Dr. Manu Kumar 👋🏽
@ManuKumar
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Chief Firestarter @K9Ventures 🦮 (OG Pre-Seed) Investor @lyft @twilio @auth0 @lucidchart @everlaw @playosmo Co-founder @CartaInc 🥧 Co-founder & CEO @HiHello 👋
Palo Alto, CA
Joined April 2008
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1/ So much of building a product/company is about progressive discovery. You build something, you figure out something else, then you build that, and so on. But you only figure out what to build by taking the first step, which may not always be *exactly* in the right direction.
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#NewYearsEve
is synonymous with
#Fireworks
. I wish the human race would realize that it’s time to transcend fireworks for the pollution (air and noise) they cause and consider moving to drone lightshows w/choreographed music like this one by
@nanduri_anil
.
#reusable
#nonpolluting
2,018 Intel Shooting Star drones flying in formation acting as a 3D display.
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This is the future of fireworks. Choreographed music, with a amazing visual display to light up the sky with no pollution and without bothering the dogs!
2,018 Intel Shooting Star drones flying in formation acting as a 3D display.
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1/ I believe we are approaching the point (or have we already passed it?) where every startup in the San Francisco Bay Area will have a distributed team. Such is the reality of living in the Bay Area, with housing costs, traffic, commute times, high rents, and more.
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This is an amazing engineering effort to show the status of the vote count in the remaining States.
Kudos to the people behind this.
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You may be a 100x engineer or a unicorn founder, but if you don’t have basic morals, integrity, ethics, and ingenuity I don’t ever want to work with you.
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My Twitter feed has become very uninteresting-I’m growing tired of the same old VC Twitter... constant ‘advice for founders’ often stated in generalizations from people who either never had founding experience or their experience is deeply dated. I should follow more Dog Twitter!
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When I read books, I generally favor non-fiction. Lately I feel like the premise of most non-fiction business books could be sufficiently expressed in a fraction of the length that the authors devote to the topic. Either that, or I’m just becoming more impatient and grumpier 🤷🏽♂️
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A startup fails when its’s Founder/CEO gives up. And a startup succeeds when the Founder/CEO refuses to give up and keeps on trying until they succeed.
#InsanePerseverance
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Some of the most costly (in terms of time, stress, and money, in that order) decisions I have made in venture or as a founder is when I have been swayed by logic, and/or the interpretation of limited data, to override instinct.
As an investor/founder you have to
#TrustYourGut
.
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Google co-founder Sergey Brin joins protest against immigration order at San Francisco airport via
@Verge
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Today I'm hosting
@K9Ventures
' annual meeting at
@TheK9Kennel
. 2019 marks 10yrs for K9. Some key
#s
:
1: GP
3: Funds (6.25M, 40M, 42M)
40: Investments
~100: Amazing founders
2: IPOs each >$10B
3: Companies valued >$1B (more coming!)
🙏🏽 to founders, LPs, VCs, & all
#FriendsOfK9
!
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I recently co-founded a new company (yes, another one!).
Here is the blog post I just published about our initial app launch.
We're just getting started, but I request you to please download the app & give it a spin. We welcome your feedback! Thank you!
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The
#1
reason for having a board meeting as an early stage company is not because you have investors/board members, but because it forces you to pull up from the weeds and think strategically. Board meeting serves as the forcing function for this on a regular cadence.
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@elonmusk
Appreciate your effort, but some people just just aren’t worth the effort. Trump is at the top of that list. Thanks for trying.
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It’s Regeneron, not Regeron. If this was drafted by a real doctor, he/she would not make that mistake.
White House statement, in Conley's name, says, “I incorrectly used the term ... ‘forty-eight hours’ ... with regards to... the administration of the polyclonal antibody therapy.”
Conley never said that. The "48 hours" remark came from Dr. Brian Garibaldi.
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It’s sad when you have to resort to
@Wikipedia
or
@TechCrunch
to figure out what a company does, because their own website can’t explain it.
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Guess he better resign before then!
#TrumpResign
Secret Service says it will run out of money to protect Trump and his family Sept. 30
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Today was my annual meeting for
@K9Ventures
. We're NOT in normal times and therefore I wanted all K9 LPs, K9 founders, and all
#FriendsOfK9
to know what I believe in and what I stand for. Here is my closing statement:
#VOTE
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As yet another example of the ridiculousness of the US healthcare system…
Paid $200 (after insurance!) for 2 pills of a prescription medicine.
