My favorite links goes multimedia this time with two podcasts, among the other articles. Jelly Roll: The Popcast (Deluxe) Interview [Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli/New York Times] – The guy with the face tattoos from the Super Bowl Uber Eats commercial. I’d known he was also a … | Continue reading
I met Max when he was in undergrad and visiting SF as part of Princeton’s annual TigerTrek. Then years later we reconnected at Google (where he was a Product Manager) for a GV BBQ. It was so much fun catching up that soon after as he started Warmly I was fortunately given the opp … | Continue reading
The checks being cut to ‘owners’ of training data are creating a huge barrier to entry for challengers. If Google, OpenAI, and other large tech companies can establish a high enough cost, they implicitly prevent future competition. Not very Open. Model efficacy is roughly [techni … | Continue reading
Winter Break week for my kid more time with her, and when she’s with her friends, more time with New Yorker magazines. Here are a few essays, articles, blog posts, etc that I’ve enjoyed recently. What Happens When TikTok Is Your Marketing Department [David Segal/New York Times] – … | Continue reading
I read a lot of stuff and here’s a few worth passing along to you! China’s Age of Malaise [Evan Osnos/New Yorker] – A loooong read but essential stuff if you are interested in China from an sort of view (cultural, economic, geopolitical, startup). When I return to China these day … | Continue reading
Great interview with surviving cast members of Happy Days, which was a number one TV show itself, as well as producing FIVE spinoffs. Worth reading the whole interview but one particular part stood out for me involving the producer Garry Marshall and star Henry Winkler. WINKLER H … | Continue reading
Lots of venture capital transitions underway. Here’s what I predicted in Allocate’s 2024 Outlook Last week Pitchbook asked me (and others) for background on how a VC actually gets fired (or more often ‘transitioned’) Darwin moves slowly in venture, but these investor changes can … | Continue reading
Regret. That’s the emotion I most associate with Pat Kinsel and his startup, Proof (fka Notarize). Because I remember hearing about their seed round and thinking it sounded a lot like a Homebrew company, but yet Pat didn’t seek us out, and we didn’t have him on our radar. Fast fo … | Continue reading
When the founder of WordPress/Automattic says all he wants for his birthday is for you to blog, well, you blog. I’ve known Matt for, gosh, 15 or more years, and although I don’t see him as much as I’d like, I do admire what he’s built here and the spirit with which he lives. Here … | Continue reading
I *think* Daniel and I met at a VC happy hour many years ago. But outside of the history, he’s one of my favorite people to chat about the roller coasters of company building. He’s founder and CEO of Greenhouse, a ‘hiring operating system’ for companies which spans recruiting and … | Continue reading
I love to write. And don’t maintain a ‘schedule’ per se, but have always said that ‘if two weeks go by and I haven’t posted, it means something is amiss.’ Well, something is definitely amiss in the world so maybe easing back in is best done by sharing others’ work. Tech is a Tool … | Continue reading
A local shipping business set up a Lemonade Stand next to their retail store that’s reservable (for free) by community kids. Love stuff like this. More kindness and generosity in our world. | Continue reading
For your weekend pleasure When It’s Over & Helpful Boards [Jared Hecht/GroupMe, Fundera] – Two more great posts from one of my favorite founder bloggers right now. The former is about deciding to sell your company and the emotional journey accompanying the pragmatic one. After se … | Continue reading
According to the laws of aerodynamics a bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but no one told it, so it does. This oft-repeated fact is, well, absolutely incorrect, but serves as a nice metaphor for ambitious startups. Probabilities suggest they should fail, but, hey, why not succe … | Continue reading
Do you know the parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant? The lessons of one’s subjective truth being espoused as an absolute one based on their own experiences carries beyond zoology. So when I tell you what I’m seeing in venture financing these days if you disagree with me, it … | Continue reading
Some words and sounds that I’ve enjoyed recently. How Pop Stars Turned NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk’ Into Authenticity Theater [Adlan Jackson/New York Times] – As Stefon might say, music’s hottest club is called Tiny Desk. And it has everything. Gwar, Taylor Swift, Juvenile. NPR’s Tiny Desk … | Continue reading
