J.D. Englehart

I've been spending some time thinking about the second-order effects of what happens as large, multi-stage venture funds account for a greater share of VC AUM. One area of particular interest to me is the evolving conversation around how multi-stage firms will think about conflicts in a world where they need to be in the biggest, power law companies. https://lnkd.in/d2RZXcEw

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I'm happy to announce that Founder Institute is bringing on Paul O'Brien as our first Head of Public Affairs. Paul joins FI with decades of experience tackling the systemic reasons startups and local ecosystems fail due to misaligned policy, underperforming startup programs, or institutional neglect of the realities of launching endurable businesses in today's economy. From Austin to Silicon Valley and beyond, Paul has championed the idea that education is infrastructure, and that cities should treat entrepreneurial development as essential as roads, broadband, and water. At FI we couldn't agree more, and as AI transforms our economy I believe the future of our society will be found at the convergence of how we teach, how we govern, and how we serve entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, I speak to government and economic development officials every week that are completely neglecting the education and development of new entrepreneurs in their regions. In his new role, Paul will help us push FI's mission to empower communities of entrepreneurs forward through Policy Engagement, University and Civic Integration, and Ecosystem Accountability. If your city, university, or organization is ready to integrate structured entrepreneurial incubation and acceleration with policy and capital strategy, now’s the time to connect! 🔗 Read the full announcement - https://lnkd.in/eenwHujW (and welcome on board, Paul! 👏 )

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🚨 New investment announcement! (cc Alastair (Alex) Rampell, Seema Amble) We Andreessen Horowitz are leading Salient's $60M Series A. Salient builds AI for loan servicers. In the last 18 months, they've processed more than $1B in transactions and helped lenders cut handle times by 60%. Consumer lending is a massive market (~80% of households have debt). Lenders are currently weighed down by heavy customer support volume, handled manually now across text, email, phone, and chat. Salient's agents automate this - and monitor for UDAAP and other violations. Salient's co-founders Ari Malik and Mukund Tibrewala hustle - embedding themselves with customers to understand and build for their custom workflows. They're already working with major lenders including Westlake, ACA, Exeter, and CPS, as well as three publicly listed banks. Learn more about our investment, and why we're so excited to partner with the Salient team, here: https://lnkd.in/gxas8_he

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