Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
Since my name has been mentioned in the news in recent days as one of the new investors in Singapore-based Next Gen Foods, I wanted to tell the story of how and why I invested. These days, most of my investing takes place via Blitzscaling Ventures, which has a laser-focused approach of investing in the … Continue reading Personal Investment: Next Gen Foods
Watching the WallStreetBets/GameStop saga unfold is like watching a movie like “Lone Survivor” where you already know that the characters are doomed to a tragic death, you just don’t know how it’s going to happen. In many ways, it is all-too apt exclamation point for an era where so many have decided that truth is … Continue reading WallStreetBets, GameStop & devil take the hindmost
Fast Company put out a fantastic package of stories covering the role of race in Silicon Valley. The centerpiece is a deservedly glowing profile of Tristan Walker, but my favorite was an interview with a group of African American startup folks titled “An Honest Discussion of Race in Silicon Valley.” One thing that I failed … Continue reading Risk and Race: A Modest Proposal To Encourage Investing In Minority Entrepreneurs
From Peter Thiel’s recent Reddit AMA: “As an investor, I think one must always maintain a certain amount of humility. There is only so much we can do to help the companies in which we invest. And because of this, the act of making the investment (rather than the ability to fix things later) remains … Continue reading The Value of Investors: Why I Focus On Helping Entrepreneurs
One of the popular expressions used by investors is “How much hair is on the deal?” A hairy deal includes messy complications, like a product that hasn’t yet found a market, or inexperienced founders. Some investors shy away from hairy deals. I, on the other hand, have decided to ply my trade as a startup … Continue reading Life as a Startup Barber
Today, I saw a post on the future of venture capital–a very popular parlor game in the Valley–which focused on how the rapidly declining cost of starting a company had rendered the traditional VC model invalid: http://bit.ly/18lSFMa “The dramatic drop in the cost of creating a company over the last decade ($2 million in the … Continue reading The Future of Venture Capital…is Venture Capital
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
I continue to get great insights out of the life of Warren Buffett. One of Buffett’s famous principles is the story of Mr. Market. Here’s an excerpt from his 1987 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter: http://bit.ly/11jHDaG “Without fail, Mr. Market appears daily and names a price at which he will either buy your interest or sell … Continue reading Don’t “manage earnings.” Instead, “build value.”
Nearly two years ago, I asked the question, “Did Peter Thiel Make The Single Best Investment In History?“ Today, now that Thiel has sold most of his remaining stake in Facebook, it’s a good time to re-examine the math surrounding his investment. Two years ago, I wrote: In 2005, Peter Thiel paid $500,000 for a … Continue reading Facebook, Part Deux
“He told us he was going to fund us,” shouts the happy entrepreneur into my ear. I’m sure he dialed me as soon as he got into the car. “He’s not going to fund you,” I say calmly, “The VCs always say that. It doesn’t mean anything.” A lot of entrepreneurs have a hard time … Continue reading How Do You Know A VC Is Interested?