Jen Wolf

Managing Partner, Initialized Capital

[Jen Wolf @jenhwolf]

It’s an honor to lead Initialized into this next chapter as managing partner with my friend @brettdg.

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

News alert: Congratulations to @jenhwolf & @brettdg, our new managing partners. Jen & Brett joined Initialized in 2017 and have been instrumental in building the modern version of the firm that is recognized today. Read more about our announcement here: https://t.co/JcA2gh7zrR

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Whether you’re planning a wedding, spaghetti night with friends, or a PowerPoint party, @partiful makes it easy to bring people together for any occasion.

CEO @shreyamurthy’s hot take? The difference between Gen Z and millennials might be overhyped.

“I don’t think there’s as much of a gap between millennials and Gen Z as the media would have us believe. It’s more about who feels underserved by legacy platforms and who’s well-supported. That’s the real distinction.”

Check out the full interview ⬇️

https://t.co/HAfWVnweox

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

On the latest episode of "High Bit," @brettdg interviewed @Suhail, founder of @Playground_AI, about recent developments in AI-driven image generation and their new Playground v3 model.

Suhail outlined Playground's goal to democratize graphic design, enabling users to easily create T-shirts, logos, social media content, memes, and more.

Highlights include:
• Doshi's transition from using existing models to conducting original research, leading to significant improvements in their AI models.
• Optimism about the future of image generation, focusing on untapped opportunities in visual models.
• Technical challenges in image generation, such as character consistency and image editing difficulties.

Watch/listen:
Youtube:
https://t.co/L6dmWCCV6D
Spotify:
https://t.co/iqm2A97hbB
Amazon:
https://t.co/7KSGBZ1nz5
Apple:
https://t.co/qI4iB9KM9X

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

A company offsite can help set the foundation for company culture and improve team communication and collaboration.

We published "How to Host Your First Company Offsite as an Early Stage Founder," the latest in our "Your First..." blog series, featuring insights from our managing partner, @jenhwolf.

Jen highlighted the importance of careful planning, including choosing the right venue and duration, while also making sure the content and activities are engaging and suited to different employee preferences to encourage collaboration and creativity.

Key takeaways:
• Clearly outline and prioritize the objectives for the offsite.
• Choose a venue that aligns with your goals and comfortably accommodates your team, while considering travel arrangements and amenities.
• Incorporate interactive sessions and activities into the agenda to make sure the offsite is engaging for introverts and extroverts.

Read more here ⬇
https://t.co/eeqRdHcxAJ

Discover more insights in our weekly series, guiding early stage founders through key moments in marketing, PR, talent, go-to-market strategies, design, community/events, content, and more here ⬇
https://t.co/OSDH4Aq9An

[Jen Wolf @jenhwolf]

Always a pleasure to chat with @shreyamurthy about our early investment in @partiful, and the company's north star mission to cure loneliness.

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

📽️In this video interview with our managing partner @jenhwolf, @partiful CEO @shreyamurthy shares how she built the company to reshape the future of event planning.

Shreya's journey began with her own struggle to create a social circle after college, which inspired her to develop Partiful, a platform now used by over a million people that is addressing gaps in traditional event planning tools.

Highlights of their conversation include:
- Sharing party planning advice and cohosting a Brooklyn backyard happy hour with our team @Initialized.
- The new Partiful logo and design philosophy.
- Choosing to focus on IRL events vs online.

"I wanted to make the process of planning events, meeting people at those events, and building relationships with the people you met at events a lot easier." - Partiful CEO Shreya Murthy

https://t.co/HAfWVnweox

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Runway is redefining financial planning and analysis by making it accessible to everyone in an organization, enhancing collaboration and decision-making.

In this month’s “My First” blog series, our managing partner @jenhwolf spoke to @runwayco CEO and founder @blader about how his @X presence led to the company's first $1 million in ARR, the challenges of transitioning from consumer to B2B products, and the importance of human-centric branding in their go-to-market strategy.

