Nikhil Basu Trivedi
@nbt
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Co-Founder & General Partner at Footwork (@footworkvc)
San Francisco Bay Area
Joined March 2009
Just came across the most absurd education history of all time on LinkedIn.
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We are in the midst of 4 crises:.-Pandemic.-Unemployment.-Racial injustice.-Climate. But beneath the surface is a 5th crisis, exacerbated by the above 4:. Mental health.
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That was the worst speech I've heard in my life by the leader of a free nation. Every time I tweet about something non-tech, I lose followers. So go ahead, unfollow me if you wish. Because I won't stay silent about systemic racism, police brutality, and despicable leadership.
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A female engineer at a big tech company, who I am close to, just found out she’s being paid at least $50K less in base salary than a male colleague at the same level. How should she navigate fixing this? Would love your advice, as this seems blatantly unfair.
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I plan to write a few essays on trends in the venture capital industry. First up -. A new set of players has emerged in the fundraising landscape, distinct from angels, super angels, and venture capital firms:. The Solo Capitalists.
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On one side of the VC industry are the agglomerator firms. They invest at every stage and in every sector. On the other are the specialist firms, either by sector, or by stage, or both. The industry has bifurcated. I offer 10 implications for its future:.
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I asked 50 of the best thinkers in technology to finish the sentence: . “The next big thing in 2021 is…”. Here's how they responded:.
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1/ i've been in venture capital for a decade now, and i've benefitted tremendously from others who've shared their insights and thoughts through blogs and tweets. to start to give back, i'm launching a new blog where i'll share weekly(ish) essays.
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The next big thing in 2023 will be. -in areas like AI and healthcare.-tough times with resets for companies and for VC .-a focus on reality and fundamentals.and more. 50+ incredible entrepreneurs, investors, and technology thinkers share their ideas:
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Almost every VC’s background:.-Parents who are immigrants and/or entrepreneurial.-Attended Ivy/Stanford/MIT.-Worked in big tech/finance/startup.-Got to know founders and future founders along the way, helped/angel invested in them.-Accidentally fell into the VC industry.
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I spoke in a @Stanford class yesterday about subscription businesses. In Q&A, was asked "What's the metric you care the most about?". My answer: "Retention.". CAC, payback, LTV rise and fall. But the core of a highly retentive, engaged service, that people love using = special.
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I asked 50 of the top thinkers in tech to finish the sentence: . "The next big thing in 2022 is. ". Though web3 and crypto are popular themes, there is a long tail of interesting and nuanced ideas for what the year ahead has in store.
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Four main thoughts as we wrap another of the craziest days in memory (03.10.23):. 1) If, by Monday, there is no announcement that all SVB deposits are safe and will be recoverable, next week will be catastrophic for the global economy. All bank accounts above the FDIC-insured.
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5 main thoughts as we wrap another crazy day (03.11.23, which happens to be my birthday):. 1) It's important that we all learn from what happened on Thursday. Panic began to spread in the morning, and there was a run on the 16th largest bank in the U.S. Many people and companies'.
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I’m back in San Francisco after a two month sabbatical. Very grateful for the chance to travel, unplug, relax, read, and learn more about myself and the world. It’s hard to capture in words (and emojis 😉), but here’s a stab at 10 personal reflections from this time away👇🏾.
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@jackiehluo 2835/ humbled, thrilled, and proud to have invested early in Instagram. Kevin and team are incredible! . [insert photo of VC with founders here].
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If you broke down and cried this evening, you’re not alone.
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So damn lucky to be on @canva's journey since 2014. Just an astonishing company. Milestones today:.-valued at $40B.-close to $1B in ARR.-30% of the equity (i.e. $12B today) pledged by founders @MelanieCanva & @cliffobrecht to do good in the world. 🤯🙏🏽
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Fascinating to see more bipartisan condemnation of Robinhood than of the Insurrection.
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Reflecting on 2023 as I write my traditional year-end blog post with thoughts on the next big thing in 2024. This was the year when I think I finally internalized the Power Law of Venture Capital (embarrassingly, 12+ years into my VC career), because of the scale of some of my.
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Post-YC Office Space.The @footworkvc office is a few blocks away from @ycombinator HQ in San Francisco. With demo day next week for the F24 batch, we thought some founders who are planning to stay in the city post-YC could benefit from using our office. So we're opening up an
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Fourth and final essay in a mini-series on venture capital. This one's on the flowchart I think about daily. My hope is that it helps founders and aspiring venture capitalists better understand the profession. Find.Decide.Win.Help.Exit.🔁.
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Third essay in the series on venture capital. The last two, on solo capitalists and agglomerators vs. specialists, touch on key aspects of the current ecosystem. This is about the future, and an important concept that will drive it:. Founder-Investor Fit.
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amazing 15 year run for the world's best dad.
