Just Go Grind Podcast: TutorMe Co-Founder Myles Hunter on Raising Funds and Building International Teams
On this week's episode of Just Go Grind, hear from Myles Hunter, co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based TutorMe, an on-demand tutoring platform serving students from kindergarten through graduate school.
Key Takeaways:
- Hunter used AngelList to find a technical co-founder. That decision led to him hiring a Russian and then traveling to both Russia and Bali to build the infrastructure of the company.
- Early on, TutorMe decided to build its technical infrastructure from scratch, so they wouldn't have to use a third party and so they could keep their platform proprietary and independent.
- After deciding TutorMe should be venture-backed, Hunter joined Jason Calacanis' accelerator program to help it grow.
"I would say to start [fundraising] early. It's a long process. There's a lot of uncertainty to the fundraising process... It's something where you have to prepare to really be rejected a lot." — Myles Hunter
Want to hear more episodes of Just Go Grind? Listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts — or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Streaming is sidelining TV pilots. That's one of the findings in a pair of new reports released Wednesday by the nonprofit that manages most of L.A. County's film-permitting process.
The reports document the pandemic and how the rise in streaming services is changing the film-production world and challenging California's place in it.
<p>The percentage of scripted TV projects that have foregone a traditional pilot episode and instead gone "straight-to-series" (STS) has skyrocketed, from 6% in 2012 to 66% in 2020. That's a trend largely driven by streamers, who distributed nearly 90% of their 2020 projects using that model, compared to 76.3% for cable and 15.3% for broadcast. </p><p>"We've been told (streamers' projects) get vetted a lot more heavily upfront," said the nonprofit FilmLA's president, Paul Audley. That, alongside streaming's rise, has ushered in the shift away from shooting a pilot and then shopping it to buyers.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU0MzM2Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTg0NTgyNn0.Om2wOcdBlbz3m-gnlSrDk19wxoxMotKgjLf2J0Yx22Y/img.png?width=980" id="99039" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d4adb9bd13cd96c2eb24aea8b23b177f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1104" data-height="628" />
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Data and graphic from FilmLA</small></p><p>And for the second straight year, streaming made up the largest portion of scripted-TV projects. Of the 215 total such projects in FilmLA's 2020 cycle, streaming led the way with 97 projects, up 27.6% from 2019. Scripted cable projects rose 11.3% to 59, while broadcast fell 11.9% from 67 to 59. 2019 was the first year streaming projects eclipsed broadcast, and that margin has now widened.</p><p>California retains its spot as the top location for new scripted-TV projects. But there is increasing competition from other suitors trying to lure Hollywood productions. In 2018, the Golden State hosted 52.4% of scripted-TV projects. That fell to 43.1% in 2019 and further to 41.1% in 2020.<br/></p><p>The state is still king when it comes to streaming, but its overall share is steadily falling. California hosted 29 new scripted projects last year, compared to Canada's 24 and New York's 17. Georgia, which has made a play for Hollywood's films, only hosted six scripted productions. </p><p>Last year was the bleakest year on record for production in the nonprofit FilmLA's 25-year history. After a nearly three-month pandemic-induced shutdown, film and TV production in L.A. returned slowly in 2020 under new restrictions. Those rules extended shooting timelines but limited what could be produced, cutting on-location shooting days in L.A. County 48% year-over-year, according to a new year-in-review report from the nonprofit.</p><p>Still, there were some bright spots, including the re-emergence of reality television. In the last quarter of 2020, overall television production days rose 6% year-over-year, with reality TV leading the way with a 93% increase from 2019. That's a reflection of reality's simpler production requirements compared to scripted shows, which make it easier to adhere to public health and industry guidelines.</p><p>Scripted television, on the other hand, plummeted. Drama shoot-days in 2020 fell 45.8% year-over-year, and comedy dropped 75.9%. Those figures likely underestimate the damage, because of FilmLA's methodology. The organization measures production volume by shoot-days; but due to the new health and safety protocols, Audley said productions are now requiring more time, meaning it takes more shoot-days to create the same amount of output. </p><p>"It's a double-edged sword," Audley said. "One edge is real gratitude that the industry and public health have found a way for the film industry to work at least at some level, because there are thousands of small businesses dependent on this industry and whatever work we can get out is really helpful. The other side is this pandemic has really decimated this industry that has a huge impact on Los Angeles." </p>
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Virgin Hyperloop Aims to Get Angelenos to San Francisco in 45 Minutes — Within the Decade
Jan 27 2021
Forty-five minutes in traffic won't get you very far in Los Angeles. But Virgin Hyperloop estimates it will be able to get you from Los Angeles to San Francisco in that time.
