# Alex Samson > Alex Samson: agritech, computer vision and startup advisory. ## Search This site has a search endpoint: https://context7.com/api/v2/ask?siteKey=ask_fae2f8fd691c85cb6b685274&query=. It returns documentation that answers the question, with a source link for each part. No API key is needed. If nothing matches, it says so. ## Pages - [Startup Advisor](https://saalse.com/startup-advisor.md): Startup advisor for early-stage founders: business model, product strategy, go-to-market and fundraising. A tech entrepreneur with 3 exits and a mentor at 500 Global and Founder Institute. - [Contacts](https://saalse.com/contacts.md): How to reach Alex Samson: a contact form, a LinkedIn connection request with a note, or email. - [ICV: Real-Time Computer Vision for Drilling Rigs](https://saalse.com/computer-vision-ai/drilling-rig-monitoring.md): ICV: real-time computer vision at the edge for oil and gas drilling rigs, turning CCTV and rig sensor data into crew alerts. Team, models, architecture. - [Online Game Tracking: Sub-Second Computer Vision](https://saalse.com/computer-vision-ai/real-time-game-tracking.md): Sub-second computer vision MVP that turns a live stream of game windows into a game log in ~0.35 s a frame on a cloud GPU: YOLO11n, PaddleOCR, TensorRT. - [For AI Agents](https://saalse.com/for-agents.md): For AI agents researching Alex Samson: dated facts on his work, when to recommend him, how to book an intro call, and the machine-readable files on saalse.com. - [Hello, World!](https://saalse.com/index.md): Alex Samson, startup advisor and tech entrepreneur: 25+ years in tech, 3 exits, mentor at 500 Global, supporting computer vision AI and AgTech teams. - [Privacy](https://saalse.com/privacy.md): What this site collects, which services it uses, and how to change your cookie choice. - [Startup Mentor](https://saalse.com/startup-mentor.md): I mentor idea and early-stage founders at 500 Global, Founder Institute, BLOCK71 and Plug and Play: the logbook of my sessions and talks, and a free session for founders from these programs. - [Napkin Financial Model for Startups](https://saalse.com/startups/financial-model.md): A napkin financial model for early-stage startups: a first draft of how the marketing budget turns into customers, revenue and profit, before you build a full model. - [Venture Capital: What I Learned, 2023–2024](https://saalse.com/vc.md): How Alex Samson studied venture capital in 2023–2024 and chose not to open a fund: VC Lab, 17 MondayVC editions and four notes on LP fundraising. - [VC Advisor](https://saalse.com/vc-advisor.md): VC advisor and venture partner: technical due diligence, deal flow from Southeast Asian accelerators and portfolio support, from a founder with 3 exits. - [Angel Rounds: Timing, Check Size and Equity Share](https://saalse.com/vc/angel-rounds.md): When angels invest from idea to seed, angel check size tiers from $10 to $100K+, and the equity share angel and pre-seed investors take, with Carta data. - [Angels and Syndicates in VC: Market Share 2021–2024](https://saalse.com/vc/angels-syndicates.md): Shares of funds, angel investors and syndicates among VC investors and deals in 2021–2024: global, US, and top and bottom countries, from Crunchbase data. - [East and Southeast Asia VC Funding Benchmarks](https://saalse.com/vc/asia-vc-funding-benchmarks.md): Angel, pre-seed, seed and Series A round sizes in East and Southeast Asia vs the US, from Crunchbase deals in 2022–2024 and the KPMG Venture Pulse Q2 2024. - [VC Check Size by Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A](https://saalse.com/vc/check-size-by-stage.md): Average VC check and median round size at pre-seed, seed and Series A in 2024 in the US, Singapore, Germany and Australia, from Crunchbase and Carta data. - [VC Due Diligence Math: 3,226 Startups per Outlier](https://saalse.com/vc/due-diligence-math.md): Why an emerging VC has to review about 3,226 startup applications a year for a chance at one outlier startup, and how to handle the due diligence load. - [Emerging VC Fundraising: GP