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Jaden Schaefer

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
6788 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

He was kind of saying what VCs are looking at.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

And he said, the SaaS companies struggling to raise capital are the ones that can easily be rebuilt.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

So generic productivity tools, product management platforms, basic CRM clones, and kind of thin AI wrappers on top of existing APIs all fall into the category.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

Now, are these not going to be successful companies?

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

No.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

And this is perhaps what I think

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

It is a really important data point outside of investors and VCs because we just saw a massive exit in AI from a company that was, I think, CalAI just got acquired by my fitness pal that acquired them.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

And CalAI just helps you track your calories.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

It helps you lose weight.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

And a lot of people are like, oh, man, this is just a thin wrapper on top of ChatGPT.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

But guess what?

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

they had 15 million downloads.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

They had over $30 million in annualized revenue.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

And really, a lot of their unlock was that they really hacked the growth hacking on social media, TikTok, and making shorts.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

And so I think on the one hand, you have a lot of these people that are saying, you know, oh, look, like you can't invest in these companies that are thin kind of wrappers.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

Well, if you have another angle, like if you have the growth kind of locked in and you can get $30 million in annual recurring revenue, guess what?

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

You're going to get an acquisition.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

And so that's what happened.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

MyFitnessPal went and acquired them.

AI HR
What VC's Are Looking For in AI Startups Today

So