Dave Lerner

At Brightstar Capital Partners, we believe success begins with strong relationships built on trust, alignment, and a shared vision to help great businesses grow. While capital is essential, we focus on building long-term partnerships built through hands-on experience and a commitment to lasting value. Our investment evaluation process is grounded in sectors we know deeply. We focus on cash-flowing businesses where we see an opportunity to optimize operations and foster ownership culture, helping to grow the company better than it could on its own. Ultimately, we judge success by a simple question. Five or 10 years after we exit, if someone calls a founder or partner we’ve worked with and asks, “Should I work with Brightstar?” I want the answer to be yes. That is our definition of real value creation.

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Starting a venture capital firm today feels a lot like starting a startup 20 years ago. Many people begin with passion, conviction, and a large dose of naïveté — without fully understanding what they are getting into. That was definitely my case. Raising a fund is not the same as building a firm. And building a firm is not the same as creating a franchise. That is why this new Kauffman Fellows study, Zero to Four: How VCs Evolve From Fund to Firm, and From Firm to Franchise, is so important. Years ago, Venture Deals by Brad Feld became a turning point in how the venture capital industry explained itself to entrepreneurs. It helped bring transparency, better language, and more symmetry of information to a process that had historically been opaque. My partners and I used to give the book to entrepreneurs and encourage them to read it before entering a financing negotiation with us. Better-informed founders led to better investments. I believe this Kauffman Fellows study has the potential to do for venture capitalists — or “venturepreneurs” — what Venture Deals did for entrepreneurs. Reading it was both humbling and enlightening. I have been in venture capital for more than 20 years. We built a firm, raised two funds, backed exceptional founders, and generated outcomes we are very proud of. But we also experienced firsthand how great returns alone do not automatically translate into firm durability. Great returns are great. But they are not sufficient. Better-informed VCs will lead to better firms, and better backers for their founders, which is what matters in the end. 🚨 This is a must-read for anyone already building a VC firm — and perhaps even more importantly, for anyone thinking about starting one. 🚨 Congratulations to Fernando Fabre, the whole Kauffman Fellows team and Kauffman Fellows Network for putting this work together.

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Thrilled to back Jack Cable and Corridor as they raise Series A! Security has always slowed development down – Corridor flips that. They're helping teams ship AI-generated code faster and more securely. More here: https://lnkd.in/eaKnh-4Q

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Check back if you missed it! The world is changing around us and it makes sense to own a piece of it. Remember we have two entry points into deep tech: 1) go direct into the CR Fund 2) write a small check into AIM Company *Must be accredited. Sorry, government rules, not mine.

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This dystopian future oriented thought piece has been making the rounds over the last couple of days and it has rocked the markets on Wall Street. (Posted in the comments) My immediate reaction was one of surprise on its immediate reaction by Wall Street like this is something completely out of left field. Certainly the markets are very spooked from the impact of Generative AI. And for good reason reason. But is the scenario setting for 2028 overblown? I previously posted another article articulating the potential winners and losers and why. I will let you be the judge of it. Here are some of my immediate reactions to it. 1. I have argued for quite a while that job displacement was a key concern for me and i was accused of being a Luddite. The problem is the rate of change of displacement. In the short and medium term, jobs might disappear faster than new ones appear and perhaps its middle aged folks that become the greatest risk of a lost generation. 2. The shift of value from humans to machines triggers greater disparity of incomes because the owners of capital become increasingly rich and those that possess human labour become poorer. The dichotomy between rich and poor grows. This is how revolutions occur. We might need a public policy system of income redistribution - UBI anyone?? 3. Our taxation system over the last 100 years was predicated on taxation of human labour. It will be greatly tested. Consumption level taxes will carry greater weight and will there eventually become a tax on machines? Taxes on capital is anti-innovative but what will be the choices. Tariffs anyone? 4. The article is interesting in how the author is trying to identify causal events. Some of them are interesting. Some have zero correlation. For example, payments? This is going on right now and AI had zero to do with it. Blockchain technology triggered these developments. There is a bunch of other stuff that had nothing to do with AI but had everything to do with the enshittification of SaaS applications. Its been long overdue. 5. Human capacity to develop a view of the impact to the present set of conditions is generally not bad. One can develop a set of outcomes based on today’s facts and draw a variety of plausible outcomes. What human capacity has serious limitations in is to imagine the future. For example, when the use of horse drawn carriages wasn’t meeting the needs for travellers within and between growing cities, were people imagining faster horses? How many people imagined the horseless carriage (vehicles) and the tens of millions of people who were eventually employed in the industry. 6. Lots of examples of displacement in industries largely based on access to information. Those for sure will be under attack. But how about all the opportunities that do not commoditize? How about all the industries connected to the physical world? How will trust be treated? Privacy? Security? Regulation?

