CB Insights - founder hot or not

Hi there,

Last month, we launched Management Mosaic, an algorithm for scoring founders.

Oh boy.

The idea of rating people and teams certainly gets people talking.  

For some of you, especially those of you who’ve seen the Black Mirror episode "Nosedive," you thought it was scary.  

The reality is we’ve scored startups for a while as part of our Mosaic algo. For the last 7 years, it consisted of 3 models, aka the 3 Ms:

• Momentum

• Market

• Money

Mosaic has been ridiculously good at picking unicorns, as mentioned yesterday.

Clients regularly asked us for a 4th M: Management.

It was also the most challenging so it took us a while to develop a model we had faith in.

I recently chatted with Biz Carson at Protocol about the algorithm and how it serves as a shortcut to separate startup technology company players from the pretenders (grab the link in The Industry Standard below).

In her write-up, she details some of the atypical attributes we’ve observed that are indicative of founder success. Some of these fly in the face of conventional wisdom built upon the shallow mental models that people rely on. 

We’re already seeing clients use Management Mosaic to find the best companies in a way that is immensely scalable and not constrained by shallow mental models or by being in the same network, geography, etc. They’re also importing this data directly into their internal systems via our API. 

To see Management Mosaic in action, clients can check out our analyses of the: 

• Most impressive Y Combinator founders

• Best seed-stage founding teams

• Top Uber alumni companies

And much more to come. 

Bundle up, big tech is coming

Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon — which combined are worth 3x the collective valuation of all 800+ unicorns in the world — wield vast influence over numerous industries.

To get you up to speed on where FAMGA is heading next in financial services, healthcare, and more, we’ve put together our top big tech research reports.

There’s a change in the air

Investors have poured record amounts of funding into energy storage, hydrogen, and carbon, capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) companies in 2021 so far. 

Climate tech solutions are primarily tackling two major challenges: 1) abating emissions and 2) reducing resource use.

We dig into climate tech trends in industrials — spotlighting top deals, companies to watch, and more — in this data-driven report.

Down the tubes

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Except not like this. 

Calling all blockchain cos

If your company’s working on blockchain or crypto tech, you’re going to want to see this.

We just opened applications for our second annual Blockchain 50 list, our roundup of the most innovative companies in the space.

To apply, all you need to do is fill out this initial application form. (It’ll take no more than 5 mins.)

If selected, you’ll be asked to complete our Analyst Briefing Survey so our analysts can better understand your products, customers, and market traction.

Apply here before November 2. And while you’re at it, download all our top research on blockchain here.

Put your data to work

Over the last 5 years, manufacturers worldwide have quadrupled their spend on IoT products. 

To put this data to work, manufacturers like Ford and Boeing are turning to factory analytics platforms. 

We surveyed the factory analytics players and mapped them using our ESP vendor assessment methodology. They include:

• Arundo

• Conundrum

• Fero Labs

• Foghorn

• Kinexon

• Seeq

• Sight Machine

If you are looking to understand the factory analytics landscape or initiate a vendor selection process, download our ESP Vendor Assessment report here.

The Industry Standard

Protocol. Biz Carson (@bizcarson) discusses the CB Insights founder scoring algorithm with CBI CEO Anand Sanwal (@asanwal).

Bloomberg. Saritha Rai (@SarithaRai) covers hotel-booking startup Oyo’s IPO filing and cites CB Insights valuation data. 
 

Business Insider. Shannen Balogh (@shannen_balogh) and Bradley Saacks (@SaacksAttack) cover fintech company Zero Hash’s recent raise and reference CB Insights research.
 

P.S. We’re hiring a product marketing manager. Apply here.

Client-Exclusive Research
 

[Venture & Tech]

Stripe’s strategy. We mined Stripe’s acquisitions, investments, and partnerships to discern the company's strategic priorities.

[Industrials]

Oil & gas tech market map. Startups in oil & gas are looking to improve efficiencies and update systems across the energy value chain.

[Financial Services]

RPA in life insurance. Robotic process automation (RPA) solutions can streamline and automate life insurance processes — here are the leading vendors. 

[Mobility]

Micromobility market map. As bike and scooter adoption accelerates amid the pandemic, these startups are driving innovation in the way people travel.