SandHill.io aggregates and shares the latest investment themes, market insights, and best practices for operating and investing from 700+ VCs, analysts, and operators.

This newsletter curates a selection of posts featured on the website each week.

Investment Themes, Theses, & Outlooks

• The AI Application Age: Meet functional analysts, the new vertical SaaS (Molly Welch, VC @ Radical)

• Tailwinds of Change: Reengineering Hardware Design and Manufacturing (Feyza Haskaraman, Principal @ Menlo)

• Make Hardware Great Again (Julien Lepleux, Principal @ Bleu Capital)

• Redefining the American Dream: From House Keys to Business Keys (David Roos, Partner @ Core Innovation)

Industry Developments & Analyses

• Mapping the impending impact of Vertical AI (Marissa Moore & Taku Murahwi, OMERS)

• Full Steam Ahead: The 2024 MAD (Machine Learning, AI & Data) Landscape (Matt Turck, Partner @ FirstMark)

• Real Data Won’t Be the Future of Model Development (Brian Zhan & Max Gazor, CRV)

• Re-Imagining the Healthcare Delivery Journey with Generative AI (Nick Chedid, Ambar Bhattacharyya, Justin Norden)

• Transforming Corporate Travel: An Open Roadmap to Fixing a Broken System (Steve Singh, MD @ Madrona)

• SaaS Multiples down in Q1 (Sammy Abdullah, GP @ Blossom Street VC)

Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating

• Company-Building during the AI Wave (Travis May, GP @ Shaper Capital)

• From Ports to Transformations (Jacob Andreou, GP @ Greylock)

• Win/lose vs True/false (Yoni Rechtman, Principal @ Slow)

• Growth gets a much higher multiple than profitability (Sammy Abdullah, GP @ Blossom Street VC)

• Managing and Presenting to Your Board (David Teten, Partner @ Versatile VC)

• The Importance of Financial Projections for Early-Stage Startups (Trace Cohen, Partner @ NYVP)

• Your unhinged guide to growth (Kyle Poyar, Partner @ OpenView)

Additional Reads

• The Next Blackstone (Philip Clark, VC @ Thrive)

• What MidJourney, DeepL, ElevenLabs, and HeyGen have in common (Sarah Tavel, GP @ Benchmark)

• Weapons of Mass Production (Rex Woodbury, MP @ Daybreak)

• AI is a bad biz model but can be a great GTM for better ones (Yoni Rechtman, Principal @ Slow)

• YC's Secret SAFE (Chris Harvey, Venture Lawyer)

• The Glass-Half War: Empty or Full? (Kyle Harrison, GP @ Contrary)

• What Are VCs Really Looking For Right Now? (Gabby Cazeau, Partner @ Harlem)

Did we miss something?

We’re now pulling posts from over 700+ newsletters and blogs (full list here). Let us know if you notice something we miss and we'll include it in the next digest. Just respond to this email with the URL.