The United States boasts the largest and most dynamic startup ecosystem in the world, with major hubs like Silicon Valley, New York City, and Boston. This ecosystem is characterized by a strong venture capital presence and a supportive culture for innovation and entrepreneurship. The U.S. continues to lead globally in technological innovation and startup activity, contributing significantly to economic growth and job creation.
As of 2024, the U.S. is home to approximately 77,927 startups. The startup ecosystem is supported by substantial venture capital investments, which totaled around $162.6 billion in 2022. This robust financial backing highlights the confidence investors have in the U.S. startup market, ensuring ample funding for innovation and growth.
Key strengths of the U.S. market include a highly skilled workforce, advanced technological infrastructure, and a culture that encourages risk-taking and entrepreneurship. The presence of major tech companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook fosters a collaborative environment and provides ample opportunities for startups. Additionally, the U.S. government offers support through various grants and tax incentives, such as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
Silicon Valley remains the epicenter of innovation, driving advancements in AI, biotechnology, fintech, and clean energy. New York City excels in finance and media, while Boston is strong in biotechnology and education-driven startups. These regions are crucial to the U.S. startup ecosystem, offering a wealth of resources, talent, and opportunities.
Cities like Austin, Denver, and Seattle are emerging as significant tech hubs. These cities provide a favorable business climate, quality of life, and are becoming attractive locations for startups and talent. The rise of remote work has further expanded opportunities for startups to access talent from various regions, contributing to the growth of these emerging hubs.
The U.S. startup market benefits from a comprehensive support system of accelerators, incubators, and co-working spaces. Programs like Techstars and Y Combinator have been instrumental in nurturing early-stage startups, providing mentorship, resources, and funding. These support systems help startups at various stages of their journey to scale and succeed.
Despite its strengths, the U.S. startup ecosystem faces challenges such as high costs of living, regulatory hurdles, and intense competition for talent. These challenges can create barriers for new startups and require strategic navigation to ensure long-term success.
The U.S. startup market features a diverse customer base and a culture that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. The rise of remote work has expanded opportunities, allowing startups to access talent from various regions. The future outlook remains positive with continuous growth and innovation, driven by emerging technologies such as blockchain, quantum computing, and green energy.
The U.S. startup ecosystem is characterized by its resilience and adaptability. Despite challenges, the ecosystem continues to evolve, driven by a strong culture of entrepreneurship and technological advancements. This ensures the U.S. remains at the forefront of global innovation, contributing significantly to economic growth and job creation.
Palo Alto - California, U.S.A. - Global: U.S.A., Australia, Canada, Germany, U.K., Israel, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, Iceland
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • BioTech • A.I. (& Big Data) • Blockchain (& Cryptos) • Autonomous vehicles (& Cars) • Cloud Services (& Infrastructure) • Developer tools • Consumer
Most Interested In
API E-Commerce Education Enterprise Fintech Food and Beverage Future of Work Gaming Government Technology Hardware Health and Wellness Healthcare/Medtech Industrial Internet and Mobile IoT Life Sciences Productivity Proptech/Real Estate Robotics SaaS Social Supply Chain/Logistics Transportation Travel/Hospitality
San Francisco Bay Area - Palo Alto - California, U.S.A.
BioTech • Energy • A.I. (& Big Data) • HealthTech (& Fitness) • Blockchain (& Cryptos) • Analytics • Cloud Services (& Infrastructure) • Future Of Work • Robotics
Partner @lux-capital. Early stage tech investor. Previously VC @general-catalyst-partners, co-founder @rough-draft-ventures-1, MIT PhD.
New York, U.S.A.
BioTech • Hardware (& Manufacturing) • A.I. (& Big Data) • HealthTech (& Fitness) • Blockchain (& Cryptos) • Robotics • Aerospace (& Defense) • DeepTech • Nanotechnology • Woman Focused
General Partner at Compound
Most Interested In
Emerging categories with some level of commercial viability. Post-science project investing
Not Interested In
- Anything related to marketing automation or adtech - Marketplaces - VR content studios
Investing in Frontier Tech @rothenberg-ventures . Previously: Researched at @cb-insights-1 & invested at Crane Partners.
Tel Aviv - San Francisco Bay Area - Boston - Waltham - Massachusetts, U.S.A. - Israel
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • BioTech • Businesses Solutions • Sales (& Marketing) • A.I. (& Big Data) • Web Security (& Privacy) • Developer tools • Online Social
General Partner at CRV
Most Interested In
AI as applied to the real-world: autonomous vehicles, cyber security, demand forecasting, etc. Also any SaaS application (B2B only) Focused on Seed and A's only
Not Interested In
Not interested in Consumer software, FinTech, HC IT, Bio. Not pursuing later stage deals
Menlo Park - San Francisco Bay Area - California, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Media • BioTech • Businesses Solutions • Hardware (& Manufacturing) • A.I. (& Big Data) • Web Security (& Privacy) • Analytics • Developer tools
CEO at Gladly, Inc. and Partner at Greylock
Partner at Greylock. Former Entrepreneur.
San Francisco Bay Area - California, U.S.A. - Global: U.S.A., Australia, Canada, Germany, U.K., Israel, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, Iceland
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • BioTech • FinTech (& Financials services) • Developer tools
Hunter Walk is a Co-Founder and serves as a Partner at Homebrew. He served as Board Member Shyp. He also serves as an Advisor at Resolute Ventures. Prior to Homebrew, Hunter was VP of Product at Twitter, building and leading the Product Management and User Services tea Before Twitter, he was a Partner at Battery Ventures, where he co-led the seed and early stage investing practices. He joined Google in 2003 and was responsible for AdSense product management and partnerships. Before heading to Silicon Valley for Google, he worked for DoubleClick, in venture capital and as a strategy consultant. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in History from Vassar College.
