Richard Fraim

Partner at Knoll Ventures. I invest in pre-seed and seed stage b2b SaaS and AI-centric companies.

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@JonnyBird 👏 👏 👏

[Cyan Banister @cyantist]

The future isn’t written in training data.

Early-stage investing lives in what hasn’t happened yet. Humans are still the best at this and I can't imagine AI being better on any alarmist timeline.

Good luck training on that.

Not to mention, I can't imagine the best founders in the world wanting only to work with robots. This is a people business. Sure, some of the tedious shit we do will be automated, but we will, like all other industries, become more super human.

These "hot takes" are getting old and lack imagination.

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@mahaniok Increases the value of identifying worthy investment opportunities early-on, before easily-discoverable market signals are created

[Jason Shuman @JasonrShuman]

Coatue just put a number on what we’ve been seeing at seed for 3 years.

Software = $0.2T market.

Services-as-software = $5.5T.
25x.

The shift is from selling tools (per-seat) to selling work (per-output).

This is why the best vertical AI companies don’t compete with software incumbents.

They’re compete with expensive service providers, BPOs and high turnover labor.

A $2K/month AI agent replacing an $80K/year agency is the new business model.

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

Great summary @davidcummings.
- lower cost of dev results in increased competition from new entrants and incumbents, which leads to pricing compression and reduction in ‘traditional’ SaaS gross profit margins

-at the same time, companies are built more efficiently by leveraging AI tools internally, (partially?) offsetting gross margins compression

-AI centric / agent-centric SaaS products eat deeper into human capital spend, also possibly(?) offsetting gross margin compression as pricing shifts and correlates more to consumption-based / task-based pricing vs traditional per-seat pricing. New value props, that were impossible just a few years ago, can be delivered to customers opening up new opportunities for founders

-companies have potential to reach profitability faster. This possibly reduces appetite for later-stage VC

-reduced switching costs means higher potential for churn (but also opportunities for new companies to win business from legacy players that are slow to evolve)

- All of these factors essentially increase the discount rate applied applied by later stage investors to future cash flows, with some companies more vulnerable than others depending on where they sit in the stack

-the risk that b2b customers will just vibe code “xyz product” is over exaggerated, but not totally meritless, especially in certain categories

-In the end, even as the landscape rapidly evolves, great founders always win. It feels like we are just scratching the surface of what can be built with the toolkit that founders have available to them today.

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@gregisenberg Surely this depends on how much VC raised?

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

We are very excited to partner with the @CityDetect team to help make cities cleaner, safer, and more desirable! Looking forward to supporting the team through its next phase of growth!

@KnollVentures @lasolasvc @AtlantaSeedCo @hypepotamus

https://t.co/hk2mU01j9m

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

This is incredibly exciting for the city. I couldn’t think of a better team to take on this ambitious project. Amazing work @AtlantaVentures team!

Can’t wait to see what’s next!!

🚀🚀🚀🚀

[Jon Birdsong @JonnyBird]

Atlanta is in our name for a reason.

Every great city in the world has a safe, active, and vibrant downtown. It's Atlanta's turn.

https://t.co/Sv4rb6Ho8v

[Venture Atlanta @VentureAtlanta]

We're BEYOND EXCITED for our inaugural Startup Showcase Live competition at #VA2023!🎉 This is a unique opportunity for Pre-Seed + Seed-Stage companies to pitch investors & compete for a $500K investment prize!

So without further ado, get to know our panel of investor judges👏⬇️

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@scotwingo @GetSpiffy @edisonventure @tribecavp @bcvp @VentureSouth_VC @goodyear @Shell Congrats @scotwingo !!! Awesome stuff

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@conorsen @opinion Midtown ATL market will be interesting to follow. 1,600 units delivered in 2022 with another ~4k delivered in next 2 years (via Midtown Alliance). Almost all luxury / high-end developments chasing affluent renters.

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@scotwingo Congrats @scotwingo !!

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

Congrats to the @repvue team on announcing its Series Seed fundraise!! So excited to be a part of this team that is transforming b2b sales culture. Big things ahead https://t.co/z1cE7tDTXh

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@mgv_vc We go back and forth on this. I don’t think there’s ever been a time where we’ve said “man i wish i had Pitchbook access” but i can see how some would get utility out of it. The macro data (NVCA) is free and that’s what’s most vital to us. Others may totally disagree tho.

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

👀👀👀

Congrats to @KnollVentures portco @tourialtech on raising a $3.4 Seed led by @bonfire_vc ! We are extremely excited to support @binkleyaj and @JasonGraub as they upgrade the ability of marketers to offer interactive product experiences 🚀🚀

https://t.co/UYRWjLCeGw

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@scotwingo Awesome stuff @scotwingo !

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

According to @nvca, VC investment in 2021 totalled $330 billion, approx 2x (!!!) the former record of $166 billion in 2020

For some perspective, this is ~3.75x the $88 billion invested in 2017 (also a record at that time)

An incredible evolution.

https://t.co/jrlsfWuDAy

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

@sabakarimm We are inviting our investment banker to the meeting

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

Thank you @lance !! I'm up for the challenge!

[Lance Weatherby @lance]

That's a big act to follow @RFraim, confident you will bring it home.

[Richard Fraim @RFraim]

This is going to be fun!!

[Startup Battle @StartupBattleVC]

Introducing ASB Investor Judge: @RFraim

Richard is a Partner of @KnollVentures. He is actively involved in the local tech ecosystem, acting in various mentorship positions.

Richard will be an investor judge for ASB on October 21st.🚀

Tickets AVAILABLE: https://t.co/dgAWh4r2fJ