OpenAI’s origin story, Ways to get VC intros without a network & Herd behavior among top VCs.
How to build a $10M AI agent startup, SEO isn’t dead & More.
👋 Hey, Sahil here — Welcome back to Venture Curator, where we explore how top investors think, how real founders build, and the strategies shaping tomorrow’s companies. With our updated format, today’s edition features even more carefully curated content.
Big idea + report of the week :
VCs claim to be independent thinkers, but 38% of top deals are made together.
The ideology behind OpenAI.
2025 is already the best year for female founders on record.
Europe outperformed US VCs during the downturn.
Frameworks & insightful posts :
SEO is not dead - Use this framework to get organic views.
Bootstrapped vs VC-backed: different stress, different strengths.
How to build a $10M B2B AI agent startup?
The only marketing guide early-stage founders need.
Framework: How to get warm introductions to VCs without a network?
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KINLUX
🏰 Real Estate model everyone’s watching - Why investors are backing KINLUX.
KINLUX is building the future of group travel: luxury stays backed by real-world assets and blockchain-powered liquidity.
Imagine staying in a Hobbit Village, Treehouse Resort, or Castle Retreat and owning a piece of it. They acquire underutilised commercial properties and transform them into unforgettable vacation destinations.
With blockchain-powered liquidity and real-world assets, investors get:
Access to tradable equity tokens
Profit sharing from the sale of property and growth
Voting rights to shape future projects
Exclusive perks like discounted stays and VIP access
KINLUX isn’t just building vacation spots, it’s building a new class of investable real estate.
🔗 Invest now
For accredited investors → investkinlux-regd.com
For non-accredited investors → investkinlux-cf.com
🤝 PARTNERSHIP WITH US
Get your product in front of over 95,000+ audience - Our newsletter is read by thousands of tech professionals, founders, investors and managers worldwide. Get in touch today.
START WITH
🧠 Big idea + report of the week
VCs claim to be independent thinkers, but 38% of top deals are made together.
PitchBook analysed the top 20 US VC firms and found that, on average, 38% of their deals involved at least one other top-20 firm. So much for “contrarian” investing.
Benchmark had the highest syndication rate, 55% of its deals included another top firm. Redpoint followed at 49%. Meanwhile, Upfront Ventures stood out for going mostly solo, with only 19% syndication.
What’s driving this?
Later-stage rounds are larger, and co-leading makes fund math work
Co-investing reduces risk and appeals to founders wanting multiple strong partners
But it often means smaller stakes and blurred ownership and leadership
“Usually when there are two leads, there’s no lead.”
The tension: LPs want GPs with original edge. But many VCs hedge by following the herd. Independent thinking? Still rare. (Detailed report here)
The ideology behind OpenAI.
Long before OpenAI, Peter Thiel was funding a then-unknown Eliezer Yudkowsky, whose obsession with accelerating (and later restraining) AI development set off a chain reaction that would eventually reach Sam Altman.
Here’s the sequence that changed everything:
Yudkowsky introduced Shane Legg (DeepMind cofounder) to the idea of superintelligence
Yudkowsky later introduced Legg and Demis Hassabis to Thiel, who became DeepMind’s first major backer
Thiel discussed DeepMind with Altman, sparking Altman’s public writing on AGI and eventual launch of OpenAI
Years later, the same rationalist/EA movement Yudkowsky helped shape would play a role in Altman’s ousting
“You don’t understand how Eliezer has programmed half the people in your company to believe this stuff.” — Thiel, warning Altman before his brief removal from OpenAI
From sci-fi mailing lists to summit dinners, this isn’t just a tech story, it’s a reminder that most revolutions start in weird corners of the internet. (Read Here)
2025 is already the best year for female founders on record.
After peaking in 2021, funding for female-founded startups dropped sharply, but has now started to stabilize. While the share of deals going to women-led startups is lower than past years, the share of total capital raised is starting to rebound.
Key insights from 16 years of PitchBook data:
Female-founded companies are securing larger rounds, even if deal volume is down
Trends vary by state, industry, and stage with some areas showing stronger recovery
Monthly updates are now tracking capital flow into women-led startups
Progress is happening, but unevenly. Capital is consolidating around fewer, larger bets. Worth watching closely if you back or build with female founders. (Read detailed report here)
Europe outperformed US VCs during the downturn, but the tide may be turning.
