Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
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 read with some interest the news that Michael Copeland was leaving Wired to join Andreesen Horowitz to lead that firm’s “content strategy.” http://tcrn.ch/19u4LWj It makes perfect sense that Andreesen Horowitz would make this move. Not only has a16z flourished by departing from the traditional VC model (hiring tons of non-investing staff to add value … Continue reading Is Writing Now A Core Focus For Top Tier VCs?
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
My fellow denizens of Silicon Valley are fond of referring to our happy little ecosystem as the ultimate meritocracy. It’s definitely true that in comparison to the rigid and/or corrupt regimes that prevail in other industries and geographies, Silicon Valley is a meritocracy, but it is far from perfect. I often joke with the female/minority/over-30 … Continue reading Silicon Valley: The “Ultimate Meritocracy”
I have an inordinate fondness for outdated references. Just one of the pleasures of getting old! Yet while the famous bestseller, “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” was a cringe-inducing self-help book, it did touch upon a theme of gender differences that later, better writers tackled. More recently, I read the fascinating book, … Continue reading Entrepreneurs are from Mars, VCs are from Venus
Like many investors, I was entertained by Andy Dunn’s recent rant, “Dear Dumb VC” http://bit.ly/12bW9UY His essay lays out his criticism of VCs by citing the following facts: * You don’t realize you are going out of business * You think you can help entrepreneurs * You spend a ton of an entrepreneur’s time before … Continue reading Dear Entrepreneur
I’ve really been enjoying the pitch videos that BetaBeat has made available as part of its “The Pitch” webisodes. From what I can tell, “The Pitch” applies the classic webisode model (short I just watched a video that showed the founders of Silver Living, a super-Yelp for retirement homes, pitch to Steve Schlafman of Lerer … Continue reading BetaBeat’s “The Pitch” web series is smart marketing that should cloned for Silicon Valley
One of the key things I encourage every entrepreneur to do is to develop a healthy sense of humility. Many entrepreneurs (especially those of the brash, young, cocky variety) drip with self-confidence. That’s a good thing. You need some irrational confidence to pursue a profession with a 99% failure rate in which you take on … Continue reading Reading a lesson doesn’t mean you’ve learned it
The always insightful Mark Suster recently tackled the subject of acquihires–the practice of large companies buying small startups simply to acquire their people. Mark lays out an excellent argument for why the acquiring companies are actually losing out when they make acquihires: http://bit.ly/10Cn0WP “You have been at Google, Salesforce.com, Yahoo! for years. You have worked … Continue reading Why I hate acquihires (unless I’m doing the selling)
I was chatting with my friend Ramit Sethi (or as I like to call him in front of the ladies, “New York Times Bestselling Author and Millionaire Ramit Sethi”) when I realized something: A lot of men in Silicon Valley (and on Hacker News and Reddit) understand how to pitch VCs and angel investors. It … Continue reading How To Date Like An Entrepreneur