Today's episode explores three ideas that caught my attention: It’s weird we measure data centers measured in gigawatts – John’s observation that we tend to discuss data centers based on their power consumption vs their computational output was fascinating – it’s like buying a car based on annual fuel consumption instead of its true utility. Geography drives energy politics – John’s "where you stand depends on where you sit" framework for understanding global energy p...
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Today's episode explores three ideas that caught my attention: It’s weird we measure data centers measured in gigawatts – John’s observation that we tend to discuss data centers based on their power consumption vs their computational output was fascinating – it’s like buying a car based on annual fuel consumption instead of its true utility. Geography drives energy politics – John’s "where you stand depends on where you sit" framework for understanding global energy p...
Episode 45: Breaking Down the 2025 Angel Funders Report | ACA Board Member John Harbison on Valuation Compression, Board Seat Decline, and Follow-On Performance
The Diligent Observer Podcast
49 minutes
4 months ago
Episode 45: Breaking Down the 2025 Angel Funders Report | ACA Board Member John Harbison on Valuation Compression, Board Seat Decline, and Follow-On Performance
Today's episode explores three ideas that caught my attention: Angel board representation dropped from 34% to 26% - Despite consistently seeing better returns WITH board representation, fewer angel groups are securing board seats. Early-stage valuation compression - The gap between median pre-seed ($10M) and Series B ($19M) valuations has shrunk by 3x over the last few years. Hybrid angel group models write bigger checks - Groups combining both “pure networks” a...
The Diligent Observer Podcast
Today's episode explores three ideas that caught my attention: It’s weird we measure data centers measured in gigawatts – John’s observation that we tend to discuss data centers based on their power consumption vs their computational output was fascinating – it’s like buying a car based on annual fuel consumption instead of its true utility. Geography drives energy politics – John’s "where you stand depends on where you sit" framework for understanding global energy p...