“We believe financial data should be accessible and understandable to everyone to create the kind of strategic impact incumbents promise." - Siqi Chen, Runway CEO

Read the full interview ⬇️
https://t.co/P7Z44ROQK2

Today, Runway partners with teams like @AngelList, @Superhuman, @ConvertKit, and @drink818 to model, plan, and align business needs across their entire organization.

Learn more: https://t.co/BkUMdcAZwv

[Jen Wolf @jenhwolf]

As our former COO I can’t think of a better person to pass the torch to. Congratulations to Livingston on his new role!

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

We are excited to announce the promotion of @LivingstonMill2 from general counsel to chief operating officer!

In his new role, Livingston will take on additional responsibilities overseeing our finance, investor relations, HR and administrative functions. He will continue to oversee legal & compliance as our general counsel, and serve in an advisory role with our investment team on deals.

"Livingston has qualities I believe make him an excellent fit for this role. He is extremely high integrity and naturally builds trust and a rapport with our team, our founders, and our external partners." - @jenhwolf, our managing partner.

https://t.co/GY1prLJmL2

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

.@spatenyc uses AI to analyze over 20 billion consumer signals from Google Search and TikTok to help brands stay ahead of market trends.

In this month’s “My First” blog series, cofounder Yarden Horwitz discusses their first partnership experience with the @deciem team, the company behind The Ordinary line of skincare products like Retinol.

"It’s important to remember that partnerships are about people and relationships. Use a 'Yes, and' mentality when others bring their ideas or suggestions. Don’t have your guard up—be genuinely open to their perspectives and ideas." — @yarden, Spate cofounder.

https://t.co/1h0weRRl4e

Today, Spate collaborates with over 200 brands in the beauty, food, and beverage industries, including L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble.

Learn more: https://t.co/7bthyPstLM

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

We are excited to announce our investment in Star Catcher, a company aiming to remove power limitations on satellites by building the first space-based energy grid.

Utilizing its unique power beaming technology, @StarCatcherInd will transmit energy to other satellites, enhancing their power and uptime while reducing upfront costs and overall mission expenses.

"Most maturing sectors require solid, dependable, ubiquitous infrastructure to truly take off. We’re confident Star Catcher will do for orbital power what SpaceX has done for launches. What they’re building has the potential to transform the economics, capabilities, and even the configuration of almost everything we put into orbit.” - @andrew_sather, our principal

Thank you, @deantak for sharing their story in @VentureBeat ⬇️

https://t.co/e6kfw0Oq5L

[Jen Wolf @jenhwolf]

During office hours with early stage founders, conversations often touch on how to avoid burnout. I shared some practical advice on the Initialized blog below.

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Did you know 72% of founders report an impact on their mental health, including conditions like high stress, anxiety, and burnout?

On the Initialized blog, managing partner @jenhwolf shares strategies for recognizing early burnout signs, finding a productive flow state, and seeking help from mentors, peers, or professional coaches.

Key Takeaways:
• Recognizing when you are in a flow state can help you understand when you are most productive and when you need a break.
• Ensure you’re ready to do the work, and ask the right questions before signing up for a coach.
• Break down deadlines into smaller, manageable pieces with frequent checkpoints.

Read more ⬇️
https://t.co/rY7bkUFkgq

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Great to hang with some of our New York-based founders tonight at our summer happy hour.

[Jen Wolf @jenhwolf]

I enjoyed sitting down with @robynexton this month to talk about the evolution of the HER brand and user-centric product design.

Her advice to founders: “Get your product into users' hands quickly and be ready to adapt based on their feedback.”

https://t.co/gKFTu0gUoE

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

1/ On @jenhwolf’s “My First…” blog series for this month, we sat down with @robynexton, founder of @HerSocialApp, a sapphic dating and community app that has reached over 14M users. 🌈

Key takeaways from their conversation:
• The rebranding of the app from 'Dattch' to 'HER’.
• Emphasizing user-centric product design.
• The importance of continuous user engagement to enable over 300M matches.

Read more ⬇️
https://t.co/qXn4fvI5JW

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Our managing partner @jenhwolf will be in Toronto on June 19th for @CollisionHQ where she’ll be joining @jai_das, Nigel Morris, and @akashpasricha on a panel exploring the main challenges and opportunities in the current IPO market.

