Author: Paul Singh

Happy Friday.

Despite Hurricane Matthew barreling down on us in Wilmington, NC this week, we still managed to pull off three solid days of keynotes, panels and office hours with a few hundred entrepreneurs and investors. Next stop, Fort Wayne, IN in a few weeks.

Thanks to everyone that offered help / connections to WordPress developers last week, the response was overwhelming but I think I’m all set. 

1. “Apple included an FPGA chip inside its latest iPhone” [Link] [Tweet]

As far as I know, the iPhone 7 is the only phone on the market with a FPGA on board. That’s a pretty big deal.

In phones that don’t contain FPGA chips on board, the only way to upgrade the chips / circuits is to replace them entirely (or just buy a newer phone). Now that the FPGA is included in the iPhone 7, Apple could create entirely new functionality by updating chips via software.

2. “being at the right startup is far more important than your role in the startup and how much stock you own.” [Link] [Tweet]

Being an entrepreneur doesn’t always mean you have to start something. Whether you sit in a cubicle or are tinkering with your next product, it’s important to think of your own career as a startup itself.

3. “Stop when you are going good.” [Link] [Tweet]

I used to think about work obsessively. During the day. Before bed. Through the weekend. In the shower. All. The. Time.

The stress was awful.

Boundaries are a good thing. Learn to set them as early as you can.

4. “to accelerate your timelines of learning & experiences, invest more hours than your peers to get them earlier.” [Link] [Tweet]

In our parents’ generation, experience was a function of how many years they worked. In our generation, experience is a function of how many things you try.

5. “Yes, it is possible. There is still time to stop a man who keeps stooping lower. That time is now.” [Link] [Tweet]

Last week, a number of you replied to explain your reasoning for voting Trump. (Thanks.) My response, bluntly: Ugh.

Neither candidate is perfect. Neither candidate has a spotless track record. Neither candidate will make everyone happy.

But, for those of us with children, do we really want our kids looking up to someone that (despite his own denials even in the presence of actual video recordings) openly suggests racism, sexism and violence?

6. “Businesses would be easy to run if the most important thing were the only thing we have to do.” [Link] [Tweet]

There’s a million things to do every day — regardless of whether you’re working on your own company or at someone else’s.

I’m a huge believer that everyone ought to have one core number they watch daily. If you’re working on something that doesn’t somehow result in that one core number moving, it might not be worth doing.

7. Instead of talking about innovation, we should be talking about entrepreneurship. [Link] [Tweet]

8. “mobile photography is finally changing from ‘camera you can carry around’ to mobile, computed photography.” [Link] [Tweet]

Camera phones FTW.

Quick poll: iPhone 7 or iPhone 7+ and why?

9. “What Palmer did was risky, even a bit reckless. It paid off, though.” [Link] [Tweet]

So why did he do it?

It was about respect. He believed he deserved it. He believed his fellow touring pros deserved it. They were better at their jobs than nearly everyone in the world was at theirs, and they ought to be treated that way. Someone had to take a stand.

Palmer went on to build an empire.

10. “The era of “tech companies” is over; there are only ‘companies’, steeped in technology, that will survive.” [Link] [Tweet]

One of my frustrations on the tech tour this year has been meeting elected officials in various cities throughout the US and Canada. In one breath, they’ll complain about not having enough technology companies in their area. In another breath, they’ll chuckle about something related to how little they know about Twitter, email or some other technology.

Leaders of companies and communities should be the first adopters of new tools.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

-P

Happy Friday.

It’s been a rainy and cool week in Baltimore but the startups are just about as strong as we’ve seen them anywhere on the tour this year. Bonus: running into the community leaders of a couple other places we visited this year. (I’m looking at you Fargo, Des Moines, Lincoln, Cedar Rapids and Albuquerque.)

I’m finally getting around to updating the look of this website. If you know of any strong WordPress theme developers that might be able to help, hit reply.

1. “I think one thing is you should be willing to move.” [Link] [Tweet]

It’s always interesting to get inside the mind of people doing interesting things. Sam is one of those people. (Look for his thoughts on compound interest and your own career — I’m intentionally not linking to it so that you’ll have to read the transcript yourself.)

As for being willing to move, I think his point is that you’ve got to be willing to do whatever it takes if you want to succeed. Sometimes that might include moving, most times it won’t. Either way, you’ve got to be willing to do the uncomfortable if you want to do interesting things.