The Richard Branson-owned company unveiled its hyperloop concept video Wednesday, just two months after the company's first tested its design with passengers. Traveling several hundred miles per hour in a pressurized tube is no longer a vision of the far-distant future — Virgin Hyperloop engineers want to make it a reality in less than 10 years.
<p>These renderings put it yet another step ahead of The Boring Company, led by Elon Musk, <a href="https://www.tesla.com/blog/hyperloop" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">who published his "alpha paper"</a> plans for hyperloop travel in 2013. <br/><br/>Virgin Hyperloop plans to achieve safety certification by 2025 and begin commercial operations in 2030.</p><p>"Daily high-speed transport is currently not feasible for most people, but we want to change that notion," said Virgin Hyperloop chief executive Jay Walder in a statement. "Imagine being able to commute between cities that are currently hours apart in minutes – and the endless possibilities that open up."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ec0aa458d9310c36f8e1af2aa7b43d3c"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-zSWagCyWio?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Virgin Hyperloop Passenger Experience</small>
</p>
<p>The almost three-minute video opens with a rendering of the station, a bustling transit center filled with natural light and complemented with indoor and outdoor greenery, a nod at the more efficient and eco-friendly transportation form hyperloop could be. A <a href="https://virginhyperloop.com/press/results-midwest-hyperloop-study" target="_blank">Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) study last year</a> found that a hyperloop connection between Columbus, Chicago and Pittsburgh could reduce carbon dioxide emission by 2.4 million tons. It suggested making fares closer to the cost of driving than to a pricier plane ticket.<br/></p><p>Walder said an affordable ticket would be key to making the concept a success. Virgin Hyperloop estimates its system would be able to transport thousands of passengers per hour by convoying them, as pods are able to ride directly behind each other in the hyperloop, magnetically suspended from touching each other and controlled by the company's machine intelligence software.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles-based company worked with several partners to design disparate aspects of the transportation experience. The video's white-walled portal to enter the pod were designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and the pods themselves were designed by Teague. </p><p>SeeThree worked on the video and animations and Man Made Music provided the score and sonic identity — the additional sound assets in the film that audiences will associate with the hyperloop.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU0MjQzOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTI1MzYxN30.6-ReiI0W1k7rTkRhg_1iBRkFbxy-n1k-kityRtimHMw/img.jpg?width=980" id="cc9f8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="63fe56b7ba5e05b80d9053d352e0cdc5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="3840" data-height="2160" />
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Bracket Capital Closes $450M Fund to Buy Up Employee Shares at SpaceX and Other Pre-IPO Companies
Jan 27 2021
Bracket Capital, a Beverly Hills-based investment management firm focused on acquiring secondary shares in later-stage tech companies like SpaceX and Bird, announced Wednesday it has raised nearly half a billion dollars in equity.
The firm will split the cash between two funds, a traditional $150 million fund and another $350 million one that will co-invest alongside other firms.
Rather than buying stakes directly in startups, the firm said 80% of its shares come from snapping up existing shares. Those often come from early employees – tired of waiting for their company to go public – who are looking to cash out some of their equity so they can buy a house or pay for tuition.
<p>The goal is to capitalize on the trend of startups taking increasingly longer lengths of time to IPO while avoiding the risk of early-stage startups.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU0MjIzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTU3OTgxNn0.RbuvUTLUBwN51HeyJ3uBSYWTYN0gOvpL2RcZ5t-vySc/img.jpg?width=980" id="8c052" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dc035831837d055aedb27b5b03b6a751" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1400" data-height="852" />
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Yalda Aoukar (right) and Jihan Bowes-Little are the co-founders of Bracket Capital.</small></p><p>For instance, the firm invested in Airbnb's 2017 Series F at a $30 billion valuation. Late last year, the vacation rental service went public at a $47 billion valuation and now it has a market capitalization of $122 billion.<br/></p><p>Other Bracket investments include SpaceX, Clover Health, Palantir, Coinbase, SoFi, eToro, Reddit, Impossible Foods, Bird, Clutter and Hive.AI. </p><p>Bracket was founded in 2017 by two ex-London bankers, Jihan Bowes-Little, formerly of Goldman Sachs, and Yalda Aoukar, who worked at Lehman Brothers, Barclay's and Morgan Stanley. The firm will now be managing a total of $650 million. </p><p>"We have developed a unique reputation in the market given our track record, discerning approach to investing, and deep industry relationships," Aoukar said in a statement. "We thank our new and returning limited partners for their confidence and trust as we act as stewards of their capital."</p>
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