David Semerad

Legendary investor and incubator, Y Combinator, has picked three AI-first, NewMod startups for its Winter 2026 batch. They are: General Legal (YC26), co-founded by the former CTO of Casetext, Ryan Walker; Arcline (YC W26), which handles startup legal work; and LegalOS for immigration needs. It’s really a sign of the times when Y Combinator picks not one, but three, NewMod law firms that combine AI and lawyers, as part of its famous incubator cohort. > LINK: https://lnkd.in/eybp_fGq #legaltech #NewMods #AIfirstlawfirm #incubator

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💼 The ideal early-stage VC used to be (still is for many FoF) MBA, Wall Street, financial wizards and large angel portfolios. In early-stage MedTech, that's probably the worst possible background. The classic VC playbook works great for SaaS (scale fast, exit fast), or at least used to before claude code broke everything, consumer apps (growth metrics matter), and later-stage MedTech (post-approval scaling). But early-stage MedTech is completely different. It's not a matter of placing the best bets. Before you can scale, you have to survive three brutal phases: 1️⃣ Prove it works (clinical validation, not just prototypes) 2️⃣ Get payment/commercial/reimbursement clarity 3️⃣ Navigate FDA/notified body approvals You can't spreadsheet your way through this. A finance-minded VC can't read clinical data and spot problems. They don't know when to pursue a 510(k) versus De Novo or EU MDR. They've never navigated a hospital buying committee, created a CPT code, or understood what commercial adoption clarity actually means. The valley of death kills most early-stage MedTech companies, not because they run out of money, but because they run out of operational expertise. The data backs this up 👉 Healthcare specialist VCs show higher median returns versus traditional finance generalist VCs - a 5.2% point gap over 20 years. For VC - that's huge! In early-stage MedTech, it's wider. Finance VCs are genuinely good at later-stage MedTech scaling. But from prototype to first revenue? You need someone who's actually done it. In early-stage MedTech, I believe that lived experience beats financial modeling - every time. #MedTech #HealthTech #MedicalDevices #Startups

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🚨 Most early-stage founders don't have a bad idea. They have bad expectations. Over the last 18+ months, we've taken TAG Capital GmbH through 4 accelerator programs: – angel-backed – VC-backed – German Federal Ministry (unlocked public grants) – and one more across the globe Each one runs at a different speed, with different expectations, different investors and a completely different definition of "ready". In the last two weeks alone, I've spoken to 100+ founders. The pattern 👇 Early-stage founders are consistently: – too close to their idea – optimising for hype, not validation – underestimating what investors actually expect – treating fundraising as a starting point, not an outcome What these programs forced us to do at TAG: – build a product and tech stack that could survive outside a pitch deck – validate with paying customers across multiple perspectives – treat pre-seed as an acceleration of a working engine That balance between validation, revenue and fundraising readiness has been one of our biggest unlocks. 💡 I want to share those learnings with a small group of founders. ✅ 30-min deep-dive on your idea, market and next 30–60 days ✅ Critical feedback, no ego-massage ✅ Best practices from angel, VC and government-backed programs ✅ Concrete written action points you can execute immediately 🎯 Pitch your startup in one line in the comments. I'll send the best ones a 50% discount code (limited slots). ❤️ Impact-driven founders (health, climate, inclusion, etc.): DM or connect with the note "impact" + one liner. This one's on me. Booking link in the comments 👇

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Skill is becoming commoditized. Taste has a time limit. The founders who win won't optimize for either. The art world shows us why this is true, and where AI will push the advantages: Before Picasso co-invented Cubism, he mastered classical technique. Then, he debuted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and broke every rule he had internalized. He pushed the art world in a new direction. Here's what Picasso understood that many people miss: Mastery of craft is the entry fee. It's not the game. The game is what you do once you've paid it. How does this translate to you? AI is now paying the craft entry fee for you. The new idea is that taste will be the distinguishing quality. This is true now, but even that has a time limit. Taste is dependent on what has worked before. But it is our new job to define what will work in the future. Expression. Point of view. Vision. These will be the distinguishing qualities. They are forward-looking. What can you build that could only come from your brain? What do you see that others are missing? The only way you achieve that is to seek that unique edge. To push yourself "a little further out into the water than you feel capable," as Bowie put it. Full context on this mental shift in our essay here: https://lnkd.in/gQE2XYGP

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Apple nears deal to acquire talent and technology from computer vision startup Prompt AI. Apple is nearing a deal to acquire engineers and technology from Prompt AI, an early-stage startup focused on computer vision. Prompt's founders include Tete Xiao, an AI researcher with a Phd in computer science from UC Berkeley, and Trevor Darrell, a founder of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research lab. Prompt investors will likely get some money back but "won't be made whole" in the deal, executives said in an all-hands meeting on Thursday. Apple is in late-stage talks to acquire top talent from computer vision startup Prompt AI, as well as the company's technology, CNBC has learned. Leadership at Prompt told employees of the pending transaction at an all-hands meeting on Thursday and said that those who don't end up joining Apple will be paid a reduced salary, and encouraged to apply for open roles at the company, according to audio that was accessed by CNBC. The 11-person company was approached by other potential suitors, including Elon Musk's xAI and Neuralink, executives said in the meeting. Prompt was founded in 2023 and raised a $5 million seed round that year led by AIX and Abstract Ventures. Co-founders include CEO Tete Xiao, a notable AI researcher with a Phd in computer science from UC Berkeley, and President Trevor Darrell who was a founder of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) lab. Xiao and Darrell didn't respond to requests for comment, nor did Apple. Neither xAI nor Neuralink immediately responded to a request for comment. Investors will get paid some money in the deal but "won't be made whole," executives said in the meeting. Prompt employees were asked to refrain from mentioning Apple until further notice while searching for other jobs or updating friends and family on their situation. Prompt's flagship app, Seemour, connects to home security cameras, adding sophisticated capabilities. The technology helps cameras detect specific people, pets and other animals or objects around a household, and to send alerts and text-based descriptions of unusual activity or answer questions about what's been happening in front of the camera. Xiao told employees at the meeting that while Prompt AI's technology and the Seemour app were working well, the business model wasn't. The company is retiring the Seemour app, and plans to inform users their data will be deleted and privacy protected, executives said. Silicon Valley's tech giants have been snapping up top AI talent through acquihires, in part to bolster their AI research and development in a way that helps them skirt regulatory concerns. Apple's deal for Prompt is much smaller than recent high-profile transactions, such as Meta's $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI that brought with it the company's founder and other execs, and Google's $2.4 billion deal for Windsurf's CEO and leaders that included licensing fees. Edikan Moses 1 Moses Sports Group™