2. “The worst possible thing when you’re working from home is that you feel you’re not in the loop.” [Link] [Tweet]

Working from home sounds fun… until you’ve done it for more than 30 days. Regardless of the tools you use, invest in a shared workspace. It’ll pay for itself in more ways than you think.

3. “SpaceX is building it. Meet the Big Fucking Rocket.” [Link] [Tweet]

Elon Musk is building electric cars and going to Mars. What are you doing with your life? (Pardon me while I go back to my Airstream and mull this one over.)

4. “Trump would shout over his interlocutors only to prove he had nothing to say.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re planning to vote for Trump, please hit reply and tell me why. I’m genuinely curious.

5. “to understand how virality works, you first have to know that not all virality is the same.” [Link] [Tweet]

Forward this one to your friend that keeps saying something about “going viral.” There’s much, much more to it than most people realize.

More importantly: spend less time worrying about virality and more time making something people want. You can’t have the former with at least a little bit of the latter.

6. “You do your best work when you truly care about the problem you are solving.” [Link] [Tweet]

There’s so much information available on the web about the “hard skills” of fundraising (eg, pitch decks, traction numbers, etc) but so little around the “soft skills.”

When you’re raising the first round of outside financing for your company, how your investors feel is just as important as the traction you can show.

7. “So pay attention a little, but not too much — leave more room for your own ideas than for theirs.” [Link] [Tweet]

This has been one of the unexpected benefits of traveling by road this year: we meet so many community leaders, entrepreneurs and investors around North America and we get to see how they make the magic happen in their own communities.

Then we get to spend 10-15 hours in transit to the next location and digest all that information en route.

Go see as much as you can and then get back to work on your own stuff.

8. “it’s important to invest in analytics early to best understand how customers are reacting to your product/service.” [Link] [Tweet]

Measure. Everything. You never know what you’ll want to do with that data later on.

9. “Boy, times have changed. Today founders all over the world are going big.” [Link] [Tweet]

This. So much this.

Having driven nearly 25,000 miles around North America this year, it’s more obvious than ever that interesting scalable companies are starting everywhere and the founding teams have no interest in leaving the high quality lifestyles they enjoy outside of the existing “tech hubs.”

My bet: over the next 1-2 years, we’re going to see more investors from the coasts getting on airplanes and traveling into the Midwest. They’re going to have to get themselves to the places where entrepreneurs start if they’re going to make any money over the coming years.

10. “Traction is graded on a curve, just like in high school.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you ask anyone what traction actually means, you’ll never get a straight answer. That’s because there is no straight answer.

The key is to realize that the relative growth rate of your company is more important than the absolute growth rate.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

-P

Happy Sunday.

Hello from Baltimore, MD… after an ~11 hour roadtrip from Knoxville, TN. For the record, it should never take 11 hours to drive between those two cities. #traffic

That being said, Knoxville was another great stop on the tech tour: great companies and a winning football team. #govols

It’s been a long day, this is going to be a short one… 

1. “It sure feels like we have reached Peak Demo Day.” [Link] [Tweet]

It’s not that there are too many demo days, it’s that they’re mostly boring.

The companies are all being taught to use the same pitch template. Even worse, some of them are asked to spend nearly six minutes on stage explaining their product.

NEWS FLASH: if someone doesn’t like / understand / want you in the first minute, it’s unlikely they’ll change their mind in the following five minutes.

Everyone should watch more demo days. Founders will make better pitches, investors will see more deals and communities can celebrate their entrepreneurs in a more sustainable way.

2. “The way you make money isn’t picking a winner. The way you make money is picking mispriced odds.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you can spare 10 minutes at some point this week, please read this article in it’s entirety (and subscribe to the newsletter). Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an investor, there’s quite a bit of wisdom packed into this.

One of my favorite sections:

Find secrets where no one else is looking. “Most big startup breakouts are where people aren’t paying attention.” Virtual reality may not be your best bet says Gurley, because “Samsung, HTC, and Facebook are all at the table.”

3. “Amongst the hardest things to find when one raises a new fund is ability to have stable capital.” [Link] [Tweet]

While it’s nice to see that there’s finally more information regarding the GP-LP relationship, the real lesson here is that founders should optimize for raising money from investors that will be around long enough to continue funding them as they grow.

