Parth Detroja

Great overview of the Florida VC ecosystem 👇 What stands out is not just the ~$2.85B raised, but how distributed and specialized each region is becoming. • South Florida → crypto, fintech, LatAm access • Tampa Bay → strong early-stage pipeline • Orlando/Space Coast → deep tech, defense, space • North Florida → emerging operator-led funds Tax advantages help, but the real story is growing density of founders, angels, and operators building locally. Still early compared to SF and NY, which is the opportunity. Who are the next Florida-based funds or angels getting active?

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How AI is changing venture building + numbers & best practices of PSL startup studio ($50M AUM studio funds + $180M AUM venture funds): 1) 3 dedicated studio funds: $12M (2015) → $16M (2018) → $20M (2023) for a 25-person build team (salary, sprints, infrastructure). Venture arm: $80M (2018) + $100M (2021) — invests in external startups and PSL studio spin-outs (but never prices later rounds). Geographically focused on the Pacific Northwest. 2) 5-stage company creation funnel: – Ideation (problem hunt, AI research),~4,000 ideas – Validation (customer calls, landing page), 470 validated ideas – Creation (MVP, sales), 50 created products – Spin-out (legal, PSL seed round, CEO equity), 41 spin-outs – Scale-up (external VC funding, recruiting). 37+ scale-ups with external funding. 3) Throughput: 4-6 new spin-outs per year target. Typical time of a startup in the studio: 3–4 months. Fastest build ever: 6 weeks. At any moment: ~2 projects in Creation, 3-5 in Validation. 4) How AI is shrinking Ideation & Validation phases with 2 PSL internally created tools: – Spark – researches the market, auto-drafts decks & landing pages, creates an initial ICP list, then A/B-emails prospects until it gets 10 yes/no signals. Founders start with data, not vibes. – Mesh – maps 70,000+ operator/investor contacts of the PSL team, scores fit, then sends emails and tracks reply rates; the warmest path shows up as a Slack thread the same day. Together they compress “customer proof + talent hunt” to < 24 h instead of 2-3 weeks earlier. 5) Seed checks. Non-AI spin-out: $300-500K from PSL Ventures. AI spin-out: $1.5M co-led ($750K PSL Ventures + $750K AI Studio Fund with Mayfield). Follow-on rounds are syndicated — outside VCs set price; PSL follows its pro-rata. 6) Typical equity split is 50/50 between studio & founding CEO. But can vary a bit based on circumstance (founder track record, founder-idea fit narrative, existing work done by the founder prior to the Studio engagement...) 7) The 4 founder archetypes PSL is partnering with: – Successful repeat founder (typically, 40-50 y.o.) They value the speed & the focus, which is possible due to the studio team + higher conviction in an idea you will bet 5+ years of your life on. – Product Manager to CEO (~25-40 y.o.) They value studio expertise and support as a first-time CEO. They can also find some strong ideas inside the studio if they don't have one. – Young Tech Builder (YTB) < ~30 y. — typically miss and undervalue a new company's business development/sales roles. Studio helps with it. – Corporate exec/domain expert. They know how to get the maximum from the corporate partner but need support as a first-time CEO. Watch the full interview with T. A. McCann – Managing Director @ Pioneer Square Labs to learn insights about venture building with AI and managing a startup studio: youtu.be/YP-i5mhXNiY Bonus from PSL: Would you like to see a demo video of how Spark works? I can DM the link if interested

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🚨 Big news from the SEC! SEC Chair Paul Atkins has unveiled Project Crypto, signaling a potential greenlight for ICOs, airdrops, and more Web3 innovations in the U.S. 🇺🇸 This could be a major turning point for crypto regulation, unlocking clearer pathways for compliant token launches and broader adoption. Builders and investors—pay attention. Let’s see how this shapes the next chapter of Web3. #CryptoRegulation #ProjectCrypto #SEC #Web3 #Blockchain #ICOs #Airdrops #CryptoNews #TokenEconomy #DigitalAssets #FinTech

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Solomon Labs, a New York based AI tax automation startup, secures $4.7M additional seed funding from Dunamu & Partners and Bass Ventures, reaching $14.5M total, aiming for $3M ARR by 2025. https://lnkd.in/g5eunsM2