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Micro funds operate differently from larger firms. The dynamic is far less about direct competition and far more about collaboration and sharing. As Anthony Danon, Rerail, explains: micro funds often build conviction together, especially at the very earliest stages. That can mean coming in before a founder has even started a formal raise, or moving quickly on a friends and family or small pre-seed round. When a couple of micro funds get excited fast, they can help a founder close before the process escalates into a larger round. Speed, collaboration and conviction are what define the micro fund model. If you want to understand how micro funds are reshaping the earliest stages of venture, watch the full episode on the EUVC YouTube channel

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From the beginning, we believed Lumana was building much more than a smarter surveillance tool. Lumana's platform reflects the next evolution in video intelligence — physical AI. This approach enables systems to go beyond basic detection capabilities to understanding context, infer intent, and deliver real-time insights that improve safety and operations at scale. Further, we decided to take the longer and more difficult direction of building a whole new generation and fully featured Video Management System (VMS). With the company’s $40M Series A, led by our friend Peter Wagner from Wing Venture Capital and our seed partners from SCAPITALVC, we’re doubling down on a platform that’s already proving its value in the real world. We are serving now close to ten thousands enterprise cameras in production! Founders like Sagi Ben Moshe bring a rare mix of vision and execution to the table. From our earliest conversations as an EIR at Norwest, it was clear that Lumana had the potential to reshape how organizations use video. Congratulations to the team on this well-deserved milestone. https://lnkd.in/gwHdaGPZ

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**Navigating Change in Venture Capital: Lessons from a16z's TxO Fund Pause** The recent decision by Andreessen Horowitz to pause its Talent x Opportunity (TxO) Fund raises critical questions about sustainability in venture initiatives aimed at supporting underserved founders. At ElevenX Capital, we recognize the importance of adaptability in our strategies and maintaining robust support systems for diverse entrepreneurs. How can funds better navigate economic uncertainties while still prioritizing inclusivity and innovation? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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Seth Levines’s new book, co-authored with Elizabeth MacBride, became a bestseller in its first week, a sign that many people sense the rules of capitalism are shifting in real time. I sat down with Seth, Partner at Foundry and cofounder of Pledge 1%, to discuss Capital Evolution and what it means for investors and founders. We cover the shift away from shareholder-first thinking, his concept of “dynamic capitalism,” and why restoring upward mobility is critical to an ownership economy. He also shares his perspective on today’s venture landscape, why transformational waves like AI and quantum often create bubbles that are more feature than bug, and what’s next for him after decades of investing and firm-building. Listen to Episode 502 of The Full Ratchet for the conversation. The link to the full episode is in the comment section below.