4. “I had always heard it, but it had been so long since I listened.” [Link] [Tweet]

It’s never been easier to reach hundreds of thousands of people while still being unable to hold a conversation with exactly one other person.

I’ve started to turn off (errrrr…. ignore) my phone much more often. From what I can tell, it seem to frustrate people trying to reach me but I feel a little more relaxed. You should try it.

5. “they are surrendering their most likely exit options for a low-probability shot at building a superstar startup.” [Link] [Tweet]

I meet founders that are so worried about their potential valuations but little-to-no concern about what sort of exit prices they’ll need to hit in order to earn any money for themselves.

If you can understand how your investors make money, you’ll be more likely to make some for yourself.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

-P

Happy Sunday.

And hello from I-81S today, en route to Knoxville for the week. I’ve spent the last ~2 weeks trying to catch up on the backlog of emails and new investments. Now it’s time to get back in the saddle…

1. “It’s pretty bad, and I know this happens for a lot of VCs.” [Link] [Tweet]

The investor-founder relationship is full of asymmetries.

The founder sees her own deal while the investor sees hundreds of deals (sometimes per month). The founder is pushing their own deal along while the investor tries to keep up with previous investments while pushing new ones through. You get the point.

The art of the follow-up is tricky. For founders trying to gain (or re-gain) the attention of investors, you need to create FOMO and greed without being pushy, needy or worse. (Easy, right?)

2. “VCs need to return a minimum of 4x the amount they’ve raised, which really means 5x.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you walk into a VC meeting without knowing the size of their latest fund, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

Businesses return funds, not ideas.

3. “You want to turn a profit, you want to build an asset you’re proud of, and you want to enjoy yourself.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re convinced that you can’t build a business without getting an investor onboard, you’ve clearly been reading the wrong things.

Venture capital is a tool, not a milestone, for all businesses.

4. “If you decide you want to play the VC game, just be sure to learn how the score is tallied.” [Link] [Tweet]

Defining traction is hard because every business is different. In the context of VC, it’s important to recognize that the rate of traction increase is the most important thing.

5. “California is the eighth largest economy in the world. The Midwest is the fifth.” [Link] [Tweet]

If there was a list of things I’ve been thinking but haven’t had the chance to write about, this would be it.

Having driven nearly 25,000 miles around the US and Canada this year (with another ~5,000 to go before the end of the year), there’s no doubt that the number of startups — especially fundable ones — is increasing everywhere. Sure, there’s a lot of noise to deal with as an investor but that’s part of the gig regardless of where you’re based.

I’m not sure that every other investor is going to be willing to buy a RV and drive around but I do think we’ll see more VC firms sending associates and venture partners out to demo days and tech events throughout the Midwest over the next 3-5 years.

Note: if you run an accelerator, manage a fund or are an active angel investor anywhere in the Midwest, your goal ought to be to become the most visible investor within a ~500 mile radius. Don’t worry about your home town or backyard.

6. “There isn’t a shortage of developers and designers. There’s a surplus of founders.” [Link] [Tweet]

THIS.

7. “We’ll remember it as the AirPod launch—a seminal moment in the advent of the voice age.” [Link] [Tweet]

OK, first things first, I have an iPhone 6 Plus and I think I’m going to keep it for now. #oldschool

We’ve got an Amazon Echo in the Airstream (and one in the apartment back in DC). Alexa isn’t perfect but, compared to Siri, she’s wayyyyyy better/smarter/faster.

I find the current version of Siri, as compared to Alexa, to be frustrating to use. Half the time I use Siri with my iPhone or Apple TV, she doesn’t understand the request. The rest of the time, the lag is so annoying that I choose not to use Siri at all.

I agree with the idea that AirPods may be the first “mainstream” product that could push us into voice computing but Apple’s got a long way to go with Siri.

8. “Over 5 weeks, meet with 100 investors to close $500k in your seed round.” [Link] [Tweet]

Sometimes I get the impression that founders think that raising money is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Or saying the right thing to the right investor. Or something else related to luck.

Raising money is a process. And, like any process, it requires a funnel. If you want to raise money, you better be ready to talk to a lot of people along the way.

9. “You can always feel when product/market fit isn’t happening.” [Link] [Tweet]

Having made this mistake in my own companies in the past: keep your team small and your burn rate ultra-low until you find PMF.

