Redpoint

Co-founder and Managing Partner of Lux Capital Josh Wolfe is a master at understanding complex, emerging technologies. In our conversation, Josh shared how he identifies the next big thing, his contrarian views on nuclear energy, biotech, and robotics, as well as his thoughts on the state of the venture capital market today. Here are some key takeaways: → Obsessions Fuel Breakthroughs Josh often dives deep into a particular technology for many weeks, even years, juggling 10-12 of these obsessions at once. For example, his decade-long focus on using technology to replicate and understand smells seemed fruitless for years until the right technological breakthrough occurred. When you believe something is inevitable but aren’t sure of the timeline, continuing to pursue an idea can eventually lead to big rewards when timing and technology align. → How Josh Masters New Domains Josh dives deep into scientific research (not just page one) to quickly become knowledgeable in new fields, and he connects with top scientists to learn about breakthroughs before they’re public. By the time he talks to experts, he’s already well-informed, allowing him to spot trends early and make investment decisions off the beaten path. For example, when the venture world was fixated on solar, wind, and biofuels, Josh turned his attention to his well-informed thesis on nuclear energy. → De-Risking Investments to Maximize Returns Josh Wolfe emphasizes the importance of de-risking early investments by identifying key risks to the business and providing resources to mitigate them. Later investors will then be willing to pay a higher price because they face less uncertainty. His approach is not about being contrarian for its own sake, but about being ahead of the curve (much like moving to Brooklyn before it became mainstream). You want others to agree with you, just later. → Josh’s Harsh Take on the Future of VC Josh predicts that 30-50% of venture firms may not survive the next few years, particularly those that are unable to adapt to changing market dynamics. Josh believes the firms that will thrive are those that can be nimble, make smart capital allocations, and avoid the pitfalls that come from following the herd in overhyped sectors. More insights for anyone in tech or venture capital in the full episode: https://lnkd.in/dgxR4fMr

We surveyed 40 leaders building AI products to quantify the most common trends we’ve discussed on the Unsupervised Learning podcast. Some questions we asked them: - What are you building for (internal / external use-cases)  - Which model providers are most commonly used, and how often are you switching  - How do you structure your AI team  - What are the biggest pain points faced today Today’s post breaks down the survey results along with Tony Shi and my analysis on implications for the broader AI landscape: https://lnkd.in/gysWdvsG

Today, we're introducing Ideogram 2.0 -- it is freely available to all users on ideogram.ai and our new iOS app! A new Ideogram API is now available too, and we're excited to see the creative applications that will emerge from the use of Ideogram 2.0's capabilities. You can now choose from a number of distinct styles, including Realistic, Design, 3D and Anime. These styles are crafted specifically to render unique genres of images and have significant influence on your creations. You can now generate images in any aspect ratio, including 3:1 and 1:3. The Realistic style of Ideogram 2.0 enables you to create images that can convincingly pass as real photos. Textures are significantly enhanced, and human skin and hair appear lifelike. The Design style of Ideogram 2.0 significantly boosts the accuracy of text in the generated images. This enables you to create premium graphic designs for greeting cards, print on demand, posters, illustrations, and marketing and social media content with long, stylized text. This advancement will substantially improve the efficiency of the workflows of graphic designers and businesses. You can also generate images that adhere to your specific color palette. This enables granular control of visual tones for purposes such as artistic control and brand consistency. #Creativity #Design #ideogram2 #ideogram

Congratulations to the team at The Rounds! We're thrilled to continue partnering with the team to expand their AI-powered sustainable delivery services.

