Happy Friday.
Founder Discovery
Most founders validate ideas by talking to customers, but the smartest ones talk to other founders first. Bob Moore didn't ask potential customers "Would you buy this?" but instead asked fellow entrepreneurs "Would you start this company?" - and most chose the same idea that became Crossbeam. This "founder discovery" method works because entrepreneurs have developed empathy across multiple personas and understand how markets evolve over time. When founders start recommending who else you should talk to, you've found an idea with a built-in viral loop. Review Firstround (12 minutes)
AI Pricing Matrix
The biggest pricing opportunity in decades isn't about copying SaaS models—it's about plotting your AI product on two axes: autonomy (human-in-loop vs. independent) and attribution (measurable value vs. hard to track). Most AI startups land in the high-attribution, low-autonomy quadrant where co-pilot pricing works, but only 5% have reached the holy grail of autonomous agents with measurable outcomes. The companies that crack this matrix first will write the pricing playbooks for the entire AI era, just like Salesforce did for SaaS. Don't mistake pricing innovation for defensibility though—use it as a wedge to build real moats. NFX (8 minutes)
Margin Myopia
Every computing wave spawns critics who declare leading companies doomed due to low margins—Amazon, Netflix, Uber, and now AI apps all faced this same tired playbook. The pessimists miss that AI apps aren't subscription boxes with high churn; they're enterprise land-and-expand machines with record fast sales cycles and massive revenue expansion once they penetrate teams. While a small percentage of power users drive bulk costs, these companies route queries to cheaper models, rate limit heavy users, and convert free tiers into enterprise contracts where the top 20% of deals drive 80% of revenue. a16z (6 minutes)
Founder FAQ: Is Patent the Most Important Thing at the Early Stage of a Startup?
Most startups waste $5,000-$60,000 chasing patent protection when they should be chasing customers instead. Patents take 24+ months to examine, require expensive maintenance fees, and become public disclosures that help competitors design around your invention—all while offering zero guarantee of commercial success. The real competitive advantage comes from speed of execution, customer obsession, and business model innovation, not legal protection of ideas. While patents can provide temporary moats for deep-tech companies with clear IP strategies, most early-stage startups are better served by focusing resources on product-market fit and rapid iteration rather than expensive legal processes that may never pay off. Westaway (11 minutes)
Startup Funding Guides
I’ve put together a series of guides to equip founders to excel at fundraising. These guides break down the deal term-by-term and give you negotiation tips so that you can speak to investors with confidence.
Convertible Note: Guide / Video
Extending Your Runway with General Counsel
In this economy, every startup is looking to lower burn rate and extend runway. We helped a Series A, generative AI company drastically reduce their legal spend by switching to our General Counsel service. When we first met the owners, they were working with a big law firm and felt they were overpaying for basic legal work. Nearly every month, they got a hefty bill just to cover equity grants, contract reviews and lawyer calls/emails. When they switched to General Counsel at Westaway, they:
Got more personal service and quicker response times.
Significantly reduced their legal spend.
With faster deal execution and lower spend, they extended runway and improved cash flow. If you're looking to optimize legal costs and extend runway, click here to schedule a call. Let's discuss whether on-demand General Counsel is right for your startup
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