Author: Paul Singh

Happy Saturday.

I’ve spent the last few days meeting founders, investors and policymakers in Taos, Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. New Mexico’s an interesting place — more on that in a blog post soon. Tonight, I’m parked in Casa Grande, AZ where the Airstream’s electrical systems will get some much-needed upgrades to support the tour. I’ll fly back to DC tomorrow and am looking forward to catching up on everything. If you’re in Vegas next week, please join me — I’ll be parked in the Airstream Village and we’re hosting a bunch of events throughout the week.

Add me on Snapchat, my username is resultsjunkies. I’m posting the unedited version of the tech tour, maybe you’ll find it interesting.

1. “Snapchat is, in many ways, bigger than television.” [Link] [Tweet]

I admit that I should’ve taken Snapchat much more seriously a year ago, you should have too. I’ve only been active over the past 2-3 weeks and the engagement is surprisingly higher than I expected.

For me, the key is to understand that Snapchat’s different from my other social media efforts. If Twitter has my thoughts and Instagram shows the “prettiest” parts of my life, Snapchat shows the rough / unedited reality. No wonder the engagement is higher, it feels much more authentic.

2. “Without operating experience, the road to successful VC will be tougher and longer, less fun and even more muted.” [Link] [Tweet]

Something that people don’t consider when they actually get that role in the VC industry: it’s nearly impossible to get another job after you’ve been a VC.

3. “Dangerous companies are dependent on venture capital. It’s like a heroin drip.” [Link] [Tweet]

One of the most refreshing (and mostly unexpected) things I’ve seen as I tour across the country: there are so many bootstrapped companies that have little-to-no interest in ever raising outside money.

You don’t have to raise money to be a great company.

4. “That’s the business we’re in: Buy our software, sell more stuff.” [Link] [Tweet]

It’s hard to tell where reality ends and exaggeration begins. Regardless, don’t ever let your culture look like this.

5. “Be prepared for tough questions around profitability.” [Link] [Tweet]

Founders seem to have forgotten that your first round of outside money is the easiest to raise. After that, the number of questions and the amount of scrutiny skyrocket.

If the pitch deck you’re using for your second round looks like your first round, you’re in trouble.

6. “Community hasn’t taken a backseat — but VCs are being left behind” [Link] [Tweet]

The only VCs (and angels) that are getting left behind are those that think that they’re capital is somehow better than everyone else’s.

7. “The first and most important thing you can do is minimize the amount of money you invest in your losers.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m curious how other investors think about something: yes or no — do you prefer to lead inside rounds in your own portfolio companies? Why?

8. “As for technology, my working definition is: a tool that radically solves problems.” [Link] [Tweet]

My favorite line: “Indeed, the printing press was once technology, as was writing — as was the wheel.”

9. “follow-on rates are also a core metric and critical to understand a young fund’s performance.” [Link] [Tweet]

If your portfolio companies aren’t growing, you’re in trouble.

10. Do we need a #10?

I’m thinking of changing things up a bit with this newsletter — is there something else you’d like to see? (eg, should we reduce it to 5 of the most interesting articles and I’ll write a longer personal piece in each newsletter? something else?)

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Saturday.

I wrapped up a fantastic week in Tulsa yesterday, more details on that soon. I’m in Guymon, OK tonight and en route to Taos, NM tomorrow. If you’re on Snapchat, add me — my username is resultsjunkies. I’m posting the unedited version of the tech tour, maybe you’ll find it interesting.  

1. “most of the things we’ve funded are mostly crap and largely worthless.” [Link] [Tweet]

Ignore the clickbait headline and pay attention to the rest of the article. There’s a reason why Chamath’s been so successful.

2. “The hard truth is: Trump only cares about Trump.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is a fascinating read from one of Trump’s defectors, I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten more media coverage though. Why is that?

3. “VC is crap for most startups.” [Link] [Tweet]

Having met 20+ companies in 1:1 office hours in Tulsa last week, it seems that the lack of early stage venture capital forced a number of companies to bootstrap their ways to $1M+ in ARR. That’s pretty cool.

4. “Don’t finalize the logo before you come up with a business plan that works.” [Link] [Tweet]

My favorite line: “Hiding takes many forms. Inappropriate attention to detail is a big one, because it feels like a responsible thing to do.”

5. “You have a bigger opportunity than ever before to build a long-lasting, fundamentally important tech company.” [Link] [Tweet]

Remember when you used to buy business books to get advice like this?

