Published in Startup Grind·PinnedMember-only10 Unwritten Rules for Venture Savvy FoundersBecause there’s no user manual for venture capital. — I’m old enough to remember when VC firms did not compete to see who is the most founder friendly. The firm where I work was explicitly started with the mission of being a founder-aligned VC because this didn’t always exist. Overall, this has been a very welcome development for founders…Venture Capital5 min readVenture Capital5 min read
Feb 10, 2021Member-onlyWhat I’ve Learned in Five Years at Founder CollectiveIt’s been my honor to have spent the past 5 years as a Principal at Founder Collective, investing in extraordinary companies and helping to build new ones. …Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
Published in Startup Grind·May 24, 2020Member-onlyA Cheatsheet on Scaling (and Fundraising for) Your SaaS StartupSoftware ate the world, right? So now what? — From the first time I fell in love with writing software (like many technologists, I can happily say that I wrote my first BASIC program in elementary school) through today, when I am gleefully swimming in SaaS products in every part of my life — I am thrilled to have…Software Development5 min readSoftware Development5 min read
Published in The Startup·May 15, 2020Member-onlyStarting Something New? Be Safe Out There.Why Shouldn’t Startupping be as Safe as The Appalachian Trail? — My retired mom took up hiking a few years ago. She’s actually in great shape and does these daily four hour hikes with ten pound weights in her pockets, just to up the ante. But she’s closer to 70 than 40, and I got a little nervous when she started…Startup4 min readStartup4 min read
Published in The Startup·May 11, 2020Member-onlyHigh Growth Is No Longer Enough.Will 2020 be the year VC goes “back to basics”? I hope so. — I started this post decades ago — in February to be precise — and at the time remember thinking, folks will laugh if I share my prediction that 2020 will be the year VC goes “old school.” Back then, we were all naively musing about the likelihood of a recession…Startup4 min readStartup4 min read
Published in Startup Grind·May 4, 2020Member-onlyIt’s Time To Build a Slow Burn StartupWhat are the characteristics of companies which are uniquely suited to tough times? — A tough economy is a great time to build a slow burn company. This may be a side hustle… An open source project Or a slow burn startup 🔥 Slow burn companies may grow slowly, but can amass tremendous value, and sometimes without giving up much external equity. Some of…Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
Published in The Startup·Dec 5, 2019Member-onlyWhen Early Is Too Early: An Anti-Post-Mortem for BlockchainThe 1992 engineering technique we use to tell whether a new technology is valuable or not. — “What’s your take on blockchain now?” A founder asked me in a meeting. The quick answer: We are still waiting for the tidal wave of blockchain startups. The honest explanation? Beyond developers and crypto-nerds, blockchain certainly hasn’t scaled beyond the population of early-early adopter customers — and we are starting…Blockchain7 min readBlockchain7 min read
Published in The Startup·Aug 8, 2019Member-onlyA Checklist for My Friend Fundraising For A Seed RoundVCs invest in less than 1% of the companies they meet. Here’s how to beat the odds. I originally wrote this list as a checklist for a friend who is raising her first seed round. Fundraising is not easy, and I don’t want to give the impression the process can…Startup7 min readStartup7 min read
Published in The Startup·Nov 7, 2018Mastering Growth Economics: What $100M Startups Do DifferentlyYour startup has customers? Turns out, that’s not enough. Seed funded? Check. Product-market fit? Check. Core team? Check. No early startup hiccups (from payroll to cofounders)? Check. Seed-funded, pre-Series A startups are off to the races — for the above four reasons, and more. But, as we at Founder Collective…Startup7 min readStartup7 min read
Published in The Startup·Sep 25, 2018Raising Seed Capital? Here’s My Guide on How To Do It Successfully6 important questions every entrepreneur should answer to prepare for your pitch, whether you’re pre-product, or bootstrapped and profitable. How do you find the right investors for your startup? If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably have asked yourself this question more than once. In fact, that’s the #1 question entrepreneurs…Venture Capital8 min readVenture Capital8 min read
