⚠️The Mistake Killing Pre-Seed Startups

How to stop sharing audiences with your competitors

Let’s be real: most ad targeting is slow, built on junk data, or relies on the same segments your competitors are buying. That’s why we built AudienceMaker — so you can create, model, test, and launch segments yourself, instantly. Push them right to Meta, Google, TikTok, Amazon and more.

See the platform

💰 The 2025 Fundraising Playbook

🕵️ The Secrets Behind Successful 2025 Fundraises

Most founders struggle not because investors say no — but because they don’t know where to find the right playbooks and benchmarks.

Every founder hits the same wall → raising capital isn’t just about storytelling, it’s about:

✔ knowing the investor mindset
✔ structuring smarter equity splits
✔ benchmarking your compensation
✔ and valuing your startup with real data.

💡 That’s why we've pulled together Fundraising Resources 2.0 —a curated list of VC insights, process guides, equity benchmarks, and valuation tools that top founders rely on:

• Secrets of Sand Hill Road + Sam Altman’s Playbook for investor psychology

• Equity & compensation benchmarks for 2025 (with calculators you’ll actually use)

• Carta, AngelList & SAFE tools to model your valuation right

• Paul Graham, Naval, Elad Gil & more for timeless founder wisdom

Fundraising isn’t just about pitching better. It’s about structuring smarter — equity, momentum, comp, and valuation.

👉Download this. Build smarter, raise faster!👇️ 

🔥 Top VC & Startup Jobs Everyone’s Talking About

🧠 Want In on Venture Capital? Start Here.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to sit at the heart of startup innovation — spotting the next unicorn or driving high-stakes deals — these VC and startup roles offer a front-row seat.

Here’s what’s hot this week 👇

• M12 (USA) – Senior Associate at Microsoft’s venture arm.

• Pivotal Ventures (USA) – Investment Analyst at Melinda Gates’ firm.

• Manhattan Venture Partners (USA) – Trade Operations Lead for pre-IPO equity.

• Scale Asia Venture (Japan) – VP of Fundraising for Asian startups.

• Tower Research Venture (USA) – Analyst in fintech-focused VC.

• Positive Sum (USA) – Research Analyst in future finance investments.

• TNB Aura (Singapore) – Fund Operations Associate at SEA venture fund.

• a16z (USA) – Crypto Research Intern at Andreessen Horowitz.

• Working Capital Fund (USA) – Senior VC Analyst in ethical supply chains.

• Stepstone Group (USA) – 2026 VC Summer Analyst at global investment firm.

• Untaped Venture (USA) – AI Venture Analyst Intern in early-stage AI.

• Artha Venture Fund (India) – Associate at India’s early-stage VC.

🚀 Explore these openings and take your next step into the venture ecosystem.

🧠 How Top VCs Identify Great Talent in Minutes

🧠 How Top VCs Identify Great Talent in Minutes

What separates a good hire from a great one? According to top founders and investors, it’s not about credentials — it’s about the questions that uncover how people think, adapt, and lead.

First Round Review gathered insights from some of the sharpest minds in tech and venture capital, compiling 40 of their favorite interview questions — the ones that reveal curiosity, creativity, and grit.

Here’s a glimpse of what’s inside:

• “Teach me something in 5 minutes.” — Reveals clarity and communication skills.

• “Tell me about a time you failed — and what you learned.” — Tests resilience and self-awareness.

• “Why shouldn’t we hire you?” — Surfaces honesty and reflection.

• “What do you want to do differently in your next role?” — Highlights ambition and growth mindset.

These questions go far beyond resumes — they help leaders spot raw potential and true culture fit.

👉 Read the full list of game-changing interview questions here: First Round Review

📖 Free 80-Page Guide to Prompt Engineering

🚀 Free 80-Page Deep Dive into Prompt Engineering

Want to unlock the full potential of AI? This free 80-page guide dives deep into the strategies that power today’s generative AI. It’s designed for creators, developers, and AI enthusiasts who want to go beyond basic prompts.