6. “Every company will be a tech company — or it won’t be around.” [Link] [Tweet]

This: “The people who have problems that we need to solve do not live in San Francisco and New York — they live in New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Charleston, San Antonio, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham and Birmingham.” (Ahem, tech tour anyone?)

7. “you don’t start at rare and valuable, you start at answering every email.” [Link] [Tweet]

There’s no shortcut for experience. In our parents’ generation, that experience was a function of the number of years you’d been around a particular industry. Today, your experience is a function of the number of things you’ve tried.

8. “Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail.” [Link] [Tweet]

The default state of your company is failure and you, the founders, are the only ones that can turn it around. Read this and avoid making common mistakes.

9. “There’s a strategy behind the economies of scale that can be created through larger co-working environments.” [Link] [Tweet]

Why are people surprised by this? If you’re a landlord / real estate professional, coworking spaces represent an entirely new product for your buildings. Without coworking spaces, today’s tech-enabled workers would likely never step foot in your building until they needed a larger space… which they might never need at all.

10. “Our phones are also diaries, confessional booths, repositories for our deepest secrets.” [Link] [Tweet]

Our phones are the future to our individualized healthcare: “All my life, my doctors tended to be vague, making my bodily functions seem ultramysterious, when in fact they are just individualized, and easily understood with the assistance of software.”

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Friday.

I’m en route to Tulsa, OK and spending the night in Zanesville, OH tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll aim for a winery somewhere near St. Louis, MO — if you’re around, hit reply and let’s see if we can line up a tasting somewhere fun.

If you’re on Snapchat, add me — my username is resultsjunkies. I’m posting the unedited version of the tech tour, maybe you’ll find it interesting. Also, you can laugh at how much of a noob I am. 🙂

I’m still considering making an angel investment in at least three Pittsburgh companies ($100K+ revenue, reasonable valuations, clean term sheets and incredibly smart founders), please join my AngelList syndicate if you’d like the opportunity to participate alongside me. You can invest as little as $1,000 in deals, you get to opt-in/opt-out of deals as you wish — no pressure and more dealflow for you.

1. “Startup is just a glorified word for an SME (small medium enterprise).” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re calling yourself a startup and you’re wondering why no one cares, it’s time to open your eyes. The only thing that separates your “startup” business from the restaurant down the street is the fact that one of you needs bricks and mortar to exist. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you’ll be OK.

2. “Raising money means that the kind of company you can build is now limited.” [Link] [Tweet]

Everyone wants higher valuations but very few people really understand the implications. As your valuations increase, the number of potential exits drops.

3. “The era of bullshit is over. You need to raise now.” [Link] [Tweet]

I can’t say this enough: if you’re spending more than 50% of any investor meeting explaining the product, you’re in trouble. Focus on making something people want, the money will follow.

4. “Thus begins Snapchat and why you don’t get it. That’s the point.” [Link] [Tweet]

I have to admit that I’m still figuring out how to use Snapchat. (You better be following me, look for “resultsjunkies” on Snapchat.) That being said, it’s fascinating to see just how much the platform seems to have “grown up” over the past year or two.

5. “The ride-sharing company is reportedly hungry for autonomous cars.” [Link] [Tweet]

When’s the last time that anyone bought 100,000 Mercedes S-class sedans in a single purchase? That’s right, no one. Until Uber came around.

Over the next 25 years of our lives, Uber’s likely to make the most impact to our daily lives. Keep watching.

6. “A lot of founders start as doers but need to grow into leaders.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m sharing this with myself as much as I’m sharing it with you: “Very few people want to be a cog in a machine. Very few people want to be told precisely what to do. They want to be challenged. They want to be given problems so they can find the solution. They want ownership so they can feel proud of their work and care about it.”

7. “It should be clear at a glance just how dependent the American economy is on truck drivers.” [Link] [Tweet]

Fun fact: there are 3.5M professional drivers in the US (and another 5M+ people employed in the trucking industry — there’s a lot more when you consider the international markets. My bet: autonomous trucks will likely flood the market much, much sooner than autonomous consumer vehicles do.

8. “Whenever you make an introduction you’re investing your reputation.” [Link] [Tweet]

There’s so much (crap) content online about people trying to “be the connector” for others. Please don’t fall for it.

