Jeremy Levine

He invests before product-market fit. And beats 95% of VCs I just sat down with Farooq Abbasi — Founder & Sole GP of Preface Ventures. • ~28% net IRR • Top 5% of venture investors (Cambridge Associates) • $90M deployed into 100+ companies now worth $10B+ • Backed a company that sold for $1B+ after raising only ~$3M What's different? Most VCs fund go-to-market risk. He funds R&D risk. Sometimes at a whiteboard + thesis stage. No product. No revenue. Just conviction in the founder. Three ideas from the episode that genuinely stood out: 1) He invests in founder-market fit before product-market fit. At day zero, the product isn’t the signal — the person is. 2) His internal filter: “Would I work for you?” Because in his words, investors work for founders for years. 3) He concentrates instead of diversifies. ~20 positions per fund. Leads rounds. Joins boards. Actually shows up. There’s a moment in the conversation where he breaks down the three questions he’d ask before investing in any founder. If you’re building, raising, or allocating capital — that section alone is worth watching. Full episode is live on YouTube. Link in the comments. If you could only ask a founder one question before investing — what would it be? Farooq Abbasi

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THE FOUNDER’S ENDEAVOR The founder’s journey is a commitment to a wholly uncertain endeavor - like launching a completely new concept. Unlike routine, low-risk activities where past averages guide success, a founder is building something entirely from scratch. Past failures and averages are irrelevant. They offer no map for what the founder is creating. In this domain of uncertainty, the only reliable predictor of success is a relentless desire to build and a willingness to always be looking forward, not back. #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Startups #DecisionMaking #Rubrik

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Legal AI startup Harvey just raised $150M at an $8B valuation.  Niche vertical SaaS is where the biggest winners are emerging. Here’s why you should pay attention👇 In Q2 2025, 46% of all SaaS M&A was vertical SaaS. And the bigger players are buying smaller, niche SaaS to dominate entire industries. Traditional verticals (healthcare, real estate, education, hospitality) are strong. Hyper-niche ones are stronger. Think: - Software just for dental clinics - Tools for boutique hotels - Platforms for small schools Hyper-specialization is creating tons of M&A action. Private equity firms lead this buying spree by acquiring niche SaaS, combining them, and creating valuable companies. > Thoma Bravo acquired NextGen Healthcare for $1.8B > Vista Equity Partners bought Mindbody for ~$1.9B > Bain Capital bought HealthEdge for $2.6B The winning formula is clear:  Deep industry integration + embedded finance + AI defensibility. The next decade belongs to founders who build the operating systems of industries. --- Our team at FE International is more bullish than ever on the rise of AI-first businesses. If you're a founder curious about your company’s true value, get a free valuation. (Link in comments) 👇

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Polymarket acquired Dome (YC F25) - unified prediction market API from ex-Alchemy founders. ~4-5 mo post-Demo Day, est. $10-20M deal. We've written extensively on top YC startups now exit faster and faster. Lightning-fast strategics like Dome truncate the classic 5-7 year VC hold for 10-100x returns. Top decile founders now field offers mid-batch, squeezing LPs on time-weighted returns while acquirers (e.g., Polymarket at $9B val) consolidate infra plays cheap. Bad for patient capital, bullish for YC's "exit factory." TAEV = (Exit Value / Equity Raised) / Years YC’s model is almost secretly a Time-Adjusted Exit Value machine, and it’s not an accident. Three structural factors drive this: YC compresses T. --> The program forces speed to PMF through intense three-month cycles, weekly office hours, and cultural pressure to ship. That compression either kills you or teaches you to move faster than competitors, which directly improves TAEV by reducing the denominator. YC encourages capital-light E. --> Small initial cheques ($125k for 7% historically) plus pressure to “do more with less” means companies learn to validate ideas without burning through Series A capital. This improves E - you don’t raise $5M before finding PMF, only $500k. Capital efficiency at the start compounds through later rounds. The brand and network amplify S. --> YC’s reputation gives companies access to top customers, hires, and follow-on capital faster than non-YC peers. That doesn’t guarantee success, but it meaningfully increases the ceiling on potential exit value.

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📰 OpenAI Acquires Torch Health for $100 Million 🔗 https://lnkd.in/grKYsKUr 📝 Summary: OpenAI has acquired healthcare startup Torch for approximately $100 million to bolster its ChatGPT Health service. Torch's technology unifies fragmented medical records into an AI-readable system, marking OpenAI's strategic push into AI-powered healthcare. 💭 Sentiment: Positive. The acquisition expands OpenAI's capabilities into a high-value sector like healthcare with a focus on data privacy. 🏢 Companies: @OpenAI #AI #GenerativeAI #TechNews #Tech

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