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. They control an infrastructure layer. But who controls health? Look at the map of the world’s most valuable companies in 2026. Almost every leader owns a foundational layer of the modern economy. 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬: NVIDIA → AI compute infrastructure Alphabet Inc. → internet infrastructure Apple → device ecosystem TSMC → semiconductor infrastructure Microsoft → cloud infrastructure Even outside tech: Visa / Mastercard → financial transaction infrastructure Saudi aramco → energy infrastructure Amazon → logistics + commerce infrastructure They don’t just build products. They control the layer everything else runs on. ⸻ 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡. Healthcare is becoming the largest data industry on earth. New infrastructure layers are emerging: Wearables �� physiological data layer Labs & genomics → biological data layer Nutrition & lifestyle → behavioral input layer AI → interpretation and intelligence layer But the real infrastructure is still missing. 🔜 The layer that connects all of it. 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. A system that turns fragmented health data into: • contextual insights • personalized prevention • real-time health guidance Think: 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. ➡️ Unified health data & AI infrastructure layer for massive b2b adoption The future trillion-dollar health data & AI infra company might not even be on the map yet… Curious how others see this 👀

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We just unlocked $300K+ worth of startup infrastructure for founders. Most talented founders never get to launch because they lack access to tools and infrastructure. AXI is changing that. Founders can now access $300,000+ in startup infrastructure completely free, including: AWS Activate – $10,000 credits Hostify – Premium hosting plan Vidmoat – 120 free credits + 15% off Studio plan Linear – 6 months free access PostHog – $50,000 infrastructure credits Cloudinary – Startup program access JetBrains – 6 months free + 50% discount Framer – 1 year Pro plan free Cuoral – 6 months free + 50% off for 6 months AWS Technical Support Package PentaTech – Technical consulting Notion Plus – 6 months free And many more resources founders need to launch without capital. Founders simply sign up and use simple prompts to access the infrastructure and resources they need to build. For example: “I’m building a fintech MVP and need cloud hosting, analytics, and developer tools.” AXI instantly recommends the right infrastructure, credits, and tools to get started. Getting started is simple: Sign up at useaxi.com Describe the tool you need using a simple prompt Instantly unlock the infrastructure and resources you need This is part of our mission at Ideation Axis Group to democratize startup infrastructure in Africa. You should not need capital to build your first product. You should only need an idea, ambition, and the right infrastructure. If you're building something, this is for you. Welcome to the future of launching startups.

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How will the rise of secondary sales of VC investments affect startups? It's still early but there are some strong indications that there can be some positives for companies and founders: +++ Secondary sales enable founders, early employees, and investors to realize partial liquidity while companies remain private, reducing pressure to rush toward IPO or acquisition. +++ It's also an opportunity to clean up cap tables, align incentives, retain top talent (by enabling option holders to access liquidity earlier), and extend their private growth trajectory without being forced into less optimal exit timing.​ +++ A secondary can better align a company's long-term growth objectives if companies are able to reach their full potential over a longer period of time and not be subject to exiting to fulfill a VC's fund cycle. Yesterday's annoucement of Goldman Sachs acquisition of Industry Ventures demonstrates that secondary sales have a continued role in the VC ecosystem. As the stigma around secondaries diminishes, well-structured secondary events are increasingly can be seen as positive signals of company health and board sophistication, supporting broader ecosystem resilience. What are your thoughts? What are the potential negatives of a more robust secondary market? #vc #secondarymarkets #venturecapital #secondaries #founders #startup

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For founders & VCs: join me & 507+ VCs, angels, family offices and LPs at the free Virtual 1:1 VC Pitch Conf on Sep 17. Register free: https://vcconf.com?6201 Investors access 1,100+ startup decks from the event, meet 20 startups matched by sector, stage & geo (7-min each), then 2hrs of co-investor speed networking. Here's how I invest: 100k-1m checks at Seed, Series A & Series B. Geo: Globally. Sectors: Climate & Energy, Deep Tech & Hardware & Robotics, Cybersecurity & Defence Tech 4 hours of VC insights from a16z, 500 Global, Plug & Play, Antler, Entrepreneurs First, Alumni Ventures, SOSV and more: – The 2026 bar: what “fundable” means at pre-seed, seed, and Series A – Inside the VC funnel: How investors find, filter & evaluate startups in the AI era – Where $B+ AUM family offices & VCs are putting venture dollars right now – What should AI startups build now to raise venture money See your top-20 VC matches on the website and if you decide to pitch 1:1, use my code MANAHOSSEINI10 for 10% off.

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