I’d rather have you make fewer high quality connections to me than more low quality connections. I’ll bet every penny I have that everyone else around you wants the same.

If you want to get ahead in life, curate your network aggressively.

9. “Being alone, though uncomfortable, allows us to reflect on what we love and fear.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m writing this to you from a quiet (and remote) Airstream tonight — this article’s right. You should try it some time soon, seriously.

10. “solar energy is only six doublings — or less than 14 years — away from meeting 100% of today’s energy needs.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m not convinced that everyone’s going to drive electric cars in our lifetime but I’m sure that all of our homes will be powered by sun/wind/water sooner than we’re comfortable admitting.

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Saturday.

The Airstream’s parked in Pittsburgh, just down the street from Alphalab, and we’ve wrapped up a week long set of events for founders, investors and the broader tech community. I didn’t come into Pittsburgh with any expectations or assumptions — I was blown away, they’ve got a good thing going here. You can find a bunch of photos here,here and here.

I’m considering making an angel investment in at least three Pittsburgh companies ($100K+ revenue, reasonable valuations, clean term sheets and incredibly smart founders), please join my AngelList syndicate if you’d like the opportunity to participate alongside me. You can invest as little as $1,000 in deals, you get to opt-in/opt-out of deals as you wish — no pressure and more dealflow for you.

I’m currently speaking with a few partners / sponsors for the 2016 tech tour — if there are any companies or organizations in your network that would like to be super visible in the founder/investor/technology community, please send them my way.

Next up: I’m in Vancouver Tues/Wed of this week before pulling the Airstream towards Tulsa next weekend for the second tech tour stop

1. “The staff’s inability to spell your name correctly is actually a giant conspiracy to make them more money.” [Link] [Tweet]

Yep.

2. “if you do decide to do a startup, keep an eye out for the deferred life plan.” [Link] [Tweet]

This part rings so true: Yet, many people I know are spending these years hunched over a computer, thinking of few things besides their company, their career, and how to “make it” in the world. They’ve bought into the same deferred life plan as the 22-year old banker at Goldman Sachs; it’s just sugarcoated with words like “disruption,” “ownership,” and “innovation.”

3. So I made a thing: It’s not sketchy, it’s UP AND COMING. (Gimme feedback, yo.) [Link] [Tweet]

I posted my first video on YouTube this past Sunday night, what did you think of it?

I tried to carry my GoPro with me the entire time I was in Pittsburgh. Now I have a ton of footage and no time to edit it all down into anything good. Any tips on how to get it done more efficiently (or tips on how to find the right editor to help me do it all)?

4. “Journalism is fun, but you’ll be a VC one day too. Once you realize how dumb and easy it all is.” [Link] [Tweet]

Another reality TV show focused on startups, y’all. Wonderful.

5. “It’s because they care about their dignity more than they care about their finances.” [Link] [Tweet]

For the sake of argument (and if we temporarily put aside Trump’s own verbal support of racism and other terrible things), what are the rational reasons to support him?

6. “Big Food maker plans to invest $125 million in startups.” [Link] [Tweet]

One more VC in the industry can’t be a bad thing, right?

7. “When in a new location, Uber will only employ three: marketing manager, driver ops manager & general manager.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re starting something new, your founding team should probably look as lean as Uber’s model. Someone building the product, someone marketing the product and someone making sure that the product has everything it needs to survive long enough to win.

8. “I had to quit to put myself in a position to believe in myself.” [Link] [Tweet]

Saying ‘no’ is a tool to do the few things that matter to you very well.

9. “Angel investing is about experience.” [Link] [Tweet]

Successful angel investing is about seeing a lot of deals and doing a lot of deals. Sure, there’s a bit more to it than that but the point is that you’re not going to get better at it by reading more of the same stuff.

If you want to see all the deals I’ll be doing this year, you can back my AngelList syndicate. It won’t cost you a penny and you’ll likely see more qualified deals through my tech tour this year than you will on your own.

10. “there’s a big difference between pleasing people and helping them.” [Link] [Tweet]

Can someone build these into Gmail’s canned responses or something?

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Friday.

Over 200 people came out to hang with me this past Monday night in DC, you all are the best — thanks for coming! We’re now up to 29 cities (across 24 stops) now for the tour, the full list is available here.

