TechCrunch Early Stage Takeaways

And just like that, TechCrunch Early Stage came and went! Among the many takeaways, one thing that stood out from VCs was the general love-hate relationship around generative AI. Hear us out. 

When Kerty Levy, Managing Director of Techstars, spoke about the state of the Northeast seed market, she didn’t shy away from emphasizing how the ongoing economic turmoil has led to higher hurdles for founders, particularly around founder-market fit, business models, traction and evaluations. That said, from an internal perspective, she talked about how founders *must* be prepared to answer questions around how they’re leveraging AI to automate their business – are you figuring out how to cut costs and streamline operations? If not, you should be. 

On the other hand, we heard great feedback during the pitch competition from Ginny Miller of 1Sharpe Ventures, Heather Widman of Building Ventures and Neesha Tambe, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield Editor, about the troubles of branding your business as an “AI business.” The judges warned the founders about leveraging the buzz of AI to grab attention if the product and business model can’t back it up. Our takeaway? The opportunities are plentiful when it comes to AI, but proceed with caution as one too many buzz words might get you the ax!