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Founder profiles, fundraising, and the inside life of small companies. Term sheets, deal flow, and the partner meetings that almost happened.

32articles published

Latest in Startups

A Polymarket trading interface displayed alongside private company valuation milestones, illustrating the new retail-facing secondary markets for startup equity. Startups · Venture Capital

Secondary Markets Devour Venture Capital's Exit Playbook

With Anthropic warning investors off unauthorized share platforms and Polymarket letting retail traders bet on private startups, venture capital's traditional IPO exit path is fracturing from the outside in.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·10 min
Startups · Founder Culture

Co-CEO Model Gains Traction as Startups Rethink Founder Dynamics

Kraken's co-CEO arrangement as it approaches an IPO, alongside the Ethereum Foundation's recent turmoil, underscores a broader startup movement to prevent co-founder relationships from imploding through shared leadership.

By Caoimhe Yamashita·12 min
Startups · Secondary Markets

Private-Share Trading Hits Records as Companies Try to Shut It Down

As secondary trading volumes hit records, Anthropic clamps down on unauthorized platforms and SpaceX's mega-IPO looms, tokenization and new infrastructure are reshaping private share liquidity faster than regulations can keep up.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·10 min
Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, attending the 12th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony in Santa Monica, California in April 2026. Startups · Venture Capital

ILPA Tells Venture Funds: Stop Billing LPs for Formation Costs

The ILPA releases guidance to shift fund formation legal costs away from limited partners, while Robinhood mints 150,000 retail LPs and solo GPs keep closing term sheets, rewriting the venture fund cycle in 2026.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·11 min
Startups · Founder Profiles

Second-Time Founders Treat Every Company as a Warm-Up

From the steroid-soaked spectacle of the Enhanced Games to an AI tribunal for billionaires, this breed of serial entrepreneur treats every startup as a warm-up, with the Las Vegas event just closing its books as its founders already left.

By Caoimhe Yamashita·9 min
Sierra Technologies branding and logo on a dark background, representing the AI agent startup's corporate identity. Startups · Venture Capital

AI Venture Capital Pipeline Reshapes the VC Playbook from Seed to Pre-IPO

A $32 million seed-and-Series-A combo for agent infrastructure and a $950 million growth round for an AI customer-experience platform are fueling a 2026 deal-flow conveyor belt that is running faster and hotter than any moment since 2021.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·10 min
Venture Capital Deal Structures: Complete Guide (2024) Startups · Fund Formation

Retail Capital Reshapes Venture Fund Formation, LPs Take Notes

Robinhood's publicly traded venture fund now holds OpenAI shares, and AngelList's regulated VC fund accepts a $500 minimum, together tapping billions from retail investors who have never encountered a capital call.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·10 min
Venture Capital Funds Formation Guide | Dilendorf Law Firm Startups · Venture Capital

Venture Fund Formation Rewires: LP Migration and AI Reshape Capital

As traditional limited partners retreat, banks and retail vehicles surge into venture capital, while the AI megacycle concentrates capital at the top, driving the most consequential realignment of the fund-raising model in a generation.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·9 min
The Pit founding team photographed in Stockholm, Sweden by Hugo Thambert. Startups · Founder Profiles

Second-Act Founders: Fredrik Hjelm's Pit AI Lands $16M from a16z

After scaling micromobility unicorn Voi, Fredrik Hjelm and co-founders launch Pit, an AI-native enterprise platform securing $16M from Andreessen Horowitz, illustrating the venture premium on repeat founders.

By Caoimhe Yamashita·9 min
An educational diagram explaining the structure of a venture capital fund, showing the relationship between Limited Partners, the fund, and portfolio companies. Startups · Venture Capital

Retail Investors Rewire the LP Base: VC's 2026 Fundraising Reset

AngelList's $500-minimum fund, Robinhood's NYSE-listed VC vehicle, and Restive's bank-backed Fund III closure signal a structural rewiring of the venture capital LP base that will reverberate through every cap table.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·9 min
AI Grabs Nearly 60% of Global Venture Capital in Q1 - AZC.News Startups · Venture Capital

AI Venture Funding Hits $242B in Q1, Reshaping Boardroom Control

Though a record $242 billion in AI venture funding in Q1 2026 suggests founders have the leverage, the complex deal structures being negotiated reveal a more nuanced battle for boardroom control as valuations soar past $900 billion.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·8 min
Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic, whose company is weighing a $50 billion funding round at a valuation exceeding $900 billion. Startups · Venture Capital

AI Pre-IPO Rounds Rewrite Venture Math as Hedge Funds Crowd In

From SiFive's $3.65 billion chip-design round to Anthropic's massive shadow funding, late-stage AI and infrastructure deals concentrate capital among hedge funds and strategic giants, leaving less room for early-stage backers.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·9 min
Startups · Work Culture

Remote Work's Quiet Third Way Most Startups Won't Name

From a photographer's kitchen in Antarctica to a San Francisco startup office, the real startup culture experiment isn't about where people sit but who gets to decide when and where they work.

By Caoimhe Yamashita·7 min
Stages of Venture Capital Investment: From Seed to IPO Venture · AI Infrastructure

Integrant's 7-Month Series A to Pre-IPO Sprint: A New VC Timeline

April's $56 billion venture haul masks a deepening split, as AI and infrastructure companies like Integrant race from Series A to pre-IPO in under a year, leaving later funds and loose pitches crowded out by structural risk.

By Dmitri Aitkenov·9 min

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