If you’re in the Pittsburgh area, please grab a (free) ticket to the events before we run out of space. I arrive on March 13th and the final schedule is now online, here’s the link for details and to RSVP: http://nvite.co/n68j27

If you’re interested in angel investing with me this year, please consider joining my my AngelList syndicate. And, as usual, if you’re in the DC Metro area and looking for a place to work (and hang out), join me at Brickyard Ashburn. If you mention that you learned about it through my newsletter (or you just hit reply now), I’ll hook you up. 😉

Lastly, the Airstream’s now got a little vinyl on it — here are a few teaser images. Follow me on Instagram, yo.

1. “valuations are based on what the company might accomplish, not what it’s actually accomplishing.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is something that founders (and many inexperienced investors) have a hard time grasping: for early stage tech-enabled companies, potential is everything. For everyone else (and every other company stage), actuals are everything.

2. “Gross profit, not revenue, is the metric companies should be using to compare themselves.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’ve seen more than a few pitches, you’ll notice that everyone’s showing some sort of revenue number now. As with most things, there’s some good and bad to it.

Having revenue is generally a good thing as long as you understand that the only way to compare companies in an apples-to-apples manner is via their gross revenue.

3. “But the App Store’s middle class is small and shrinking. And the easy money is gone.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you plan to pitch (or invest in) an app-based company this year, I hope you take five minutes to read this today.

Here’s a sneak peek: “There are now more than 1.5 million apps in the App Store (Android users have 1.6 million to choose from), but by 2014, the majority of Americans were downloading zero apps per month. And it turns out people simply don’t use most of the apps they do download. According to ComScore, the average person spends 80 percent of their time on mobile devices using only three apps.”

4. “Yes­ter­day is ir­rel­e­vant” [Link] [Tweet]

If you want to stay relevant in any industry, you’ve got to be constantly reinventing yourself.

5. “Growth needs to become everyone’s job.” [Link] [Tweet]

TL;DR: avoid talking about minutiae at meetings and focus on the KPIs needed to grow. Everything else will sort itself out.

6. “there’s been such enormous growth and opportunity that it’s created some challenges for happiness” [Link] [Tweet]

OK, so people are moving out of the Valley — I guess that’s a good story to write. But, since when did people in the Valley (and their moving decisions) become a story.

Here’s the real story: the number of smart and talented people looking to move to the Valley is decreasing. (And that’s why I’m doing my tech tour this year: because it’s increasingly important to bring functional expertise, venture capital and the media spotlight to the places that these people have already chosen to live and work.)

7. “it’s important to take the leap of faith and give 100%. Otherwise it’s very hard to succeed.” [Link] [Tweet]

Before you try to convince anyone else to join your team (as an employee, investor or anything else), you’ve got to take the leap first.

8. “Fear of missing out is a paralyzing force.” [Link] [Tweet]

Key advice: “It’s more important to keep moving forward with a good decision than to slowly optimize for the best decision every time.”

9. “Listen To Trusted Sources And Take The Freakin’ Meeting” [Link] [Tweet]

Hindsight is always 20/20. As a general rule of thumb: be nice to everyone, be helpful to everyone and get your own work done. (If you figure out how to do all three of those all the time, I’ll pay you to teach me.)

10. “If you keep your overhead low, you get more opportunities to win big.” [Link] [Tweet]

I wish someone had shared this advice with me a decade ago. I grew up in the Washington, DC Metro region (Great Falls & Ashburn, if you know the area) and, IMHO, having things tends to be the culture around here.

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Friday.

I’m throwing a kickoff party and happy hour in DC this Monday night. I hope you’ll join me and 175+ other people — I’ll buy the first drink (or two)!  We’ve announced 12 cities for the tour and, just this week, signed on a bunch more: I’ll be pulling my Airstream to 28 cities in the US and Canada this year — I hope you’ll join me at one or more of the stops. (If you want to come, just hit reply and tell me which cities and dates. I’ll make sure my events team helps with your logistics and, where it makes sense, pulls you on stage with me.)

If you’re interested in angel investing with me this year, please consider joining my my AngelList syndicate. (Those backing my syndicate will get first dibs on investor slots we’ve created on my tech tour — you’ll get priority access to some exclusive experiences at each stop along the tour and earlier access to founders that I’m considering investing in.)

And, as usual, if you’re in the DC Metro area and looking for a place to work (and hang out), join me at Brickyard Ashburn. If you mention that you learned about it through my newsletter (or you just hit reply now), I’ll hook you up. 😉

1. “The key is to avoid letting sense of urgency become a goal in itself.” [Link] [Tweet]

Whether you’re building a company or a community, this is great advice.

