

The Data Minute
Carta
Join Carta's Head of Insights, Peter Walker, as he breaks down the data that's fueling today's most fascinating trends in startups, VC, and the private market ecosystem. Featuring guests from across the venture industry — from founders to investors, and everyone in between — each new Data Minute is a bite-sized breakdown of the metrics, patterns, and important insights you need to navigate the ever-changing world of startups.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 8, 2024 • 8min
The Data Minute Q&A: Pre-seed Edition
The podcast discusses the current state of pre-seed funding in the market, the use of SAFEs and convertible notes, understanding valuation caps, and choosing the right instruments for fundraising. It provides insights from the State of Pre-Seed: Q1 2024 report and offers advice to pre-seed founders on building their cap table and fundraising with SAFEs through Carta Launch.

Jun 24, 2024 • 47min
All startup problems are people problems | Darcy Casarella (Director of Talent, NEA)
In this week’s episode of The Data Minute, Peter Walker (Head of Insights at Carta) sits down with Darcy Casarella (Director of Talent, NEA) for a wide-ranging discussion all about how founders should think about compensation and how to structure teams.Hiring at startups is down and compensation trends are shifting, so it's a perfect time to talk to an expert that advises many startup founders at New Enterprise Associates.Subscribe to Carta’s weekly Data Minute newsletter: https://carta.com/subscribe/data-newsletter-sign-up/Explore interactive startup and VC data, with Carta’s Data Desk: https://carta.com/data-desk/Chapters:00:00 Intro1:50 The role of a talent team at a VC fund9:14 When do most people bring in an in-house recruiter? 11:35 Chart: Q1 hiring16:25 Is there a difference in the kinds of people that are being hired more frequently? Fractional execs19:50 Compensation for fractional execs23:47 Is fractional better suited for certain functions over others?25:48 Do startups promote well?29:37 Why is it so much easier for equity comp to change than salary comp?34:22 Salary vs. equity comp at the exec levelThis presentation contains general information only and eShares, Inc. dba Carta, Inc. (“Carta”) is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services, and is for informational purposes only. This presentation is not a substitute for such professional advice or services nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business or interests. © 2024 eShares, Inc., dba Carta, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jun 10, 2024 • 28min
For biotech companies, fundraising is a different kind of beast | Darren Cooke (Executive Director, Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center)
In this week’s episode of The Data Minute, Peter Walker (Head of Insights at Carta) sits down with Darren Cooke (Executive Director, Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center) for an enlightening discussion about some emerging trends with biotech companies: Namely, while pharma and biotech currently rank as the 5th most-funded type of pre-seed startups, they simultaneously enjoy favorable valuations to other SaaS-type businesses.This leads Peter and Darren into a conversation about biotech, the challenges and differences for biotech founders when raising seed capital, and of course, Darren’s history and experience leading Berkeley’s accelerator program, SkyDeck — one of the most celebrated accelerators in the startup world.Subscribe to Carta’s weekly Data Minute newsletter:https://carta.com/subscribe/data-newsletter-sign-up/Explore interactive startup and VC data, with Carta’s Data Desk:https://carta.com/data-desk/Chapters:00:00 Intro00:44 Darren Cooke, Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center02:05 Berkeley SkyDeck04:39 The pre-seed experience for biotech companies08:22 Regulation, reimbursement, and outside funding10:29 Round sizes in the biotech industry12:27 Investor interest in biotech16:42 The five stakeholders biotech companies need to know21:15 Pre-seed fundraising and priced rounds23:27 Demo day25:52 Words of adviceThis presentation contains general information only and eShares, Inc. dba Carta, Inc. (“Carta”) is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services, and is for informational purposes only. This presentation is not a substitute for such professional advice or services nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business or interests. © 2024 eShares, Inc., dba Carta, Inc. All rights reserved.

May 27, 2024 • 44min
Raise amount vs. valuation cap: What the data tells us | Mendel Chuang (GP at Acquired Wisdom Fund)
Mendel Chuang from Acquired Wisdom Fund discusses changing valuation caps and raise amounts in seed rounds. The conversation covers founder updates, pre-seed VC mentality, and the importance of founder networks. Insights on trends in fundraising, AI impact, and advice for navigating the pre-seed VC market are shared.

May 13, 2024 • 8min
The state of startup compensation today (Founder Q&A)
Explore startup compensation trends in 2023 with insights on hiring, layoffs, salary trends, equity compensation, and the state of remote work at U.S. startups. Dive into data from Carta's State of Compensation Report for a comprehensive look at the current landscape.

Apr 29, 2024 • 35min
What did the pandemic do to healthtech investing? | Marissa Bertorelli (Principal at Polaris Partners)
Marissa Bertorelli from Polaris Partners discusses the impact of the pandemic on healthtech investing, the surge in AI in healthcare, challenges for early-stage healthtech startups, pitching to specialized investors, the need for cofounders, and differences in healthtech and SaaS founder experiences.

Apr 15, 2024 • 34min
How many checks should founders expect in their pre-seed round? | Dave Anderson (GP at Beat Ventures)
GP at Beat Ventures, Dave Anderson, discusses fundraising market data with Peter Walker. Highlights include number of checks in SAFEs, valuation caps in California vs. other states, founders returning to cluster cities, premium for companies in accelerators.

Mar 20, 2024 • 1min
Trailer: Welcome to The Data Minute
Starting April 15th: Join Carta's Head of Insights, Peter Walker, as he breaks down the data that's fueling today's most fascinating trends in startups, VC, and the private market ecosystem. Featuring guests from across the venture industry — from founders to investors, and everyone in between — each new Data Minute is a bite-sized breakdown of the metrics, patterns, and important insights you need to navigate the ever-changing world of startups.This presentation contains general information only and eShares, Inc. dba Carta, Inc. (“Carta”) is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services, and is for informational purposes only. This presentation is not a substitute for such professional advice or services nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business or interests. © 2024 eShares, Inc., dba Carta, Inc. All rights reserved.