From the Investors
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures cites the ‘tripling of seed stage capital’ and plummeting infrastructure costs as key factors in “Why It’s A Great Time to Raise A Seed Round”
Jess Erickson of 500 Startups reveals 500 Startups’ Batch 11 startups and opens Batch 12 applications in “500 Startups Announces Batch 11 in Mountain View“
Alison Wagonfield of Emergence Capital shares advice on what she did to build her career from entrepreneur to venture capitalist in “Five Career Strategies for Women in Tech“
Maynard Webb of Webb Investment Network offers his ‘best ways to predict and manage customer interest” in “Listen to the Market“
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures starts a conversation about why and when to automate ‘mundane’ tasks in “Scripting for Others“
Semil Shah of Haystack Fund gives his view on Slack’s approach to solving team communication and their $1.2 billion valuation in “Quick Thoughts on Slack’s Big Round“
Marianne Hudson of Angel Capital Association sheds light on recent programs for military veterans pursuing entrepreneurship in “Startup Success: Veteran-Owned Businesses Are Gaining Traction With Investors“
Jay Acunzo of NextView Ventures talks with Isaac Cambron of Zensight who says, ‘build less, but build it better’ in “A Startup CTO’s Take on Early Technology Choices & Tradeoffs“
Angel Investor Gary Vaynerchuk reflects on ‘hustling’ and how he plans to manage his work/life balance in “Why I’m Taking 100 Days Off This Year“
From the Operators
Kyle Wild of Keen.io opens up about his own struggles with depression and ‘work pressure’ in response to Brad Feld’s ‘Founder Suicides‘ in “Entrepreneurship and Depression“
Ben Milne of Dwolla admits ‘I miss my family. I’m not pulling my weight at home. I’m exhausted.’ in “Sometimes, It’s Just Time To Go Home“
Mike Townsend of HomeHero provides an extensive analysis of his strategies to reduce ‘cutting out the middleman’ in “A Deeper Understanding of Disintermediation (backdooring) in Marketplaces“
Gagan Biyani of Sprig announces expanded food delivery options and reflects on a year of milestones in ‘Sprig Turns One: What A Difference A Year Makes!“
Sean Byrnes formerly of Flurry explains how larger corporations see smaller company assets as a ‘butcher looks at a cow’ in “Why You Don’t Want to Be Acquired“
Jack Huang of Truly applies customer development methods to his employees to build a better culture in “CEOs Should Treat Their Employees Like Customers“
Best of the Press
Alex Konrad of Forbes details how Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey expanded WeWork to a $1.5 billion valued company in 4 years in “Inside the Phenomenal Rise of WeWork“
Zoran Basich of Wall Street Journal and Jeremy Philips of Spark Capital Growth discuss his new role managing a new $375 million fund focused on late-stage companies in “Spark Capital’s New Growth Fund Aims to Catch the Ones That Got Away“
Subscribe To The Mattermark Daily