Big tech companies get bigger, and why its hard to create a data or an AI moat
A weekly newsletter that profiles women in venture and technology
Welcome to Heroa, a weekly newsletter that aims to raise the profile of women in ventures. If you enjoy what you read, please do share this newsletter with friends and subscribe - Alexandra.
Round-up of the news this week
Happy Bank Holiday for all those reading this from the UK. This week I’ve enjoyed watching the below documentary on the creation of the modern innovation economy 🚀.
It’s been a good week for tech. Darktrace, founded by Poppy Gustafsson, saw its shares soar 40% on the back of its £1.7B IPO debut. Big technology firms also exceeded expectations. According to earnings reports released this week, the combined yearly revenue of Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Facebook is more than 25% higher than a year ago. These five firms make up around 17% of the stock market's value. This last year has again proved that some of the most successful businesses are built on intangible assets.
Finally, When we think of influencers, we don’t tend to think of excel. Meet Miss Excel, a new tick-tock star making a six-figure salary teaching excel tips and tricks.
From the investors
“Data network effects — although a powerful potential source of defensibility — typically tend to be weaker than many people often want to believe and might take time to materialise.”Aurore Falque-Pierrotin of Samaipata Ventures
Data network effects - the new Holy Grail? Aurore Falque-Pierrotin of Samaipata discusses if data can trigger increasing returns to scale. Creating a data moat is more complex than you think. Aurore suggests a seven-point framework for potentially creating a source of defensibility through a data network effect… Read more here.
From Angel to IPO in four years - The Story of PensionBee. The incredible Deepali Nangai, the founder of Alma Angels, explains why she invested in PensionBee. Deepali then interviews Romi, the founder of PensionBee, on how she built her business and why she only choose to take funding from (130) angels and not VC’s… Read more here.
The Great Unbundling of Venture Capital 2021: Emerging Trends, Challenges and Opportunities. This is a fascinating read in light of the tech earnings reports released this week. Olga Maslikhova, an early-stage VC, predicts that as valuations of Series A+ companies continue to soar, super early-stage investing represents a uniquely lucrative opportunity for large funds to make venture capital unit economics work…Read more here.
From the operators
“Your team is “we”. You are a driving force of that team, no matter how high up the hierarchy chain.” Sarah Drasner, formerly Netlify
Your team is not “them”. Sarah Drasner, formerly Netlify, has analysed how people talk about teams. The way that we refer to our teams sends signals: to stakeholders, to your peers, to the team itself, and even to ourselves. This is worth a read if you are part of a team (which, as Sarah discusses, we all are!) … Read more here.
🤖 Why AI is harder than we think, I hope that it is a truth that is universally acknowledged that we often say that software programs use AI when they don’t. Melanie Mitchell of the Santa Fe Institute describes four fallacies made by AI researchers, which lead to overconfident predictions. Finally, she argues that crucially we need to bring more common sense into the science of AI… Read more here.
Don’t sleep on this—an insightful interview with Jingyun Fan, the Founder and CEO of Shuni, a sleep start-up. Jingyun talks about how she set up and evolved the company and how she thinks about developing a product that works for different customer needs. There’s also a great section on recent investments and IPO’s in the wellness space…Read more here.
Events
SaaS Companies: Pre-empting DD – key things you need to know when raising from investors to supercharge your series A. Run by Point Nine Capital on Tuesday, May 4th 2021 - 12:00 PM (BST).
NFT Virtual Summit - Join a16z, the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research, and the best NFT builders and thinkers for a virtual summit to cover everything you want to know about non-fungible tokens on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 11:30 am - 1:30 pm (PT).
An NFT created by one of the artists on the panel
The Female Investor Track. Applications are open until the 21st of May for this 3-week masterclass to help women who are just starting their careers in venture transition and grow in the industry. They are looking to build a strong cohort of passionate, eager, and driven female students who will learn from the best investors, fund managers, and founders in the game.
Opportunities
Oxford Capital - Investment Director - 🇬🇧
Year Here - Head of Ventures - 🇬🇧
Darktrace - Sales Account Executive - 🇬🇧
SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY!
If you have any comments, questions, or want to chat about start-ups and venturing, then do drop me a comment.
Written by Alexandra Wyatt, based in London but (usually!) a global traveller. You can also reach me on Twitter and Instagram.