David Semerad

AI music platform Suno just hit $150M ARR. That’s 4× growth in just 12 months. Here’s what this means for the AI music industry 👇 For context: Suno is an AI music platform that lets anyone create full songs, lyrics, and vocals from a single prompt. In one year, it has nearly 4x to $150M ARR with margins above 60%. And with 44M monthly website visits (SimilarWeb) and over 5M paying users (estimated as per current ARR), it is building real retention. This is product-market fit at scale and makes Suno one of the fastest-growing consumer AI apps since ChatGPT. Here’s what this signals for the industry: • Revenue is moving from labels to platforms • Creativity is moving from professionals to everyone • Ownership models will need to be rebuilt Suno is also in talks with major record labels to settle copyright disputes. Once finalized, those licensing deals could make it the first fully compliant AI music platform. Why it matters: > AI music is entering mainstream adoption > There is now proof of scale and monetization > Strategic buyers are positioning around audio The M&A signals are clear: → Spotify is building AI voice and moderation tools → OpenAI is moving into multimedia creation with Sora All are chasing the same goal: control over the next interface of human-AI interaction. That interface is sound. ----- Our team at FE International is more bullish than ever on the rise of AI-first businesses. If you're a founder curious about your company’s true value, get a free valuation. (Link in comments) 👇

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Startup Founders: PLEASE learn the basics of what is included (and not included) in solid investor pitch, and what a solid business plan entails. Do this before pitching a startup incubator/accelerator, Angel investor, Angel group, or Family Office. Don't even think about venture capital until you have SIGNIFICANT traction, or a deep relationship and track record with a specific VC that knows, likes, and trusts you, and where their investment theme aligns perfectly with what you are doing. That means almost nobody. Over the last couple months, since selling my last company, I've been supporting San Diego's premier deep tech incubator, EvoNexus, as an Executive in Residence. Most pitches submitted for admission are a catastrophe. They don't even include the basics of what makes a good pitch. Over the next several weeks, I plan to create a series of blog posts that will detail what investors are seeking, and why it is important. These posts will be based on my experience of running five different tech startups, raising over $200 million in equity capital for my companies, and driving over $2 billion in M&A as a operator. I see a lot of posts about how to be a successful entrepreneur. Some are great. Some are horse S**T. In my blog posts I will work to highlight the best stuff I am seeing out there, and point you in that direction. When seeking mentorship, look for someone that has the credentials, track record, and experience in doing what you hope to achieve. This also goes when building an advisory board. Look beyond the headline in their LinkedIn bio and actually see what they have done and achieved. This means doing some homework. At any rate, end of my rant for the day. Look for my first post this coming Sunday. And have a nice weekend. As I like to say, as a startup CEO and founder, when it is Friday, there are just two more days in the work week! #startups #venturecapital #angelinvestors #founders #startupfounders

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Being introverted shouldn't be a barrier to getting VC funding. At Horizon, we take a radically different approach to ensure product-obsessed founders can bring their ideas to fruition.   AI is making the startup landscape more competitive every day. As such, the bar for building great products is constantly increasing. So what does it take? Usually, founders who are quite technical.   Often they're the "outsiders" who are taking a disruptive approach that most "insiders" would frown upon. They are always incredibly determined. These founders are more interested in urgently solving a staggeringly difficult problem than polishing themselves to impress VCs.   I've been an early investor in legendary companies with charismatic founders like Palantir Technologies and Canva, so you might think that I only look for those types of founders. But they weren't successful because of charisma. Rather, it was their product obsession and talent gravity. In fact, charisma is often an output of building a world-changing startup.   And while this misunderstanding has led many VCs to ignore the product-obsessed, Horizon has been deeply committed to serving these builders since Day 1. It's one of the foundational beliefs that guides our investment strategy.   We've seen the messy seed stages of some of the most iconic tech companies of this era. We understand what works—and what doesn't. This allows us to go beyond the typical founder-investor relationship and become true strategic partners to startups that want to change the world.   Supporting these people as they build the future is an incredible feeling—and one I'm lucky to experience every time I step into the office.

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Every founder struggles with the same challenge: scaling their voice. You can’t be in 10 places at once. Or… You bring agentic AI into your communications. Unlike genAI, which gives you a draft when you ask, agentic AI becomes a co-strategist: ⚡️Tracking conversations that matter to your sector ⚡️Drafting investor updates, tweets, or thought leadership posts: all of them aligned with your previous tone & messaging ⚡️Handling operational PR tasks autonomously, so you can focus on vision and growth And here’s what I already see smart founders doing: 🔥 Sharing morning and evening thoughts with AI to build a personal dataset of POVs 🔥 Using quick voice chats to capture ideas on the go 🔥 Uploading internal chats into AI systems to categorize insights and surface them at the right time ⚠️ Of course, risks exist. PR without human oversight can feel robotic or tone-deaf. That’s why the future of founder comms is human creativity + agentic AI autonomy, striking the balance between scale and authenticity. Startups that master this mix will outpace those still relying on manual comms or on genAI as a cheap ghostwriter. Thoughts?

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Nudge & Structured Labs: Two of the hottest companies on Specter right now Nudge was founded by Fred Ehrsam and Quintin Frerichs in 2024, and is very HOT right now. It’s developing whole-brain interfaces for everyday use and has attracted interest from 30+ top-tier investors in the past month, including Benchmark and Sequoia Capital. Another company - Structured Labs, was founded in 2023 by Amrutha Gujjar & Shivam Singhal, and is a Y Combinator and General Catalyst backed startup that is creating smarter ways for people to explore and reason with data. It’s currently building Preswald, a workspace for analysts and engineers to explore data, test ideas and share learnings. The company has seen a HUGE uptick website visits over the last two months, having gone from a few hundred website visits a month to over 10k. Both of these companies are showing strong signals that they're getting traction and interest, and both featured on our Weekly Monitor newsletter, so check it out to stay in the loop!

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The biggest mistake early-stage founders make is thinking their product is just one feature away from selling. Sorry, but you just don't have PMF. I hear this all the time from founders: 1/ “We’re just one feature away” 2/ “If we add xyz to the dashboard, we’ll start closing deals” 3/ “Our next release is going to unlock growth” If your product isn’t selling now, adding more won’t fix it (yes, even AI features or "AI agents"). I’ve made this mistake too. You build something, put your heart into it, and want to believe that just one more feature will change everything. But if the core product isn’t working, it’s because it doesn't have product-market fit. No dashboard, AI add-on, or redesign will save it. You need to pivot. Let it go. When a product has PMF, you know. 1/ Customers ask for new features. 2/ They tell you what they want next. 3/ They’re already trying to buy. Or at least explicitly telling you what they need to get them to buy. If you’re getting vague feedback like “You’re not ready yet” or “It’s not a priority right now” that’s not a feature request. That’s a sign. At Conversion, we’ve pivoted twice. Each time we let go of a product that wasn’t working. It’s how we ended up building something real. The fastest way forward is admitting when something’s not working. Don’t hide behind roadmap excuses. If it’s not selling, move on. Most of the best companies in the world pivoted early. Make the call. And then build what people actually want. You'll know when you have it!

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