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🚀 The Founder Brief – AI, Summer Slowdowns & Smarter Strategy

The only thing worse than being behind... is standing still.

Author

Apryl Syed
June 27, 2025

💰 Who Got Funded – Week of June 19–26, 2025

Company

Stage

Amount Raised

Sector / Focus

Notable Investors

Kalshi

Series C

$185M

Real-money prediction markets

Paradigm, Sequoia, Multicoin, Bond Capital

OpenRouter

Seed & A

$40M

Unified API for accessing LLMs (AI infra)

Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo, Sequoia

LMArena

Seed

$100M

Open platform for evaluating AI models

Andreessen Horowitz, UC Investments

Better Auth

Seed

$5M

Open-source authentication tools

Peak XV, Y Combinator

Clarium

Series A

$27M

AI automation for hospital operations

General Catalyst, AlleyCorp

🚨 What’s Getting Funded – June US Trends:

  • AI infrastructure remains king (OpenRouter, LMArena)

  • Dev tools and security (Better Auth) show steady investor appetite

  • Vertical AI for healthcare keeps growing (Clarium)

  • Massive capital stacking continues for category-defining platforms (Kalshi)

Bottom line? The smart money is still chasing scalable AI plays — but healthcare, infra, and workflow tools aren’t slowing down either.

⚡ Founder Insight: AI Speed Gaps Are Real — and Costly

Here’s what I hear weekly:
“My team isn’t moving fast enough with AI.”

If you’re frustrated, you’re not alone. Most teams lag behind founder-level AI awareness. It’s not a competence issue — it’s an exposure issue.

  • Operators default to what they know

  • AI trends move faster than company comms

  • Without structured learning, fear replaces curiosity

We’re hosting private CEO AI Roundtables to:

âś… Align leadership teams around AI readiness
âś… Share founder-tested AI operational playbooks
âś… Close the execution gap before competitors widen it

Want in? Reply “AI Roundtable” and I’ll send details.

🌴 Summer Slowdown? Not For Founders Who Win Q4

Yes, conversions slow in July/August. But momentum is a fallacy if you wait for September to start moving.

Here’s what smart founders do now:

  • Test messaging in controlled micro-campaigns

  • Sharpen hiring plans and target lists

  • Align teams on Q4 pipeline and product pushes

The best Q4s? Built during the summer “quiet.”

🎯 How to Set Realistic Strategy Expectations (And Actually Stick to Them)

Strategies stall for one of two reasons:

❌ No success definition = drift
❌ Unrealistic timelines = frustration

Before you roll out your next initiative:

✅ Define leading indicators (what “early working” looks like)
âś… Set pre-determined 30/60/90 day checkpoints
âś… Agree on pivot/adjust criteria upfront

Great strategy isn’t luck — it’s structure meeting discipline.

📅 Let’s Build Your Playbook

Need help closing your team’s AI gap or stress-testing your GTM plans?
Book a 30-min founder session — practical, no-fluff strategy support.

Reply “AI Roundtable” for CEO-only invites.

Summer’s here — let’s use it smarter than most.

Thanks for Reading,

Apryl Syed

The Founders Edge