From the Investors
Brad Feld of Foundry Group shares a full review of what Techstars is and what they are doing, from their expansion to an overview of their portfolio, in “Techstars 2015 Global Impact Report”
Zaw Thet of Signia Venture Partners speaks to the Rally Health team, sharing an upbeat outlook for the year ahead and the characteristics of companies that will either do well or struggle in “Why the Coming Correction Will Be a Good Thing”
Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital discusses why the existence of competitors is not “validating” and posits that the most successful founders embrace competition in “Competition is Not ‘Validating.’ It’s Deadly”
Jalak Jobanputra of FuturePerfect Ventures explains why the blockchain is so important and how it may be used in the future in finance, real estate, and art in “How the Blockchain Can Unshackle Us”
Cankut Durgun of Aslanoba Capital walks through an example of how an entrepreneur’s unwillingness to share can signal to an investor that they have something to hide or don’t trust the investor in “Sharing Information in Investor Pitches”
Nic Brisbourne of The Equity Kicker takes a closer look at the power of narrowly defining your target market in “Define Your Target Customers Narrowly”
From the Operators
Leah Busque of TaskRabbit writes about why she is stepping up to serve as Executive Chairwoman of her company and what the move means in “One Task Leads to Another”
Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia shows how Facebook is close to becoming the layer of media consumption above the Internet itself, similar to AOL in the 90’s in “Has Facebook Achieved What AOL Could Have a Generation Ago?”
Kelsey Hunter of Button concludes that brands focused on growth need to start thinking of context and user intent when designing messenger bots in order to not isolate low intent users in “Intent, Discovery & Bots”
Peter Szymanski of Silicon Valley Counsel highlights tax resources and recently passed legislation that qualifies early stage startup stock for 100% federal tax exclusions in “2016 Tax Tips for Startup Stockholders”
Hiten Shah of Quick Sprout uses examples to show why context is the most integral part of giving advice – and how to surface it faster and better in “Advice is Cheap – Context is Priceless”
John Saddington of Eve summarizes why the two things he looks for in an investor are proven integrity and real operating experience in “These are My Two ‘Must-Haves’ When It Comes to Finding the Right VC”
That’s Not Profit (read more)
Uber’s staggering growth has been expensive, but in North America it’s nearly profitable. How close?
Mattermark’s Alex Wilhelm takes a look.
Yes, Startup Funding Really is Slowing in San Francisco
Our friends at Quartz used data from Mattermark to show where early-stage investment activity has shifted in the last year.
