Santa Maria Valley Tech

04/25/2026

$297 billion. One quarter. And most of it went to AI.

Crunchbase just dropped Q1 2026 venture data — and it's not just a record. It's a signal.

Global startup investment hit nearly $300B in a single quarter. That's 150% more than Q1 2025. It's more than all of 2022. 81% of it went to AI companies.

What does a wave this big mean for communities that aren't in San Francisco or New York? Outside of the vacuum. Beyond the center of gravity?

Because here's what I know: the money is concentrating at the top. But the opportunity — the ideas, the talent, the hunger — that's everywhere.

Including right here on the Central Coast.

I broke down what this moment means for founders and builders in the Santa Maria Valley and greater region — and why I think now is the most important time to be building from the ground up.

👇 Full post on the Santa Maria Valley Tech Substack

https://open.substack.com/pub/santamariavalleytech/p/297-billion-was-invested-in-startups?r=3kyl9&utm_medium=ios

The biggest VC quarter in history just happened. And it has everything to do with what we’re building in the Santa Maria Valley.

04/16/2026

81,000 people just told us what they actually want from AI.

Anthropic interviewed users across 159 countries in 70 languages — the largest qualitative AI study ever conducted.

The results? Surprisingly human.

The #1 thing people want from AI isn't automation or efficiency. It's professional excellence — the ability to do more meaningful work, not just more work.

Right behind it: personal transformation, life management, and time freedom.

And for entrepreneurs? AI is being described as an equalizer — a force multiplier that lets one person operate with team-level capacity.

That hits close to home for what we're building in the Santa Maria Valley.

📊 I'm breaking down the top findings and what they mean for founders, students, and community builders right here on the Central Coast.

Link in comments. ⬇️

04/15/2026

A year ago, most Cursor users treated AI as autocomplete. Today, more tasks are started by agents than by humans. Software engineering accounts for over half of all AI tool usage across professions. Every other category is still in single digits. The reason is that software engineering is primarily intelligence work. AI has crossed the threshold where it can do most of the intelligence work autonomously and leave the judgement to humans. Software engineering got there first. It is coming to every single profession.

The next wave is focused on outcomes. Going from copilots to autopilots.

https://sequoiacap.com/article/services-the-new-software/

03/11/2025

The Role of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builder

In our latest piece, we discuss the important role of an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder. The ingredients for building a startup community where entrepreneurs can thrive include community, connection, and collaboration.

https://santamariavalleytech.substack.com/p/the-role-of-an-entrepreneurial-ecosystem

But perhaps the most important components include: Culture & Curriculum

The ability to inspire all stakeholders + actual new venture development know-how. (Tools, resources, playbooks, proven methodologies.)

The more we observe and engage the more we realize that stakeholders often lack the playbook to actually push ideas forward from a strategy and process approach.

https://santamariavalleytech.substack.com/p/the-role-of-an-entrepreneurial-ecosystem

07/17/2024

Are companies and communities ready for innovation?

According to a new BCG Report on Innovation Systems, companies have never placed a higher priority on innovation—yet they have never been as unready to deliver on their innovation aspirations. It’s a recipe for disappointment. BCG’s 2024 Most Innovative Companies report examines the readiness gap and offers perspectives on how companies can get back on track.

BCG first discussed the readiness gap in its 2021 Most Innovative Companies report. At the time, 20% of companies scored as “ready” based on BCG’s proprietary Innovation-to-Impact benchmark—despite 75% ranking innovation a top-three priority. Today, new 2024 research finds 83% of companies seeing innovation as a top-three priority, but only 3% ready to translate their priorities to results.

https://open.substack.com/pub/santamariavalleytech/p/are-communities-ready-for-innovation?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

05/07/2024

Communities Thrive Where Talent Meets Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building: Building a Community Playbook for Economic Growth and Impact

https://open.substack.com/pub/santamariavalleytech/p/communities-thrive-where-talent-meets?r=3kyl9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

05/02/2024

How today's growing ecosystems and communities can foster greater economic development.

02/08/2024

Happening tomorrow...7AM

Co-Hosting a Softec discussion tomorrow AM on the impact of AI...

AI is the hot tech topic for 2024, and we want to talk about it. Softec is hosting this SIG for professionals to explore Prompt Engineering in OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Special interest groups (SIGs) enable professionals to stay up-to-date with the latest developments, exchange ideas, and troubleshoot challenges collectively. In our rapidly evolving tech landscape, the value of SIGs cannot be overstated; they serve as hubs of support and inspiration for those passionate about AI in the job.

https://www.meetup.com/softec-sig/events/298910764/

03/03/2023

Culture and great ex*****on always win out.