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美光风投支持无视炒作、在恐慌中投资的团队

Andrew Byrnes | September 2020

沙巴体育结算平台. 他们是一个小团队——创始人坐在帕洛阿尔托的象牙塔里——但从上到下, 阿特拉斯是由一些领先的技术专家在各自的领域. Although they may be behind at the moment, 他们是如此强烈地致力于在他们的使命中取得成功,我真的相信他们会不惜一切代价赢得胜利.

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为了好玩,当我们投资的时候,我对他们的一位联合创始人大卫·洛贝尔(David Lobell)进行了“拷问”. It was like talking to Ivan Drago of the “Rocky” films. 德拉戈在电影中输了,但现实世界中的德拉戈以10分的满分击败了意大利种马.

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勇士 are scary. I’m a fan of 阿特拉斯的人工智能.

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Risk = First

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Here’s a quick list of startups that, when I first heard of them, I thought sounded really stupid: Amazon, 脸谱网, Uber and Twitch. I even went so far as to tell the Twitch founder, face to face, 我认为Twitch是我听过的最愚蠢的东西,就在他以10亿美元的价格出售前6周.

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My earliest lesson as a venture capitalist is that it doesn’t matter what I think; it matters what customers think. 在这个领域——创业公司、风投公司——我们的客户都痴迷于新事物.

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When I say we want to invest in “daredevils,” I mean we’re looking for new ideas, 对于那些足够疯狂的人来说,他们接受了一个新概念,并将自己的生命投入到创造这个新事物中, even when the world around them tells them they’re crazy.

\r\n

现在,对于某些垂直行业(如半导体),“疯狂”真的是……嗯,疯狂. 我们的行业建立在几十年的全球学术和工业合作的基础上. 如果罗德里戈和桑巴诺娃真的疯了,他们一分钱都筹不到.

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But for other 行业, 没有一个内置的技术大厦强制要求参与, 大胆的创新——在新技术上承担真正的风险——是可以接受的.

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的值? 低空跳伞 are usually first.

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当我开始在美光投资的时候,我们接近 investment in Volocopter. 我的第一个想法是:飞行电动出租车,多么愚蠢的想法.

\r\n

My second thought: Wait a minute. I’ve seen stupid ideas before. Does 微米 like this kind of stupid? 从 Volocopter website, I learned that:

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  • 2011年,Volocopter完成了世界上第一次电动飞机的载人飞行.
  • \r\n
  • In 2017, Volocopter debuted the world’s first air taxi.
  • \r\n
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This is what daredevils do:

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Through COVID-19, 美光创投(微米 合资企业)投资了人工智能和机器学习初创公司,这些公司推动了革命性的工业价值. Today more than ever, 我们投资的团队体现了我们认为定义创业成功的品质. These teams are:

  • 集中
  • 有创意的
  • 勇士
  • 低空跳伞
  • If this is you, let’s talk.

焦点 in a time of massive change

吸取的教训是,在大流行期间,我们真的很容易分心. Opinions are louder. Anxiety is higher. 有太多的未知,有太多的地方需要去寻找,花时间去猜测.

In the early days of my startup, Humphrey Polanen, an awesome advisor, described me “like a kitten, batting at anything shiny.” Especially during a startup’s early stages, 创始团队可以选择的潜在途径似乎是无限的, 同时采取多种途径,冒着未来的风险,这种诱惑是非常强烈的.

焦点. Clarify your vision. 不管你周围的噪音有多大,都要协调和指导你的团队.

The team behind our recent investment, Nexar, embodies the value of focus. 今天汽车行业的困境是众所周知和有据可查的:大流行不仅停止了全球生产和供应链, but no one really wants or needs to buy cars right now. But the persistent focus of Bruno, Eran和他们的团队从成立之初就将他们的分析技术应用于城市交通,为其定义了永久价值,在大多数汽车公司都在苦苦挣扎的时候,他们已经为持续的经济增长奠定了基础.

Creativity is my new buzzword

How fast can you pivot? How weird are you willing to get to sell your product? 当整个世界都在收缩,专注于传统的核心价值观时,你还能有多原创?

最具创造力的团队能最快地适应新的全球动态,他们将茁壮成长.