Same medicine available for 6 pills for Rs. 16 in India. That’s $0.23.
Yes, that’s 4 cents/pill in India, vs. $100/pill in the US.
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Thread...
JUST IN — "Camp Auschwitz" insurrectionist of the Capitol siege was just arrested this morning in Newport News, VIrginia.
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42: The answer to life, the Universe, and everything.
…and the size of
@K9Ventures
' new fund (K9 Ventures III)
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6/ That said, there is really no substitute for having a good f2f discussion with the whole team. That might mean we have to shift our working styles to quiet/independent working days co-mingled with a few group/collaborative working days.
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Today marks 10 years for
@K9Ventures
.
And I almost forgot 🤭
Here is a short and quick thank you note to all the
#FriendsOfK9
🙏🏽
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Incredible reporting and storytelling here on a topic that explains why policing must change.
This is a story from 2018 about a police officer who decided NOT to shoot a black man, and instead attempted to de-escalate.
Then another officer arrived & fatally shot the man.
The police department fired one of these officers.
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Congrats
@jeffiel
@thuddwhirr
@emcooke
on
@twilio
’s S-1 filing!
First ever
@K9Ventures
portfolio company to file!
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The beauty of having an “engineer’s mind” is that nothing is impossible — it’s just a function of how much time it takes to figure it out. Combine that with a “founder’s drive” to get shit done, and that’s when magic happens.
#EngineersMind
+
#FoundersDrive
==
#Magic
🌟
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I’ve been investing through
@K9Ventures
for ~12 years now since 2009. It’s been over 48 investments and every time I’m approving the wire for a new investment I’m still a bit afraid/stressed out. 😰
Here is hoping that that feeling never goes away. It keeps me grounded and real.
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I am sharing a few slides from the
@K9Ventures
annual meeting earlier this week that present *my view* of the startup/venture ecosystem at the current time in this thread.
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Founders: know your metrics when you're pitching. This isn't rocket science. Great post
@a16z
16 Startup Metrics
http://t.co/ykCKPqZqqZ
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5/ I‘ve definitely softened my views on this after having been beaten down by how hard it is to find talented people. Given how much I hate sitting in traffic, it’s unreasonable to expect people to do that every day.
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At some point we need to rethink fireworks as a form of celebration.
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1/ Raising gobs of capital early does not always lead to a successful company. It just delays the company figuring out product and business model and leads to a burn rate that becomes harder to ever match with gross margin.
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14 of
@Lyft
's top 30 execs are female, including two big new hires. Here's why it matters
http://t.co/vEV5YkAbLS
by
@EvieN
@FastCompany
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I just subscribed to both
@nytimes
and
@washingtonpost
. Real journalism is going to matter more than ever in a
@realDonaldTrump
presidency.
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Since I haven’t said this in a while, I figured now is as good a time as any to vent:
Donald Trump is a fucking narcissistic idiot and the GOP is full of hypocritical power-hungry assholes.
Thanks to both, lots of people will die and many more will suffer.
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1/ Proud of
@K9Ventures
’ portfolio co.
@EnumaApps
, the co. behind
@kitkitschool
for being a winner of the
#GlobalLearning
@xprize
competition! They tied in first place w/
@onebillion
for the $10M prize presented by
@elonmusk
,
@PeterHDiamandis
,
@AnoushehAnsari
&
@emilymusilchrch
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Dear
@Apple
, Could we please get new MacBooks with better/quieter keyboards. Pretty please!?
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Every LP & GP should read Howard Marks’ recent memo. I highlighted my favorite parts and translated it for VC here:
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There really is an old tweet for every occasion!
My sense is that people are far angrier at the President than they are at Congress re the shutdown—an interesting turn!
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To all my friends who work/worked at Google: your work is enabling sites like Breitbart. Remove Breitbart as a
@googleadsense
publisher.
At some level I *partly* blame
@Google
/
@googleadsense
for the demise of the Internet / proliferation of crap websites and click-bait.
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1/ Stoked to announce the Series A financing for
@HiHello
led by
@foundrygroup
with participation from
@Lux_Capital
,
@AugustCapital
, and several founders and operators who joined the round (see thread for more)
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An engineer’s desire for accuracy is so often at odds with marketing’s need for simplicity.
