This. Is good design. It has nothing to do with how pretty the app looks.
“VCs are just sacks of meat with the same cognitive biases as everyone else. They are rational systems infected with emotional viruses (and infused with a tinge of wealth and privilege and all that implies).” — Who you callin’ rational?
“We used to rely on the public making dumb investing decisions,” one well-known Manhattan hedge-fund manager told me. “but with the advent of the public leaving the market, it’s just hedge funds trading against hedge funds. At the end of the day, it’s a zero-sum game.” Based on these numbers—too many funds with fewer dollars chasing too few trades—many have predicted a hedge-fund shakeout, and it seems to have started. Over 1,000 funds have closed in the past year and a half.” —
With greater-fools-as-a-service, things start getting interesting.
via slavin
Sorry Eric, but I hate the word pivot.
Somehow, over the last year or so Pivot has managed some literary slight of hand in which it has transformed (pivoted?) itself from a verb to a noun. Crossed over from a series of actions taken out of necessity in achieving an objective to becoming the objective itself. From founders to investors there seems to be a carelessness in the air with Pivot being the exclaimation point.
I frequently hear investment thesis that go as deep as “they’re smart, they’ll figure it out” to founders providing such powerful entrepreneurial insights as this little jewel from a recent WSJ piece:
You pivot as many times as you can, as fast as you can, until you run out of money
Deep.
Pivoting isn’t the point.
Yet there seems to be this Silicon Valley ballet playing out as founders twirl their way down Sand Hill Road with stories weaved in a tapestry of user data, A/B testing, perfectly personalized landing pages and watchful eyes. Yes, the ballerinas are watching. Watching every. single, move, their. users. make. Ready to pirouette their way to profitability.
I’m not suggesting that a doggedly bullheaded persistence in the face of indifference is the path, just pointing out that the word pivoting is pointless. And it’s flippant use is dangerous. Dangerous to founders who see it as a goal and dangerous to investors who see it as a short cut to doing their homework.
Talk to me about product, talk to me about the ideas you haven’t been able to get out of your head, talk to me about about the frustrations you’re having with your users. But don’t talk to me about pivots.
such a wonderful metaphor.
via @siguy
“Over the history of the institutional VC business (the past 40 years) the number of companies started every year that turn out to be worth billions sustainably is in the tens not the hundreds. If you are looking for a billion dollar check in the startup game, you are playing for lottery odds.” — Fred
I still get notified when people follow me on Twitter. I find it interesting to see who everyone is, where they’re from and what they do. Unfortunately, I can’t follow everyone back, but I’m always curious who these people are who follow along with me across Twitter, Tumblr and the web at large.
I know many of you have fascinating stories to tell and experiences to share. And I want to hear more about them and get to know you better.
So, I’ve set up a little dinner to do just that.
This Wednesday night (May 2nd) in NYC, I’ve booked a table for a few us to break bread and get to know each other. Consider it an experiment in serendipity.
Here’s how it will work. The good folks at GrubWithUs have set me up with a page where you can request a seat at the table.
Registration is open now, so go here to sign up.
Tuesday (May 1st, tomorrow) I’ll randomly pick a handful of you to attend and you’ll get a notification with details of the time and location for the dinner.
Wednesday night we’ll have a great meal and conversation. I’ll pick up the tab.
Please keep in mind that this is not a general invitation. I’ve asked the team at GrubWithUs to keep this dinner private and off their main site. This is just for you all.
So, don’t be shy. Whether we’ve met in passing or never met at all go here to register and I look forward to seeing a few of you Wednesday night.
PS- Unfortunately, not everyone who signs up will get invited, but if this works I’ll plan to do more of these in the future.
[video]
“Data saved my life.” — Stories from a life quantified.
Dig this image representing the 3rd Industrial Revolution.
“And there will be failures. Andrew, there will be times during practice when you will be outplayed by free-agent camp bodies who will never play a down of pro football. And RG3, there will be times when you will look so bad that anyone watching will declare you a bust, and the team’s hopes lost. Yet it is through these tunnels that all players must pass — the Hall of Famer and the Never Will Be. The knowledge of this common struggle will unite a team in defiance of the conventional wisdom that suggests otherwise. Remember for every interception thrown, there is an interceptor in triumph. For every touchdown thrown, there is a defense in defeat. Leadership requires an acceptance of this, and will not work without it. A leader who lacks this perspective will lead no one but himself.” — Nate Jackson’s letter to this year’s top NFL draft picks.
“We are living in an everyone-is-special-and-there-are-no-losers society. As a result, we are fearful of accomplished people because they can do stuff that we cannot do, and giving them the spotlight would un-level the playing field. We are, as a result, much more comfortable with the famous-for-nothing paradigm, because then, we, the great unexceptional masses, still have shot at celebrity.” — Worth a read.
“I don’t think crowdfunding is good for startups. For startups, having large numbers of investors is bad, and having inexperienced investors is bad. So having a very large number of inexperienced investors is the worst scenario possible. The right way to get money from large numbers of people is to sell them your product, like Inpulse did, not to sell them your stock.” — PG
I came into the venture business in 2001.
What I saw in those first years I could only liken to being in an emergency room at 3 AM on a Saturday night. It was chaos. Money was drying up, companies were hemorrhaging cash, and VCs were in full time triage mode. VCs looked and acted very differently back then. Many were bankers, or consultants or big company executives who couldn’t really relate with, or add value to, the experience of getting an early stage company off the ground. Nearly all VC firms looked, talked and acted the same. From their strategies to their websites to their blue shirts and khakis.
I was reminded of those days by two friends who dropped by my office yesterday. They entered the VC ranks around the same time I did and had the exact same experience.
But as we talked, the conversation turned to now and how our industry is reshaping. Things have changed a lot since 2001. A new venture landscape is taking shape. There are new firms with partners who can relate and add value to the early stage startup experience on a very personal level. Partners who use and understand the products their companies are building. Not all of the top tier firms are on one street any more. And that’s a really good thing.
With the ranks of modern investors growing by the day, it’s a shame to see founders taking money from firms and partners who don’t get what they’re building or the completive landscapes they’re trying to navigate. A classic line from a song compared these types of backers to mountain climbers who play electric guitars.
Don’t get stuck with a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar. When there are so many more options for those who truly understand and can lend support to what you’re trying to build.
“I don’t really think I spot the future; I spot the things in the present that tell us something about the future. I look for interesting people. I find the cool kids and then say, what are they doing?” —
The OATV investment thesis in a nutshell.