This Week in Startups · Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Venture capitalists Aline Lee (Cowboy VC) and Ben Therriault (Layer-3) discussed the current investment climate, noting that while fundraising has slowed compared to previous years, founder quality remains high. Mike Mayles (Floodgate) mentioned his firm is in a good position after filing to raise a new fund.
“It's a wild time right now, but a lot of exciting things to look at right now and some I think founder quality is incredible right now.”
“Well, I'm not sure I'm allowed to say. Uh, but, you know, we're we're pretty good shape.”
“I think also I'm very early stage. Like people who are signing up with us and probably with Mike and Aline understand that this is like the best companies take a long time to mature.”