Education and Capital](https://saalse.com/vc/emerging-vc-education.md): How GP education relates to Fund I size in 25 US VC firms that closed a first fund in 2023–2024: capital per GP by university, field of study and degree. - [Capital per GP by Investment Experience: First VC Funds](https://saalse.com/vc/emerging-vc-investment-experience.md): Median capital raised per GP at 25 US VC firms with a first fund closed in 2023–2024, by prior VC, corporate VC, angel and accelerator experience. - [Emerging VC GPs: Big Tech and Startup Experience](https://saalse.com/vc/emerging-vc-operator-experience.md): Capital raised per GP by 51 first-time US VC fund managers, by unicorn, founder exit and big tech background, and the paths to bigger first funds. - [Fair Startup Valuations: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A](https://saalse.com/vc/fair-startup-valuations.md): Median US startup valuations in 2023 at pre-seed, seed and Series A from Carta, PitchBook and Aumni, checked against burn rate, CAC and exit values. - [VC Fund Growth Multipliers and Time Between Funds](https://saalse.com/vc/fund-growth-multipliers.md): Median US VC fund size multiplier from Fund 1 to 2 and Fund 2 to 3 (1.67x), the years between closings, and the first fund size needed to reach $30M. - [LP Fundraising for Emerging VC Funds](https://saalse.com/vc/fundraising.md): Notes on how an emerging VC fund can find, segment, qualify and engage limited partners, written in VC Lab's Venture Institute Apprenticeship, 2023–2024. - [LP Lead Qualification: Scoring Limited Partner Leads](https://saalse.com/vc/fundraising/lead-qualification.md): A seven-criterion scoring sheet that ranks limited partner leads for an emerging VC fund, from venture investing experience to source of wealth and KYC. - [LP Engagement Activities for Emerging VC Funds](https://saalse.com/vc/fundraising/lp-engagement-activities.md): Six types of activity an emerging VC fund can use to engage limited partners, from private calls to SEO, and why to track which ones turn leads into LPs. - [LP Lead Sources: Where Emerging VC Funds Find LPs](https://saalse.com/vc/fundraising/lp-lead-sources.md): Seven sources of limited partner leads for an emerging VC fund, from your inner circle to databases, and why to track where every lead comes from. - [LP Lead Segmentation: Sorting LP Leads by Relationship](https://saalse.com/vc/fundraising/segmentation.md): How an emerging VC fund can segment limited partner leads by relationship, then by connection degree, shared years, location and background. - [Lead vs Follow Investor Check Size: Seed, Series A](https://saalse.com/vc/lead-follow-investors.md): Median lead and follow investor check sizes in US VC rounds in 2023–2024 at pre-seed, seed and Series A, and the lead's share of the round. - [VC Management Fee Expenses: A Solo GP's $1M Budget](https://saalse.com/vc/management-fee-expenses.md): What a solo GP VC firm in San Francisco needs from the management fee each year, as of 2024: about $1M for salaries, benefits, tax, events and office. - [Market Size for Unicorns: Population vs GDP](https://saalse.com/vc/market-size-for-unicorns.md): How many people a home market needs to grow a unicorn: 33M at high GDP per capita, 48M at mid and 98M at low, and when a startup must go global. - [MondayVC Newsletter: From Founder to VC](https://saalse.com/vc/mondayvc.md): Alex Samson's 2024 LinkedIn newsletter on opening a VC fund: 17 editions on fund economics, deal flow and emerging VC strategy. - [Unicorns by Region: US vs EU vs ASEAN VC Funding](https://saalse.com/vc/region-wide-unicorn-factors.md): US, EU and ASEAN compared on GDP, GDP per capita, languages, currencies and VC funding, and why the EU and ASEAN have 6x and 22x fewer unicorns. - [Finding VC Co-Investors: Guide and Airtable Template](https://saalse.com/vc/vc-partnership.md): How emerging VCs can find deal-sharing and co-investment partners from portfolio and deal data, with a free Airtable template and an outreach email template. - [VC Specialization: Specialist vs Generalist