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🚀 Early-Stage VC Is Shifting: Bigger Seed Rounds, But Fewer Graduates 🚀 I've been following the latest Aumni data closely, and the trends in early-stage venture capital are becoming increasingly pronounced: Seed deal sizes are climbing—the top quartile is now surpassing $7M. The number of deals is contracting: We're seeing fewer seed rounds, and an even steeper drop in the number of startups progressing to Series A. Graduation rates from Seed to Series A have sharply fallen—from 41% for companies seeded in Q3 2020 to just 12% in Q1 2023. There’s been a slight uptick, but it’s still far below historic norms. It's clear to me: the environment is more selective and demanding than ever. Startups may secure bigger funding rounds, but only if they meet increasingly high benchmarks. Progressing to the next stage is taking longer, and the “spray and pray” approach is quickly becoming a thing of the past. 🔮 My Prediction: In this environment, founders who can balance bold vision with operational excellence will pull ahead. At Jet Ventures, we're betting on teams who leverage knowledge, data, and AI in their respective domains and laser-focused on execution—especially those building innovative solutions in industrial and tech-heavy sectors. Going forward: Demonstrable product-market fit and clear, tangible progress will set the top startups apart. VCs with real operator experience and industry expertise—like our team at Jet Ventures—are in the best position to support and guide the next generation of champions, particularly in Central Europe. For both founders and investors, it’s a time for disciplined execution and outsized ambition. #VentureCapital #Startups #SeedStage #SeriesA #InvestmentTrends #JetVentures #VCInsights https://lnkd.in/eHHcXyUi

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PitchBook's quarterly Venture Monitor report shows a market that is beginning to move again, but unevenly. These are discussions we have with customers every day and we have seen these trends play out across the market. But the numbers certainly speak for themselves. In 2025, AI accounted for about 65% of total deal value and nearly 40% of deal count, driving a highly concentrated environment where 50% of deal value went to just half of 1% of deals. Deal activity increased across every stage, with early-stage and first financings nearing 2021 highs, even as fundraising and liquidity remain constrained. It seems that opportunity is returning, but selectivity and differentiation matter more than ever. As always, we strive to ensure we are helping our clients across the private capital market ecosystem navigate the current environment. http://spr.ly/6045CFwD5

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Revolutionizing Art Stewardship: Strobe Ventures portco Winston Artory Group (WAG) is using blockchain and unique data to redefine trust in a $3 trillion industry A core Strobe thesis is that specialized vertical marketplaces (particularly those underpinned by blockchain rails) will serve to 'unbundle Sothebys' and provide better user experiences for cheaper, as compared to the expensive, gated and inefficient generalized incumbents WAG is a technology platform operating at the forefront of intelligent art and collectibles stewardship. They count 30% of the world’s top billionaire art collectors as clients, and have a legacy of appraising over $100 billion in art and have tokenized another $2 billion With new collection management software and a right-to-win in the art-lending space, WAG is just getting started -- read our full piece here: https://lnkd.in/ez4r9Gxc

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Great things happened in the Techstars network in June: →  83 new investments →  8 portfolio companies secured funding →  1 portfolio companies were acquired →  3 Founder Catalyst programs have opened applications ➕Kumulus Water (Techstars 2022) raises €3.1M for atmospheric water generators that turn air into water. ➕Lendorse raises €1.7M to offer income-based financing for international students. ➕Poppy Flowers (Techstars 2020) raises $1.7M to build on its floral business. ➕NeedEnergy (Techstars'23) (Techstars 2023) secures funding for clean-energy sector. ➕Alva Health Inc. (Techstars 2021) gets $500K NSF Grant to advance real-time stroke detection wearable. ➕Wibo (Techstars 2023) secures €500K to scale its corporate learning startup. ➕CubeNexus Inc (Techstars 2024) raises $650K in pre-seed funding. ➕Serve First CX (Techstars 2024) secures £4.6M to expand its AI-driven customer experience offering. https://lnkd.in/gqskDqtv

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Two weeks ago on Swimming with Allocators, we sat down with David Clark, CIO at VenCap, to talk about what decades of venture data can teach allocators. One takeaway that stood out: discounts don’t matter as much as people think in venture secondaries. Because venture is such a power-law asset class, outcomes are driven by exposure to a few massive winners. Whether a stake is bought at a small discount, or even a premium, often matters far less than the quality of the underlying company and its upside. Great conversation on venture returns, manager selection, and the nuances of how allocators should think about secondary investments. 👇 Link in the comments.

