Interplay

We're proud to share that @interplay Ventures portfolio company @olliepets has been acquired by Agrolimen. This is an exciting outcome; the Ollie team deserves a big congratulations on building a defining brand in the human-grade pet food space. Read more about our investment and the Ollie story here: interplay.vc/blog/ollie-is-…

Stock options are a common form of equity compensation that startup founders use as a tool to attract talent, reward early contributors, and enable others to share in the future growth of their company. Here is a great guide from us. linkedin.com/pulse/stock-op…

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐬, 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐬 𝐚 𝟐𝟎-𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 From 200+ portfolio companies to 9 unicorns, 15 co-founded startups, and a half-billion-dollar platform — this conversation is a masterclass in building an institution, not just a fund. Highlights from my conversation with Mark Peter Davis (@mpd ) (0:00) Introduction (0:31) Evolution and counterintuitive lessons in venture investing (3:25) Reconciling investment worldviews and managing liquidity (7:35) Decision-making and aligning VC incentives with LP interests (12:03) Building an enduring institution and measuring success (18:07) Achieving access to competitive deals and proprietary deal flow (24:24) Competitive tension's impact on investment support (27:19) Integrity and resources in VC partnerships (30:02) Entrepreneurial experience's value in venture capital (32:24) Startups' challenges and the role of pattern recognition (35:24) Unlearning and cognitive restructuring in entrepreneurship (37:23) Mastering the complexities of long-term entrepreneurship (38:11) Timeless advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and enduring success (41:51) Closing remarks 🎥 Full episode below 👇

RT @mpd: Congrats to Tyler Maloney, Nick O'Brien, and the entire TeachMeTo team on their $3M raise as they build the go-to marketplace for…

Voice AI is having a moment - where do we go from here? We’re seeing a surge of AI startups building voice-first products—and for good reason. Voice agents are now reaching (and in some cases, surpassing) call center-level performance, with faster, more natural, and more human-like interactions. But with the market getting crowded, the big questions for investors and founders are: - Which wedge products will win? - Which teams can build lasting, venture-scale businesses? - Where is the real long-term opportunity? We dove into 45+ venture-backed companies in the voice AI space to unpack the trends, team profiles, and product strategies that are shaping the future of this category. If you're building a voice AI startup, we’d love to connect and hear what you’re working on. Dive into the full piece from Caroline Elliott, Senior Associate on our Venture Capital team, here: interplay.vc/blog/investing…

Big news from the Interplay team: @andybilinsky has joined us as a Partner to lead our Studio. Formerly referred to as our Foundry, our Studio is the division of Interplay that builds new companies from scratch. We come up with ideas internally, diligence them hard and when we can’t kill them… we build them. We partner with outstanding CEOs to cofound these new ventures. With 12 ventures achieving product-market fit, roughly 1,000 jobs created, and 5 exits, it's been an incredible ride so far. Andy brings deep operational chops, having built and sold two companies, and a sharp focus on sales and marketing that will be a major asset to our founding teams. If you want to start a new venture and work on a vetted idea with us as a partner, drop Andy a line. Get the full story on Andy and our Studio here: interplay.vc/blog/new-studi…

Are you a founder looking to fundraise for your company? Are you unsure about what laws and rules need to be followed when raising funding from your friends, family, and angel or venture capital investors? #fundraising #startups linkedin.com/pulse/how-do-i…

A Deep Dive into the Evolving Venture Landscape. For decades, all eyes were on Silicon Valley. But new data tells a more nuanced story. We dug into 25 years of venture data across 6 U.S. regions and surfaced some surprising trends. interplay.vc/blog/venture-c…

As a founder or employee of a startup, how do you protect yourself against dilution. Eric Broad shares some great ideas here. #bowerylegal #antidilution #equityadvice #startuplegal #venturecapital #founderadvice

Startups face countless hurdles, but few are more daunting than going head-to-head with a well-funded incumbent. In this week’s pod episode, Phuong Ireland and I break down the playbook for winning as the underdog: - Nail a niche - Iterate faster than they can blink - Build a brand people feel - Deliver a customer experience that’s unforgettable Whether you're bootstrapping or fresh off a seed round, this is must-know territory for any founder looking to turn scrappiness into scale. A friendly heads up, this ep is the last one for a few months as we pause the pod for the summer. Thanks for listening and enjoy your summer - we’ll be back from a new studio, recharged and ready to roll.

Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) can eliminate capital gains tax on up to $10M. If you're a founder, early employee, or investor—this is a powerful tax benefit to know. Hear Eric share more information about the advantages of QSBS. 💸🔥 #QSBS #startups #founderadvice

An 83(b) election is a proactive filing made with the IRS that allows an individual who receives restricted stock to elect to be taxed on the aggregate value of the entire stock grant at the time of grant, rather than paying tax piecemeal. linkedin.com/pulse/understa…

Outsourcing isn't new - but the way startups can use it today has radically changed. On this week’s ep, I sat down with Shaun Walker, CEO of Spoke (gospoke.co), to unpack what business process outsourcing (BPO) can look like for high-growth startups in 2025. Let me say this upfront: most early-stage founders are missing out. Outsourcing isn’t just about slashing costs - it’s about building operational leverage and unlocking global talent pools in a way that accelerates your entire business. Spoke’s model stands out because it focuses on fully embedded, dedicated teams that feel like extensions of your startup - they're engaged team members motivated to help you hit your milestones. Whether it’s customer support, finance, data operations, or even engineering, there’s a strategic opportunity here. Especially in today’s hybrid and AI-enhanced world, Shaun argues that outsourcing can be a “bionic” function - letting you scale up or down with flexibility, access talent faster, and focus your internal team on what truly matters. If you're a founder thinking about how to stretch your funding and build operational leverage, this is a must-listen. Hope it helps you navigate your own growth journey. #startupoutsourcing #scalingwithglobalteams #startupgrowthstrategies

I couldn’t be more excited to announce AgenticShopping, powered by @KnotAPIs. Knot started with card-on-file—now used by top banks and fintechs to instantly update cards across merchants. Then we unlocked transaction data, giving them visibility into what users actually buy. Now we’re powering the next step: one-click buy. AgenticShopping is our new API that lets AI agents—and any developer—programatically buy on behalf of users. Shipping info, saved card, checkout flow... all handled by Knot. This means your AI agent can now complete the full journey: 🤖 AI agents can go from browsing to buying 🎯 Loyalty apps can fulfill offers directly 🏦 Fintechs can shift from observing spend to influencing it Knot is the only full-stack merchant API layer—from card management to full commerce execution. We expect to release AgenticShopping, powered by Knot, exclusively with very limited partners. Stay tuned for more and check it out in action in the comments below 👇

As a founder of a company, do you want to know when to grant shares vs. granting options to people? Some quick tips from Eric Broad. #bowerylegal #foundersadvice #options #equity #venturecapital #startuplegal

How do you determine if your idea is truly worth pursuing? In this week’s episode, Phuong Ireland and I dive into a practical framework that breaks down the evaluation process into four critical components: the pain point, the market size, the defensibility of your product, and how you plan to monetize and scale. Whether you're just brainstorming or already building, these criteria will help you gut-check your concept and avoid wasting time on ideas that aren’t big - or painful - enough. We also discuss market sizing (TAM/SAM/SOM), moats, and why competitive advantage isn’t always what it seems. This is a must-listen for any founder looking to go from “cool idea” to real business. #StartupAdvice #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital #BusinessStrategy #ProductMarketFit

Raising capital can be a challenging endeavor. In particularly, when a company’s valuation decreases from its previous equity fundraising round. linkedin.com/pulse/navigati… #bowerylegal #downrounds #fundraising #venturecapital #startups

Excited to share my conversation with @mpd of @interplay. We talked about: 🌎 Geopolitics and startups 🔍 What Mark needs to see from startups to invest 💡 Why ideas still matter 💸 Career advice on how to break into venture capital Mark is a serial entrepreneur and longtime early stage investors so he has great perspective. I really enjoyed this episode of @InvestNStartups and hope you do as well!

Y Combinator has long been - and continues to be - the tip of the innovation spear. That's why I was especially excited to sit down with @garrytan, President & CEO of @ycombinator, for a conversation that gets right to the core of what’s changing across the startup landscape. At @interplay, I've spent years working alongside entrepreneurs who are laser-focused on building, scaling, and making a lasting impact. Over that time, I've seen countless trends come and go - but when a true seismic shift hits, like the one we’re seeing with AI today, it’s critical to step back and understand the bigger picture. Garry and I dove deep into why vertical SaaS and AI-native startups are poised to drive the next wave of innovation, how lean, AI-augmented teams are rewriting the rules of company building, and why real traction still comes down to solving tangible user problems. We also explored the geographic shifts reshaping where startups thrive, the current realities of AI adoption, and what it truly takes to build a product the world actually wants. It’s a great, timely conversation. A special thanks to Garry for joining us and sharing his insights.

Excited to announce that @KnotAPIs is now collaborating with @PayPal. With Knot’s CardSwitcher™, PayPal users will soon be able to seamlessly add their PayPal branded cards as a payment method across their favorite merchants—making paying with PayPal easier. From day one, Knot has been building the merchant connectivity layer, removing friction from payments. Everyone wins. Consumers get access to fast, efficient checkouts and merchants can see higher conversion rates with fewer abandoned carts. Excited to team up with PayPal to bring even more innovation to digital payments. More Knot updates coming soon!