Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
It seems like it’s unfashionable these days for investors to worry about startup valuations. In my opinion, that kind of thinking is likely to lead to disaster for both investors and startups. Far too many people make the mistake of focusing on relative valuation. “This deal is a bargain in comparison to the other deals … Continue reading The reasonable startup valuation formula
Paul Graham has a great essay out in which he explains his view of both Y Combinator and the startup ecosystem. As usual, it’s a thoughtful essay with a lot of great points. But what I’d like to focus on are the numbers he provided on YC’s portfolio: http://bit.ly/13kaUV5 “Y Combinator has now funded 564 … Continue reading Y Combinator’s Startup Math
Continuing my Sunday afternoon Buffettology, I want to highlight one of Warren Buffett’s key principles, “The Circle of Competence”. http://bit.ly/19LxN7p What Buffett means is that the size of the circle and the area it encloses is less important to success than understanding the clear boundaries of that circle. As long as you know the area … Continue reading Warren Buffett and the Circle of Competence
Warren Buffett’s biography, “The Snowball“, is a remarkable book that covers both his incredible career as an investor and businessman, as well as the details of his unusual personal life. Buffett gave his biographer Alice Schroeder full access, with the proviso that she not be afraid to be hard on him. Her portrait of Buffett … Continue reading Warren Buffett’s Secret of Success
Imposter Syndrome is rampant in the startup world, even when people don’t seek out the hype. We love to elevate people to rockstar status, even if they don’t want it. In my own, modestly-successful life, my attempts to explain how little influence I have are generally taken as humblebrag attempts, rather than as an honest … Continue reading To Eliminate Insecurity, Don’t Pretend To Be Something You’re Not
This week, I was with Jeff Tannenbaum at Manu Kumar’s recent K9 Ventures shindig. Manu is an awesome investor, brilliant guy, and all-around nice person. Hard to say why he invited Jeff and I to his party, but hey, when do I say no to free food? During the event, Manu had his entrepreneurs (and … Continue reading How to hold better startup demo days
I am a well-known valuation hawk. That is, I have often gone on the record as saying that investors should care about the valuation they pay when they invest in startups, and that valuations are too high. This doesn’t make me popular in many circles, but I care more about speaking what I think is … Continue reading Valuation is the universal lever for mitigating startup investment risk
When you’re startup is fortunate to have paying customers, it’s very tempting to evolve your product based on the feedback you receive from them. After all, isn’t that the best practice–to iterate based on customer feedback? The problem is, if you base what you do solely on the feedback that comes in from customers, you’re … Continue reading Design for your best customers, not your worst ones
I once worked with a very successful entrepreneur. He had founded a company, taken it public, and made him and his shareholders hundreds of millions of dollars (the total wealth created was over a billion, but I don’t think any one entity ended up making 10 figures). He told me once about how his engineering … Continue reading Almost any idea (yes, including yours) can be improved by collaboration
Communication is critical when you’re a startup. Things usually begin well; the founders are old friends or colleagues, and already know how to work together. Eventually, however, you reach a point where you’ve expanded the team, and need the ability to get people on the same page. In my experience, the same passion and determination … Continue reading Are You Really Listening, Or Just Taking Turns?