indievc retweeted
We're launching Bridge today 🌉
An AI engine that builds virtual homes. Blueprint in, walkable home out. Every plan, every option, structural changes included.
What took 3D artists months now takes days. Homebuilders can finally show buyers every home they sell.
arcway.ai
indievc retweeted
Announcing Arcway ⊹ ࣪ ˖
A real-time 3D engine where anyone can design a home.
It is a simulated 3D world where buyers explore, change, and decide as light, physics, building rules, and real products move as one.
indievc retweeted
Haven’t done many podcasts recently but when @itsurboyevan asks, I answer.
We get into the state of startups and VC, why I don’t want any one firm to control the future and lessons from building @indievc through its various chapter.
Congrats to Evan on launching his new pod!
VC is getting weird: bigger rounds, bigger multiples, less sovereignty for founders. I talked to
@bryce about Indie and the alternative future he’s building.
His first attempt to change the funding paradigm didn't work. BUT, this second one is looking much better. What changed?
1. Ethos > ego: Bryce admits Indie 1.0 was about being right. Indie 2.0 is about being useful to ambitious founders who want freedom.
2. Seed then, AI now: Open source + AWS + AdSense collapsed costs in the 2005–2010 seed boom when he got started investing. AI is doing it again—shrinking the cost of code so tiny teams can build durable, profitable products.
3. Belief is distribution: Early Indie felt culty because it said the quiet part out loud. Opening the doors and amplifying credible voices created a missionary network.
4. More shots on goal: The goal of Indie isn't to deride classic VC, but to fight against a startup monoculture. Expanding founder paths expands possible futures.
This conversation has been one of the more meaningful I've had recently—hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed having it.
indievc retweeted
Embracing all the VC stereotypes, @semil (legendary seed investor and one of Figma's earliest backers) and I took the pod on the road to Montauk, near where each of us grew up.
Semil shared the full story for how he got into the Figma Series A, "design as an enduring differentiator", and the rationale behind VC's current obsession with seed rounds (and why every major investor, including multi stage platforms, are vying to be the first check of record).
We also covered Meta's assembly of the AI Dream Team, how @TBPN, @indievc, and @joincolossus are shaping the future of tech media + brand (and how they influenced this episode), and the growing battle between CDNs (Cloudflare, etc) and AI companies.
Special thank you / shout out to @scottbelsky who made an amazing off-camera cameo in the end that ended up on the cutting room floor (our bad, not his).
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:30 Reflecting on Long Island
01:47 M&A Frenzy and Talent Wars
02:10 Meta's Strategic Moves
06:30 Apple's AI Strategy
11:12 Figma's IPO Success
21:33 The State of Seed Investing
25:30 The Model's Mathematical Basis
26:00 Case Study: Firebase Acquisition
27:19 Seed Fund Strategies and Challenges
30:30 Founders' Incentives and Signal Risk
36:40 AI Agents vs. CDNs: A Legal Playground
42:57 The Evolution of Podcasts and Media
51:31 The Future of AI Branding
56:03 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Our conversation with @AnjanKatta, founder of @daylightco, drops to the mailing list Monday…
indievc retweeted
Loved @thisisgrantlee metaphor of “player coaches” for how modern startups like @gammaapp are moving faster and getting to profitability sooner by removing middle management and hiring ICs who can take ideas from concept to delivered with minimal resources and bottlenecks.
indievc retweeted
This conversation with @thisisgrantlee feels like the perfect encapsulation of the modern startup playbook:
- company started pre-ChatGPT but adapted and adopted models quickly
- kept the team small by selecting for “player coaches” who can execute from idea to implementation
- embraced constraints to focus on doing a few things exceptionally well
- customer obsessed across 50M users
- profitable growth that creates its own funding source, timeline and optionality
Many more founders would be well suited to follow a similar path and embrace a similar set of principles
indievc retweeted
Our conversation with @thisisgrantlee, co-founder of @gammaapp is live on all indie channels
indievc retweeted
One of the newest @indievc backed companies is looking to add to the team.
The amount of early positive response this product is getting from customers and design partners has been beyond impressive.
Bonus- most of the team is right here in Utah…
indievc retweeted
Many people talk about a One and Done™️ approach to funding but @gammaapp is walking that walk.
Using constraints allowed @thisisgrantlee and team to focus on solving real problems that real customers would pay for- the ultimate sign of product market fit…
indievc retweeted
This week we’re back with a new @indievc video. “
We sat down with @thisisgrantlee founder of @gammaapp a company they’ve scaled to $50M in ARR (likely much more now!) with less than 50 employees.
If you want to understand the new playbook for building, this one’s for you…