Mariya Valeva's Recent LinkedIn Posts

Most founders think startups fail because of bad ideas. In reality, they fail because of three decisions made early on. 1. The wrong co-founder The biggest risk isn’t lack of talent. It’s lack of integrity. A smart, high-energy partner without integrity doesn’t move the company forward - they slowly break trust, al…

Steve Jobs once said he envied Alexander the Great. Not for the empire. But for his mentor. Alexander had Aristotle by his side - someone he could question, challenge, and learn from directly. Jobs could read everything Aristotle ever wrote… but he could never ask him a question. In 1985, while visiting Sweden, Jo…

Ferrero is reportedly paying $850M+ for a granola company. The same Ferrero behind Nutella, Kinder and Ferrero Rocher. At first glance, it looks like a confectionery giant trying to become “healthy.” But there is more to it.. This deal is really the story of 2 founder-led businesses, born 63 years apart, meeting at…

A 24-year-old started a watch company in London in 1905. 120 years later, it sells an estimated ~$17 BILLION worth of watches at retail… …and still makes customers feel lucky to be allowed to buy one. But the most interesting part of the Rolex story isn’t the watches. It’s what Rolex refuses to do. Hans Wilsdorf s…

Your AI product is scaling. Unfortunately, so is the cost of every click. That’s the slightly inconvenient part of the AI revolution nobody puts in the demo. 2 companies can build products that feel equally smart, use the same underlying models, and deliver almost the same customer outcome. One spends $2 to deliver…

Adam Neumann has raised at least $450M for his second act. After WeWork. That is not investor amnesia. It is a very deliberate bet. Flow has just raised another $100M+ at a $2.5B valuation, more than double the $1B valuation it received in 2022, when a16z led a $350M investment. The easy take is investors have sho…