Catching Up On Readings: Generative AI Landscape

This report from CB Insights breaks down the generative AI landscape across funding trends, top-valued startups, and most active VCs. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Catching Up On Readings: AI Impact at GDC 2024

This feature from The Guardian examines the impact of AI on the gaming industry and the Gaming Developers Conference held in San Francisco last week. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Catching Up On Readings: US IPOs Q1’24

This feature from Renaissance Capital looks at upcoming IPOs in the week ahead that signals the end of the first quarter of 2024. Q1 is about to end with some of the first large tech IPOs including Reddit and Astera Labs. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Catching Up On Readings: Humanoid Robotics

This report from CB Insights analyzes the humanoid robotics market that is driven by advancements in AI, pilot programs demonstrating commercial viability, and significant investment from big tech. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Colors: La Nuit X

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – La Nuit X

La Nuit X | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Ink | 8  x 8, On Paper

Catching Up On Readings: Top Cybersecurity Trends 2024

This report from Gartner identifies the top cybersecurity trends for 2024. These include Generative AI (GenAI), unsecure employee behavior, third-party risks, and continuous threat exposure. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Catching Up On Readings: MWC 2024

This feature from The Verge investigates what is expected to launch at the Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona from February 26th. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped by Piggybacking to $6M from Romania

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

You may have read our PaaS coverage, as well as Bootstrapping by Piggybacking posts. Well, when we spoke in 2020, 123FormBuilder CEO Florin Cornianu had built a $6 million SaaS business using this methodology with just $1 million in funding. What’s more, he had done it entirely from Romania and selling to largely a US customer base. Excellent story!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Florin Cornianu: I’m the CEO and Co-founder of 123FormBuilder. We are a form-building SaaS. The company is in Romania. I was born in a small city in the northern part of Romania. I’m an engineer by profession. I graduated with computer science degree from a large university in the city where I live.

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