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.
Size of the Market
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
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.
Major Hubs
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.
Emerging Hubs
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.
Support Systems
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.
Challenges
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.
Opportunities and Future Outlook
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.
Resilience and Adaptability
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.
Case Studies: Successful Funding Rounds with Angel Investors on Angels Partners
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.
Jennifer Jordan
Investing in BioTech • Businesses Solutions ...
Boston , New York , C..., U.S.A. - Canada
Previous Investments
• Techstars Future of Longevity:
• PickAxes & Shovels:
• ownerIQ:
(late stage)
• Harvest Automation Inc.:
(mid stage)
• Golden Seeds:
(late stage)
• Wells Fargo Securities, LLC:
• Black & Company, Inc.:
• Tulen Boston, LLC:
• Riff Analytics:
$25000 (Seed)
• Floodlight:
$120000 (Pre Seed)
• Migrations.ml:
$120000 (Pre Seed)
• gravityAI:
$120000 (Pre Seed)
• LittleNewt:
$120000 (Pre Seed)
• Arch:
$810000 (Pre Seed)
• Humanitru:
$120000 (Pre Seed)
• Julius Technologies:
$120000 (Pre Seed)
• Nossa Data:
$410000 (Pre Seed)
• Avenify:
$120000 (Pre Seed)
• Compt:
(Pre-Seed)
• Spiro.AI:
$2000000 (Seed)
• Spiro.AI:
$3000000 (Seed)
• FairMarkIT:
(Seed)
• ClearGov:
$3000000 (Seed)
• ClearGov:
$1000000 (Seed)
• ClearGov:
(Seed)
• Spiro Technologies Inc:
(Seed)
• MachineMetrics:
(Seed)
Jennifer Jordan
Boston - New York - Cambridge - Washington - Miami - Baltimore - Toronto (Ontario) - Massachusetts, U.S.A. - Canada
Managing Director at Techstars, Female Founders First with Barclays and Techstars
Managing Director @golden-seeds. Founded @reed-college-start-up-lab. Worked at @massventures
Linked In Description:
As an early stage investor, strategic advisor, and board member. I have worked on everything from early internet search solutions and web analytics to robotics and software used to design semiconductors. I spend most of my time on b2b software - right now on AI Trust & Transparency. My most recent investments leverage the power of data and automation to transform industries. They span synthetic biology (Ginkgo Bioworks), data transparency (ClearGov), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for sales optimization (Spiro.ai), and Industrial IOT for advanced manufacturing (MachineMetrics).
I am also a global executive versed in bridging corporate and entrepreneurial disciplines. Successfully incubated and advised start-up ventures, including seed round, IPO and turnaround. Responsible for millions in valuation, earnings and commission revenue. Grown platforms from the ground up through successful exit. Experience identifying and advising successful teams delivering breakthrough technology. Strategic thinker with exceptional knowledge of market trends and data. Change driver who impacts and imparts large-scale decisions and effective execution.
Highlights and Accomplishments:
• Built Black & Company internet research platform from the ground floor into one of the most profitable and successful businesses, generating $2M in commission revenue annually.
• Grew research platform at Wells Fargo Securities to generate more trading volume than the firm’s other analysts combined, resulting in commission revenue of $4M annually.
• Led seed stage investment in Ginkgo Bioworks resulting in appreciation based on most recent financing of 5x.
• Orchestrated transparent global investor relations program that directly contributed to $350M increase in market capitalization of publicly traded software company.
Mitch Lasky
Investing in Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) &b...
General Partner at FTW Ventures, improving the worldwide Food System
Most Interested In
FTW Ventures invests in innovations for the Food System, including Ag, Food, Consumer & Heath Tech.
We look for great teams doing something revolutionary.
Not Interested In
Anything outside our core sectors - Ag, Food & Health
Jesse Rasch is a Co-Founder and serves as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Hedgewood. He is the co-founder and past Chairman & CEO of WebHosting.com and InQuent Technologies. He co-founded CareGuide. InQuent provides private label hosting solutions to telecommunications customers including Bell Canada, KPN, Telecom New Zealand, PCCW, AT&T, Comcast, & Cox Communications. WebHosting.Com was one of the largest business web hosting companies in the world. In 2000, Rasch sold InQuent and WebHosting.Com to AT&T. In 2002, Rasch orchestrated a management team acquisition of InQuent from AT&T. Rasch successfully sold InQuent once more in 2003. InQuent was merged with Network Solutions and is now part of publicly traded web.com. Rasch is widely credited with establishing the white label web hosting market segment that is a significant component of the $95 billion annual web hosting market. VerticalScope, which Rasch co-founded, develops and acquires online media and community properties. VerticalScope's network of websites is visited by over 85,000,000 people per month. VerticalScope's automotive publishing division, the Modified Automotive Group, was acquired by KKR / Primedia in 2007. Torstar acquired 56% of VerticalScope in 2015. Rasch is a proponent of venture philanthropy and is active in encouraging entrepreneurs to participate in strategic philanthropy. He established the Jesse & Julie Rasch Foundation in 2000 to invest in causes that reflect Rasch's broad charitable interests. In 2001, Rasch was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. He has been featured in Time Magazine, The Globe & Mail, Canadian Business, The National Post, Network World, Macleans, and on CBC, CTV, Global, City-TV, BNN, and many other print, televised, and radio media. He was a founding member of the Canadian E-Business Opportunities Roundtable, a joint private and public sector advisory group on e-business in Canada.
Jon Callaghan
Investing in Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) &b...
I am a very early stage venture capitalist and a Founder of True Ventures. I have started 3 companies as a Founder, and have been in the venture capital business since 1991. My background is mostly with early stage companies in the internet, media, mobile markets. My personal mission is to empower entrepreneurs because I believe that innovators can change the world. We started True Ventures because we felt as Founders that the traditional venture capital industry had grown too large to best serve the needs of the earliest stage entrepreneurs. At True, we have redesigned venture with the Founder as customer. Everything we do is designed to best help the early stage entrepreneur realize their dreams. We normally invest between $250,000-$2.5mm and are almost always the first investor in a company. Our deals are simple and clean and our funds are large for what we do. This means that although our initial checks are small, we are a powerful financial partner for a growing company, and we plan to invest large dollars with growth and success.I'm passionate about my kids, flying, and essentially anything outdoors. If we're meeting, be careful not to bring up airplanes, because I could spend all day talking about the wonder and beauty of flight, and we might not get much else done :).Specialties: very early stage venture capital, seed stage investing, startup advice, technology innovation, aviation
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