From the Investors
Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures traces his sources back to their first meeting, discovering that it takes on average two and a half years to get to the funding announcement, in “How Early Should You Connect to a VC? Here’s Some Data.”
Brian Watson of Union Square Ventures reflects on reputation, fundraising, and execution after two years at USV in “Post-Money Evaluations”
Semil Shah of Haystack Fund compares London cabbies in the age of Uber to VCs in the age of AngelList and Mattermark in “The [Fleeting] Knowledge”
Rob Go of NextView Ventures takes a holistic approach to the Series A crunch and shares why he’s optimistic in “Has the Bar for Series A Changed?”
Conversely, Jeff Clavier of SoftTech VC gives an inside look at how the “piggy round” is squeezing out entrepreneurs in “Dilution, Marketing, and Series A Stunts” (via StrictlyVC)
Jeff Jordan of Andreessen Horowitz explains Instacart’s $44m Series B and what’s cooking in e-commerce partnerships in “Unpacking the Grocery Stack”
Hunter Walk of Homebrew asks PMs to find their superpower and think like a CEO in “Ode to a Non-Technical Product Manager”
From the Operators
Jody Porowski of Avelist shares how she increased average time on site from 1:30 to 4:30 per visit in “A Data Exposé”
Lincoln Murphy of Gainsight breaks down why entering your credit card for a free trial is less helpful than nailing the onboarding experience in “Keeping Customers Out: The SaaS Free Trial and Credit Card Story”
Ellen Chisa of Kickstarter recaps #ProductSF, from working with designers to asking every question intentionally as a PM, in “#ProductSF”
Women Who Code publish their mission and key initiatives in “Women Who Code”
From the Community
Our friends at Foundersuite are hosting Startup Funding 2.0, an exciting forum to discuss the rise of platforms, accelerators, angel investors, and more. Hear from Gil Penchina, Satya Patel, Boris Wertz, and a host of other top-notch VCs and CEOs. Discover more about the event here, and use the exclusive code “Mattermark” to get 25% off ticket prices here.