By Henry Mason and Daniela Raffel Torrebiarte
The barriers to producing a startup maintain coming down. In this fast fashion era of software, we VCs are normally primed to celebrate “scoot and damage things” and support on every AI trial that can be spun up over night. However here’s the awkward reality: in the meantime a minimum of, most of what gets constructed in this manner isn’t manufacturing grade, not to mention venture all set. And if you’re attempting to build technology deepness and defensibility, plainly a vibe coding approach won’t suffice.
The acquisition of Onum by CrowdStrike last week is a reminder that the way startups develop value hasn’t actually changed. You still definitely require creators that live the problem, express a vision others can really feel, and are absolutely obsessive regarding implementation.
Experience: No Tourists Allowed
Onum’s owners– Pedro Castillo, Lucas Varela and Pedro Tortosa– really did not come across a hot category and retrofit an item. They had lived the discomfort of data sprawl for years. Pedro C. built Devo right into a $ 2 billion system; Lucas ran cybersecurity procedures at CaixaBank; Pedro T. brought years of GTM experience. They weren’t browsing the rails for motivation– they knew the market from top to bottom. That depth let them make product and style choices you simply can not vibe your method right into.
Vision: Greater Than Sound
It’s appealing to sink on your own in jargon, acronyms and new “categories”. Like their item itself, Onum’s messaging cut directly through the noise. Their pitch was extremely basic: Much less sound. More worth. That type of stripped-down, opinionated vision does not just sell items; it stops a business from being sidetracked by the style of the week. It additionally aids the chief executive officer persuade top-tier officers to join the objective in under a minute during interviews.
Fixation: Not a Side Hustle
A lot of owners state they’re obsessed. Few are. Onum’s founders attracted ideas anywhere they looked, like the gradients of light in a lavender field– consuming over how to translate that into their purple UI. They delivered non-stop, drawing all-nighters not to tick vanity landmarks or merit signal about 9– 9– 6, but to offer a vision they counted on. This wasn’t a side job they hoped would flip quick. It was a craft.
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The technology ecological community is flooded with buzz cycles. Also if it ends up being trivial to create production-grade software program, Onum’s tale shows where the worth exists and will certainly continue to lie: founders with genuine experience, clarity of vision, and an obsession that borders on unreasonable. These aren’t trendy top qualities. They’re antiquated, slow, difficult to phony– which’s why they matter.
We backed Onum early and with conviction, leading their $ 28 million Series A together with our pals at Insight Partners and Kibo Ventures. Do you have the experience, vision and fixation to build the following Onum? Contact us.
