The invaders enter. Silicon Valley often involves a smart mentor, a well-connected venture capitalist, or a startup rocket ship.
But an emerging class of founders reminds the ecosystem how failure can be an activator. Laid-off talent is flocking to build startups in every sector, from climate to crypto to the creative economy. And no matter where their students end up — whether big tech companies or small startups — they hope to course-correct.
New data from Day One Ventures, the seed platform that backs founders, shows how the seedlings are starting to germinate. Founder and GP Masha Boucher, who left her previous career as a politician and TV journalist to become a venture capitalist, created a program to help founders in the wake of recent layoffs at Streep and Twitter.
She said she’s confident that at least 0.1 to 1 percent of the thousands of tech workers laid off this year will be unlikely founders.
