Starting a thread for my normal friends who don't experience my feed.
You've been completely scammed about "open air prisons" + concentration camps
See below for what life was like in Gaza, starting with a luxury car dealership that opened Aug 2023 in Gaza City (h/t
@imshin
)
👇
Taking a break, but could go on forever with more villas, private pools, beachfront resorts, even Gazan Youtubers doing restaurant reviews.
Let's be clear: most Gazans live in poverty.
But if this is Gaza with Hamas siphoning the vast majority of international "aid" to
@joe8715
@50lilli
@imshin
probably 20-30%?
the point is that (a) the prison narrative is merely a cause to generate Jewish hate and (b) if hamas didn't steal all the money and invested in commerce instead, it could have been something special.
1/ Excited to share that
@startinglinevc
has closed $17m to discover & fund early stage consumer startups building products and services for the 99% economy. 🦄
1/ Excited to share that
@startinglinevc
has closed another $30m to discover & fund early stage consumer startups building products and services for the 99% economy. 🦄
@ousmannoor
Hi Ousman! If he truly believed in allowing people to live together with “mutual respect” then can you provide some context on why he personally oversaw/commanded the massacre of 10s of thousands of Syrians and was the main ally of Assad?
- confused in Chicago
Broke VC firm: junior partners should take over board seats at underperforming cos so they can "learn" and we can "save time."
Woke VC: work with founders to get junior partners on the boards of high fliers, so they build brands & become known as winners.
So obv; rarely done.
1/ Abt to commit career suicide. Wish me luck.
The silence from Chicago entrepreneurial “leaders” re Michael Ferro’s sexual assault & deviancy is deafening. It is appalling. It is embarrassing. Literally not a peep.
Fundraising is hard.
So I bought up the ad space in all the elevators of the LPs who ghosted on us during
@startinglinevc
fundraise last year. Running 10x/hr, every hour, through the end of the year. (Maybe longer? 🤷♂️)
🤙
@HaleyKwaitZollo
Was brunching at a kosher restaurant in Chicago this AM with my kids when...
Two freed October 7th Hostages came walking in. Their table waiting for them broke out in song of Am Yisrael Chai and Thank You Hashem.
A unique moment as a parent: I got to teach my children that all
It is fairly remarkable that we’re 40 days or so from a possible civil war and everyone’s just ordering grubhub and watching documentaries on Netflix like the world is normal.
There are two Chicago tech communities
The one with the talking heads saying the same things for a decade. And the one with the kids building weird stuff and working their hearts out.
Press cares about the former because it’s easy. Invest into the latter because it’s harder.
Q1
@unchainedcap
board meeting yesterday
I came away just in awe. On the precipice of becoming THE financial institutional for the emerging bitcoin economy.
They care as much about your bitcoin as you do.
Three years ago today,
@startinglinevc
held its first close on ~$7M of a $20M fund target after 6mo of fundraising. We had two investments at the time which I funded by borrowing the money:
@BookCameo
and
@unchainedcap
.
Lol
Three years later: 👇
@Davidjpark96
I don’t write emails like this because I don’t want founders to hate me, but I have to admit the entire ecosystem would be more healthier if more investors were this brutally transparent.
My 8yo - for the first time ever - asked me to wake him up early, bring him to synagogue for morning prayers so he could pray for the safety of our homeland her brave soldiers.
The next generation always offers hope.
🦄 Just signed first term sheet of my career off a cold inbound email.
🚍 Talent is distributed. Opportunity and access is not.
📝 Write concise, strong emails. People do read them.
❤️
@startinglinevc
Praying alone in a hotel room. Sad, miserable. Would pay anything to be home with my family.
Encouraging every Jew to say a prayer from the heart for the safety of our soldiers and hostages. Here’s an example if you just want to read something. Or just speak from the heart.
The cat is out of the bag 😻😻😻
Forever grateful
@DanielRotman
for letting me be one of your first investors.
The world has no idea how insanely good a CEO he is. Only raised $1M ever. Never burned a single penny.
Why I love Chicago (Reason
#18
) -
Where CEOs of billion dollar companies respond to cold e-mails, same day, from seed stage entrepreneurs & hop on the phone, hours later, to talk them through their questions.
Rare.
Just euphoric right now about the future of Chicago tech scene with the next generation stepping up in a big way and funding each other.
Have encouraged multiple local execs this week to start rolling funds.
Love that it’s becoming “cool” to invest in Chicago.
Been running so fast and focusing on the future that ive struggled to be mindful about all the wins along the way.
Taking a breath:
@startinglinevc
is absolutely crushing. so grateful for this opportunity.
food delivery is a category case study for the record books. so much intrigue and game theory if you know where to look under the hood. major externalities also brewing around modularity that will shift value longterm 1/x
Hosted a lunch yesterday for 8 founders in Chicago. In that group -
- 2 ipos = $15B+ ev
- $600m+ capital raised (excluding IPOs)
- 1 bootstrapped co shipping 8figs+ cash flow
- 4 fintech, 2 healthcare, 1 marketplace, 1 hr saas
Not bad?
