From the Investors
Mahesh Vellanki of Redpoint Ventures plots sales efficiency numbers across five verticals in the years leading up to their respective IPO in “What Does Sales Efficiency For Public Internet Companies Look Like?”
Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz lays down a foundation of data to back up his point that startup failure is a necessary part of the industry in “In Praise of Failure”
Elizabeth Yin of 500 Startups outlines the pros and cons to having a lead investor in “Do You Need a Lead Investor in Your Seed Round?”
David Shen of Launch Capital identifies thirty characteristics an investor should have that would make an LP want to invest in “Qualities of an Awesome Investor”
Jeff Stine of VestedWorld challenges the risk perceptions US investors have of investing in emerging markets startups in “The “FIERCE” Risks of Investing in Emerging Markets: Fraud”
Mike Dempsey of Rothenberg Ventures launches an “Autonomous Vehicle FAQ” that covers the most-often talked about AV questions, answers, and talking points in “What Everyone in Autonomous Vehicles is (and will be) Talking About”
From the Operators
Erik Torenberg, formerly of Product Hunt launches ‘The Rise Awards’ – an award series and community celebrating top talent at all positions in “Introducing The Rise Awards”
Lincoln Murphy shares a real, actionable Customer Success lesson he found while playing Pokemon Go, which he details in this fun but serious post called “Bad Fit Customers are like Magikarp“
Nathan Kinch of Meeco and Bianca Kinch of Aviva Innovation dispel the common misconception that Human-Centered Design has to start with the human in “What to do when desirability doesn’t cut it (as a starting point)“
Andrea Goulet of Corgibytes argues that startups need to shift their mindset away from tearing down old code toward deliberately remodeling it in “Forget Technical Debt — Here’s How to Build Technical Wealth”
Vincenzo Ruggiero of Prospect discusses how he grew his business from $0 to $17k in MRR in 6 months and gained 400 customers in “The Top Podcast, Ep. #383”
Dianna Mullins of Glam reveals her raw thoughts on moving on from founding her startup 12 years ago in “A Farewell Letter From: A Founder. To: Her Beloved Company”
CRM Startups Staff Up As Larger Rivals Fight
Following the Microsoft-LinkedIn deal, it’s all eyes on who is next. Journalist Sonya Mann digs into how the startup CRM space is shaping up. Here’s how things are looking.
