And My Ask Of Investors In These Companies It’s frustrating if you’re a customer of an expense report SaaS startup and the company goes out of business, but it’s potentially devastating if your tel… | Continue reading
You’re Not Yet Google, So Don’t Blindly Mimic Their Processes Google’s internal management approach has sustained and scaled pretty impressively over the years. Quantitative goal-setting, setting s… | Continue reading
Why Startup Ecosystems Need More Than Just VC Funding Hi. I read your [Tweet, Medium Post, WSJ OpEd] about leaving the Bay Area for [Texas, Florida, Seasteading]. I totally understand. Even though … | Continue reading
And Four Ways For You To Reclaim Your Time You want to see the real answer to what you value? Look at your calendar, because how you spend your time is the truest representation of what you care ab… | Continue reading
[I originally published this on Medium pre-IPO, so the tense is outdated, but I think the framework holds] Using a Weighted Scorecard Instead of Just “Did It Pop or Not?” Every big tech IPO results… | Continue reading
You’ve heard the expression “All sizzle, no steak?” Or the Texan equivalent of “All hat, no cattle?” [sidenote: it’s weird that cows feature prominently in both of these]. Basically these sayings a… | Continue reading
You’ve heard the expression “All sizzle, no steak?” Or the Texan equivalent of “All hat, no cattle?” [sidenote: it’s weird that cows feature prominently in both of these]. Basically these sayings a… | Continue reading
After managing large teams across Google for many years, and now, as an investor, having the chance to observe dozens of highly effective startups, I’ve seen there is one major difference… | Continue reading
After managing large teams across Google for many years, and now, as an investor, having the chance to observe dozens of highly effective startups, I’ve seen there is one major difference… | Continue reading
Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash A number of reporters and columnists these days are “going indie,” detaching from their previous employer and signing up with a site like Substack, Patreon or Me… | Continue reading
Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash A number of reporters and columnists these days are “going indie,” detaching from their previous employer and signing up with a site like Substack, Patreon or Me… | Continue reading
The above tweet seemed to resonate with folks, and sometimes when that happens, I like to expand in a post, since the tweet willdisappear in 30 days. Ok, let’s talk about working in tech and feelin… | Continue reading
The above tweet seemed to resonate with folks, and sometimes when that happens, I like to expand in a post, since the tweet willdisappear in 30 days. Ok, let’s talk about working in tech and feelin… | Continue reading
tldr: instead of choosing between in-person or remote, your seed stage company (or team) should be more hybrid, tied to the type/phase of project going on. With in-person being used during periods … | Continue reading
tldr: instead of choosing between in-person or remote, your seed stage company (or team) should be more hybrid, tied to the type/phase of project going on. With in-person being used during periods … | Continue reading
So I recently re-shared a 2019 blog post where I’d basically advised founders who’ve raised seed capital to worry less about “how will I raise the next round” and more about “how will I e… | Continue reading
So I recently re-shared a 2019 blog post where I’d basically advised founders who’ve raised seed capital to worry less about “how will I raise the next round” and more about “how will I e… | Continue reading
Something happens on Twitter after you’ve gathered enough followers to become at least a “semi-public figure” and I don’t think it’s healthy. Expanding outside your immediate social circle of IRL f… | Continue reading
Something happens on Twitter after you’ve gathered enough followers to become at least a “semi-public figure” and I don’t think it’s healthy. Expanding outside your immediate social circle of IRL f… | Continue reading
Looking at my 26-day-old Tweet, it feels certain I was going to write *something* about Coinbase’s culture memo. Now in late October, we’re far enough removed to see initial reactions have play out… | Continue reading
Looking at my 26-day-old Tweet, it feels certain I was going to write *something* about Coinbase’s culture memo. Now in late October, we’re far enough removed to see initial reactions have play out… | Continue reading
Disclaimer: I’ve never been hired by a venture firm. Ok, now that’s out of the way, here’s the advice I give folks who have 2–3 years of work experience and are looking to get an entry-level role a… | Continue reading
Disclaimer: I’ve never been hired by a venture firm. Ok, now that’s out of the way, here’s the advice I give folks who have 2–3 years of work experience and are looking to get an entry-level role a… | Continue reading