10. “Even when your job description is simple, there are ways to create new responsibilities for yourself.” [Link] [Tweet]

Whether you realize it or not, you’ll never have true job security unless you think of yourself as an entrepreneur rather than an employee, manager or whatever other title you might have currently.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

-P

Happy Saturday.

And hello from DC this week where I’m on a two week staycation between tour stops (read: I’m trying to catch up on email).

While in Port Huron, MI last week, I met the Hulabed team and replaced my mattress with one of theirs. You should too, seriously. Two weeks in and I’m loving this damn thing. I should have replaced my old spring mattress a long time ago.

1. “an upper bound of $1.5 million should be enough seed funding” [Link] [Tweet]

TLDR: try to avoid raising (or investing in rounds) less than $1.5M.

2. “You don’t need to work for a VC to start doing the work that an entry-level VC does.” [Link] [Tweet]

Outside view of a VC’s day: glamor, caviar, money and private jets.
Real view of a VC’s day: 10 rough pitches, 1 tiny economy seat, 300 emails and fast food.

3. “Throughout life I’ve realized that many people are back benchers.” [Link] [Tweet]

Someone smart once told me to focus on getting people to love or hate something I’ve said. Either way, they’re thinking about what you’ve said.

The alternative, of course, is to try pleasing everyone and then being surprised when you realize that no one cares about what you’ve said at all.

4. “Business is about creating value. No value = no profits = no business. Don’t believe your own hype.” [Link] [Tweet]

This.

5. “95% of VC’s aren’t actually earning enough ROI to justify the risk their investors (LP’s) are taking.” [Link] [Tweet]

Now that there are >300 VC firms managing funds in the US, I suspect we’ll see a shakeout similar to what’s been happening to accelerators around the world in recent years. LPs are going to be unhappy about returns, GPs will lower fees in an effort to woo them back and any of the firms that are not in the top 10 lists will likely fizzle out into obscurity.

If you’re a GP managing a small fund today, I have two tips for you:

1. Start considering yourself a media company that happens to have a fund. You can’t afford to be a VC firm with a social media intern anymore. Your goal is to be the #1 VC within a 1,000 mile radius of your office — not your backyard.
2. Start considering the idea that perhaps returning 3X-4X on your fund doesn’t necessarily have to be from 9 failures and 1 big win. Maybe it’s worth looking at bootstrapped companies looking to make the turn towards venture. Maybe it’s time to look at fast-follower models in deals outside your region. Regardless, you’re probably not going to make any money doing the same thing that every other failing fund is doing.

6. “Raise or don’t raise.” [Link] [Tweet]

There’s a public story and a private story to every fundraise. I love this one because it’s super transparent — or appears to be anyways.

7. “will this founder be able to raise the next round?” [Link] [Tweet]

I’ve been thinking about this same idea as I’ve been driving around the US & Canada this year. I’m meeting a lot of founders that seem to have good businesses but I’m not entirely convinced they’ll know how (or what it takes) to raise their next round.

8. “These are high stakes markets where winning is everything and losing is nothing.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of people claiming to be investors (and founders) today don’t quite understand that our world is driven by the Power Law. Read about it.

9. “moderation is necessary for a happy life and behavior change isn’t always as easy as it seems.” [Link] [Tweet]

Quit social media for a month? Nope. Nope. Nope.

10. “The chemistry between co-founders—good or bad—can help propel a startup to growth, or doom it to mediocrity.” [Link] [Tweet]

You’re probably going to spend more time with your cofounder than with your family/spouse (sad, but true). Choose carefully.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. Sometimes I write stuff too. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

Happy Saturday.

And hello from DC this week where I’m on a two week staycation between tour stops (read: I’m trying to catch up on email).

While in Port Huron, MI last week, I met the Hulabed team and replaced my mattress with one of theirs. You should too, seriously.

As the 2016 tour starts to wind down, I’m starting to think about the 2017 edition. What do you think I ought to be doing?

Reminder: I’m giving away a free DJI Phantom 4. Seriously. Enter here to win (it takes less than 10 seconds, I checked).

1. “If a software company grows at 20% annually, it has a 92 percent chance of ceasing to exist within a few years.” [Link] [Tweet]

As I’ve been touring around the country, one of the common arguments for not raising money is so that founders don’t feel so rushed to build a large company. The data, however, suggests that growing fast is the only way to survive regardless of whether you raise money.