2. “They don’t realize how much the subtle influence of gossip, violence, and drama impacts them.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you can ignore the clickbait title of the article, the rest of this gold. Especially the section on knowing your own daily rate.

3. “I’ve become irrationally dedicated to rational living.” [Link] [Tweet]

This family lives on less than $36,000 a year. In America. And they make it look do-able.

4. I can understand why someone might not want to vote for a Democratic candidate. But, this guy? For reals? [Link] [Tweet]

Anyone see the Republican debate last night? What. Is. Happening. I’m going to leave this right here.

5. “In times of uncertainty, as an investor, my one and only job is to help the founders navigate choppy waters.” [Link] [Tweet]

One of the other great parts of this piece: “Whichever option a founder has to consider, they are emotionally tough on the founders and the companies they spearhead. My job as an investor and a board member is to be truthful, be empathetic and be honest in my feedback to the founders, so that they can continue to make smart decisions about their future. Decisions that allow them to survive, during the harshest of times.”

6. “The founders that fall in love with fundraising rarely go on to be the most successful.” [Link] [Tweet]

More YC advice (that doesn’t really apply to anyone outside of YC and/or Silicon Valley).

Regardless of where you’re located, this is the key bit — tattoo this to your forearm: “The best investors know that the most important thing to figure out at this stage is how much your users love you.  Great engagement and word of mouth growth are magic for fundraising.”

7. “There is something to be said for eating the world one bite at a time. It’s the only way to do it.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is a great follow-on to the early fundraising advice: All you have to worry about is getting one single person to give a shit.

8. “a non-trivial amount of early stage capital is dispersing geographically throughout the US.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you look at early stage tech companies through the lens of a VC, the vast majority of them aren’t worth a second look. And that’s probably true, if your fund is so large that you need companies to exceed a $100M in value for them to return anything meaningful to you.

That’s the problem with much of the tech buzz today: the investor’s fund size dictates the company’s success. It’s the tail wagging the dog.

There’s a time and place for big funds, it’s probably not the early stage. For that, the angels and micro-VCs (<$50M funds) need to step up — particularly outside of the major tech hubs. (Did I mention I’m visiting 28 cities around the US & Canada this year?)

9. “talent is universal, while opportunity is not.” [Link] [Tweet]

For most of us in the tech industry, this is old news. If you’re ready to meet people that may not quite see this coming, crash an event that your local Chamber of Commerce is putting on. Then live tweet the conversations.

10. “The PR industry is built on the pillars of obfuscation of actual work, actual results, and set costs.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is so good: “Your PR firm is an immensely low-burn business. You are very valuable to them, by all means, but a PR firm is very cheap to keep alive, and thus many agencies will gladly take you for a three month guaranteed retainer and spam multiple reporters. Why? Because it’s cheap.”

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Friday.

Hello from Reston, VA this morning.

If you’re in DC on Mon, Feb 29, I’m throwing a kickoff party and happy hour in DC. I hope you’ll join me — I’ll buy the first drink (or two)! We’ve got room for 150 smart people and 112 have already signed up as I write this to you. It’s filling up fast and It’s going to be a great time. See you there.

If you’re in a video/podcast mood, check out this interview I did with The Foundation: Ditching Silicon Valley and Helping America´s Small Town Entrepreneurs.

And, as usual, if you’re in the DC Metro area and looking for a place to work (and hang out), join me at Brickyard Ashburn. If you mention that you learned about it through my newsletter (or you just hit reply now), I’ll hook you up. 😉

1. I’m going to make 10-20 angel investments this year, you should probably join my syndicate. #RJTechTour [Link] [Tweet]

I’m planning to dial up my personal angel investing this year (especially considering that I’ll be meeting thousands of entrepreneurs around North America this year). If you’re even remotely interested in investing alongside me, you should join my AngelList syndicate. I opened it earlier this morning and, already, over $60,000 has been committed to my syndicate.

It’s free to join, you can commit as little as $1,000 to the syndicate and you can manually opt-in (or out) of any deals on a deal-by-deal basis. I’ll be syndicating 100% of the deals I do this year (unless the founder / company explicitly opt-out) and, in especially competitive deals, I’ll be giving priority to syndicate backers that have pre-funded their accounts and made larger commitments.