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Check out the latest funding news from across the Techstars portfolio. → Zipline (Techstars 2011), a drone delivery and logistics startup, raises more than $600M in new funding, boosting its valuation to $7.6B, as it expands commercial deployments. → Language learning startup Preply (Techstars 2015) raises $150M and becomes the 23rd known unicorn from Techstars accelerators. → Hydrosat (Techstars 2019) raises $60M in Series B funding → Tive (Techstars 2017) receives a $20M investment, valuing the shipment-tracking systems developer at slightly more than $500M. → Parambil (Techstars 2023) raises an additional $6M in seed funding ($8M to date). → Seasats (Techstars 2021) receives $24M in Department of War APFIT funding to accelerate the fielding of its autonomous surface vessels. → Hawaiian Airlines’ newly announced $600M Kahuʻewai Hawai‘i Investment Plan features a strategic investment in Ampaire (Techstars 2018) to support hybrid-electric aviation in the islands. → Fintalo (Techstars 2025) secures $500K+ in oversubscribed Pre-Seed funding. → PraxisPro (Techstars 2024) closes an oversubscribed $6M seed round. → Samara Aerospace (Techstars 2024) closes $10M seed round to help bring more stability to sats in orbit. → MyARC (Techstars 2022), a platform that enables fitness creators to train their communities at scale, secures £1.5M investment. Massive congratulations to these incredible portfolio companies!   🔗  Read more at https://lnkd.in/dxtCTvrg 

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Token count isn’t a moat, it’s mort. If your edge is tied to compute, the coming models will erase it. Build a fundable moat with three moves: Inevitable truth. Anchor to what won’t expire: lower cost wins; shorter beats longer; fewer choices convert. Proprietary data. Make the product generate, and require, data only your system can capture. Usage compounds advantage. Innovation stack. Invent three interlocking pieces that fail if separated. Example: Google’s early stack, PageRank + keyword-ad auctions + personalized search. Remove one and the engine stalls. Comment with: The inevitable truth you serve, Your three-part stack your proprietary data.

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Proud to share ParaFi Capital's seed investment in ATXP. We issued a term sheet before the company was even formed, backing Louis Amira— a longtime friend and neighbor — and his cofounder David Noël-Romas. Over the course of countless coffees and walks, it’s exciting to see their idea become reality. The conviction was simple: for agentic finance to become real, AI agents need the ability to move money in tiny increments. Today, sub-$1 payments are economically impractable on banking APIs and traditional rails (ACH, credit, debit, etc). Micropayments on the internet are clunky because of high fixed fees, settlement delays, and lack of programmability. Stablecoins, as the first true programmable money, remove that friction, enabling agents to send fractions of a dollar as easily as sending an email. ATXP aims to make agentic finance possible by building a neutral protocol layer powered by stablecoins. We’re thrilled to co-lead this seed round alongside Primary Venture Partners, Stripe, and other great partners.

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Hot take: lot's of #LP's are growing underwhelmed with traditional venture investing. 💰 Fees are high given the level of engagement with the company operators. ❓ Access is opaque - LP's are unclear on the portco operations and outcomes. Outcomes are scattered - power law investing can certainly work, but many feel that venture capital investing is just a numbers game. There's another way. I'm biased, but I think it's better: #VentureStudios as an asset class. They blend: 🤜 🤛 Control and ownership 💡 Thematic focus 👬 Partnership with operators Studios offer a fund-like structure — but with more alignment, higher value conversion and less noise. If you're interested in understanding more about the studio model, we have resources to share. Please reach out and let's connect!

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The senate passing the GENIUS act yesterday is not just about regulation catching up, its a warning shot. The focus on consumer protection sends a clear signal about where enforcement is headed, and compliance /AML is now baked into the stablecoin framework itself. So if you are building in stablecoins or any regulated corner of crypto, you should definitely take a note. Compliance is a moat, and you should build accordingly. https://lnkd.in/eV5QSHMh

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DATs solve the issue of liquid fund support to listed tokens. It’s a rapid evolutionary response to the debate around how capital in the crypto industry is heavily skewed to early stage projects with an elegant and accessible solution. Granted the model will evolve based on community and market feedback but it’s a classic example of ingenuity inspired by, and catering to, the cutting edge of Web technology.

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