2. “We should pause and stand in awe of Uber’s pace of execution and the scope of its ambition” [Link] [Tweet]

The bottom line on the Uber-Didi deal is that Uber’s still going to own 20% of new combined entity. They’re still going to “win” the Chinese market, they just don’t have to do the actual work anymore.

3. “On-demand delivery is dead. Long live on-demand delivery!” [Link] [Tweet]

Repeat after me: unit economics matter.

4. “I carry the value of co’s that I invested in at the negotiated term sheet regardless of how the company is doing.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m absolutely convinced that encouraging angels (and angel groups) to do a quarterly markup/markdown of their portfolio would result in better returns. Someone ought to build a free spreadsheet, I’d share it.

5. “As soon as you tell people what you’re up to, an amazing effect comes into play. You become committed.” [Link] [Tweet]

Yes. So much yes. This is the #1 reason why you should never do anything in “stealth mode.”

6. “as a founder, *you* are the one that creates the value.” [Link] [Tweet]

When I speak to angel investors along the tour, I always ask them one rhetorical question: where do you believe venture returns come from?

My answer: the default state of every company is failure and the only people that can turn that around are on the founding team.

7. “I still have Imposter Syndrome. I doubt I’ll ever get rid of it.” [Link] [Tweet]

This.

8. “a company growing at 15% monthly over four years will be 8x larger than one growing at 10%.” [Link] [Tweet]

Compounding growth is sexy… but not many people realize it.

9. “business model innovation is more disruptive that technological innovation.” [Link] [Tweet]

As a founder, your goal isn’t to build a better widget from the outset. It’s to sell a widget better than the incumbents.

10. “Few people will tell you to stop trying to raise money.” [Link] [Tweet]

If I could impart one piece of advice to all the mentors and investors I’ve met along the tour this year, it would be this: sometimes the best thing you can do for the founders in your community is to tell them to stop trying to raise money.

In business, you should kill off anything that isn’t working within 30 days. Including fundraising.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. Sometimes I write stuff too. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday.

And hello from Des Moines, IA this week (where the tech companies are solid, the coworking spaces are full and the heat index is 115). Next up, Port Huron, MI and then two weeks to catch my breath in DC.

On a personal note, the tour is starting to wind down — just a few more cities left to go and then we’ll wind down the 2016 tour by October and start planning the 2017 edition.I’m taking on a few consulting projects between now and the end of the year. If there’s something I can be doing to help you and/or your local tech scene between now and the end of the year, please hit reply and let’s talk about it.

Reminder: I’m giving away a free DJI Phantom 4. Seriously. Enter here to win (it takes less than 10 seconds, I checked).

1. “it’s hard to argue that Obama the human being has been anything less than a model of class and dignity.” [Link] [Tweet]

Obama’s the role model that we all should be striving to be — as entrepreneurs, leaders and humans.

2. “If this doesn’t describe you, by all means — consider coworking.” [Link] [Tweet]

Having visited 20+ cities on the tour this year, two observations on coworking spaces I’ve visited this year:

• For most coworking spaces, nearly half of the revenue (read: membership) is comprised of employees telecommuting for larger companies. The other half of revenue is mostly comprised of entrepreneurs building their own teams and companies.
• The rise of coworking spaces in the US over the past five years feels like it’s can be largely attributed to filling an existing gap — most telecommuters and entrepreneurs were forced to work from home or coffee shops until coworking spaces arrived. Over the next five years, I wouldn’t be surprised if the telecommuting side of the revenue stream will increase to 70%-80% of coworking revenue.

3. “Entrepreneurship is really just a fancy word for delegation.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you can get past all the paragraphs talking about laziness, the rest of this is pretty solid advice for building a company: think of it as a machine, engineer that machine to product the results you want and hire the right people to run various parts of the machine.

4. “one of the hardest things about making your dream, or your business, or your blog, or whatever is just doing it.” [Link] [Tweet]

Just. Get. Started. (Also, subscribe to Waiter’s Pad if you — like me — don’t have the attention span to listen to podcasts.)

5. “Many family offices have always been Operators and that investment style pervades throughout their office.” [Link] [Tweet]

It’s no secret that more family offices are making direct investments in companies these days. The thing is, however, that they rarely start (or anchor) a round.

If you’re raising money, stick to traditional routes to start your closing (eg, warm intros, active investors, direct 1:1 meetings). Once that’s out of the way, you can use AngelList, family offices and anything else you want to close out the round.

