From the Investors
John Backus and Hemant Bhadrwaj of New Atlantic Ventures find that ‘dragons (‘fund maker’ companies) are four times as rare as a unicorn [company]’ and share a list of ‘dragon-slaying’ VCs in “Unicorns vs. Dragons“
Paul Graham of Y Combinator contemplates how reading and life experience ‘train [our] model of the world’, saying, ‘[our] mind is like a compiled program [we’ve] lost the source of’ in “How You Know“
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures advises founders on board member strategies and says, ‘do yourself a favor and build a great board for your company’ in “The Perfect Board“
Angela Tran Kingyens of Version One Ventures provides a framework for entrepreneurs to ‘quantitatively analyze’ user engagement in “Building Your User Engagement Pyramid“
Brad Feld of Foundry Group sees value in Jerry Colonna and Rand Fishkin’s ‘open and transparent’ conversation about depression in “Jerry Colonna and Rand Fishkin Discuss Depression and Entrepreneurship” (audio)
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures highlights Best Buy’s customer segmentation strategy and guides founders in identifying their own “The Importance of Segmentation for Your SaaS Startup“
Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures demystifies how the blockchain is ‘logically centralized, yet organizationally decentralized’ in “Bitcoin: Clarifying the Foundational Innovation of the Blockchain“
Christine Tsai of 500 Startups offers eight ways for investors to ‘gain the upper hand’ in having the perception of ‘being more important’ in “8 Tricks to Appear Like an Important VC“
Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures guides founders with ten ways to ‘mentally survive entrepreneurship’ in “How Not to Let the Crazy In”
Christoph Janz of Point Nine Capital reveals his ‘anti-portfolio’ of companies he saw and passed on investing in in “A Toast to All the Great Ones That We’ve Missed“
From the Operators
Evan Miller of Wizard shares his thoughts on the ‘psychological costs’ startup founders take on when pursuing entrepreneurship in “Start-ups and Emotional Debt“
Armando Biondi of AdEspresso breaks down the valuation numbers a founder should target based on their startup’s stage in “The Ultimate Guide to Pricing Your Company for a Fundraise (Or, How Much is Too Much?)“
Cryptographer Nick Szabo explains how the blockchain methodology could impact future computing and ‘fiduciary code’ strategies in “The Dawn of Trustworthy Computing“
Connor Murphy of Datahug gives his perspective on why founders should use ‘the data way (traction)’ instead of ‘the story way (hope)’ to fundraise in “There Are 2 Ways to Raise Venture Capital“
Andrew Miner of Redwood Labs details the process he used to come up with and validate the name of his product in “Choosing a Product Name“