Head of Kiva (US) building AI-powered debt optimization and management platform

++ Hadrian executive digitizing requirements for the modern industrial base

Welcome to the 71st edition of the Geeks Of The Valley (GOTV) Newsletter, where we curate interesting early-stage startups (Series A and earlier) every week. If you enjoy and want to keep abreast with insights and interesting early-stage startups before they go big, subscribe to this newsletter ✌️.

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Geeks of the week

Startup Name: Staax

Geography: US

One-liner: Social investing platform focused on trade-mimicking and real-time trade alerts from vetted, top financial influencers.

Founder(s) Background: Mckinsey Investment Office / Fund owner of an $800M+ fund of funds (FoF) portfolio, Senior Analyst at Goldman Sachs.

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Startup Name: Stell

Geography: US

One-liner: Digitizing requirements for the modern industrial base.

Founder(s) Background: Head of Quality at Hadrian (a16z & Lux Capital-backed).

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Startup Name: Destiny (D/XYZ)

Geography: US

One-liner: Public access to private tech.

Founder(s) Background: PM at Zynga, Co-founders at Forge Global.

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Startup Name: Sora (Please reach out for introduction).

Geography: US

One-liner: AI-powered debt optimization and management.

Founder(s) Background: Head of Kiva (US).

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Founders building in stealth

• Head of Growth at Jeeves ($2B+ val.).

• Head of Industrialization at Capgemini.

• Head of Engineering (Amazon Prime India).

• Co-founder at Piio (acquired by Swell - $20m+ raised).

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Insight, Idea & Trend

Jon Lai @Tocelot

1/ games are unique in how new platforms (ex. mobile) grow TAM rather than cannibalize older platforms - take console: @Sony just had a monster PS5 quarter 🔥 - 32M consoles sold to-date - 7.1M sold last quarter (82% YoY growth) - $9.7B games & network revenue (53% YoY growth)

Johnnie Yu @johnnieryu

WORK IN PROGRESS: a market map for our "Asian Flavors" thesis at @listendotco to guide our sourcing and evaluation. Could use some community input: 1️⃣ Do the categories make sense? 2️⃣ Who am I leaving out?

Tom Loverro @tomloverro

PREDICTION: There's a mass extinction event coming for early & mid-stage companies. Late '23 & '24 will make the '08 financial crisis look quaint for startups. Below I explain when, why & how it will start & offer *detailed advice to founders* on surviving the looming die-off. /1

Tanay Jaipuria @tanayj

The unbundling of Facebook: • Events: @partiful, @LumaHQ • Groups: @discord, @outverse_, @Kajabi • Marketplace: @thredUP, @Poshmarkapp, @kaiyo • CRM/Birthdays: @birthdayappco @claycrm • Entertainment: @tiktok_us @YouTube • Social Media: @Snapchat @BeReal_App @instagram