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The technology world used to clearly segment businesses by consumer or enterprise. But those lines have been blurring for quite some time. The most interesting companies in the world fit neither bucket. They are both.
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Atlanta. Detroit. Milwaukee. Phoenix. Pittsburgh. Philadelphia. Tucson. We see you. Fire him.
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I'm excited to announce recents investments I've made through a new medium:. Screenshot memos!. Here's the first one, about my investment in @canva's latest round. Delighted to double down on backing @MelanieCanva, @cliffobrecht and team, after first investing in 2014.
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50% drop in CAC in April vs. March at one of my portfolio companies. For consumer businesses that offer "must have" products, regardless of the economic environment, and that can fulfill demand even given covid-19, this may be a once-in-a-decade time to acquire new customers.
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the somehow not-yet-written VC story about @ring is that the Series A board member was in his 20s when he made the investment. youngest Series A board member of a $1B+ exit? @adaugelli @trueventures 🙌🏽👏🏽
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Twitter could be a 2X larger company if its search improved. It’s a personalized treasure trove of knowledge and information, yet so hard to comb through.
I wish I could search every tweet I've fav'd + the contents of any links in those tweets. As a crappy hack, I find myself emailing myself tweets so they get indexed in Gmail. Anyone have a good solution?.
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5 main thoughts as we wrap one of the craziest days in memory:. 1) SVB has been a fantastic partner to many of us for decades. We were able to chat with them multiple times today, quickly, at multiple levels, in multiple parts of the bank, which shows their commitment to customer.
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I’m an early investor in a collective consumer subscription portfolio that has grown from 0 to over $1 billion in annual subscription revenue in the past 6 years. Here are 10 factors to evaluate consumer subscription businesses as a builder or investor:.
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A few stats on @canva:.-55 million monthly active users.-3 million paying customers.-$500 million in revenue projected in 2021.-130% year-over-year growth.-Profitable.-Company valued at $15 billion in new $71 million round. 👊🏽👊🏽 @MelanieCanva @cliffobrecht.
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After sitting down with a few people to explain why I'm so appalled by the terrorist attack on Israel, they listened, understood, and cared about the graveness and uniqueness of this situation. But, until then, they'd read the news and thought this was just another escalation of.
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For the 5th year in a row, here are 50 awesome thinkers weighing in on what they believe The next big thing in 2025 will be.
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One of the most powerful trends in the U.S. economy, and perhaps the most important when we'll look back at 2020, is the consumerization of healthcare. This week's 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜:
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Actually, @Google, the search result list for "grand slam leaders tennis" should start with:. Margaret Court - 24.@serenawilliams - 23.Steffi Graf - 22 . Because that's what I was searching for. 🎾
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One of the greatest privileges of being a VC is seeing some of the grittiest and most determined people in the world - entrepreneurs - in action. Inspired by this every day.
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First essay, published today, in a three-part series on consumer subscriptions. I'll cover learnings from investing in both digital and physical subscription businesses. This one introduces the category and why I believe we haven't hit peak subscription.
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Shattered by the passing of my grandmother, “Tima,” who was more active at 87 than most people at 57 (she published two new books in 2018 with another due in a month!). The best human being I’ve ever known. ♥️.
Author-professor #AparnaBasu, who chaired the National Gandhi Museum, passes away.
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Pop Quiz. Name the operator who has been core to the success of all the following companies:.@Google .@Facebook .@Square .@DoorDash . Not to mention on the boards of @Pinterest, @TheTradeDesk, @coinbase, @CourseHero, @RetailMeNot . 🤯.
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The good news is there’s now a book to recommend when asked about what it’s like to be a VC. The bad news is you have to read a bit about me, as well as, you know, @johndoerr.
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What did $1B+ companies look like at the Series A? @todfrancis and i found 5 key traits in our research @shasta
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New goal: . To fund the next Peloton and have the founder speak about me the way John Foley does about Lee Fixel 👏🏽👏🏽. 🔥 piece by @alexrkonrad
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Thank you to the boards of FDIC and Federal Reserve, the President, and Secretary Yellen.
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Moved to 🇺🇸 17 years ago. I hope current and future generations of immigrants can summarize their feelings towards this country with the same one word:. Gratitude.
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Just over a decade into the @canva journey. 185 million monthly active users. $2.3B in annual revenue. Bonkers. 👏 @MelanieCanva @cliffobrecht @themaninblue . Increasingly focused on redesigning work, and the enterprise. More from @alexrkonrad here on #CanvaCreate
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We gathered Footwork's founders and LPs yesterday for an afternoon of off-the-record conversations, featuring 4 founders who are at different stages in their journeys, including one who is CEO of the third largest company in the world. It was very special. Reflections to come.