European VC funds beat US funds on returns in most quarters since the 2022 downturn, but this outperformance may be temporary.
In early 2022, Europe posted 44.3% one-year IRR vs 29.1% in the US. When things got worse, the US fell harder (-17.1% in Q4 2022) than Europe (-10% in Q1 2023). Europe also bounced back faster.
Why?
European funds skew earlier-stage, which are less tied to public markets
Lower valuations meant smaller corrections
Europe relies more on M&A vs IPOs for exits, which held steadier
But the momentum is shifting.
US dealmaking and exits are picking up in 2025
Europe still has record dry powder (€73B), but deployment is cautious
The IRR gap may close or reverse if US liquidity keeps accelerating
“Europe became a safe haven during the downturn, but the US still drives global venture momentum.” (Read the detailed writeup)
SOMETHING MORE
🧩 Frameworks & insightful posts
SEO is not dead - Use this framework to get organic views.
Most people overthink SEO or declare it dead. But the truth is, if you're building online and ignoring organic traffic, you're playing with a handicap.
Here’s a dead-simple strategy someone used to take multiple projects from 0 to record-breaking organic traffic, all in just 45 days:
Spent 2 weeks doing real keyword research (no shortcuts)
Targeted long-tail keywords big sites ignored
Wrote 1 high-quality post per day with visuals, data, and actual utility
Used AI to assist, not replace, human thought
The goal wasn’t just to rank, it was to make the current #1 result look lazy.
Why this matters now more than ever: LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini don’t crawl the entire web. They search engines and recommend top-ranking content. If you’re not ranking, you’re invisible, not just to people, but to AI too.
One quote stuck with me:
“Write content so useful, even AI can’t ignore it.”
It’s a great reminder that in a world of endless noise, quality still wins. If you're curious, the full post breaks it all down step-by-step.
Bootstrapped vs VC-backed: different stress, different strengths.
Bootstrapped founders start with max stress: no cash, no safety net, everything depends on them. But that pressure builds focus, every decision must drive revenue.
You learn customer needs deeply, track every dollar, and build lean systems because you have to.
VC-backed founders start with leverage: cash, talent, speed. But the stress shifts to maximizing opportunity, justifying valuation, and racing competitors. It's not “will we survive?” it's “how big can we go, how fast?”
Over time:
Bootstrapped founders become masters of efficiency and customer intimacy
VC-backed founders master team building and scaling fast
“The stress never disappears—it just changes shape. Choose the one you’re built for.”
Different games. Different scoreboards. Both can win. (Full post here)
How to build a $10M B2B AI agent startup?
Greg Isenberg shares the clearest playbook I’ve seen:
Target boring industries still run on Excel (leasing, insurance, real estate ops)
Build small AI agents that each handle one step—PDFs, data checks, email drafts
Chain them into workflows that used to take full teams
Distribution is just as tactical:
Post 60-sec videos solving real problems
Give a lead magnet in every post
If CTR > 2%, scale with ads ($3/lead goal)
Ship a new lead magnet every 4 weeks
The funnel math:
Organic + lead magnets → $100–300K ARR
Paid scaling → $1–3M ARR
Webinar funnel → $5–10M ARR
“Automate what still runs on humans and Excel.”
Niche pain → scalable agent system → repeat across verticals. Simple, smart, compounding.
The only marketing guide early-stage founders actually need.
Most marketing advice is built for companies that already have traction or money to burn. This one's different.
It’s a curated, no-fluff resource library built for early-stage founders. Covers:
How to find your first users
How to promote with zero budget
What actually works before product-market fit
Topics include:
Where to post your startup
Cold outreach, SEO, landing pages
Social content, email, ads, influencers
Pricing, positioning, validation
“Marketing is hard, especially when you’re broke. This guide is built for that stage.”
One of the most practical collections I’ve seen recently. Here’s the link.
Framework: How to get warm intros to VCs without a network?