I judge the health of the creator economy by one single controversial factor: ease of access and probability of survival for its participants. That is, if you are someone who wishes to earn a minimum viable living being creative, what is the likelihood you’ll be able to do so? A … | Continue reading
Holiday weekend here in the US means links for you to read Playing Different (Stupider) Games The Other End Of The Valuation Stick [Kyle Harrison, Contrary Capital] – Kyle puts out a new essay (almost) every Saturday and I really enjoy his consistent and clear eyed POV on venture … | Continue reading
“You both have context for this introduction, so I’ll let you two take it from here! I know you’ll really enjoy chatting.” That was the email one of Ethena’s founders sent to me and Melanie Naranjo on 8/21/21, a bit over two years ago. At the time Melania was in discussions with … | Continue reading
I love talking to folks with expertise in areas where I’m more basic. Years ago when Philz Coffee started expanding from a single shop into a multi-storefront, multi-city business I found myself in a chat with their CEO Jacob Jaber. Fortunately he was game to answer a bunch of my … | Continue reading
What’s the most important goal for the money a startup spends? If I asked this question to a bunch of different founders and investors I bet the answers would vary. Some would shout one word like “revenue,” “customers,” “team” or even “profitability.” Others might give me formula … | Continue reading
Investing in someone is primarily a business relationship. It doesn’t mean you don’t develop a personal affinity – it’s best when you do! – but creating an enduring bond transcends the question of founder:VC dynamics and is often not even directly correlated with economic outcome … | Continue reading
As an east coat Jew, there are always going to be a few issues for me which veer into neurosis. The existence of blueberry bagels. People who eat pizza with a knife and fork. Slow walkers. But outside of these there’s one yet unsolved question that I struggle with more than other … | Continue reading
Although my mother calls me “always curious” there are actually lots of things I’m ok not completely understanding. Most of the time these fall into categories of objects or activities that “just work reliably” or when there’s someone I trust who both shares my interests and has … | Continue reading
How many cliched comparisons can I bundle into a single blog post? We’re about to find out… WSJ’s Berber Jin asked me for some comments around startups closing their doors, as part of a trend story trying to assess the health of the market. Failure is always part of our business … | Continue reading
“Sold too early” is historically a derisive term thrown at founders who exited startups still on an upward trajectory, and it’s true that almost every successful company went through periods of interest from potential acquirers, even if it was just casual inquiry. But after a dec … | Continue reading
Ok, this is the “For VCs, There’s More Pain Coming” post that I promised earlier (while also suggesting it’s actually a GREAT time to start a company). Obvious caveats to my POV here, most specifically: exposure is limited to largely the US/SiliconValley ecosystem, driven by our … | Continue reading
The historical dynamic for software markets was one of ‘winner take all/most.’ Economies of scale, network effects, soft monopolies/bundling, patent moats: there are many reasons why. Putting your money into one of these leading companies could produce incredible returns over tim … | Continue reading
Ok, I’ll get back to my procession of Startup Land Heat Checks shortly, but in the meantime, here’s a bunch of smart stuff I’ve enjoyed reading over the last few weeks: It’s Not Your Fault, But It’s Your Problem [Charles Hudson, Precursor] – I vigorously agree with so much of wha … | Continue reading
Hi! I took a month or so off from writing, largely because so much was in motion, that I needed to get some work done and process a bit before committing thoughts to, err, paper? We hit 18 months on the Homebrew Forever model (and just closed our 20th investment using personal ca … | Continue reading
Part of the novelty in new social products is the fresh start on a social/interest graph. Especially now that we’re smarter in the dark patterns of ‘autofollow all contacts’. and so on, I find anecdotally that more people are going with a Slow Graph (add selectively as they figur … | Continue reading
A few reads for an American holiday In Conversation with 50 Cent (Carvell Wallace/Vulture) – 20 years later and reading his name still triggers memories of In Da Club’s opening beats. This interview is less about his musical legacy and more about how 50 created a tv and film prod … | Continue reading
