From the Investors
Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz visualizes the ‘total funding picture’ of US tech companies since 1980 and makes three key observations in “35 Years of US Tech Funding”
Sam Altman of Y Combinator encourages founders to not rush into claiming a ‘company’, and to be thought of as a project, as long as possible in “Projects and Companies”
Claire Burke and Anu Duggal of Female Founders Fund compare Series A trends in the first half of 2015 to 1H2014 and find an increase in NYC Series A rounds and round sizes in “Female Founded Series A Rounds in NYC Double in 1H2015”
Nicholas Chirls of Notation Capital outlines his lessons learned and key differences between building a portfolio of investments and building a long-term VC firm in “Building a Firm v. Investing Money”
Bilal Zuberi of Lux Capital hopes ‘lead-generating associates’ will stop wasting CEOs’ time in “Dial-For-Dollar Calls from Some VC Associates”
AngelList is launching a 12-month, San Francisco-based, analyst program for six recent graduates. Apply before the August 23rd deadline.
From the Operators
Maren Kate Donovan of Zirtual reveals how the company’s burn rate spiraled out of control and that Startups.co has acquired Zirtual to resume service August 17th in “Zirtual: What Happened and What’s Next”
Tristan Zier of Zenn99 announces Zen99 will shut down on August 25th and will return their remaining capital to investors in “Zen99 is Closing Its Doors 8/25”
Kayvon Beykpour of Periscope discloses that Periscope has reached 10 million accounts, 40 years of video watched per day, and why Time Watched is their most important metric in “Periscope, by the Numbers”
Jason Fried of Basecamp calls valuations a distraction to the real business numbers in “How Much Are We Worth? I Don’t Know and I Don’t Care.”
Karen Roter Davis of Urban Engines expands on five points that she believes will influence consumption models in the auto industry and others in “Five Factors Influencing the Car-as-a-Service Evolution”
Sophia Dominquez of AllThingsVR notes that VR headsets and experiences have a perception problem and breaks down how they can improve their marketing in “How to Market Virtual Reality”
Ina Herlihy of Zumper encourages people to take the time to blog, reach out to people whose ideas resonate, and to be open to opportunities in “How Medium Changed My Life”
From Mattermark
Danielle Morrill of Mattermark increases transparency around Mattermark’s monthly burn rate in “How We Spend Money at Mattermark”