Yard Call | Nov '24

The Rock Yard Roundup, New Investment, and Austin Tech Week!

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Ryan Mitchell & Daniel Dart
November 01, 2024

Friends of Rock Yard!

It’s been another busy month…

Headlines - more info down below:

The Rock Yard Roundup | RECAP

A few weeks ago we hosted our 1st Annual Rock Yard Roundup in Austin, TX. Rather than a traditional AGM, we decided to do something different, welcoming not only our LPs and portfolio companies, but also more than 40 exceptional people from the wider Rock Yard universe – leaders in finance, industry, media, and culture.

In total, we had more than $100B in AUM and more than $100B in combined market cap in attendance! THAT’S SERIOUS COMPANY!

We had a packed couple of days. A few highlights include:

  • shared a meal at Malverde and enjoyed a conversation on passion and purpose by ultra-athlete and founder of The Speed Project Nils Arend and Eamonn Store, the former CEO of The Guardian, North America

  • 2-stepped at the Broken Spoke.

  • Learned about the barriers and opportunities in the labor market from Fifth Third Bank’s chief economist, Jeff Korzenik.

  • Imagined what the future of AI really looks like with ServiceNow’s Global Head of Whitespace Intelligence, Shuchi Rana, CEO of Reffie, Connie Lee, and Revin’s Head of Engineering, Stephen Webel.

  • Our founder, Daniel Dart led a great fireside on navigating trust in the modern world with unicorn founder, Daniel Yanisse, from Checkr.

  • And joined Pitchbook’s Jessica Hamlin for a conversation on markets, portfolio management, and investment opportunities featuring panelists from some of the biggest and best institutions.

  • And lastly, there is a whole lot more that we won’t share! It was epic!

This event was months in the making and it turned out better than we could have imagined - and we’re already planning for next year.

Our Fourth Investment: Hestus

We’re thrilled to announce our investment Hestus, is an AI-powered CAD software that accelerates hardware development.

Sohrab and Kevin were among Cruise's first 10 employees, and they have deep expertise in AI and manufacturing - a truly world-class team. Kevin led Autonomous Vehicle Engineering at Cruise, scaling the team from 20 to 300, and holds a PhD in robotics from UCLA. Sohrab, who has a PhD in Aerospace from the University of Toronto, founded SpaceRyde (YC W19), grew it to 40 employees, and secured millions in contracts before selling its IP.

We’re excited to welcome them to the portfolio and will share more about why we love them soon!

Austin Tech Week Recap

We had a busy week at Austin Tech Week, hosting and cohosting dope events with the folks at Forum Ventures, Gunderson Dettmer, and The Artemis Fund.

Daniel also joined a “New VCs on the Block” panel at Capital Factory to discuss why the Austin tech scene is special and to offer advice for early-stage founders. Here are the key takeaways:

  • Austin’s on the Rise: The city combines talent, a uniquely collaborative and welcoming culture, newly arrived tech giants, and tons of sunshine. It’s no wonder Austin — and the wider Texas ecosystem — is on the come up.

  • Be Real: No early-stage company has ironed out all the kinks, so don’t BS investors. At early stages VCs aren’t just looking at the company; they want to invest in teams they can trust and work with.

  • Raise at the Right Time: The definitions of funding rounds have changed over time, making it hard for founders pin down fundraising timelines. Claire Hansen of Firebrand Ventures told founders to keep it simple: Pre-Seed means you’re still on product dev. Seed means you have a sellable product and some users.

  • AI Isn’t Everything: Not every startup needs to focus on AI, but founders should understand how to best use it to support their company.

  • Meeting VCs Isn’t Hard, Raising from them Is: It is a VC’s job to be accessible to founders, but its on founders to know which VCs are a fit.

Where You Can Find Us

Here’s the latest info on events and where the team will be traveling in the coming months.

  1. Team Travel & Events: Hit us up if you’re around:

Reach out to Daniel, Ryan, Lavina, or Klicia - we’d love to chat!

That’s it for now! ‘til next time.

- Rock Yard