If you're in town, come say hi 👋

https://t.co/VxslSUAfcd

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Don't miss the Startup Talent Summit happening this Wednesday (May 15).

This event allows Bay Area professionals seeking early stage opportunities to connect with hiring startups in AI/ML, software/hardware engineering, customer success, marketing, architecture, finance, design, and operations.

Apply to join now, limited spots remain.
https://t.co/ZPbOgD1IHH

[Rick Morrison @morrisor]

Had a chance to chat with @jenhwolf from @Initialized on working with early customers and design partners. Check it out! https://t.co/OLQqs512LW

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

1/ We are happy to announce our lead investment in the aviation startup @beyond_aero, bringing their total funding to $24M. The company aims to pioneer hydrogen aviation and develop green passenger aircraft. Congrats to CEO @EloaGuillotin and the team!

Thank you @adele_peters for covering their story in @FastCompany ⬇️

https://t.co/zqfMdgvuuu

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Since Initialized started investing in climate, we've seen innovative solutions emerge, from renewable energy software to construction tech. Last year, deal value for the industry hit a record $16.5B, up more than 3x from 2020, proving it to be one of the most resilient investing categories in venture.

Read @kimmaicutler’s blog post highlighting our climate founders, and outlining what we’ve learned so far investing in the space ⬇️

https://t.co/jnF4dL66PX

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Huge congrats to @Permitflow on raising your $31M Series A!

The team is building construction permitting software that has already facilitated permits for over 5,000 housing units.

“By making permitting faster and more reliable, it reduces the return profile you need to make a construction project work… and it also reduces the direct cost because you have lower materials management cost and you have lower subcontractor management costs.” - CEO Francis Thumpasery.

Thank you @bayareawriter for covering the story in @TechCrunch ⬇️

https://t.co/KDyADSmE6K

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Excited to announce our investment in Clairity Technology, a direct air capture (DAC) startup founded in 2022 by Glen Meyerowitz. Unlike others in the field, Clairity opts for a more efficient approach to carbon dioxide removal.

Clairity's systems are designed to remove gigatons of CO2 through accelerated natural chemistry in engineered systems, achieving durable sequestration with lower energy and infrastructure costs than traditional methods.

This approach is critical in a market where DAC costs can range from $600 to $1,000 per metric ton of CO2.

"As we continue to make critical investments in climate tech, it is our role as seed investors to identify technologies with the potential for scalable impact." -@kimmaicutler, partner at Initialized.

Thank you @tdechant for covering the story in TechCrunch today ⬇️
https://t.co/hTT9YQ6mj5

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

We're thrilled to share our investment in Stellar Sleep, a digital platform dedicated to addressing chronic insomnia.

Conventional methods often fail to fully support the 25 million Americans grappling with this condition, as underlying psychological challenges such as anxiety and depression contribute significantly to their sleep difficulties.

@StellarSleep leverages a psychology-based approach to effectively disrupt the cycle of insomnia.

“No one values sleep as much as those who can’t get it. The treatment options are so limited that these founders got trained as sleep therapists to treat themselves. Stellar Sleep is tech-enabled cognitive behavior therapy (CBT): true tech enablement of patient care that will make a meaningful impact on the millions of people who suffer from sleep disorders worldwide.”
-@parulia, our partner.

Thank you @ChristineMHall for covering Stellar Sleep's story in Tech Crunch.

Learn more about their solution ⬇️ https://t.co/tmDPmos0Kx

[Initialized Capital @Initialized]

Parcha's CEO @_aj joined Brett Gibson to break down the challenges in AI development on the High Bit podcast.

@ParchaHQ's AI agents automate tasks, addressing the gap between proof of concept and production by providing specialized solutions for businesses.

Highlights include:
• 4:02 Breaking down how an AI agent relates to LLM
• 12:53 The challenges in scaling AI agents
• 28:51 Predicting the rise of verticalized agents

Check out the full episode on YouTube ⬇️

https://t.co/rEKoEXeuri