The pitch deck won’t save you anymore. Not in this market. The era of charisma-led raises and overfunded vaporware is gone, buried somewhere between the third Web3 cycle and that ill-fated Series A you watched explode on TechCrunch. The new game isn’t louder. It’s smarter. Founders who win now know the math, the map, and the moment. And they’re in the room when the playbook gets rewritten.
That room is Fundraising Wisdom with a16z speedrun’s Robin Guo. Not a keynote. Not a panel. A direct line to one of the most influential operators inside the early-stage vortex of AI, gaming, and interactive consumer tech. Robin Guo isn’t just Partner at a16z Games and Speedrun, he’s the guy who co-built the Speedrun engine that’s already backed over 120 companies with $100M+ deployed. You don’t get that kind of hit rate unless you’ve seen more reps than a CrossFit coach on deadline.
Right now, the venture market is the most bifurcated it’s been in years. AI companies are pulling in 48% of all venture capital, yet the average Series A requires $2.5M in annual revenue, 75% higher than just three years ago. The funding faucet is on. But unless you’re calibrated to 2025’s investor psychology, you’re still drinking from a dry pipe.
Robin brings the calibration. He’s seen thousands of pitches. Backed generational bets like Azra Games and Metatheory. And when he says founders are still missing the mark, it’s not just critique, it’s data. It’s pattern recognition honed through McKinsey biotech cases, Riot Games’ web3 bets, and a Demo Day model that’s sent 80% of SR001 companies to follow-on rounds.
This session isn’t just what VCs want. It’s how Robin thinks. What traction actually matters. When to use a SAFE. Why the next GTM wave in consumer-tech will look more like Twitch and less like SaaS. He’ll break down the strategic stack founders need, from investor psychology to milestone math, and explain how to use a16z’s full-stack post-raise resources like a cheat code.
Fundraising in 2025 is no longer a storytelling game. It’s a systems game. And Robin Guo is one of the few operators who can articulate the system while still moving capital through it. If you’re a founder in the crosshairs or an investor scanning for signal, this room isn’t optional. It’s oxygen.
I’ll be there.
