Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
The New Economics of Starting Up: How Startups Are Scaling and Spending in 2025 | Mercury
With economic tumult and anxiety seemingly through the roof, how are entrepreneurs actually feeling about their own business’s financial prospects? In an economy that has many people tightening belts, those building early-stage companies are feeling… surprisingly good.
Artificial Intelligence And Investment’s New Frontier
The rapid pace of change driven by advances in AI also means that even seemingly strong investments can deteriorate quickly during the hold period. Investors are acutely aware of this and now have much higher expectations for transactions on a data front row, and are much more interested in obtaining a deeper understanding of the ‘how and why’ certain financial and operational trends are occurring.
Distribution Is the Final Moat
First, it’s important to understand what distribution means and how it fits into the greater go-to-market strategy.
Inside the minds of Seattle startup founders: Fundraising, hiring, and navigating their biggest challenges – GeekWire
We spoke to startup leaders about fundraising, hiring, go-to-market, profitability, return-to-office policies, and what’s keeping them up at night. They ranged from a founder who just launched her bootstrapped startup in the HR sector, to an engineering vet who just raised a Series B round for his logistics software company.
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Anthropic Leads A Busy Week For Big Deals
Investor enthusiasm for AI once again drove the bulk of funding for the week’s largest rounds, led by Anthropic’s $13 billion mega-financing. However, companies across a number of industries attracted large investments, including biotech, security and medical devices.
Fiveonefour Raises $17M to Redefine the Developer Experience by Connecting Data Infrastructure and AI Innovation
“Modern analytical use cases need more than a classic data warehouse with some dashboards,” said Tim Delisle, CEO and Co-Founder of Fiveonefour and former VP of Engineering at Nike. “AI agents and custom applications demand flexible, performant infrastructure coupled with developer and AI-friendly software interfaces like APIs and MCPs. We believe the future of data and analytics depends on the core developer experience for humans and AI agents alike, and this capital helps us deliver on that mission.”
38 Lessons on Work, Life, Faith, and Family (Birthday Lessons 2025) – Barrett Brooks
These are not lessons I think you should apply to your own life, they’re merely what has worked for me. Please read them as “advice to myself” rather than advice for you. But of course, if something resonates then please take it with you and remix it to fit your needs.
Other Oregon startup stories