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This is an excellent report on the #VC activity in Florida for the first half of 2025, put together by our partner,s eMerge Americas. 💡 5 Takeaways from the eMerge Americas 1H 2025 Florida VC Insights Report: 1. Startups across Florida raised $2.85B across 270 deals, putting 2025 on pace for the strongest year since 2022. 2. AI dominates, 33% of all funded startups are AI-focused, with $830M raised in South Florida alone. 3. Cybersecurity and defense tech are booming, with Tampa emerging as “Cyber Bay” and major new AI-cyber programs launching. 4. Fintech, climatetech & Web3 continue to shine, with record funding and renewed investor confidence in Miami. 5. “If you’re not investing in AI, you’re asleep at the wheel,” says Me! https://lnkd.in/eVb-eYA9

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Welcome back to #MathMonday. It's pretty clear to us at Veteran Ventures Capital that we're back in conflicts of attrition—something many of us thought was buried in the dustbin of history after the "precision" war against #Iraq in 1991. Two things drove that home this weekend. 1. The exchange rate is breaking #math. Robert #Magyar Brovdi, Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, recently put a price tag on the new way of war: roughly $878 in matériel to kill a single Russian soldier. The exchange ratio is a staggering 400 Russians lost for every one Ukrainian (according to Brovid). Drones now account for 70–80% of all battlefield casualties on that front, and FPVs alone struck 33,019 Russian troops in December 2025—the first month verified Russian losses from Ukrainian drones exceeded Russian recruitment. Some context on how unprecedented those numbers are: - #WWII U.S. Army Ordnance estimates: ~25,000–50,000 small-arms rounds per enemy combatant killed. - #Vietnam: cited figures climbed past 200,000 rounds per kill. - #British heavy AAA early in the V-1 campaign: roughly 2,500 shells per rocket downed—before the proximity fuze collapsed that ratio to around 100. The cost-per-casualty curve has been bending the wrong way for eight decades. #Ukraine just bent it back—violently. That's why it's a good thing the U.S. is sending more soldiers into Ukraine to learn from them firsthand. 2. Even the "losses" are wins. Ukrainian milbloggers have begun counting it as a kill when an FPV is destroyed by an incoming missile—on the logic that both pieces of hardware are gone, and the exchange still favors them. Makes sense when the Russians have to expend a $100K missile to take down a $1K drone. They're right, and the self-reflection of that math is sobering. We're firing $3M+ Patriot PAC-3 interceptors at $35K Shaheds, resulting in us running a ~100-to-1 deficit—and the Middle East burned through 800+ PAC-3 MSEs in three days in last year's engagement. Unknown what a good unclassified estimate for the current conflict, but it's a big number. Two takeaways: 1) As I've said often, the old adage needs an update. "Amateurs talk tactics, experts talk logistics" should now read: Amateurs talk war, experts talk supply chain. Ukraine is producing over 8 million FPVs per year. Russia claims up to 19,000 drones per day. Whoever scales their factories—and protects them—wins. 2) Cheap defense at single-digit percentages of offense cost is a brand-new kind of deterrent. Being on the wrong side of the cost curve may look good in the short term, but it's really a depletion race to the bottom of your own checkbook. The strategists, operators and investors who internalize this shift first will own the next decade of defense. #MathMonday #VeteranVenturesCapital #DefenseTech #DroneWarfare #AsymmetricWarfare #DefenseInvesting #NationalSecurity #FutureOfWarfare #MilitaryInnovation #SupplyChain