If you’re even remotely considering getting into the angel investing business (or just want to see more diversified dealflow), I hope you’ll join today: https://angel.co/paulsingh/syndicate

2. “most entrepreneurs don’t understand this math.” [Link] [Tweet]

Another (awesome) Mark Suster piece. Founders, please take 5 minutes to read this — you’ll need to have your head around this stuff if you’re even remotely entertaining the idea of raising money this year.

The more that you understand the business of venture capital, the more likely you’ll actually be able to raise money from angels and VCs.

3. “One hundred percent. The model definitely works.” [Link] [Tweet]

What percentage of AirBnB listings are actually real estate speculators rather than people renting out their primary residence? (I’m going to guess it’s under 20% — what do you think?)

4. “Early stage VC is a fairly local business” [Link] [Tweet]

Venture capital, startups and your own professional career have exactly one thing in common: the power law rules all.

Whether you’re planning to start investing in your hometown or you’re looking to find a new job, it’s important to understand that opportunities tend to come from other opportunities. The real challenge is forcing yourself to realize that you have to hit a few singles and doubles before you’re ready to hit a home run.

5. “only thing harder than joining a VC firm is leaving one” [Link] [Tweet]

This is one of the best lists I’ve seen on the VC career track.

6. “You know what kind of companies generally survive?  Companies that make more money than they spend.” [Link] [Tweet]

Is anyone else as tired of these articles as I am? Yes, we get it — the market’s changing, funding might get tight and founders might have to make some hard decisions. Sounds like the usual, actually.

Get back to work and build your businesses. The money will always find you.

7. “those who use strong frameworks to commit to being truly legendary have a few big advantages.” [Link] [Tweet]

Um. I’m pretty sure you only become a legend after you die. Also, anyone that callsthemselves a legend is probably an asshole.

You’re welcome to steal my personal motto these days: optimize for fun and profit, the rest will take care of itself.

8. “Your success becomes my success (less, ahem, the GP carry) and I’m rooting for you.” [Link] [Tweet]

Now THIS is the stuff you really ought to be reading. Limited Partners (LP for short) are the source of money that every VC needs. When an active LP talks, it’s usually best for GPs and founders to listen.

9. “the most dangerous risk for any startup is existential risk.” [Link] [Tweet]

TL;DR: Raise the most money you can and get back to work.

10. “It’s about getting more people interested in becoming entrepreneurs.” [Link] [Tweet]

Social skills are way, way, way more important than most people realize. It doesn’t matter how smart or talented you are, you’ll have a hard time getting ahead at anything if you can’t figure out how to communicate and inspire people around you.

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Friday.

Hello from a frigid Ashburn, VA today (where it’s only going to get colder through the weekend). Did I mention that I’m frozen? Ugh.

The 2016 tech tour is kicking off in early March but I’m throwing a kickoff party and happy hour in DC on Mon, Feb 29. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll join me — I’ll even buy the first drink (or two)! We’ve got room for 150 smart people and 52 have already signed up as I write this to you. It’s filling up fast and It’s going to be a great time. See you there.

Finally, if you’re in the DC Metro area and looking for a place to work (and hang out), join me at Brickyard Ashburn. If you mention that you learned about it through my newsletter (or you just hit reply now), I’ll hook you up. 😉

1. “Let’s pretend we’re all forming a VC firm right now.” [Link] [Tweet]

One thing I’ve learned as an investor over the past few years: everyone’s an armchair quarterback.

If you want to understand how an investor thinks, it’s best to try being an investor yourself. As Elizabeth suggests, “Let’s pretend we’re all forming a VC firm right now.  And there’s an entrepreneur coming into the room in 10 minutes.  What questions would you ask him/her to decide if you’re going to invest?”

2. current status: outside #airstream [Link] [Tweet]

As I’m gearing up for the tech tour to start next month, I’m spending a lot more time in and around the Airstream. I’ve got two questions for you:

• Do you know anyone that works at Instagram / Facebook? I want @paulsinghand the account appears inactive — can you help me acquire it? (I ended up with@paulsingh99 and my Instagram game is weak. Any tips on getting better?)
• I want to create a daily and weekly vlog as I pull the Airstream around North America. I’m looking for links to detailed write-ups of workflow and/or would love to speak to someone that has some experience in capturing a ton of content via GoPro/iPhone and rolling that up into daily / weekly vlogs. Help? 🙂

3. “It’s been well documented that online marketing is not only changing; the change is accelerating.” [Link] [Tweet]

A bit off the topic of the changes happening in online marketing, I found this particularly interesting:

“Marketing teams are already doing this, often going around their in-house procurement departments and paying for many of these services with corporate credit cards (as individual services are often in the $50–500 a month price range and are under the limits required of purchase orders.)”