Toby Egbuna shared one of the best no-network fundraising tactics ans ways to get intros
Instead of cold emailing 300 VCs, he recommends this step-by-step process:
Shortlist 30 top funds you actually want
Use Crunchbase to find their 3 most recent portfolio founders
Connect with those founders on LinkedIn
Email and ask for a quick chat about their experience with the fund
If the call goes well, ask for a warm intro
Why it works:
Founders usually say yes
VCs value intros from their own portfolio more than cold emails
You often get bonus intros to other funds too
“You don’t need a huge network. You just need a system.”
Here’s the 14-step process Toby recommends:
Build a list of 300+ VCs
Prioritize the top 10% (30 funds) based on thesis, connections, brand, and fit
Filter for just those 30
Go to Crunchbase
Search each fund
Find the 3 most recent investments
Note founder names, sites, and companies
Repeat for all 30 funds
Go to LinkedIn
Send a connection request to every founder
Open your email
Email each founder asking about their experience (include a short, warm note)
Do the calls, be genuinely curious
If it goes well, ask for the intro
EXPLORE MORE
💡 Articles and few interesting stuffs
The big book of venture capital - Q2 2025 edition. (Link)
The startup valuation guide for founders. (Link)
Jon Lai on a common traps he sees startups fall into (Link).
Excel template: early stage startup financial model for fundraising. (Link)
Marty Kausas on how much founders get paid (Link)
NEWS RECAP
🗞️ This week in tech & VC
New In VC
Elad Gil, a prominent solo GP based in Silicon Valley, is raising a $1.5 billion fund—potentially scaling up to $2 billion. (Read)
RA Capital Management, LP, a Boston, MA-based multi-stage investment manager, closed its inaugural Planetary Health Fund (PHF), at $120m. (Read)
Former Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz staff are organizing The To Do List Summit, an invite-only $600 event for 80 early-stage founders on August 9. (Read)
Betaworks, a New York-based VC firm, closed $66 million for its third fund focused on early-stage AI startups. (Read)
Major Tech Updates
OpenAI plans to release GPT-5 as early as August, positioning it as a system that combines multiple models to perform varied tasks beyond a single-model approach. (Read)
Google DeepMind released Aeneas, an AI model that analyzes text and images to restore damaged Latin inscriptions and predict their origin. (Read)
Neuralink plans to launch three implant types—Telepathy, Blindsight, and Deep—across five large clinics, aiming for $1 billion in annual revenue by 2031. (Read)
OpenAI signed a $30 billion annual cloud infrastructure deal with Oracle to support its Stargate project, securing 4.5 gigawatts of capacity—roughly equal to the output of two Hoover Dams. (Read)
New Startup Deals
Queen One, a NYC-based brand technology platform, raised more than $5.5M in a Friends and Family funding. (Read)
LegalOn, a San Francisco, CA-based company developing legal AI solutions for contracting, raised $50M in Series E funding. (Read)
Hypernatural, a NYC-based AI video creator, raised $9.2M in funding, across 2 rounds. (Read)
Modern Baker, an Oxford, UK-based food-as-medicine startup, raised $2.5M in Series A funding. (Read)
TODAY’S JOB OPPORTUNITIES
💼 Venture capital & startup jobs
Partner 36 - a16z | USA - Apply Here
VC Growth Partner - Exit fund | India - Apply Here
Corporate Development & Strategy - Figma Venture | USA - Apply Here
Portfolio Analyst - GCO Venture | Spain - Apply Here
Associate - OMERSE Venture | USA - Apply Here
Principal - Al Fund | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Energy Impact Partner | USA - Apply Here
Chief of Staff to Founding Partner - One Way Venture | USA - Apply Here
Investment Fellow - Indian Fund | India - Apply Here
Corporate Development & Strategy - Figma Venture | USA - Apply Here
Value Creation - Cadeumen Capital | Spain - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Beas Capital | India - Apply Here
Chief of Staff - Penny Jar Capital | USA - Apply Here
Associate - OMERSE Venture | USA - Apply Here
Healthcare Analyst - General Investment Management | UK - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Miras Investment | Dubai - Apply Here
PARTNERSHIP WITH US
Get your product in front of over 95,000+ audience - Our newsletter is read by thousands of tech professionals, founders, investors and managers worldwide. Get in touch today.
🔴 Share Venture Curator
You currently have 0 referrals, only 5 away from receiving a 🎁 gift that includes 20 different investors’ contact database lists - Venture Curator