I’m always a fan of investors who write consistently, while blending personal experience and utility, versus just content marketing. Chris Neumann (of Canada’s Panache Ventures) checks these boxes so I asked him to come on my blog (currently less consistent, hopefully still the o … | Continue reading
I’ve got a few flights next week so hopefully more original content coming then, but for now, sharing some good reads. Which AI Model Should You Pick for Your Startup? (Tomasz Tunguz) – My former Google colleague and fellow VC provides a guide to Big Model vs Small Model (as well … | Continue reading
My friends at Weekend Fund recently put out a round-up newsletter of some investor responses to the question “Do Valuations Matter?” It’s all worth reading but I’ll excerpt my thoughts here since it’s a discussion Satya and I have often with new VCs. How Hunter Walk @ Homebrew ap … | Continue reading
My daughter and I love San Francisco’s driverless cars from Cruise and Waymo. It’s extraordinary to see these autonomous vehicles putter around our streets, sometimes with non-driver passengers in the back seats. I know they’re not perfect. I know lots of capital was spent and co … | Continue reading
Some recent reads that I’ve enjoyed Fund Size is Still Strategy – The Growing Disconnect Between Founders and VCs (Charles Hudson) – “The biggest understanding gap I see between founders and VCs today is this understanding of the relationship between the investor focus on termina … | Continue reading
Just articles, posts and thoughts that I’ve found interesting Crooks’ Mistaken Bet on Encrypted Phones (New Yorker) – How European police have cracked “safe” encrypted phones often used by criminals, and the wealth of data it’s provided. Come for the tech story and stay for insig … | Continue reading
Got a lot of reactions to my last post about acquihires (specifically, lack of them) and how that might change the approach startups take to pursuing ‘soft landings.’ Wanted to clarify and respond to some of those questions, backchannels, etc. Appreciate the discussion – it’s why … | Continue reading
“Worst case scenario we’ll sell to a larger startup or public company for about ~$1.5m per engineer.” Yes, this was the ‘fallback plan’ for many team in the web2 era and they weren’t wrong. Especially in the early days of mobile/iOS engineering, if you hired strong technical tale … | Continue reading
An AI Safe Harbor Provision Would Create Guidelines For Development & Safety Without Premature Regulations The conversation around Artificial Intelligence has started to take on a binary quality, rather prematurely, as if we were debating the two sides of a coin rather than a mor … | Continue reading
Why Tech Companies Avoid Customer Service and the Opportunity That Comes With Actually Engaging Your Users Thirty years from now when you’re reading my memoir pay attention to Chapter 8 because that’s when I became President of the United States. The populist momentum that result … | Continue reading
A Ticket From Michael Jordan’s First NBA Game Auctions Big $$$, Adam Sandler Gets Respect (Finally!), and Why Germany’s Envy of Silicon Valley Helped Wirecard Commit Massive Fraud Ok, just a roundup of some great recent reads. Adam Sandler doesn’t need your respect. But he’s gett … | Continue reading
Why Lack of Easy Options Made Me Focus On Who I Wanted To Be, Which Paid Off Over Time In retrospect the fact we were all day trading tech stocks from Stanford’s computer labs probably suggested it was a bit of a bubble, although eToys options did pay for two consecutive Spring B … | Continue reading
Riffing Off VC Charles Hudson’s Blog Post, Here’s What I’m Trying to Answer If startup founders sometimes ‘Build in Public,’ is the analogou sventure capitalist motto to ‘Think in Public?’ Anyway, there’s no doubt that the story of the trailing months has been Artificial Intellig … | Continue reading
Why I’m Participating in SeedChecks’ “Submit Your Deck” Community We’ve never believed in hiding. Our email addresses are on our website, and there’s no junior staffer or AI Bot replying on our behalf. A strong Cold Email always beats a weak Warm Email. And we’ve backed successfu … | Continue reading
Things I Learned From a New Yorker Article and How I Got Over My Own Insecurity Good writers aren’t just skilled in their prose, they have a nose for interesting topics. “Why Everyone Feels Like They’re Faking It,” an article about imposter syndrome in a recent issue of the New Y … | Continue reading
It’s Very Likely That Artificial Intelligence Will Be Worth More In Aggregate Than is Currently Being Invested (Just Unevenly Distributed) In kindergarten my daughter learned to not ‘yuck’ someone’s ‘yum.’ That is, just because you don’t like something there’s no reason to share … | Continue reading