We invested in READY Robotics in late 2019. 这家公司向制造商销售昂贵的机器人系统. 现在, with the pandemic, 对于经验最丰富的公司来说,向新客户销售和交付设备是很困难的. But READY did two things quickly:

它通过为客户自行部署构建文档和分步指南来定义一个DIY工具包. With this new approach, 在这个关键时刻,工作人员向其中一个客户交付了一些口罩,以满足对口罩的需求. READY的客户说得最好:“从开箱到培训和安装, 这是我在机械加工领域经历过的最简单的操作之一. More than that, our machinists actually found it fun!”
看到问题. Create solution to problem. The more fun the solution, the better.

Creativity is queen.

Teams that fight, win

Startups are a grind. 我不知道有哪个创业公司的创始人能在回首往事时说:“哇,那很容易.”

To put the challenge in perspective, in a recent board meeting, a founder — who, along with half his staff, had COVID-19 — said, “Of all the hard things our startup has gone through, I don’t think I’d put this pandemic in the top 5.”

哇!

It’s definitely too soon to make that call, 但对我来说, 这句话是成功的创始人所克服的不断挑战的缩影. 你不能坐以待毙,随随便便地对世界抛给你的事情做出反应——因为这个世界根本不在乎你的创业公司是成功还是失败. 我们所做的. We have to fight for it. We have to be warriors.

阿特拉斯的人工智能 是战士.

Yes, they are in a crowded space. 没错,阿特拉斯正在向新兴市场的客户销售沙巴体育结算平台. 他们是一个小团队——创始人坐在帕洛阿尔托的象牙塔里——但从上到下, 阿特拉斯是由一些领先的技术专家在各自的领域. Although they may be behind at the moment, 他们是如此强烈地致力于在他们的使命中取得成功,我真的相信他们会不惜一切代价赢得胜利.

为了好玩,当我们投资的时候,我对他们的一位联合创始人大卫·洛贝尔(David Lobell)进行了“拷问”. It was like talking to Ivan Drago of the “Rocky” films. 德拉戈在电影中输了,但现实世界中的德拉戈以10分的满分击败了意大利种马.

勇士 are scary. I’m a fan of 阿特拉斯的人工智能.

Risk = First

Here’s a quick list of startups that, when I first heard of them, I thought sounded really stupid: Amazon, 脸谱网, Uber and Twitch. I even went so far as to tell the Twitch founder, face to face, 我认为Twitch是我听过的最愚蠢的东西,就在他以10亿美元的价格出售前6周.

My earliest lesson as a venture capitalist is that it doesn’t matter what I think; it matters what customers think. 在这个领域——创业公司、风投公司——我们的客户都痴迷于新事物.

When I say we want to invest in “daredevils,” I mean we’re looking for new ideas, 对于那些足够疯狂的人来说,他们接受了一个新概念,并将自己的生命投入到创造这个新事物中, even when the world around them tells them they’re crazy.

现在,对于某些垂直行业(如半导体),“疯狂”真的是……嗯,疯狂. 我们的行业建立在几十年的全球学术和工业合作的基础上. 如果罗德里戈和桑巴诺娃真的疯了,他们一分钱都筹不到.

But for other 行业, 没有一个内置的技术大厦强制要求参与, 大胆的创新——在新技术上承担真正的风险——是可以接受的.

的值? 低空跳伞 are usually first.

当我开始在美光投资的时候,我们接近 investment in Volocopter. 我的第一个想法是:飞行电动出租车,多么愚蠢的想法.

My second thought: Wait a minute. I’ve seen stupid ideas before. Does 微米 like this kind of stupid? 从 Volocopter website, I learned that:

  • 2011年,Volocopter完成了世界上第一次电动飞机的载人飞行.
  • In 2017, Volocopter debuted the world’s first air taxi.

This is what daredevils do:

And this is what daredevils get: Volocopter extends Series C to $94M.

COVID sucks, but it’s not the end of the world. Its reshaping the world. 专注的、有创造力的战士和不怕死的人将从这种重塑中获益.

So that’s who we’re investing in during our pandemic.

Director, Venture Capital - Artificial Intelligence

Andrew Byrnes

安迪就职于美光的人工智能基金,投资一些世界顶级初创公司. He’s a recovering startup founder, 作家, and solar/battery materials geek, 当他不考虑技术创新和创业的时候, 他可能在跑步或者和他的孩子们做些奇怪的事. And he’s big on words like “young’uns.”