San Francisco Bay Area - California, U.S.A.
BioTech • A.I. (& Big Data) • Robotics • DeepTech
Managing Director @ Obvious Ventures | Adjunct @ Stanford
Nan Li serves as Managing Director at Obvious Ventures. He also is an Angel Investor. He formerly served as Principal. Previously he worked at Bain Capital Ventures, where he joined in 2010. He has spent the majority of his time in the emerging consumer media and tech space, which includes web services, ad tech, social media, and analytics. Prior to Bain Capital Ventures, Li spent a number of years at Bain & Company in Chicago working on various strategic and operational issues in the consumer technology, renewable energy, healthcare, industrial, and non-profit sectors. He has been involved in several startups since his time at the University of Michigan. Li received a BSE in Computer Science Engineering, magna cum laude, from The University of Michigan. He also serves as Board Observer at Recursion Pharmaceuticals.
New York - Seattle - Washington, U.S.A.
BioTech • Businesses Solutions • A.I. (& Big Data) • Robotics
General Partner at IA Ventures
What I look for
Pre-product market fit companies making the world suck less by delivering magical-seeming solutions to important and difficult problems. And appeal to a rational economic buyer.
Founders who are customer domain experts with a formidable strategic understanding of, and an ambitious non-obvious take on, a fast growing market.
Companies benefiting from a massive fundamental trend. Ones where the market will continue to blossom over the next 10+ years. For example:
DataDog and DigitalOcean benefit from the incredible growth of new software developers,
Kepler benefits from the burgeoning space economy & software-defined satellites,
DataRobot benefits from the importance of ML and the desire to democratize it,
Coiled benefits from Python becoming the defacto language of data science/engineering,
Canvas benefits from the move to value-based health care, and
Vectra benefits from the rise of AI, the move to the cloud, and the increasing sophistication of security attacks.
Companies with audacious visions that can deliver an MVP and have many collisions with the market in the 12 months following our initial investment because distribution matters as much as product. Ones that can get to fast-growing, high-margin, scalable, and repeatable revenue within 18 months.
Companies that have a thesis about how they can be a 70%+ gross margin business with an accelerating advantage that enable them to capture the majority of the market and resulting economics.
Founders that display clarity, courage, & urgency (clarity of speech == clarity of thought). Ones who are relentlessly resourceful and can attract the talent to achieve the vision.
How I like to invest
Provide enough runway. 24+ months of capital (thoughts on burn and team size at the seed stage) to build team, product, demonstrate the irrefutable product-market fit needed to raise the next round from a great investor.
Have enough conviction to do the whole round. No lead investor should make founders scavenge to fill out the round.
Value great syndicate members over ownership. The right syndicate can change the complexion of a company. Bottom line is the founder has the final say as to the right raise and right syndicate — keeping in mind it’s in both our interests to have a small focused group of truly helpful investors.
Hold an additional amount in reserve from the outset in case the company needs a bridge to demonstrate product-market fit. This falls under the responsibility of a true lead investor.
Invest in only a handful of companies a year. New investments should never be “options” or “lottery tickets.” Every investment I make has the potential to change the world, be a legendary company, and return our fund many times over.
Keep it simple (e.g. post-money SAFE) and expect that the time from signed term sheet to money in the bank will be less than 2 weeks.
Pay my own legal fees.
How I like to work with companies
Earn the trust of founders. Founders who believed in me enough to let me invest in their company.
Do no harm. The singular focus of a seed-stage company is finding irrefutable product-market fit. Investors can and do help, but most important is to ensure they don’t randomize founders. Founders know their business better than anyone.
Be an accountability partner. This has an outsize effect on success.
Be aligned. Every round of funding is an experiment. It is important to be explicit about, constantly assess, and evolve the hypotheses that are being tested. The company and its investors must be aligned prior to an investment. I’ve found that the best way to achieve this is for the founders and investors to explicitly define and agree upon the hypotheses being tested with this round of funding (here is an example of a hypothesis document ). That is not to say things won’t change, but it’s much easier when both parties are starting from a place of mutual understanding.
How I like to communicate
Be open. Send me anything you think is helpful or useful. When in doubt, send it. I read every email — if I have something of value to say I’ll respond, if not I won’t. The more information we share, the better we can work together.
I’ve found that the best entrepreneurs send out monthly updates.
Be candid. If I’ve done something that you want me to stop doing, keep doing, or start doing — let me know. I’d rather you be honest with me and tell me I screwed up than keep it to yourself. It makes me better and builds trust between us.
I’m your investor. I believe in you. I want you to succeed. I’ve seen it all (ducks!). You don’t need to market to me.
What I hope for
While each company has its own path to success, patterns do stand out. Generally, within 18 months after our initial investment, the best companies have built the right team, have the product in market and have demonstrated conclusive and irrefutable product-market fit (if you are not sure you have it, you likely don’t).
Once a company has demonstrated product-market fit, actively help raise the next round. Work closely with companies to refine the pitch (here is some great advice). Introduce them to the best VCs.
Invest my pro-rata in subsequent rounds of those companies that have demonstrated success. On average we invest somewhere between $6 and $10M over the life of the best companies in our portfolio. And those companies return 10x++ our total investment.
San Francisco Bay Area - Palo Alto - California, U.S.A.
BioTech • A.I. (& Big Data) • Cloud Services (& Infrastructure) • Developer tools • Robotics
Three decades as an entrepreneur and hands on investor
Investor for 20 years in teams (@zynga, XenSource/CTRX @facebook, Datamirror/IBM, Fortinet/FTNT, Tango, @metaweb, D-Wave) solving hard problems for large markets.