From the Investors
Scott Kupor of Andreessen Horowitz responds to a WSJ story on venture capital returns with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in “When Is a “Mark” Not a Mark?”
Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures feels Scott Kupor’s post (above) is more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners, and offers his take as a VC in “What to Make of Andreessen Horowitz’s Returns?”
Morgan Housel of Collaborative Fund reminds us all that big breakthroughs typically follow a seven-step path that can take decades in “When You Change the World and No One Notices”
Jenny Lefcourt of Freestyle outlines what founders should cover in their first investor pitch meeting to have better odds of getting to round two in “Founders, Your Goal Of VC Meeting №1? Meeting №2”
Srikar Kalvakolanu of High Alpha expands on how to evaluate business ideas to determine the viability of new businesses by digging into ‘the financial model’ in “Billion Dollar Ideas: How to Know When You See One (Part 2 of 5)“
David Cohen of Techstars gives a deep dive on how Techstars’ Equity Back Guarantee has gone so far in “Equity Back Guarantee: Reflections Two Years Later”
From the Operators
Michalis Gkontas of Forky provides a lengthy analysis of how his company started to solve a common pain point, then grew fast, nearly failed, and is finally working again in “We’re F*cked, It’s Over. Or Is It?”
Chris Maddox of Seneca Systems walks through exactly what his team did to raise their seed funding, including their order of operations and strategic goals in “Planting the Seed: Raising Our First Round”
Jason Goldberg of Pepo (former CEO of Fab.com) reflects on his perspective of what starting a company is all about in “Jumping Off A Cliff”
Shel Kaphan recounts the early versions of Amazon, finding traction through Netscape, how he vetted Jeff Bezos, and more in “Employee #1: Amazon”
Sarah E. Brown and Bill Cushard of ServiceRocket interview Aaron Fulkerson MindTouch about how to build a culture of sales leaders in “Helping Sells Radio Podcast, Ep. 21”
Nir Eyal, author of “Hooked” celebrates today’s holiday, “Fight Procrastination Day”, with a useful strategy for regaining focus and getting things done in “Conquer Distractions With This Simple Chart”
How To Pick A Sales Model For Your Software Startup
TL;DR: Self-serve signups can be awesome for business (scale), but when you have a high price product and a lot of churn you should consider changing your sales model. Here the guide.