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📊 AmTech Daily: Deals Defining America's Future — Feb 25, 2026 Each morning, Commonweal Ventures compiles the day's top #AmTech deals and news at the intersection of government and technology. Here's today's. Comment "Subscribe" to get the full briefing, news included, in your inbox. Education  🔹 Subject (Beverly Hills, CA), which offers an AI-powered digital curriculum platform for middle and high school students, raised $28 million in funding led by Vistara Growth, joined by NextEquity Partners, Green Street Impact Partners, Outcomes Collective Growth Capital, and other existing investors. Health  🔹 Handl Health (Los Angeles, CA), which provides an analytics platform to help health plans and benefits consultants design employer health benefits that lower costs and improve care quality, raised $14.2 million in Series A funding led by Arthur Ventures, joined by Syndra Capital Partners, a strategic investor, Mucker Capital, Riverfront Ventures, Digital Health Venture Partners, and Boutique Venture Partners. Aerospace  🔹 Sophia Space (Pasadena, CA), building orbital data centers composed of ultra-thin, solar-powered computer panels called TILES that sit on or next to satellites, raised $10 million in seed funding led by Alpha Funds, KDDI Corporation Green Partners Fund, and Unlock Venture Partners. Finance  🔹 Comeryx Insurance (Denver, CO), which runs an AI-driven online insurance platform that automatically prices and issues specialty liability coverage for small trade contractors that traditional carriers won't easily underwrite, raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Altai Ventures, joined by American Family Ventures, Intact Ventures, Boulder Ventures, Arch Capital Group, and Echelon. AI Chips  🔹 Cerebras (Sunnyvale, CA), which designs wafer-scale AI chips and computer systems that let large organizations train and run advanced AI models faster and more efficiently, has confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. after previously raising more than $2.5 billion in private funding across eight rounds. Energy  🔹 Terrasmart's eBOS division (Grand Rapids, MI), which makes prefabricated electrical wiring and combiner-box systems that connect utility-scale solar panels to inverters and the grid, was acquired by GameChange Energy Technologies for $70 million to extend its end-to-end solar infrastructure offering. What is #AmTech? It's our term for the companies tackling America's biggest challenges in sectors like energy, defense, healthcare, and infrastructure. In these markets, the path to building category-winning companies runs through government, and the founders who understand that are building the most consequential technology businesses of our generation.

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Hexcel Adds Independent Director in Deal With Activist Investor "Hexcel added a new independent director to its board in a move that avoids a potential proxy fight for the aerospace materials company with activist investor Vision One Fund. "As part of an agreement between the two sides, Vision One will withdraw their nominees to the board that were to be voted on at the company's annual shareholder meeting. Vision One will also support Hexcel's board nominees, and agree to certain standstill restrictions and mutual non-disparagement provisions, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. "The new director, former Kaman Chief Executive Officer Neal Keating, was appointed effective Tuesday." Keating's experience in aerospace may make him an ideal director choice. Yet from a bigger picture perspective, I wonder if this settlement is the right move for investors. More and more activist campaigns are settling rather than running the full process of a proxy fight with typically a greater number of directors nominated by the activist. Hopefully, activists are becoming like the public company boards they battle, i.e. more focused on reaching consensus than big results. #governancearbitrage #proxyfights #corporategovernance #activistinvesting #valuecreation https://lnkd.in/gazBUGFp

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🚨NEW EPISODE: Recorded live at FUTURE TITANS 2026 - Jeff Perry of Carta sat down with the iconic Seth Levine, co-founder of Foundry. Seth has been in venture for 25 years, built Foundry from scratch as an emerging manager himself, and has backed about 50 emerging manager funds through his fund of funds. He has genuinely seen every side of this table. They went deep on building Foundry, why VCs are in the influence business, not the decision business, and why the concentration problem in venture is not only bad for LPs, but also for the innovation ecosystem overall. And why Seth's new book, Capital Evolution, is so important for the future of America. 🎧 Links to listen... Apple: https://lnkd.in/ehQUQ2EM Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eU4FExpg

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