Fundraise or find profits with Benchmark and Cambly

This week’s TechCrunch Live features Sameer Shariff, CEO, and co-founder of Cambly, and Sarah Tavel, a long-time investor at Benchmark and previously Graylock. They’re the perfect guests to kick off the third season of TCL! Cambly looks like a sure bet right now, but as you’ll hear from Sameer, it was a struggle to get…

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3 years ago

February 1, 2023

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Cambly looks like a sure bet right now, but as you’ll hear from Sameer, it was a struggle to get to this point. After failing to raise a Series A, the company had to change its model overnight. When VC after VC said no, Cambly had to find a way to make a profit to keep the doors open. Since then, the company went on to raise a $20m Series A and $60m Series B, but only because the company took the hard steps to seek profitability earlier than expected.

Cambly’s Series B fundraise went wildly different from its Series A, and I hope you can join the live event to hear the lessons Sameer learned from both rounds. Sarah Tavel led Benchmark’s investment and can speak to what made Cambly a perfect fit for the firm – and you’ll hear from Sameer on why Benchmark was an ideal fit for Cambly too.

Questions I want to ask:

How did the company mindset change following the failure to raise a Series A, and how did the founders keep the team focused and on target?

What steps should founders take when seeking profitable growth before raising venture capital?

Cambly is a unique marketplace, and how did the company initially acquire customers, and when did the company outgrow and replace the strategy for scale?

There are countless language learning marketplaces and services, so what Cambly metrics lead Benchmark to lead Series B?

People & Blogs

The relationship between farmers and the sun just got an upgrade #TEDTalks

Exhausted from carrying water up a hill to keep her small farm in Kenya thriving, Josephine Waweru received an unexpected call that offered a nearly unbelievable solution. She shares how one simple device allowed her crops (and her dreams) to flourish — and offers a glimmer of hope in the face of growing climate uncertainty.

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Why the World Is Still Not Built for Women | Virginia Santy | TED

Design consultant Virginia Santy set out to create an office space built specifically for women, flipping the script on the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways that workplaces and cities still fail them. The results were striking: greater productivity, deeper collaboration and an environment where women felt genuinely valued, leading her to ask a simple question: What…

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CNET

Robot Smashes Human World Record, Signaling Big Changes

Flash, a humanoid robot made by Chinese smartphone company Honor, just smashed the human world record for the half-marathon. I dive into why this smartphone company seems to be pivoting to humanoid robots and whether others may soon follow. 0:00 – A New World Record 0:10 – The Beijing Half-Marathon Robot Race 1:05 – Flash:…

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0:00 – A New World Record
0:10 – The Beijing Half-Marathon Robot Race
1:05 – Flash: The Autonomous Champion
1:42 – Why Smartphone Makers Are Pivoting to Robots
2:27 – The Role of AI and Computer Vision
2:39 – Car Companies and the History of Automation
3:19 – Humanoids in the Consumer Market
3:45 – China’s State Policy and Future Innovation
4:22 – How Smartphone Tech Improves Robotics

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