Marina Temkin

Financial analyst turned journalist. Covering VC/startups at @TechCrunch. Previously @PitchBook, @VCjournal. email for Signal: [email protected].

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@Katie_Roof 100%

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

It's common knowledge that some of the ARR numbers reported by startups are exaggerated. I dove deep into the topic and found that in many cases, investors are fully aware that the numbers aren't real.
https://t.co/FMghANdnGg

[Scott Stevenson @scottastevenson]

Excellent reporting by @MTemkin at @TechCrunch on how AI companies are inflating revenue by reporting CARR as ARR.

Please retweet so that we can get back to reality and permanently kill CARR as a valuation anchor. Delusion is not good for anyone.

"One VC told TechCrunch that he has seen companies where CARR is 70% higher than ARR, even though a significant chunk of that contracted revenue will never actually materialize."

“Investors can’t call it out,” a VC told TechCrunch. “Everyone has a company monetizing CARR as ARR.”

The biggest thing that has surprised me since my tweet went viral was the amount of nervous, sheepish laughter from VCs on the topic:

"Haha... Oh, I'm not sure if it's that big a deal 🙂"

While other VCs say privately:

"We see this constantly and it's becoming a serious problem."

https://t.co/Fauvtx6c9B

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@nmasc_ @ericvishria @EverettRandle They seem not to be sticking to investing only in Series As, as they have historically. @EverettRandle first investment at the firm was a Series B into Gumloop. https://t.co/1D0uo9ffHn

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

https://t.co/vHjTa0z4tJ

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

Scoop confirmed: exactly two weeks later, Anthropic's $900B looks done.

[Techmeme @Techmeme]

Sources: Anthropic has agreed to the terms of a $30B fundraising at a $900B valuation, with Sequoia, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Altimeter co-leading the round (@georgenhammond / Financial Times)

(Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)

[Techmeme @Techmeme]

Canadian legaltech company Clio says its ARR has reached $500M, citing demand for its AI services; it was valued at $5B after a $500M Series G in November 2025 (@mtemkin / TechCrunch)

(Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)

[Techmeme @Techmeme]

Ian Crosby's Synthetic, which is building an AI bookkeeper, raised a $10M seed led by Khosla; Crosby founded Bench, which raised $100M+ and imploded in 2024 (@mtemkin / TechCrunch)

(Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)

[Yuri Sagalov @yuris]

I've said it before, but CVF is one of the most interesting financials products that we offer founders at GC.

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@amir Had many of the same details LAST week
- negative margins until recently, that just turned slightly positive
- annualized rev of over $6 bn base case, $7 bn+ is target case (didn't include)
- obviously pressure from Claude Code
https://t.co/5zZQENCt8K

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@pitdesi https://t.co/nSMNmzEkQg

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@pitdesi Many of the details in my story LAST week, another one after SpaceX announced.
- negative annualized rev until recently
- base case annualized rev of over $6 bn. $7 bn according to sources = target case.
- Need to continue to raise.
https://t.co/5zZQENCt8K

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

I seem to have a talent for scooping AI coding startup fundraises right before M&A.

Last year, I broke @windsurf's last round, but the deal fell through, resulting in an eventual acqui-hire by Google.  

Last week, I scooped @cursor_ai round, which was just killed by SpaceX.

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@hey_james_00 @martin_casado Yes. That's exactly what I am pushing for. Define your "revenue."

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@shulman_jared DM me

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@martin_casado I'd be happy with GAAP and ARR or run rate, as long as it's clearly defined (aka, exactly how it's calculated and what's included and excluded.)

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@martin_casado We'd love to compare all these companies, especially the ones that are claiming to have hundreds of millions in so-called ARR on apple-to-apples basis. Problem, of course, is that GAAP doesn't capture the growth trajectory -- the thing that matters in startups.

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@martin_casado No. That's not what you said.

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@martin_casado This is getting a little ridiculous. We are clearly not talking about revenue, which is the top line of a GAAP income statement.

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@martin_casado I have a finance background, which I think you don't. I set and passed all three levels of the CFA and built many, many financial models. Revenue is a generic term. You sell one widget for $1, that's revenue.

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@martin_casado I understand GAAP and non-GAAP alright. What I want to understand is how to compare all the so-called run rate revenue apples-to-apples? One companies run rate "Apple" is another company's "Orange."

[Marina Temkin @MTemkin]

@martin_casado Revenue, all types of revenue, needs to be defined. When the press learns a certain company hit $2B in revenue run rate, what kind of revenue is that? How was it calculated?