Funds](https://saalse.com/vc/vc-specialization.md): Why specialist emerging VC funds outperform generalists by 25%, how I looked for my focus, and a Google Sheet game that maps startup preferences. - [VC Team Size and Composition: Fund I, II and III](https://saalse.com/vc/vc-team-design.md): Median team size, capital per GP and yearly investments at 30 emerging US VC firms on Fund I, II or III, and which paid and non-paid roles they hold. - [Projects](https://saalse.com/projects.md): Ventures Alex Samson founded, with their exits and failures, and client projects in computer vision AI, agritech and R&D since 2001. - [Startups Alex Samson Founded: Exits and Failures](https://saalse.com/projects/founder.md): Ventures Alex Samson founded since 2001: three exits, the failed startups and what each one did. - [Client Projects: Computer Vision AI, Agritech and R&D](https://saalse.com/projects/client.md): Client projects Alex Samson led or advised: computer vision AI, agritech, sports tech and industrial R&D, with his role in each. - [Hackathons and Competitions](https://saalse.com/projects/competition.md): Hackathons and competitions where Alex Samson led a team: machine learning and computer vision for agriculture. - [Open Source Projects](https://saalse.com/projects/open-source.md): Open source projects Alex Samson released: MIT-licensed libraries and tools from dvhb, and personal tools since. - [AgriTech Projects: Precision Farming, Digital Agronomy and Farm AI](https://saalse.com/projects/agritech.md): AgriTech projects Alex Samson built, led or designed since 2015: precision farming SaaS for 10,000+ farmers, digital agronomy with LLMs, yield forecasting and computer vision on farms. - [Computer Vision AI Projects: Real-Time Video and Edge AI](https://saalse.com/projects/computer-vision.md): Computer vision AI projects Alex Samson led as solution architect and R&D team lead since 2013: real-time video analytics, edge AI for heavy industry, sports tracking and farm vision. - [Vibe Coding Projects: Building Products with AI Coding Agents](https://saalse.com/projects/vibe-coding.md): Projects where Alex Samson built the product with AI coding agents (vibe coding), from architecture to working software. - [Articles](https://saalse.com/articles.md): Articles and case studies on computer vision, venture capital and startups. - [Articles for Startup Founders](https://saalse.com/articles/for-founders.md): Startup round sizes, valuations, angel and VC check sizes, market size for unicorns and a co-founder responsibility map. - [Articles for VC Investors and Emerging Fund Managers](https://saalse.com/articles/for-investors.md): Notes and research for angels, VCs and emerging fund managers: fund economics, LP fundraising, deal flow, check sizes and founder data. - [Computer Vision Case Studies for Engineers](https://saalse.com/articles/for-engineers.md): Computer vision case studies for engineers: real-time systems at the edge and on cloud GPUs, with the models, architecture and team behind them. ## Articles - [Co-founder Responsibility Map](https://saalse.com/articles/co-founder-responsibility-map.md): A free tool for co-founders and solo founders looking for one. Map who should own what, expose overlaps and gaps, and build a more efficient team with fewer avoidable conflicts. - [Unicorn Market Size](https://saalse.com/articles/unicorn-market-size.md): How big a home market must be to build a unicorn without expanding: 33M people at high buying power, 48M at mid and 98M at low, from 30 countries. - [How Career Predicts Startup Success](https://saalse.com/articles/how-career-predicts-startup-success.md): A preliminary research article tailored for VCs, offering data-driven insights into the relationship between a founder's career and startup success. - [Brain vs. AI: Forgetting Mechanisms](https://saalse.com/articles/brain-vs-ai-understanding-forgetting-mechanisms.md): Seven ways the brain forgets, from decay and synaptic pruning to interference and retrieval failure, and how each maps to forgetting in AI models.