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@jaltma One of the most imbalanced power dynamics is that between founders and the earliest employees. Early employees take on similar risks to founders but with a tiny fraction of the upside. I've always felt this should change; perhaps it'll be the first place you see this shift.
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I've said it twice this week and I'll say it again: .Founders raising VC, when in doubt, go out asking for less $$. Let investors walk you up to a larger $$ raise if they are excited. Do this to maximize the chance of options.
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The most surprising part about WebSummit imploding is how many people I know and respect who were planning to attend it in the first place.
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Today's essay on "next big thing" is about Business-in-a-Box (BiaB) Platforms, such as @Shopify and @SubstackInc, and the key decision they face:. Remain a Platform, or become an Aggregator? .
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A summary of the venture capital industry in 2021: @sequoia, @benchmark, and everyone else.
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Tweeting this for myself, to make sure I don’t forget the memories. Rivals, Friends, Teammates, Heroes. 🐐🐐🐐
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The line between “consumer” and “enterprise” tech company has been blurring for a long time. But Zoom’s growth from 10M to 200M DAUs in 3 months is the watershed moment that should make the distinction obsolete. It’s arguably more of a consumer company now. Remarkable.
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Reminder that this year will have the least extreme weather of the rest of our lifetimes.
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What a year so far for @imperfect_foods. Weekly orders up 2X since Jan and AOV up 2X y-o-y. And now a $72M Series C round. Delighted to have invested in every round since the seed, and to have a 3rd collaboration with my former firm, @insightpartners 🙂.
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"Life is beautiful but alas too short. I realize that life is so precious that everyday lived is a gift, and one should learn to make the most of every moment.". It's been 2 years since my grandma passed. But her words, our memories, & ♥️ for her live on.
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Today, we @shasta finally get to publicly talk about our investment in @Imperfectfruit. 🥑🍍🍉🍎🍏🍒 founded in 2015.👨👩👧👦 200,000+ subscribers.🌃 available in 22 cities.🙋🙋♂️1,000 living wage jobs.💰 $47 million in funding.
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Here's a follow-up to my essay that coined "solo capitalists.". What I didn't dive into in the first piece were the tradeoffs of being in a partnership vs. being solo. I believe the best partnerships can win in the long run, but the bar has been raised.
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Proud that almost 50% of the companies I’ve backed over 11 years in venture have a female founder, many of which as the CEO. I hope that % goes up over time, and that @footworkvc we partner with several that become the next @MelanieCanva & @canva. 🙏🏽🙌🏽
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Back to writing with a post about the current venture fundraising environment. Founders are going out to raise a new round, and within days have multiple offers. What's driving this speed? What are the benefits of fast fundraises? And what are the costs?
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Which angel investors are particularly interested in mental health? Would love to try to include you in an investment that’s brewing.
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Midas List 2020 Firm Scorecard. Firm: # of investors on list (cutoff >= 3). @sequoia: 11.@a16z: 6.@Accel: 5.@IndexVentures: 4.@benchmark: 3.DST Global: 3.@firstround: 3.@GGVCapital: 3.@kleinerperkins: 3.@lightspeedvp: 3. congrats to all involved!.@Forbes @alexrkonrad #MidasList.
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Good morning in the U.S. to all the Indians, and everyone caught up in the OpenAI saga.
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@patrick_oshag STX (@Stacks @StacksOrg @muneeb). Why? Stacking. Stacking is locking your STX temporarily to support the Stacks blockchain's security and consensus mechanism. As a reward, you earn Bitcoin that miners transfer to you as part of Proof of Transfer mining. 21.4% APY last cycle!.
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“Nikhil, you must teach me about something: what is this bitcoin? All my friends are trying to understand it and I have told them you will be able to explain it to all of us now that you’re in town.”. -my 86-year-old grandmother, over breakfast just now in India.
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@dhaber Dreaming the dream for private mergers that could lead to (fastest) $1 trillion public companies:. @Chime & @RobinhoodApp = THE financial services co.@EpicGames & @Roblox = THE metaverse.@canva & @figma = THE creation/collab platform.@BytedanceTalk & @discord = THE network.
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Founders and investors that are paying attention to what employees want will win in today’s startup battleground. A few thoughts on why the right valuation and dilution matter to employees, and how that aligns with the interests of some VCs:.
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Something very special continuing to brew over at @RoamResearch. I live in Roam now - the first tab in my browser and the first place I go every day.
2.75M ARR.Over 40% Month over Month rev growth. Still no marketing.No native onboarding.No real desktop app.No mobile app. Early adopter market for @RoamResearch might be bigger than even I predicted.
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Some of the eCommerce businesses I've invested in are going to beat 2020 revenue plan by more than 100%. Not sure we'll see a spending shift like this ever again. 🤯.
This chart gets me every time: Internet shopping has grown more in the past 12 weeks than it did during the last decade
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