Riku Seppala of Open Ocean Capital analyzes the business traits of twenty-five ‘B2B Unicorns’ and highlights three ‘essential characteristics’ in “Characteristics of B2B Unicorn Ideas“

Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures compares two fundraising scenarios to explain the risks of raising a round at a high valuation early on in “Does It Ever Make Sense for an Entrepreneur to Negotiate for a Lower Valuation On a Term Sheet?” (Quora post)

Ben Wiener of Jumpspeed Ventures dives into the pros and cons of a crowded market vs. an open market in “Blue Ocean vs. Bloody Water“

Robert Siegel of XSeed Capital and students in his Formation of New Ventures class at Stanford Graduate School of Business discuss AngelList’s impact on startup investing with Kevin Laws and Ash Fontana of AngelList in “AngelList: Changing the Landscape of Investing” (video)

Bedy Yang of 500 Startups announces a 50% tuition scholarship at 500 Startups’ Investor Training Program with Stanford Center for Professional Development in “Calling All Women Investors“

Angel Investor Joanne Wilson encourages employees to ‘learn how to compete’ as a response to Reddit’s ban on negotiating salaries in “Salary Negotiations?“

Justin Hall of Golden Gate Ventures advises founders to ‘take the time to critically review whether or not that idea might be the best idea here‘ in “Shamelessly, Unapologetically, Audaciously Copy – But Do It Right“

From the Operators

Ben Erez of Life360 believes by providing ‘a consistent experience to users, you gain more of their trust with each engagement’ in “Product Loyalty Follows Trust Like Form Follows Function“

Ben Dixon of Make It With Code lists the sixty-three lessons he’s learned that he wishes he knew five years ago in “What I’d Tell Myself About Startups If I Could Go Back 5 Years“

Joel York of Markodojo introduces his ‘framework for understanding SaaS customer alignment and its many benefits’ in “Avoiding Poor SaaS Customer Alignment“

Belle Beth Cooper of Crew details her ‘where, when, why, and how’ of discovering and vetting remote work that fits your preferences in “How to Find the Perfect Remote Working Setup For You“

Ken Fukazawa of Tyffon recaps his journey before, during, and after going through the Disney Accelerator in “How the Disney Accelerator Powered By Techstars Program Changed My Life“