Ashley Mayer
@ashleymayer
Co-founder and GP @coalitionvc, investing $500K in early stage startups. Former comms pro @Glossier, @SocialCapital, @Box. Co-host of @greatchatpod.
I’ve been playing around with this idea of narrative shifts lately. Over my 15 years in startups (I joined Box in 2009), there have been three distinct umbrella narratives for the tech/startup ecosystem. I believe we’re in the early years of a new one. The first narrative…
📝 New essay published! We all know founders chase PMF & I make the case that VCs should chase FFF (firm-founder fit) In a world where capital is a commodity, the firms that win will feel like a natural extension of the founders they back. More below! prc.beehiiv.com/p/fff-is-the-n…
Thank you, anonymous founder! 🥰
I asked a bunch of founders: "Who were your 1-3 most helpful angel investors?" The list: 1. Adam Smith - @asmith 2. Alex Adelman - @alexadelman 3. Alex Wu (CFO Advisors) 4. Alexandr Wang - @alexandr_wang 5. Ali Rowghani - @ROWGHANI 6. Anantha Kancherla (GM) 7. Andrés Pérez…
Good reset statement from the Astronomer co-founder (and now CEO). Smart to separate his message from comms re: his colleagues' behavior. In a few months, when all of this is less raw, they can still have some fun with it. Launch a new product via video with a Coldplay…
Sharing a few thoughts on the last few days at Astronomer: linkedin.com/pulse/moving-f…
I love that a tech IPO is truly an industry-wide celebration. There are the people who benefit directly and often profoundly: current and former employees, investors. But the ripple effects for the tech ecosystem extend so much further: all those newly minted angel investors…
Sign of the times: the top two stories on Techmeme are both tweets.
Thinking it would be fun to host an early stage fundraising bootcamp w a focus on narrative/deck and call it SAFE Space.
His only sin was being a hired gun. Otherwise this is just founder mode.
On this week's Great Chat, we break down the many twists and turns of the Windsurf hackquisition, and why this was the deal that forced us all to reckon with the broken social contract between tech companies and their employees. Also covered: the Backstreet Boys are back yo,…
In the wake of Windsurf, it's fascinating to see all the ways - from subtle to explicit - founders are signaling that they wouldn't leave their companies/teams for a big payout. I get it, this is pretty existential for a certain class of startups.
Any theories on why there is so much more public advocacy for Windsurf employees versus prior hackquisitions? Is it because we *almost* had a classic M&A deal with OpenAI? Was this the straw that broke the camel's back and it's now undeniable that the prior social contract with…
Six years ago today, I woke up to my 15 seconds of fame.
This AirPod rescue mission is truly something! @dianermacedo has the story.
This is what a well run, successfully Series A process looks like. It's hard to internalize just how much rejection is required, and how much of that rejection is silent, not explicit.
Sankey diagram of the real life process to get 6 term sheets in a Series A. For a hot company. This is why process driven fundraising is important. If you want a term sheet, aim for 50 first meetings. That might mean starting with 100 investors. Sometimes this is easier. Will…
On this week's @greatchatpod, we talk about startup theater. When it feels like everyone is performing success all the time, does that mean you need to, too? In short: no. Do things that give you energy. Play games you can win. Don't try to out Cluely Cluely. Don't try to out…
New data via @Redpoint & @BusinessInsider shows entry level hiring is on the decline in the startup ecosystem. We get into that (and much more) on this week’s Great Chat, and discuss why it’s actually senior leaders who are notice. 🎙️ @helen_min, @sallyshin, @ashleymayer
"LGND wants to make ChatGPT for the Earth" - great piece by @tdech in @TechCrunch on LGND AI, Inc. launch and $9m Seed round. Want to shout out so many incredible investors backing our big vision to make Earth searchable over space and time. @JavelinVP @Aenu_impact…
We're thrilled to be one of the earliest backers of @lgnd_ai at @coalitionvc, and can't imagine a more compelling founding team coming together to tackle this next frontier for AI: making Earth data as useful and searchable as text. techcrunch.com/2025/07/10/lgn…
