The Hunter Report

Author

Alex Shaw
September 15, 2023

Hi All!

Welcome to the second edition of The Hunter Report.

Here is a quick dose of what stood out to me this week.

Venture Funding:

US-based AI companies received a whopping 45 rounds of funding totaling $913M compared to last week’s 466.8M. This was in large part due to rounds of $500M going to Databricks and $125M going to Enfabrica.

Company Spotlight of the week: Sima.ai 

Founded in 2018 with 4 rounds of funding totaling $190M, Sima.ai builds software and hardware to run AI and Machine Learning algorithms for edge devices such as drones, robots, self-driving cars, and security cameras. Think this, drones flying overhead with faster and more actional data from captured imaging. With their no-code ML solutions, they are working to simplify extremely complex computer processing procedures. Tasks that would normally take months are now completed in minutes.

Nvidia is the clear behemoth in the AI chip space, but it appears Sima.ai has offerings that could give them competition.

A more in-depth view of their market proposition can be found here.

Employment Data:

The Wall Street Journal came out with an article this week titled, “The Job-Market Boom is Over”. My thought - it’s been over for a while.

This is not to say companies are not hiring.

However, data is murky on overall jobs posted in relation to actual open roles. Why? One reason is that some companies are reluctant to post jobs right now due to the overflow of applicants.

Now more than ever, candidates need to be highly creative in their job search, and should not be afraid to reach out to companies with no jobs posted.

Let’s talk about candidate experience for a moment:

Earlier this week, I posted a quick note on LinkedIn about the long-term impact of companies with bad candidate experiences. But what makes a good candidate experience?

Here are the must-haves:

  • Effortless application process. Cover letters are a waste of time

  • Timely communication to candidates in all phases of the process and consistent updates

  • Transparency on the interview process and ease of interview scheduling

  • Accessibility and accommodation for candidates with disabilities

  • An engaged and diverse panel of interviewers who’ve read their resumes and are prepared

  • Respectful communication. This involves calling candidates on the phone to let them know you are moving forward or not. When a candidate spends 4-6 hours interviewing with your company, this is a must and it only takes 2 minutes

Things I’m experimenting with: 

I recently hired a Virtual Assistant to help with tasks related to business development. A significant portion of these tasks involve creating lists and organizing them in my database. Every day, for two hours, my VA researches companies in my niches and compiles them in organized lists within my database, Apollo.io. A tool I highlighted last week.

Operating two hours ahead, their dedicated work time spans from 8-10 their time. This means, that by the time I start my work day, I already have a fresh list of potential companies to reach out to. This strategy has notably streamlined my workflow and saved a valuable chunk of my morning.

Quote to start the weekend: 

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner” - Haruki Murakami, from his book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

As always, please feel free to reach out directly for additional insights or questions.

Have a great weekend and thanks for tuning in!

-Alex