From the Investors
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures applauds Intel’s $300M fund to improve diversity and urges people to ‘find, fund, and support’ organizations increasing diversity in “Some Thoughts on Workplace Diversity“
Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures shares how he believes startup founders, investors and employees can ‘push things in the right direction’ in “Fighting Bad Practices with Success“
Semil Shah of Haystack Fund explains his perspective on ‘underrepresented minorities’ in the tech world and how he can help in “Underrepresented Minorities in Startups and Investing“
Kanyi Maqubela of Collaborative Fund highlights multiple ways VCs track and measure ‘failure’ in their dealflow funnel in “What Constitutes Failure in Venture Capital?“
Guy Turner of Hyde Park Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs to better understand if they are headed to a ‘no’ with a VC in “10 Rules for Handicapping VC Interest“
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures expands on the ‘B2C2B’ sales model with examples of applications, platforms and infrastructure tools with this strategy in “B2C2B Startups – Why Selling With Internal Influencers Is So Powerful“
From the Operators
Evan Williams of Medium offers his thoughts on various product metrics and advises entrepreneurs to ‘trust your gut as much (or more) than the numbers in “A Mile Wide, An Inch Deep“
Ben Thompson of Stratechery defines Xiaomi as a vertical business model company after identifying their multiple integrated products and services in “Xiaomi’s Ambition“
Chris Hoogewerff of Raizlabs guides product teams in building a team culture of happiness, gratitude and recognition in “A Product Manager’s Guide to Shipping Happiness”
Jimi Smoot of Octavius Labs talks about the birth of an idea, experiments to validate the idea, and what to do to move the idea forward in “Understanding Market vs Product Risk“
Startup Marketing Consultant Kaitlin Pike details multiple market research strategies brands use to reach consumers in “Efficient Marketing Research for Startups Using Facebook Advertising”