THE POST-EMPLOYMENT ERA — A live podcast with me and David Lee(Vanka AI) of The Boss Mode Podcast to discuss the future of entrepreneurship & work in the post-employment economy.
December 9, LA Health Tech Hang — Come meet other early stage founders, AI engineers, researchers, physicians and health tech enthusiasts!
December 11, FoundersBoost Demo Day — This consumer tech cohort is tackling everything from mental health solutions to an AI shopping agent that helps you save money, to how AI is revolutionizing the wedding planning industry… and much more (you’ll have to attend to see what else they’ve been working on!).
December 13, Quantum Wellness Spa x Gravity LA Present: Sweat + Sound — Join us for a vibrant evening of hot sauna, cold plunges, shuffle dance class, good vibes, and real connection.
December 14, SoCal Offchain Social Club — The onchain community predominantly works remotely. We don't have a regular opportunity to travel far for conferences.
Serendipity*:
I am putting together an VC/Investor Lounge event in February. Reach out if you’re interested in collaboration.
*Interested? Hit reply and I’ll connect you.
Reverse Pitch: Beth Turner
Beth is the Founder and GP of Valkyrie
Thesis: AI-native products, infrastructure, and software for critical industries (energy, grids, chips, defense, healthcare)
Stage&Check: Pre-seed and Seed. Typical first check $100K–$500K.
Geography: Anchor is U.S. and broader North America, but she’s comfortable backing globally ambitious founders.
Contact: Warm intros via founders, operators, and co-investors are ideal.
How he helps:
Beth combines deep pattern recognition in AI + infra with a reputation for moving fast. She’s partnered with hundreds of seed-stage companies, including ~40 unicorns, and was an early investor in OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs, LangChain, Drata, Flock Safety, Suno, Posthog, Together AI, and more. Acts as a fundraising and narrative co-pilot—helping founders refine story, anticipate investor pushback, and assemble the right syndicate, not just the highest valuation. Brings an LP + co-investor network that includes Ron Conway, Jack Dorsey, Marc Andreessen, and Diane Greene behind Valkyrie—strong signaling and follow-on connectivity for portfolio companies.
Red flags: You’re building pure consumer apps or low-moat tools without a clear path to becoming foundational infrastructure or mission-critical software. The “AI” is mostly marketing—no real technical edge, data advantage, or hard-to-replicate insight. It’s a services-heavy business with limited scalability, or capital intensity massively outstrips the potential software margins. You can’t articulate how a six-figure pre-seed/seed check gets you to a real milestone (serious usage, revenue, or technical proof).
Fast-pass: If you’re building boring-but-critical B2B software in his lanes (SaaS, AI, infra, data, cyber, prop/fashion tech, or e-commerce tools) and can show how you get to product-market fit on a lean budget, you’re right in Anton’s strike zone.
Notes: Valkyrie aims to back ~80 companies from this $45M fund and has already invested in ~20 since closing in May, so Beth is actively deploying now. Before VC, she was even a professional opera singer. 2
Interested in getting featured? Fill out this form.
Featured Events U.S.-wide
SF
December 9, The Longevity Global Summit 2025 — this two day immersive event at the scenic Buck Institute will have plentiful opportunities for networking and includes a healthy catered breakfast and lunch and two after event mixers.
December 10, Snowflake for Startups Pitch Night — Join Snowflake for Startups and Proving Ground for an evening of innovation and networking at the SVAI Hub. This pitch night is a chance to see some of the Bay Area's most promising startups and developers in the AI and data space showcase their applications built on Snowflake.
December 11, An Evening with Sen. Scott Wiener: Inside California's AI Policy Revolution — As the author of the landmark AI bill SB-53, Sen. Wiener has a front-row seat to the collision between cutting-edge technology and public policy. He's navigating pressure from AI labs, civil liberties advocates, safety researchers, and Silicon Valley—all while shaping rules that will affect how AI is built and deployed.
NYC
December 9, 5th Annual NY Hardware Holiday Market Party — Hardware Meetups are kept intentionally non-commercial to foster an atmosphere of learning and collaboration. But as the year draws to a close, we can finally say 'Tis the Season! This time around, we're expanding to include a Holiday Hardware Market. Join us for cold drinks, warm atmosphere and the best tech the city has to offer.
December 9, Off the Record — We’re bringing together a curated group of Growth operators for an evening of candid sharing and learning (there'll be people from Ramp, Attention, Regal, Spline, and more).
December 10, Intergenerational Quarter Zip + Matcha Mixer — grab your coziest quarter zip and head downtown for matcha, networking, and good vibes with students, young professionals, and anyone who wants to connect with the next generation of changemakers.
December 11, 'Tis the Szn: Work-Bench's AI Founder & Operator Soiree — This is an intimate gathering for current founders, future founders, and operators looking to connect, trade ideas, and have fun with great company.
Austin
December 9, Holiday Bash at Vessel Longevity — Join us for an elevated morning of celebration and discovery, designed for women who want to thrive through every season of life. Enjoy meaningful conversations, hands-on activations, and insights into the science of longevity and well-being.
December 9, Lunch Society: Maximizing Company Valuation (founders) — Have lunch with Friend of the Fridge Rich Manders, Co-Founder and Lead Coach at FreeScale, as he discusses the proven framework that entrepreneurs and executives use to maximize company valuation and negotiate superior exit terms. This isn’t theory — This framework has been used to scale, acquire, and exit hundreds of companies, unlocking billions in value.
December 10, GGW Sharks in Austin – AI Founders & Investors — This exclusive GGW Sharks tech startup event in Austin brings together founders, investors, and future partners for a high-energy, face-to-face experience focused on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. During the event, selected startups will have 2 minutes to pitch cutting-edge technology solutions — no slides allowed — in front of a panel of TOP Investor judges.
December 11, Austin AI Community: Christmas Soirée — An end-of-year holiday celebration for the Austin AI community—engineers, founders, researchers, and operators.
Lingo of the Week — “landline”
Tech blogger @CatGPT launched a landline style phone set to reduce her screentime and it worked. She also made money along the way ($120k to be precise). They’re pretty cute tho.
How do you know who’s calling? By answering! The OG way.
1 Disclaimer: This newsletter is for information only and is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice, nor an offer to buy or sell any security. Do your own research and consult a professional; you’re responsible for your decisions and past performance isn’t indicative of future results.
2 This reverse pitch is compiled from public sources (Forbes, Valkyrie’s site, and Beth’s own posts) and is not reviewed by Beth. Use it as a founder-oriented cheat sheet when deciding whether to reach out.
