BrandCapsule opened its doors this week with a new category — AI Discovery Intelligence — built on the belief that the best brand should win, not the biggest budget.

Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time talking with founders who are seeing something that doesn’t quite line up with their expectations. Their product is still good. In many cases it is better than it was a year ago. Customers still rely on it. And yet, deals are slower, expansions are harder, and in some cases seats are quietly disappearing.

It’s easy to interpret that as a signal that something is breaking in SaaS. That the model is weakening or that demand is softening.

What I’m seeing points to something much simpler and much more structural. The budget hasn’t grown, but the priority has changed.

The 2026 LIFT Summit will bring together leaders across industry, government, education, and community organizations to help move advanced air mobility from vision to real-world deployment. Taking place March 31–April 1 in Monterey, the event will focus on the partnerships, infrastructure, workforce, and policy needed to shape the future of low-altitude aviation.

Who won the 2024 Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Start-Up to Watch award? Read to find out!

Former Duolingo executives Jorge Mazal, Daniel Falabella, and Gina Gotthilf have launched Outsmart Education, a start-up dedicated to making college more accessible and affordable.

What strategies, systems, tools and skills will it take to engage and acquire your early adopter customers, and set the state to scale revenue growth? Kenan shows startups how to get their go-to-market strategy together to reach their goals.

This is part 2 of Startup Rumble where startups compete for fame and glory. YOU the audience vote for the winners.

A 4 hour workshop for startups to learn how to perform market validation using the Innovation Within Discovery platform. Recordings available to Santa Cruz Accelerates participants.

We are excited to announce our last New Tech of 2021: Startup Rumble. In one fast-paced hour, 5 startups from Santa Cruz Accelerates 2021-22 will compete for Rumble Winner by demoing their solutions — possibly what could be the next Looker or Joby Aviation.

This brief seminar will provide founders with a high level overview of tax benefits such that they are not overlooked inadvertently. In addition we will discuss the appropriate choice of entity for a startup, the appropriate level of record keeping and documentation of agreements and the costs of expansion in to other states and countries.

This just in: Lookback is moving their US HQ from Palo Alto to Santa Cruz! Their initial offices will be in one of the co-working spaces. And they are hiring!

New startup Noir has developed an intelligent, RADAR-based light switch for businesses who want to reduce maintenance costs.

Atmotube detects harmful air conditions and alerts users on their phones. By By detecting harmful gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), continuously measuring temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure, Atmotube is democratizing air quality monitors.

The investment arm of Abdul Latif Jameel, a Saudi Arabian family-owned conglomerate, invested in Joby Aviation's $590 million Series C funding round. Joby is an emerging company in Santa Cruz that aims to shuttle passengers in electric air taxis above congested city streets.