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@danprimack
Don’t know the source of this image, but it was effective for convincing my 8 yr old to wear his mask the right way! 😷
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1/ Wednesday’s are my office hours for
@K9Ventures
' portfolio companies. Today I chatted with 9 companies and as I approach the end of the day, all I can think of is “Startups are hard.”
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Go Carta! Kudos to
@henrysward
& the entire
@cartainc
team
@S27G_
@CKevers
@EmilyKramer
@josh_io
@rysullivan
@aforth
@NolanChurch
@DrDreSay
@SeelyRabbit
@sokeefeusa
@jordaneagnew
& so many others who helped to build Carta into a category defining company.
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I have a preference for companies that lead with product/service and actually do right by their users/customer and humanity in general rather than those that rely on constant hollow virtue signaling for their marketing messages.
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Just closed on
@K9Ventures
’ 20th transaction for 2018 (counting new investments, follow-ons, and exits) …and still counting as the year is not done yet.
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Excited to announce the Seed round for
@HiHello_Me
led by
@AugustCapital
, with participation from
@K9Ventures
and
@tenone10
.
And I’m absolutely delighted to officially welcome
@villi
to our Board for this next phase of the vision for HiHello.
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3/ Also has interesting implications about whether being in the East Bay, SF, or Peninsula is any different than being in India, Ukraine, or Poland. Timezone may be the only advantage at play here.
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2/ This is why it’s impossible to “accelerate” a startup. Some things you only figure out over time and only when your mind is ready to see and absorb the signals you're getting. Sometimes these are weak signals & if you didn't go from Point A to Point B, you wouldn't hear them.
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I am a first gen
#immigrant
#founder
who co-founded a unicorn, have invested in over 7 others (decacorns and unicorns), with more to come. Took me 15 years to become a naturalized American citizen 🇺🇸 and I have invested in several immigrant founders who are amazing 💪🏽🇺🇸🚀.
Where Were Unicorn Founders Born?
New result on immigrants & US economy
For 1,078 founders of 500 US unicorns, I identified founders' countries of birth. Conclusion: Over four out of ten unicorn founders are first gen immigrants.
@StanfordGSB
#startups
#immigration
#unicorn
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Thread...
Children &
#COVID19
—UK 🇬🇧 SAGE expert report speaks for itself.
📌Kids more likely to bring the virus into household than aged 17+
📌Young people 2-16 more likely to be first case in household—age 12-16 are 7x more likely.
📌2-16 year olds more >2x as likely to pass on virus.
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IMHO anyone who thinks they can learn to build a company in a 8-12 week bootcamp/accelerator is suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking.
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Thank you to
@Budweiser
,
@Airbnb
and
@CocaCola
for showing messages for immigrants, inclusiveness, and togetherness to millions of Americans
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1/ Just hit ‘approve' on the wire for
@K9Ventures
’s 2nd
#PreSeed
investment since the
#ShelterInPlace
during
#COVID19
.
To be fair, both have been in process since before the lockdown. Excited to work with both teams.
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GlobalEconomy.reset();
GlobalEducation.reset();
GlobalHealthcare.reset();
GlobalClimate.reset();
It feels like Earth 🌎 🌏 🌍 is calling for a reset/reboot; giving countries, leaders, and all human beings a wake up call.
#coronavirus
#COVID19
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Still my favorite stock certificate #: PS-001!
@K9Ventures
#PreSeed
#FirstMoneyIn
#FrighteninglyEarly
And of course, it’s even better to get it on
@cartainc
!
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Totally underwater.
There was a time when I would be careful about which balls I let drop, but now I’m at a stage where I have to decide which ones I’m able to pick up. That’s a whole new level.
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Thanks
@HarryStebbings
! I’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing companies & founders through
@K9Ventures
! I have also had LPs who have always been supportive & allowed me to do things in my own way. Grateful to all of them.
Not done building yet though, more to come!
The most insane micro-fund track record you might not know about! 👇
K9 Ventures Fund I ($6.25M),
@ManuKumar
made early investments in:
Twilio ($10.5BN Market Cap)
Carta ($7.4BN Latest Valuation)
Lyft ($3.9BN Market Cap)
Lucid ($3BN Latest Valuation)
Everlaw ($2.1BN
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6/ Twitter summary: Seed is the New A. Pre-Seed is the New Seed. The New Venture Landscape is here and here to stay.
http://t.co/tXsFmAyJ9I
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4/ As someone who has railed against distributed teams and remote work in the past (see ) it really makes me question the tradeoffs between having that ideal colocated team vs. finding people with the right skills in a timely manner.
