From the Investors
Thomas Olszewski of Frontline Ventures dissects how new European regulations make it easier than ever to start a bank, and if the emerging breed of challengers will displace high street banks in “29 Slides: Challenger Banks in Europe”
Monique Woodard of 500 Startups analyzes the investment opportunity of new markets that are being created by demographic growth not currently being well-served by technology incumbents in “Birth of an Ecosystem: Understanding the Market for Black and Latino Tech Consumers”
Sam Altman of Y Combinator expects the total valuation of companies that have gone through the YC program to surpass $100 billion as of this year, and expands on YC’s progress overall in “2017 YC Annual Letter”
Micah Rosenbloom of Founder Collective chats with Harry Stebbings of Atomico about why $100 million is a good exit and why capital efficiency is key to returns and investment success in “20 VC: Micah Rosenbloom” (podcast)
Beth Scheer of Homebrew, Katie Hughes of DFJ, and Prateek Alsi of General Catalyst discuss how and when to establish a recruiting process at your startup, the traits that distinguish a Head of Talent who will help you scale, and tactical advice on prioritizing diversity in “A Talent Handbook for Startup Founders” (Podcast)
From the Operators
Philip Kaplan of DistroKid reveals how his startup has become the largest music distributor in the world, by many counts, with only three employees and automation in “What I’ve Been Up To for the Past 4 Years”
Kristel Kruustük of testlio reflects on how she underestimated the importance of ‘everything else’ besides an idea in a startup and lists her toughest challenges so far in “5 of My Biggest Struggles as a First-Time Founder”
Aneesh Pappu and Josh Singer, students at Stanford University, published an essay with historical illustrations of skillful leadership and of principles that every leader can aspire to in “8 Principles of Great Leadership”
Janna Bastow of Mind the Product shares how product roadmaps must evolve at scale, exercises for prioritizing what you build and why every product manager must be able to say ‘No’ in “Building Product Roadmaps”
Kwindla Hultman Kramer of Pluot riffs on why he thinks it’s backwards to focus on the idea of hiring people who will be able to grow into “next level” managers in the future in “Hiring At Startups: the Tom Brady Problem”
Introducing Account-Based Sales Into Your Process – The Four-Step Framework
Moving from lead-based sales to account-based sales might seem like a massive upheaval of your sales process. But there are just four steps you have to follow to get started. Any sales organization, big or small, can work these into their workflow and switch from low-quality leads to high-quality accounts.
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Also published on Medium.