Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
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
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
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
In his enormously entertaining and insightful interview on the Kevin Pollak Chat Show, director and actor Eli Roth (Hostel, Inglourious Basterds, Hemlock Grove) made an important point about the movie business, and why it was hard to work with many studios: “People don’t make movies they think will be successful; they make movies they think … Continue reading Make things you think will be successful, not things you think won’t fail
Another lesson from the great Kevin Pollak. One of the points he makes about acting is that many novices make the mistake of playing to the crew. When you’re on the set of a movie, there is no studio audience. The closest thing are the members of the crew–all the gaffers, grips, and best boys … Continue reading Don’t play to the crew, play to the audience
I often draw lessons for startups from the world of entertainment. In one episode of my favorite entertainment podcase, the Kevin Pollak Chat Show, Kevin discussed why he thought it was so important to nail the first joke of a movie. Kevin’s point was that the first joke has to let the audience know that … Continue reading Why product first impressions are important:
I loved the points that Kat Gordon made in her recent guest post on Inc.com: http://bit.ly/15vVKYE “1). Women are amassing wealth, influencing spending, and driving tech usage at rates well beyond men. By 2030, women will control two-thirds of the nation’s wealth. 2). Founders are most likely passionate about something that meets a need or … Continue reading Smart Investors Should Seek Out Female Founders
The underappreciated engine behind the startup boom is the reduction in startup costs…but not for the reason people think. Most people believe that the lower costs of starting a company (thank you, Amazon Web Services!) have resulted in a startup boom because it has allowed more people to start Web companies. This is true. Many … Continue reading Why, mathematically, startups make more sense than ever today
Consider the cockroach: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach The cockroach has been around for over 300 million years, and has outlasted countless other species. It’s secret? It’s nearly impossible to kill: “Cockroaches are among the hardiest insects. Some species are capable of remaining active for a month without food and are able to survive on limited resources, such as … Continue reading Are you a cockroach or a sabretooth?
In response to my blog post on Cutting The Bullshit, the good folks at Storygami pointed me to a blog post they had written about their approach to applying for TechStars: http://bit.ly/11ezW2x The Storygami team addresses the probable objections head-on, including one objection that is typically a deal-killer: Two Of Our Founders Are A Couple … Continue reading Address objections, don’t hide from them