tl;dr: Investors aren’t stupid or lazy, but even thoroughly vetted startups can fail. It’s the nature of venture capital that many investments will never yield a return. Most startups fail,… Read Full Article
Editor’s Morning Note: What is SoundCloud worth? Let’s examine. This morning, TechCunrch’s Ingrid Lunden Jon Russell extinguished any budding romance between Spotify and SoundCloud, saying that the former company has “given up… Read Full Article
From the Investors Sammy Abdullah of Blossom Street Ventures makes the argument as to why accelerators aren’t worth their cost in equity in “Why You Shouldn’t Join an Accelerator” Garrett Goldberg… Read Full Article
tl;dr: This is the first in a four-part series about Chicago. Here, we explore the current state and recent past of Chicago’s tech scene. “Fierce as a dog with tongue… Read Full Article
Editor’s Morning Note: Apple Music has crossed the 20 million paid subscriber mark. It’s an impressive result, but how does it compare to Spotify’s own performance? Unsplash has a massive indie-rock… Read Full Article
From the Investors Morgan Housel of Collaborative Fund reports on why fewer companies are going public, why it’s a problem, and what can be done about it in “The Bad… Read Full Article
Convertible notes and SAFE docs have become standard for pre-seed and seed rounds in Silicon Valley, but not enough startups are using them to their full potential. Back in 2010,… Read Full Article
tl;dr: Venture capital funding marijuana startups gets the hype, but the big money is in the public markets. Here’s why. What a time to be alive. Branding executive turned politician Donald… Read Full Article
Editor’s Morning Note: Apple’s watch is a cool product, but it seems increasingly evident that it isn’t going to ignite Apple’s top line. There appears to be no shortage of white… Read Full Article
Editor’s Morning Note: We spend too much time together complaining that unicorns and other startups are shiftless ninnies when it comes to real financial maturity and going public. Here’s a… Read Full Article
Editor’s Morning Note: Uber’s growth, revenue, and losses are back in the news. Here’s what you need to know. Some analogy about winter, hoarding, fire, burn, and heat here. Uber will… Read Full Article
From the Investors First Round Capital publishes the survey results from more than 700 founders asked about everything from fundraising to their office’s price per square foot, and new areas… Read Full Article
tl;dr: In-Q-Tel has made a lot of new investments in recent years, and the company has expanded its network of syndicate partners, which is pretty much business as usual at… Read Full Article
tl;dr: Unless something crazy happens with funding announcements in December, U.S. venture capital activity is on pace to end the year down from 2015 highs. As the year comes to… Read Full Article
Editor’s Note: No more unicorn liquidity in 2016? There’s always next year. It’s the first day of December, the last month of 2016, and just weeks until we can close the… Read Full Article
How SaaS Sales Teams Can Reduce Churn For any VP of Sales, increasing a company’s run rate from $300K to $3MM over the span of six months is an impressive… Read Full Article
tl;dr: Our favorite SaaS bellwether released earnings today. Let’s find out what that means for your startup. “What’s to-day?” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who… Read Full Article
For any VP of Sales, increasing a company’s run rate from $300K to $3MM over the span of six months is an impressive feat. But when Mark Roberge attempted to… Read Full Article
Editor’s Morning Note: GoPro is cutting staff and ending its media attempts. What can history teach us? GoPro, a camera company that is publicly traded, has seen its share price… Read Full Article
I’m happy to share that we’ve rolled out self-service pricing plans, and Mattermark is now easier for sales and marketing teams to adopt than ever before. Individual Plan For just $200/month, sales… Read Full Article
From the Investors Atomico publishes a 118 page report that looks at capital flows over the last few years, and combines it with an assessment of local talent, the strength… Read Full Article
Editor’s Morning Note: Today in “Charts That Aren’t Good.” I once drank martinis in London with one of these people. The other is a former billionaire. Theranos is under fresh… Read Full Article
From the Investors Joe Lonsdale of 8VC addresses how to think about the value of experience at a technology startup, the seniority of a company’s team, and when it’s the… Read Full Article
tl;dr: What’s Uber really worth? [Insert fancy joke involving Lyft and Ola.] Ola, a popular Indian ridesharing platform, will take a lower valuation in its proximate funding round, according to… Read Full Article