🎉 A Milestone Moment for Trunk Tools: $20M Series A Funding & Schedule Agent Launched! 🎉 I started my career as a carpenter at age 12 - blue collar (and proud of it!)👷♀️. If someone told me that ~2 decades later I would be running a fast growing AI business helping this beloved industry of mine I would have never believed it. What began as an attempt to make ends meet, slowly developed into a passion for building: first building our surroundings, then building businesses and now building talent. I’m incredibly proud to announce that we’ve successfully raised $20 million in Series A funding, a preempt by the visionary team at Redpoint Ventures (with the phenomenal industry-expert Erica Brescia joining our board), with participation by existing investor Innovation Endeavors (thanks for everything Scott Brady & Eric Schmidt). This is more than just a financial milestone; it’s a testament to the hard work, dedication, and passion of our entire team, who have tirelessly worked to bring real innovation to the construction industry. What is another vote of confidence is how many of our current and prospective customers have invested: WND Ventures (DPR’s CVC), Overlay Capital, Pruven Capital, Suffolk Technologies, AEC Angels, STO Building Group, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Thornton Tomasetti/ TTWiiN, Charps, and many more. From the very beginning, our mission has been clear: to empower construction professionals with tools that not only enhance efficiency but also prioritize safety and productivity on every job site: #letbuildersbuild. We are expanding our leading generative AI platform, launching more agents, pushing the boundaries of what AI can do, and bringing even greater value to our customers. We’re also announcing our new Schedule Agent: Schedule Agent proactively senses project issues, surfaces insights, and takes action with no additional effort. It seamlessly integrates with schedule files/P6, providing timely notifications to project managers, superintendents, and engineers about open tasks, discrepancies, or logistical problems. This is THE FIRST TIME in construction that the tasks from a schedule are connected with the rest of the jobsite data. If you’d like to beta test our Schedule Agent, get in touch with us at our website: https://lnkd.in/eA_tB_rC To our customers, investors, partners, and the entire Trunk Tools team – thank you for your unwavering support. We wouldn’t be here without you, and I’m excited about the incredible journey ahead. 🐘 Let’s build the future of construction together! 🔗 Series A Press Release: https://lnkd.in/eyPe57nh 🔗 TechCrunch Article: https://lnkd.in/ee9T4eam 🔗 Engineering News-Record Article: https://lnkd.in/eVA9VGap WE ARE HIRING ~20 positions! 🔗 Join Trunk Tools: www.trunktools.com/careers #TrunkToolsSeriesA #ConstructionAI #FundingAnnouncement

We’re super excited to announce our lead in the $20M Series A for Trunk Tools (https://trunktools.com/). A truly remarkable team that’s already making waves with top players in the massive industry of construction! Read more: https://lnkd.in/e7GaJDs8

CEO of Frame.io Emery Wells sold the company to Adobe in 2021 for nearly $1.3 billion. In our conversation, Emery shares his journey from NYC bartender to startup founder, including his work with Saturday Night Live that highlighted the pain points that led to Frame. We dive deep into his rejection of the lean startup concept, how he gets his team to obsess over design details, and the cultural reset at Frame that set the stage for its success. Some takeaways… → How to Get Your Team to Obsess Over Details In the early days, teams often presented unfinished work in demos, filled with caveats and incomplete elements. To address this, Emery introduced two types of weekly meetings: stakeholder reviews and build reviews. Stakeholder reviews allowed teams to present work in progress and gather feedback. Build reviews, on the other hand, required 100% finished, pixel-perfect work. Leadership pre-inspected presentations to ensure they met strict criteria, and if they didn’t, the meetings got canceled. While this process initially resulted in a lot of canceled meetings and friction, it ultimately established a culture of meticulousness, drastically improving product quality and polished demos. → Why Enterprise Software Sucks Enterprise software often lacks emphasis on brand, design, and quality of execution, traditionally leading to poor user experiences. However, with the consumerization of enterprise software, user expectations have shifted towards high-quality, intuitive experiences akin to consumer apps like Instagram. Today, end users within organizations can often influence purchasing decisions, making it more important for enterprise software to prioritize strong branding and user-friendly design. At Frame, building a strong user experience has greatly improved the brand and contributed to the company's success. → How to Get Your Team to 11/10 The hardest part about achieving 11/10 outcomes is pushing people beyond the point where they think they've done enough. The key is motivating the team to realize their full potential and surpass their perceived limits, but you must balance emotional boundaries and discomfort without causing burnout. If you do it right, the team will ultimately see they can achieve more than they initially thought possible. → How Emery Learned Culture Was Actually Important When 3 directors left and the VP of Engineering was replaced, Emery realized there was a cultural crisis at Frame. Previously, many different ideologies led to unhealthy internal debate, and they had no unified belief system. Emery then realized that culture is about shared decision-making approaches and a cohesive set of values, not just social norms. When Emery brought in new directors, they sat down to reset the culture and think hard about Frame’s cultural values, and it worked wonders. Full episode: https://lnkd.in/dVCx9S_Q

Amazing to see Scribe and Owner.com on the Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list. Congrats to these two incredible teams!

We’re thrilled to be leading a $10M Seed in VoyceMe (Voyce.me) - a fast-growing platform for discovering, consuming and engaging with communities in the world of Manga.  Congrats to the VoyceMe team! 🙌 https://lnkd.in/eB5H-PcM

What’s happening with pay transparency? Just a couple insights from the Redpoint Radar Report with the latest salary and compensation trends. Atli Thorkelsson and Matt Schulman (CEO, Pave spent months putting it together, and you can check it out at redpoint.com/radar #paytransparency #workingintech #startups #venturecaptial #jobtrends #entrepreneurship #compensation #salaries #salarytrends