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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
Technology reporter, foodie, fashion-obsessed, wife, mom, married to
@suneel
.
Birmingham, MIJoined January 2009
1,829 Following
35.9K Followers

Leena K. Rao’s Tweets

Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
Love the politics/VC scoop from
@meliarobin
Quote Tweet
Melia Russell
@meliarobin
Scoop: Drive Capital's Mark Kvamme is raising $500 million for something akin to a sovereign wealth fund for Ohio. The rumor going around, multiple sources said, is that the "Ohio Fund" lays the groundwork for Mark to run for Senate in 2024. businessinsider.com/ohio-vc-mark-k
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Stephanie Palazzolo
@steph_palazzolo
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have already been used to create malware, deepfake celebrity nudes, and racist images. Here's why AI founders and VCs aren't waiting for regulation and are taking their own measures to police this new tech:
businessinsider.com
From writing malicious code to creating deepfakes, generative-AI tools like ChatGPT are being used...
Recently, hype around generative AI has exploded. With its growth, some founders and VCs worry the tech's innovation outpaces its regulation.
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
Some employees found out they were part of the layoffs when they were locked out of their computers this morning,
Quote Tweet
Insider Tech Business
@insidertechbiz
Hot AI startup Scale AI, valued at $7 billion, has laid off 20% of its employees. Its young CEO was once called the next Zuckerberg. businessinsider.com/layoffs-tiger-
Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
"Zero-budget parties"
Quote Tweet
Madeline Renbarger
@maddierenbarger
New: @dariusrafieyan @stokessamanthaj and I dug into how startup and VC cost cutting has affected office holiday parties, and how some founders are getting creative to find ways to still celebrate in @BusinessInsider: businessinsider.com/vc-startups-cu
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
Friday afternoon scoop: Autograph, the buzzy NFT platform cofounded by Tom Brady, has laid off dozens of staffers after severing ties with former board member Sam Bankman-Fried. a16z and Kleiner Perkins led the $170m series b earlier this year.
businessinsider.com
Backed by A16Z, Web3 startup Autograph has laid off dozens of people after severing ties with board...
Autograph, the buzzy NFT platform cofounded by Tom Brady, counts Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins and Katie Haun as investors.
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
Turns out "going direct" is hard.
Quote Tweet
Melia Russell
@meliarobin
SCOOP: Last summer, the debut of a16z's own content site sent shockwaves through the tech media. A year and a half later, it's stopped publishing and most of its editorial staffers have left. w/ @robaeprice businessinsider.com/a16z-future-cl
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
April Joyner
@aprjoy
I spoke with
@ullastweets
about the broader consequences of the FTX meltdown. A big one: FTX US was supposed to buy the assets of the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager. But now that deal could be at risk, putting $1.3 billion of customer claims at stake.
businessinsider.com
A Voyager investor says the FTX meltdown puts the bankrupt crypto lender's bailout in jeopardy,...
FTX US was set to buy Voyager's assets, but now Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange is in turmoil. That puts the deal in question, an investor said.
Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
Super proud of this incredibly important story from
@meliarobin
and
@maddierenbarger
.
Quote Tweet
Insider Tech Business
@insidertechbiz
With more women entering the male-dominated venture industry, firms are crafting maternity leave policies on the fly to accommodate new mothers. @thisisinsider spoke to mothers in venture capital who stay plugged in during maternity leave and why. ⬇️ businessinsider.com/women-venture-
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A digital illustration of several venture capitalists engaged in handshakes with a mother's hand between them passing a pacifier to her child. The headline text on the graphic reads: "Women in venture capital are rewriting the rules of maternity leave."
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
I'm so grateful to be working with you!!!
Quote Tweet
Melia Russell
@meliarobin
To my managers @vishalpersaud @LeenaRao: Thank you for lifting me up when I felt low over the past year, giving me the freedom to chase what interests me, and making me sound smart with their thoughtful edits. You are the antidote to Sunday scaries. 🙏
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
Scoop from me +
@alexonicoll
: Vista Equity Partners is exploring a deal to take Compass private after the residential real estate brokerage's stock price has plunged more than 85% since it went public last year, multiple sources told us.
businessinsider.com
Vista Equity Partners is exploring a deal to take Compass private, sources say
The market capitalization of the real-estate brokerage Compass has plunged more than 85% since it went public in 2021.
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
A late afternoon scoop from
@thebenbergman
!
Quote Tweet
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
Not many IPO scoops these days, but here's one! TripActions has filed confidential paperwork to go public next year, targeting a $12 billion valuation. With business travel rebounding, the company is on pace to more than triple last year's revenue. businessinsider.com/andreessen-hor
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
A post dot.com clause is returning to term sheets and this could be terrible for some startups.
