TechCrunch+ Roundup: South Korean Investor Survey, 1-Hour Board Meetings, Venture Leasing Basics

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After sales software startup TigerEye closed its Series A and established a board of directors, its co-founders put them on notice:

One thing we would never want to do is the three hour long non-strategic board meeting.

“Every deck I’ve ever made and seen is over 80 pages long,” says Tracy Young, co-founder and CEO of TigerEye. “I’m not exaggerating.”

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In this TC+ article, he explains how to structure a one hour board meeting that creates real value for founders and investors. Step One: Replace your huge deck with a three-page memo.

We’re taking Monday, May 29, off to celebrate Memorial Day, so I’ll be back with another TC+ roundup a week from now.

Have a fantastic weekend!

walter thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

Why aren’t venture capitalists flocking to fund cybersecurity startups?

The accelerated shift to digital has been great for mature cybersecurity companies: Palo Alto Networks, Scaler, and CrowdStrike are all showing strong revenue multiples, reports Alex Wilhelm.

But there doesn’t appear to be a halo effect for corporate-backed cybersecurity startups. According to Crunchbase, funding for companies in this sector fell 58% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the first quarter of 2022.

“As valuations are down across the board, today’s cybersecurity stock prices have fallen sharply, even if they remain more expensive than other tech subcategories,” Alex writes.

Return on Growth: 5 Investors Explain Their Mantra for South Korean Startups

South Korea experienced a unicorn boom in recent years, but like the rest of the world, it is feeling the impacts of a global market correction.

“Venture funding in Asia in Q1 2023 is down 33% from Q4 2023 and 57% from Q1 2022,” reports Kate Park, who surveyed five investors to come up with their 2023 predictions. and find out how they are advising their portfolio companies. :

• Han Kim, General Partner, Altos Ventures
• Tim Chae, Managing Partner, Global 500
• JP Lee, CEO and Managing Partner, SoftBank Ventures Asia
• Yeemin Chung, Managing Director, BRV Capital Management
• Eunse Lee, Founder and Managing Partner, 541 Ventures

Ask Sophie: What are my options if a company terminates my OPT job offer?

Dear Sophie,

I am an international student graduating this month, but the company I was supposed to start working for at OPT rescinded my job offer.

What are my options?

—Grappling Graduate

3 things companies must do to protect their applications in the age of AI

Businesses with AI-enabled apps give bad actors a broader attack surface when it comes to phishing, bots, and other attempts to break into customer accounts.

“We are already seeing examples of AI-powered sites reverse engineering to get free AI computing,” says Reed McGinley-Stempel, co-founder and CEO of Stych, a customer identification and access management (CIAM) platform.

Venture leasing: The unsung hero for hardware startups struggling to raise capital

Hardware startups have always faced challenges when it comes to high upfront capital expenditures and open research and development timelines.

Fortunately, venture leasing creates “a happy medium between expensive debt loans and venture capital financing that works particularly well,” says Felipe Chávez Cortés, CEO and co-founder of robotic food delivery company Kiwibot.

To get products to market faster and avoid dilution, his company entered into a $10 million venture lease agreement.

“Hardware companies should not feel limited to venture capital funds to finance their high-risk, high-growth operations,” according to Cortés.

Launchpad Teardown: Faye’s $10 Million Series A Deck

Insurtech startup Faye shared a redacted version of the 19-slide deck its founders used to land a $10 million Series A round.

“Let’s remove this immediately,” says Haje Jan Kamps. “This is a really great pitch deck.”

• deck slide
• summary slide
• team slide
• problem slide
• Market Size Slide
• Insurance Marketplace Overview Slide
• Product Overview Slide
• Product features slide 1
• Product features slide 2
• Product features slide 3
• Product features slide 4
• Go-To-Market Slide
• Financial Growth Metrics Slide
• Customer Growth Metrics Slide
• Customer Validation Slide 1
• Competitive Landscape Slide
• The Ask Slide
• Customer Validation Slide 2
• Closing slide with mission statement