Launching something I've wanted to for years -
Insights from the Jewish holidays and weekly Torah portions that will improve and uplift the way we act as investors, operators and leaders.
Doing this for my own self growth but inviting everyone along🙏
chicago startup scene is definitely happening:
@BookCameo
@M1_Finance
@ChowbusOfficial
all consumer/mobile + founded 2016/2017 + on unicorn path.
many years of slow ecosystem building. but finally intensifying.
Fully functioning Lego menorah, replete with oil lamps, invented by my 9yo future engineer with no instructions, just passion and a deep love for Chanukah.
❤️
@yashar
I agree yashar. My point was to react to the implication that Gaza is a “concentration camp.” I note at the end there is enormous poverty and suffering. Thanks.
Shipbob road showing an IPO
Hallow one of the top apps in the country
Justin Ishbia on 20 minute VC
Brandon Johnson approval rating down to 21%
70 degrees today
Chicago sorta on fire rn 🔥🔥🔥
As we enter startup awards season here in Chicago, posting this blog I held back for 1.5 years because friends told me it would hurt my chances to fundraise in Chicago.
Welp, not rly concerned abt that anymore so here goes bc I care.
Extraordinary profile of
@HavenXHV
$XHV over at Messari. Deeply proud that
@startinglinevc
was its first institutional token holder well before it was obvious.
The world’s first private, stable, money 🔥🔥🔥
@SpencerJCox
I was in SLC on Tuesday. A random latino family came to the Yalla kosher food truck in Chabad square with an SUV draped in an Israeli flag and came specifically to eat kosher just to support the Jews. Utah loves Israel and I am here for it!!!!
I am a happy customer and the product is great.
@PathCrypto
The safest, sec compliant crypto app featuring segregated accounts (ie no ftx risk).
$100 free for new depositors
It’s finally time 🙏
We’ve been in open beta now for 3-4 months onboarding thousands of investors & we’re kicking it up
✅ SEC Regulated crypto app
✅ Secure custody
✅ Managed & self directed portfolios
✅ Much cheaper fees than Coinbase
Stop trading. Start investing.
Can’t sleep. Can’t fight. Too far away to comfort mourners. Can’t even cry anymore.
So doing what Jews have done for thousands of years. Praying late at night for Gd to protect our people, our soldiers, and remove evil from the earth.
@zalzally
it turns out you can do diligence 10x faster with a large team of former bankers who are trained to work 120hrs/wk. honestly, they just put us all to shame.
Crypto rn is identical to online poker circa 2006.
Rising tide lifts all boats + everyone’s a genius until the 18yo kids with infinite disposable time accelerate their speed of learning and leave everyone else in the dust.
I was once that kid. The circle of life repeats itself.
My 4yo made a cameo on our
@startinglinevc
quarterly LP call, barging through a closed door to thank me for buying him a Spiderman bike.
At first I was embarrassed. Then I pulled him onto my lap, kissed him, smiled and squeezed him tight.
What a wonderful Corona moment
@CDRosa
Free the hostages now
Flood the tunnels now
Free the hostages now
Flood the tunnels now
Free the hostages now
Flood the tunnels now
Free the hostages now
Flood the tunnels now
Free the hostages now
Flood the tunnels now
Free the hostages now
Flood the tunnels now
Founder in starting line portfolio has sent investor updates, every week, zero misses, for 3 years. Small incremental wins each time.
Today's update: closed first 8 figure deal after years of grinding.
Was inevitable. But will look like an overnight success story.
ordered so much from the same restaurant, owner just started texting me, keeps my cc and address on file and asked me to order via text
and it’s my favorite thing ever
its just....sad
psa: an "accelerator" that provides no funding and even charges its founders ($200?! why!?) is...nc what to call it; maybe predatory?
dear chicago establishment: founders dont need your mediocre mentorship. they need your $$$ to have shot at building something.
Yesterday in Skokie, myself &
@TPUSA
coworker were violently attacked by Pro-Hamas protestors while trying to escort a lost, elderly Jewish couple to the Pro-Israel event.
I was punched repeatedly, kicked in the head, and hit with a flagpole.
This is being Pro-Israel in 2023.
Congrats to
@cryptodweab
@LaPierreLafitte
+ the
@HavenXHV
team on eclipsing $100M total network value for their vision of private, stable money $xhv.
starting line was an early holder and doubled down twice in 2020. one of the best crypto teams ive come across.
We're often asked how to track Haven's unique MCAP.
Simple. We calculate Total Network Value (TVN):
$XHV (supply x price)
+
$xUSD (supply)
Soon, value of new xAssets will also be included.
Today Haven's TVN surpassed $100M for the first time.
American healthcare complex justifiably gets dragged through the mud pretty regularly.
But underneath the politics, it’s comprised of real people who truly, deeply care. My thanks to
@LurieChildrens
for hitting a home run with our two child, double surgery today.
A little thread on someone who is too humble to ever write it themselves.
Two years ago our dear friend + former partner
@adeolonoh
decided to transition to poker full time.
Yesterday, he placed 13th in the largest World Poker Tour Championship ever out of 3,850 players.