From the Investors
Jason Calacanis of LAUNCH talks about the new rules for aspiring unicorns and shares some practical “do’s and dont’s” in “Lions & Lambs in the ‘Post Unicorn’ Era”
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures adds to Bill Gurley’s post and shares examples of leaders taking the easy way out and deferring a difficult decision because of fear of the consequences in “Don’t Kick the Can Down the Road”
Jay Levy of Zelkova Ventures concludes that the board observer seat is an optimal way for his firm to add value to their portfolio companies while maintaining a firm grasp of where each is at in “Why Board Observer Seats Are Better Than Actual Board Seats”
Jeffrey Carter of West Loop Ventures offers his perspective on why startups should take on the immoral regulations in the government register that make zero sense in today’s economy in “A Moral Case for Breaking the Law”
Elizabeth Yin of 500 Startups explains the importance behind messaging how much you are raising and for what specific milestones in “Why I Cringe When You Say You’re Raising a $1.5M Seed Round”
Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners argues that the best training for doing any job is doing that job, not a related job in “If You Know What You Want to Be in the Future, Start Being it Now”
From the Operators
Dan Grover of WeChat writes a response to the recent “conversational UI” and bot hype in “Bots Won’t Replace Apps. Better Apps Will Replace Apps”
Andrew Tate of InsightSquared reminds sales leaders about the importance of not only telling sales reps why their data is important, but to show them as well in “How to Make Reps Care About Data Quality”
Peter Szymanski of Silicon Valley Counsel describes steps to benchmark an industry comparable valuation/dilution model for your startup using the newest tools and resources in “5 New Tips + Tools for Valuation Dilution Modeling”
Noah Jessop, formerly of CommandIQ, outlines insights from growth leaders about what to look for when evaluating growth roles, either as a growth executive or as a founder looking to hire one in “Growth Roles – When to Say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’?”
Arvin Singla of Acquia uses his experience with a Wi-Fi camera and baby monitor to showcase the importance of hardware products working reliably and consistently, while adding features to improve the core experience in “Lessons Learned From a Baby Monitor”
Terry Lee of MeUndies shares why we need to rethink our approach to breaking the glass ceiling in “Closing the Confidence Gap”
Read The Fine Print Before You Turn To Equity Crowdfunding (read more)
True equity crowdfunding is coming. Times are changing, and there will be blood.
Alex Mittal, CEO of FundersClub, has your syllabus.