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Brilliant post by
@bgurley
from 2011. Quite relevant today. All founders should read the 10 points in this post.
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1/ The common practice of VC firms baking in the fees for their legal expenses (investor counsel) into term sheets so that companies have to bear those costs does not make sense to me. IMHO Investors should pay their own legal costs.
Blog post:
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So ready for the arc of the moral universe to start bending toward justice, like it’s supposed to.
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Realized that my tweet earlier today about calling
#PeakVC
probably needed more than 140 characters. Blog post:
http://t.co/N50wJUtVs0
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When someone responds to an email, but only answers some of the questions, it always leaves me wondering whether they just didn’t pay attention, or, whether they are strategically avoiding answering the other questions 🤔
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2/ Having face-time a couple of days a week is going to be the best we can expect given this reality. Building teams and getting the right talent comes with dealing with these realities.
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1/ To be a good/great early-stage investor you have to learn to trust your gut and invest *before* there are clear market signals.
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Paper business cards, contact exchange & contact management is a problem that’s been bothering me for over two decades.
I co-founded
@CardMunch
to solve this problem, but
@LinkedIn
killed it. So I’m doing it all over again with
@HiHello
.
Give us a try at
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Scratch that; EVERY founder should read this. It is gold. Structure like a sports team. Build leverage.
@eshares
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Best endorsement for
@HillaryClinton
comes from
@realDonaldTrump
: "She doesn't quit, she doesn't give up. She's a fighter."
#debate
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1/ Been loving my cool new
@zoom_us
background courtesy of
@HiHello
! Love being able to include the
@K9Ventures
logo, name, title.
#ShowYourBrand
Would you like
#VirtualBackgrounds
like this? Like or
@reply
to let us know and if enough people want it we will build it!
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3/ The metaphor I use to explain this to founders is "Sometimes there is no direct flight and you have to take a connecting flight." You can't get there from here, unless you go in some other direction first.
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Excited for launch of
@TrapticInc
, a
@K9Ventures
' portfolio co that is "Solving Hard Problems" by building robotic harvesting machines to help pick fruits & vegetables (starting with 🍓🍓) on farms.
Psyched to be working with
@homebrew
&
@villageglobal
!
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I was thinking today that now would be great for all the living former Presidents of the United States to make a joint statement about democracy, the democratic process, and the transition of power.
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VCs (especially Series A and higher) love to talk about metrics. They do this because it's a way for them to evaluate and compare companies and help make investment decisions.
But as a founder, I'm cautious about over-indexing to the metrics VCs want to look at.
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This is absolutely brilliant and one of the best, most useful threads I have ever encountered on
@Twitter
.
I AirPlay’d this to our TV and read it out loud to our kids.
Thank You
@wdmorrisjr
for this
#TwitterGem
🙏🏽 🙇🏽♂️
Parents have to choose their battles.
8 fights worth picking with your kids:
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.
@Jason
I attended part of
@LAUNCH
Scale exactly a month ago, and I’m still walking around with the wristband from that day!
Love the
#DoTheWork
motto and it inspires me do exactly that for building
@HiHello
!
P.S. 💜’d
@rahulvohra
’s presentation on product-market fit too.
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So easy to be in awe or be dismissive of a company. Until you take a look under the hood, your opinion is just an opinion & probably wrong.
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All of
@K9ventures
’ funds are now using
@cartainc
for fund administration and it’s been a very smooth experience. Thank you 🙏 to the team supporting K9 for their excellent work.
We launched our fund admin business a year ago and now have over $9B AUA & we’ll keep doubling down on products for investors with our (very recent) Series E funding. Read about our vision for fund admin
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Today
@eShares
launched eShares for Founders: $100/yr for self-serve basic cap table (common stock only) for C-Corps w/<=25 stockholders! 🙌
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Finding product-market-fit is sometimes like baking.
Turning up the heat (throwing money at it or trying to speed it up artificially) is only going to lead to getting burned or spoiled.
Time (the passage of) and Timing are essential ingredients to getting it right.
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This small step for Carta, is a giant leap for private markets.
This was the vision for
@cartainc
all along and getting to this milestone is a huge achievement not only for the company but for the system. It's a game-changer.
Congrats to the whole team!
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Seed is not the first round of financing any more. Series A is now the 4th round of funding.
#NewVCLandscape
http://t.co/tF7kGQkO6l
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