From the Investors
Michael J. Mauboussin of Credit Suisse reflects on the ten attributes of great investors in “Thirty Years” (PDF)
Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital discusses why seeks to level the playing field of venture capital and win by betting exclusively on underrepresented founders in “The Mission & Values of Backstage Capital” (podcast)
Scott Sage of Seedcamp draws lines between the ‘traditional’ route of Seed to Series A funding and the path he thinks is more realistic in “Post Seed Rounds in Europe for SaaS Startups”
Fred Destin of Accel Partners identifies fundamental rules about how entrepreneurs should build and operate startups in “Those Companies That Give Us A Bad Name…”
Alex Iskold of Techstars provides a beginner’s guide to different types of network effects with specific examples in “Understanding Network Effects”
Steven Sinofsky of Andreessen Horowitz details the background of formal case studies and examples of when using cases goes wrong in “Use (and Misuse) of Business Case Studies”
From the Operators
Christopher Steiner of FundersClub covers the importance and nuances of co-founder relationships, skills, roles, and more in “A Guide to Co-founder Fit”
Alex White of Next Big Sound argues why adjusting the weight of responsibility among founders is critical in “Distributing the Weight: A Critical Task for Success Amongst Teams”
Steli Efti of Close.io explains why early-stage startups should prioritize a candidate’s potential over experience in “Startup Sales Managers: Stop Hiring Experienced Salespeople”
Darren Kaplan of hiQ Labs walks through how to incentivize and retain sales talent in “BC Startup Sales Podcast”
John-Henry Scherck of DocSend explores how sales is changing and what steps sales teams need to take in order to maintain a competitive advantage in “This Isn’t Your Grandpa’s Sales Team: How the Sales Floor Has Evolved”
Hiten Shah of Quick Sprout gathers data from 15 blogs at different levels of traffic and breaks down how to get from one stage to the next in “Set Your Company Up for Marketing Success by Working Backwards from 15 Million Blog Visits”
Understanding The Scale Of Walmart’s Jet.com Purchase
What’s stunning about Jet’s multi-billion exit price is how little it is stacked next to Walmart’s tectonic sales pace. Mattermark’s Alex Wilhelm reports.