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash Watching a half dozen French Resistance soldiers standing around debating whether Taco Bell is “authentic” teaches you some things. First, that most people have n… | Continue reading
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash Watching a half dozen French Resistance soldiers standing around debating whether Taco Bell is “authentic” teaches you some things. First, that most people have n… | Continue reading
As an early stage investor I look at A LOT of pitch decks. In the seven years since we started Homebrew there has been some evolution in this area – Docsend, videos, the occasional memo ̵… | Continue reading
Once is a coincidence, twice is a trend? Increasingly I’m hearing about talented folks and sought after startups ditching the interview process as final arbiter of employment and instead opti… | Continue reading
April 26th, 2013 was the day we closed Homebrew’s initial fund and we consider it our ‘birthday.’ The firm’s why and how were previous blog post topics and I won’t reh… | Continue reading
Linkblogging is definitely allowed in a pandemic. Here are some words I believe are worth your attention. Planet Money Ep 991 – Lives vs The Economy How do you value a human life? Planet Mone… | Continue reading
I’ve mostly resisted the online tech conversations around “COVID will change [X] forever,” although I do especially love the ones which are basically tells for the individual̵… | Continue reading
Our friendship began as many do – in a bar a few days after I’d been told that Lenny (a) just left airbnb and (b) was smart. Upon receiving the tip I clicked over to his Twitter profile… | Continue reading
Earlier this month I finally reconciled a conflict that challenged me since COVID really crashed our shores in early March. Basically that it’s ok to both feel fortunate that we’re stay… | Continue reading
Kia Kokalitcheva is a San Francisco-based technology and business reporter at Axios. She covers tech, Silicon Valley, and venture capital. We’ve known each other for a while – she was p… | Continue reading
[with a post like this, i’m not 100% sure i got it right in first publish – i don’t draft and i don’t circulate for feedback – so if anything is incomplete or unclear,… | Continue reading
[with a post like this, i’m not 100% sure i got it right in first publish – i don’t draft and i don’t circulate for feedback – so if anything is incomplete or unclear,… | Continue reading
We opened our own public library this week. On our lawn. It’s modest in size but made us part of a worldwide network called Little Free Libraries. Books have played a huge role in my life … | Continue reading
Unicorn hunting is hard! As Aileen Lee’s recent blog post suggested, there are only a few dozen billion dollar+ companies created each decade. If you’re a large venture fund, you need t… | Continue reading
2019 didn’t herald any major innovations in how early startup employees receive equity. Which is a shame since, on the margins, the most talented hires deserve more of it. On the positive fro… | Continue reading
For all of my 20s and much of my 30s there was a failure tiger nipping at my heels. No matter how fast I ran, it was still there – hot breath, sharp teeth and a whispered growl promising a bl… | Continue reading
“Hey Satya, should I write a post about the most influential VCs of the decade?” “Sure, expect a lot of opinions :)” Photo by Vitto Sommella on Unsplash We’re just a f… | Continue reading
“Hey, I want to pick your brain about a new opportunity I’m considering. Can you grab a coffee next week?” My recoil when receiving these emails isn’t because I don’t … | Continue reading
Pushing this into a blog post because my tweets are on rolling 30 day autodelete :) And since a “blog post” should have some value-add over just pictures of tweets: Ex-MSFT exec Steven … | Continue reading
There was a time when far less written about – or by – venture capitalists. But I seem to recall “we won’t invest in two competing companies” was an oft-stated princip… | Continue reading
There’s an expression in venture capital called “returning the fund.” It simply means that an outcome in the fund (out of say 20-30 investments in that specific fund) makes enough… | Continue reading
One of the interesting things about getting into venture via your own fund versus coming up through a larger firm is that when “this is always the way it’s been done” comes up as … | Continue reading
God bless Gené Teare for now I have something which explains what I do all day in a format my parents can grok. As part of Seed Series for Crunchbase News, Gené wrote up an extended interview with … | Continue reading
In my 6+ years of Homebrew, I’ve become a student of VC social media. For the first time, I pull back the cover and share this with you, putting myself at risk by breaking the venture omerta.… | Continue reading
Coffee brings me joy. I’m not overly precious about it – if Starbucks is the best available choice so be it – but living in a great coffee city like San Francisco, I don’t s… | Continue reading