Inside, discover:

• ✅ Core AI terms made simple — pipeline, CoT, RAG, and more

• ✅ Proven prompting techniques for text, image, and code generation

• ✅ How AI agents interact with external tools to solve real problems

• ✅ Frameworks to evaluate and improve GenAI outputs

• ✅ Risks of prompt hacking and how to safeguard your models

• ✅ A detailed real-world case study showing prompts in action

🔥 Whether building AI tools, automating workflows, or experimenting creatively, this guide is a must-read for anyone serious about AI.

Download the “Free 80-Page Guide to Prompt Engineering” now! 👇️ 

The AI Insights Every Decision Maker Needs

You control budgets, manage pipelines, and make decisions, but you still have trouble keeping up with everything going on in AI. If that sounds like you, don’t worry, you’re not alone – and The Deep View is here to help.

This free, 5-minute-long daily newsletter covers everything you need to know about AI. The biggest developments, the most pressing issues, and how companies from Google and Meta to the hottest startups are using it to reshape their businesses… it’s all broken down for you each and every morning into easy-to-digest snippets.

If you want to up your AI knowledge and stay on the forefront of the industry, you can subscribe to The Deep View right here (it’s free!). 

🎯 Want Funding at Idea Stage?

💸 50 VC Firms That Actually Invest at Inception

Here’s the truth most founders don’t hear: 99% of venture funds won’t touch you at Day 0. They wait until traction, users, or revenue, but a rare 1% actually back ideas from inception.

This curated list highlights 50 early-stage and pre-seed VCs who believe in funding raw ambition — from Hustle Fund and Pear VC to Afore Capital and Better Tomorrow Ventures.

Whether you’re still building your MVP or just refining your pitch deck, these are the investors who bet on founders, not metrics.

🚀 Want to connect directly? Over 1,000+ VCs and Angels are open for 1:1 calls today on nas.io.

⚡ Why Most Pre-Seed Financial Models Fail Instantly

💰 Do Early-Stage Startups Really Need a Financial Model?

Entrepreneurship textbooks say yes — build a detailed plan and financial model before you raise money. But founders in the real world know better: everything changes fast.

At the pre-seed stage, investors aren’t judging your spreadsheet accuracy — they’re assessing your mindset. Do you understand that your assumptions will break? Do you know how to prioritize what actually matters?

A financial model isn’t about predicting revenue — it’s about proving you understand the levers of your business and how to adapt when they shift.

📊 Pro tip: The right model helps investors trust you can navigate chaos — not control it.

👉 Download the “Financial Model Excel Template” and learn what VCs really look for in early-stage founders.

🎯 Startups Buzz

🎯 Where Smart Money Is Moving in 2025

Want to know which startups are raising big and where investors are placing their next bets? The latest VC News Daily archive breaks down the month-by-month flow of venture capital—revealing hot sectors, emerging trends, and shifting investor sentiment.

From AI and clean tech to biotech and fintech, it’s a real-time map of where innovation meets capital. 👉 Explore the full VC deal archive here.

🎯 Which University Breeds the Most Unicorns?

The “college dropout founder” myth is fading fast. Data shows today’s unicorn builders are graduates—armed with networks, mentors, and VC ties.

🏆 Stanford leads with 207 unicorns, followed by Harvard (164) and UPenn (67).

👉 Check which university tops your state’s list.

🎯 a16z’s Ultimate AI Toolkit Is Here

The a16z Consumer Team just dropped a handpicked list of the most powerful AI tools to work smarter, create faster, and build bigger.

From Perplexity and Lindy to Midjourney, Replit, and HeyGen, the list spans everything — productivity, creativity, coding, content, and even fun.

It’s basically the AI starter pack every founder should bookmark.

👉 Explore a16z’s full AI Toolkit.