6. “Money is overvalued. Time is undervalued. Optimize for learning quickly.” [Link] [Tweet]

Sometimes I think I’ll sit down to write out things I’ve learned over the years. Then I realize it’s more interesting to read what other people have learned along the way. Then I forget that I should start writing stuff. Oh well.

7. “For Silicon Valley’s political aspirations, Mr. Thiel’s speech is the ultimate high-beta performance.” [Link] [Tweet]

So um, how about that RNC this week? #facepalm

8. “The series A market is undoubtedly in decline. The series B market is booming.” [Link] [Tweet]

Good companies always get funded. Always.

Focus on selling new accounts and growing existing accounts, everything else will work itself out.

9. “You have to either choose to be active and concentrated or passive and diversified.” [Link] [Tweet]

The most common mistakes investors make is that they’re not honest with themselves. The #1 thing I ask investors these days: where do you believe that big returns come from? (Now invest in whatever that is.)

FWIW, I believe the default state of every company is failure and only the founding team can turn that around.

10. “The talent and access to technology are there, but these markets have to overcome significant challenges.” [Link] [Tweet]

Konrad’s a friend of mine and traveling through Europe and Asia these days. His views of the tech scenes there match mine here in the US & Canada almost perfectly. Talent and opportunity are pretty evenly distributed, access to venture capital and functional expertise isn’t.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. Sometimes I write stuff too. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

Happy Friday.

And hello from Indianapolis this week. Next up, Des Moines. And then Port Huron, MI. Come say hello.

I’m giving away an DJI Phantom 4 for free. Enter here to win (it takes less than 10 seconds, I checked).

1. “On the off chance he actually is planning to back out, what would happen?” [Link] [Tweet]

Ugh.

2. “Don’t be so fast to look elsewhere to build your company” [Link] [Tweet]

If I’ve learned anything on the tech tour this year, it’s not that interesting companies really can start (and grow) anywhere — I already knew that. The more interesting observation is that most cities lack the functional expertise that smart founders need.

In other words, most of the startup mentors / advisors aren’t very good (and worse, they’re often selling their own stuff to the founders).

3. “there are now so many accelerators that it’s ‘buyer beware’.” [Link] [Tweet]

Accelerators are the modern day business schools and founders ought to treat them the same way: apply to all the best ones, take the best offer you can get and be sure to understand what exactly you’re getting in return.

4. “It was never by design — I was always gunning for a regular full-time job but they never arrived.” [Link] [Tweet]

I met Semil a couple of times when I was living in Silicon Valley and he’s always struck me as someone that was going to figure things out. Love that hustle.

5. “Real entrepreneurship is not risky.” [Link] [Tweet]

In contrast, I’ve never met James but I imagine he talks exactly the way he writes. Punchy and straightforward.

6. “What’s important is that we didn’t hire a marketer, but a sales guy first.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re currently running a company and planning to make any hires this year, just hang on a minute: most founders overvalue engineers and undervalue sales. But, you’re not most founders. Get it?

7. “I wish more LPs would blog to help VCs and entrepreneurs understand them better.” [Link] [Tweet]

It’s nice to see some transparency on the LP side of the equation. Understanding how LPs (and, by extension, GPs) think is a great way for founders and investors to align their interests.

8. “Modern-society is also littered with over-networkers and over-introducers and professional conference attendees.” [Link] [Tweet]

The best people, unsurprisingly, tend to be the most protective of their networks. Protect your network and only make introductions when you have no doubt that both parties will benefit.

9. “it’s very important to note that this valuation philosophy is entirely based on growth.” [Link] [Tweet]

Despite what local investors outside of the Valley think, early stage valuations are pretty much normalized across the country. It’s the later stage rounds where things get trickier. (AngelList posts valuation data here.)

10. “there is no downside for entrepreneurs to using AngelList” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re thinking about raising money (or, from the other side of the table, thinking about investing in companies), you owe it to yourself to get on AngelList (and follow me here). In the best case, you’ll use the platform to raise money. In the worst case, you’ll see all the other important companies in your industry as they raise money. Either way, you win.

While we’re talking about it: stop connecting with people on LinkedIn. If you’re in the tech industry, you’re better off connecting with people on AngelList.

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. Sometimes I write stuff too. You can always find me (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P