Every month I get email updates from several early-stage founders. They usually include what’s going well and not so well with the business, along with the latest company metrics. In 2022 and the first half of 2023, the tone of these updates wasn’t optimistic. The fundraising environment wasn’t great, and founders were reducing expenses to extend their runway.

Over the last two or so months, I’ve been seeing more optimism in these emails. The fundraising environment is still tough. But founders are sharing more signs of being closer to product–market fit. Metrics are improving, and for some of them, revenue and customer growth are beginning to accelerate materially.

This is anecdotal, of course, and not representative of all early-stage founders, but it feels like founders got the message and may have been able to right the ship. I hope so. I look forward to seeing if this is confirmed in the remaining 2023 updates.