Quote Tweet
Melia Russell
@meliarobin
They're baaack: At #SBW2022, a startup lawyer says he's seeing one provision creep into term sheets that preys on cash-strapped startups: the dreaded "redemption rights." businessinsider.com/how-to-deal-wi
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
News you can use: I talked to
@jesskah
to learn what founders should do and not do when applying to
@sequoia
Arc. "Two areas that people don't always highlight enough is their personal story and why they had that compelling founding insight."
businessinsider.com
Sequoia just started accepting applications for the spring cohort of its ultra-competitive accele...
For founders hoping to apply to Sequoia Arc, Jess Lee, an investment partner who also runs the firm's product team, shared some tips.
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
Another great scoop on Popshop’s struggles from
@thebenbergman
Quote Tweet
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
New from me: Popshop did a 2nd round of layoffs in as many months as it struggles to attract new funding. Last year it went on a major hiring spree and spent big on promotions. "We were burning through money like no one's business," said one employee. businessinsider.com/popshop-live-l
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
"It's like don't ask, don't tell." Fantastic reporting from
@meliarobin
on the impact of the downturn on founder mental health.
Quote Tweet
Melia Russell
@meliarobin
The startup founders are not all right — I spoke to 16 founders and investors about the weight of building a company in an economic downturn, and how they're coping. businessinsider.com/startup-founde via @BITech
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Melia Russell
@meliarobin
Sometimes I write something that makes me lol "When Marc Andreessen said it's time to build, he probably didn't mean new offices." Here's my analysis of what the firm's expansion into three new locales means for the future of investing.
businessinsider.com
Andreessen Horowitz ushers in its next era of startup investing by going virtual. Here's why the...
Andreessen Horowitz, the last top-tier venture capital firm to resist expanding beyond the Bay Area, has decided that it's time to build new offices.
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
New from me: Popshop Live, a livestreaming marketplace backed by Benchmark, laid off 18% of staff and parted ways with 2 key execs as growth stalled. "We were very aware that where we were supposed to be is not where we were," said a former staffer.
businessinsider.com
Benchmark-backed Popshop Live, a QVC for Gen Z, lays off 18% of staff after key executives depart...
Popshop Live, a mobile-livestreaming marketplace, has laid off 10 full-time employees, or 18% of its staff. Two key executives also departed.
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
This profile of
@kevinrose
by
@meliarobin
has so much fascinating color on Rose's Web 2.0 past and his future in NFTs. Kevin 2.0 to kevin3
Quote Tweet
Melia Russell
@meliarobin
Exclusive: Digg made Kevin Rose a Web 2.0 poster boy, but it fell short of becoming the next big social network. Now, Rose is staking his comeback on Proof, a new kind of media company. My first big profile goes inside the journey of Kevin 2.0 to kevin3. businessinsider.com/kevin-rose-dig
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
This is fantastic story on Tiger Global, Bain and the fund's current challenges in startup land by
@thebenbergman
@dakincampbell
@aprjoy
@SaacksAttack
(and was a fun one to edit with
@amandakcantrell
).
Quote Tweet
Insider Business
@BusinessInsider
How Tiger Global outsourced its venture-capital strategy to consulting firm Bain — and left investors and startups holding the bag businessinsider.com/tiger-global-v
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
Worlds colliding editing
@thebenbergman
's zombie VC funds story citing former Fortune colleague
@danprimack
's VC list from back in the day.
Quote Tweet
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
During the Great Recession, @danprimack maintained a list called "The VC Walking Dead" that no one wanted to be on. Now the carnage could be much worse, considering the number of new funds started in the past few years: 221 a year from '17 to '21, versus 53 a year from '05-'07.
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Diamond Naga Siu
@diamondnagasiu
As the market falls, startups have also taken a hit. So here's the playbook to succeed during lean times. ~2% of VC funding goes to women/poc founders so
@aprjoy
+ I chatted with underrepresented founders/funders on how they've long succeeded with less:
businessinsider.com
Here's the startup playbook to survive lean times, a formula that underrepresented founders have...
Founders overlooked by VCs have mastered skills such as being cash-flow efficient. Here's their playbook on how to come out on top amid the downturn.
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Leena K. Rao
@LeenaRao
In the past week, 2 M&A bankers representing large public tech companies contacted a Silicon Valley VC asking for possible startups to acquire.
Quote Tweet
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
New from me + @LeenaRao @stokessamanthaj "There's blood in the water." Dealmakers are scouting in overdrive. In the past week, 2 M&A bankers representing large public tech companies contacted a Silicon Valley VC asking for possible startups to acquire. businessinsider.com/tech-acquisiti
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Leena K. Rao Retweeted
Ben Bergman
@thebenbergman
New from me: -Insider spoke with 5 investors who trade secondary shares and viewed confidential market data. -Many startups are seeing their valuations chopped in half. -Buyers are happy to snap up bargains but fear prices may go much lower.
businessinsider.com
Leaked data shows shares of Bolt, Thrasio, Udacity, Mapbox, Cameo, and other startups have plunged...
Secondary traders are seeing a surge in deeply discounted shares in late-stage startups as employees and VCs offload their stakes.
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