US investors seem to be closed for business. I am syndicating a seed deal with $8.8M revenue, generated from $1.1M raised, doubling every year, and no one wants to hear about it. What happened to be greedy when others are fearful?
@kevinleeme
I’ve seen this over and over with my highest achieving friends. The advice I give from my past experience and seeing others, is don’t date your checklist. Love is a feeling that can’t be found from a checklist of traits. It can only be found by how you feel. This is a hard thing
Honest question:
If you know you are going to pass down money why would you wait until you die? Wouldn't it make more sense to have the next-gen put that money to work building businesses when they are young?
The time for music NFTs is NOW.
I'm excited to share
@_Supermassiv
. The first digital collectibles marketplace for limited-edition MUSIC collections featuring exclusive, unreleased music & collector's edition merch. FROM ARTISTS DIRECTLY TO MUSIC FANS.
Why now?
@ZeroBasis
You must have an outdated view of video games. Games today are similar to sports. You play with people and teams. There is complex strategy as well as skills required to play. Skills can include building, coding, etc. The only difference is that they aren’t physical.
I am going to get absolutely roasted by tech Twitter for this, but here we go.
The Bay area remains the undisputed leader in tech value creation.
After 10 years in the Bay, here is my theory.
It is NOT because of the talent or the access to capital.
IT'S THE CULTURE.
Here
Social media has broken the Hollywood thesis that production quality = great content.
No, great content = great content. Production quality and graphics can't save you.
The 2 skills I want to master in 2024.
1. Storytelling
2. Sales
Great storytellers rule the world
&
everyone has to sell whether you like it or not!
Anyone have book or course recommendations for mastering these skills?
After 2 years of writing, my friend
@maccaw
is releasing a book to guide other founders and CEOs. If you are building a startup, it's a must-read.
The Manager's Handbook: The practical guide to becoming a great manager.
Congrats
@maccaw
!
The best startup advice we have received in our early journey thus far was not from VCs, advisors, or fellow founders.
It was from a User Researcher at a big tech co.
- How to do user research
- How to find users to research
@emilmichael
@DoorDash
Focused execution likely played a part. In my last year at Uber Eats, we were in a constant battle with the rides teams to try to get initiatives through. Ex. They wouldn't let Eats launch a subscription unless it included Uber rides.
The last cycle trained entrepreneurs to lie, steal, and cheat.
Honest founders weren't getting funded in the same way as the founders willing to lie to investors, fake metrics, and buy growth.
We need to rebuild investor/founder relationships.
From $0 → $1B
My story at Uber Eats.
In 2016, I was hired at Uber to grow Uber Eats.
Eats was an experiment that started with a simple (and kind of funny) thesis.
Uber has all these cars on the road with excess capacity (aka trunks). When things are slow, could we help
The days of tech startups not believing in Marketing are long gone. The marketing-focused recruiting firms have 6-month long waitlists for new clients.
Boy things have changed from 2021.
I’m at a VC talk about fundraising and they are now looking for “positive contribution margins” and “path to profitability”…
Hollywood is sexy, but is it a good business? I sat down with the producer of several of today's hottest shows. A quick thread on the business of film and TV. 🧵
I think we are about to see a lot more fraud in startups and venture. It used to be a game played by insiders built on trust. Now that it’s expanding so quickly, there are very little checks and balances in place.
@micsolana
SV is filled with people who come there to solve hard problems.
I joined Uber in 2016 bc it was a hard business to scale & I heard the culture was filled with tough ppl. 🤷♀️
On the next house I’m building, I’m thinking about designing something like this. I’ve done white concrete before, I just haven’t seen it done in a kitchen. Whatcha think? Risky?
I’ll be live tweeting my fundraise from the Burning Man disaster.
I’m stuck here with the top VCs and they have nothing to do but hear my pitch.
We found a lead in an RV on 9:30&A and are already 2/3rds through the round on our way back to camp in the rain.
I just went through a fundraising round and pitched VCs in SF and LA. My anecdotal observation:
SF funds heavily weighted the team. LA funds mainly evaluated the idea.
I’m biased, but I tend to agree with the SF investor strategy.
When you work at a big company you will spend a lot of your time doing things that appear to matter.
When you start a company, you can ONLY do things that matter and it's up to you to figure out exactly what those things are.
Founder talking to me at an event:
“I get the sense that you are an honest person. If you are pitching VCs, that’s not going to do you any favors.”
Gulp
I still meet families that think they are giving their kids an advantage by not allowing them to play video games.
Meanwhile, the kids in video games are building cities, designing games, running unions, managing resources, learning to code...
@araghougassian
This is true for most developed countries including Europe and Canada. There is lower risk appetite and failure has a social stigma. There is likely a mix of variables, but culture is certainly one of them.
There is optimism that the 56,000 big tech layoffs will lead to a surge in new startups, but...
1. Are these the type of folks that would start companies?
2. Would (currently uncertain) investors fund these new founders?
If your brand hires a Gen Z social media lead but you require a Boomer to review and approve the content to make sure it appeals to your Gen Z audience, you are missing the point.
Startup bro on the phone beside me at WeWork:
“We just hustle harder. We want it more. I wouldn’t want to work with our competition instead of us if I were you.”
Spent the afternoon w/ 6 founder friends & got some impromptu "founder therapy". I shared my business struggles & we jammed through solutions. Time very well spent.
I remember when I interviewed for a big tech co and they asked me "what are some of the best brand names in the world?" I said "Zamboni" and they looked at me like I was crazy.
Show me one person who does not call the ice rink smoother a Zamboni!
Game developers have to be rolling their eyes with all this talk of the newfound "metaverse." Connected, virtual worlds with standalone economies have existed in games for decades.
If you can avoid traveling right now, definitely do. It just took me 30 hours and 3 stops for what is normally a 5 hour flight from Montana back to LA.
The top 3 marketing channels from a SaaS founder targeting traditional industries.
In no particular order.
1. LinkedIn influencers
2. Partner/channel programs
3. Cold email but personalized using AI
No paid ads.
Calling all CFOs, Controllers, and Directors of Finance at mid-sized companies for user interviews.
- 30 min session
- Evaluate solutions and provide feedback
- Compensated w/ gift card
Easy peasy.
DM me if this is you.
@geri_kirilova
This seems like a good filtering mechanism. You send the feedback, you get an answer like this and now you know you don't have to keep watching that company.
It takes an extraordinary level of focus and determination to build a company from scratch. I admit that it makes my day when I get investor updates and get to watch founders execute day after day, month after month, year after year.
Most startup advice isn't useful.
Oversimplified platitudes that lack nuance and context.
Except,
do things that don't scale.
That's a non-negotiable in the early days.