When you’re selling something to businesses, it’s important to remember that there’s often an upper limit to what your purchaser is able to spend without approval from someone higher up the chain. Find that limit and try your very best to stay below it.

4. “in order to generate 3x+ fund returns, entry valuation price / ownership % is critical.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re an active investor today, particularly if you’re managing a microfund, 2016 may be exactly what you need in order to boost your overall fund returns. Raise the bar on your investments and yourself.

5. “Over $160M raised online in 2015” [Link] [Tweet]

To put that into context, AngelList has helped deploy more money in one year than most investors will deploy in a lifetime. Regardless of location, every company considering raising money (and every investor planning to deploy a single dollar) should have an AngelList account — if only to scope out the competition.

6. “The information revolution is undoing the industrial revolution.” [Link] [Tweet]

You should probably just read this one. It’ll take you less than 5 minutes and you’ll be smarter for it.

7. “In the coming months, knowing what to do next, is going to be the most important factor in startup outcomes.” [Link] [Tweet]

The key bit to understand: “Over the last few months, the venture world has shifted focus from growth -at -all -costs to unit economics. Blame oil or China or Unicorn Valuations or the IPO market or some complex interactions of all four.”

8. “Investors are rewarding cautious growth more than high-burn-rate growth” [Link] [Tweet]

While this one probably feels like an extension of the previous article, it’s worth reading because Mark Suster’s been writing for quite some time now — particularly through the last up-down-up cycle too.

9. “Fast growth and high burn rates today put startups in a precarious position.” [Link] [Tweet]

Again, more of the same (everyone’s writing about the coming year and you guys are all clicking on it): “As the environment evolves and prices fall, the strongest BATNA for startups will metamorphose with it. In a tempestuous market, self-determination through positive cash flow may be the best bargaining chip in a fundraising conversation.”

10. “The often cited 10x revenue multiple just simply isn’t a rule anymore.” [Link] [Tweet]

OK, this is the last one related to fundraising. Next week, I’m going to filter out anything related to fundraising and see where we end up.

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Friday.

Hello from 35,000 feet somewhere over Canada en route back to DC.

I’m heading to Shreveport, Pittsburgh, Tulsa and a few other places over the next ~30 days. If you’re around (or know someone that will be around any of the 10+ cities I’m visiting), RSVP to the respective stops on my 2016 tech tour and you’ll be the first to know when I post the updated event calendar for each place.

Finally, if you’re in the DC Metro area and looking for a place to work (and hang out), join me at Brickyard Ashburn. If you mention that you learned about it through my newsletter (or you just hit reply now), I’ll hook you up with some sweet discounts. 😉

1. “if you’re too late no one cares, if you’re too early no one knows what you’re talking about.” [Link] [Tweet]

Josh Kopelman isn’t based in the Valley (Pennsylvania, actually) and his portfolio is everywhere. One of my favorite bits: “(what if) instead of being a venture firm managing a portfolio, if you could be a venture firm building a community? It could be far more powerful.”

2. “So, from a POV perspective, the 2016 plain vanilla startup.” [Link] [Tweet]

Whether you think we’re in a bubble or not (or don’t care), fundraising in 2016 is already changing. Growth matters. Unit economics matter. Everything matters, unfortunately.

As Philipp says, “Keep your head down and your wallet closed.”

3. “Deal volume and valuations are up massively over the past seven years and non-VC money has entered the system.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re really trying to understand what’s happening in the private market for tech companies right now, no one makes it easier than Mark Suster. There’s a lot of info here but, especially if you plan to fundraise or invest this year, you should chew on this.

4. “I did not have much money then, but I had hope.” [Link] [Tweet]

No, don’t go dive into a startup because you read this story. The point is that hard workand luck are required to succeed.

The real problem with entrepreneurship today: everyone wants the glory, few people want to do the work.

5. “TL;DR: Corporate and Institutional VCs complement each other.” [Link] [Tweet]

Every corporate VC I’ve met claims to provide their portfolio companies with access to their employees and customers. In practice, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a founder excited by anything but the money that the corporate VC brings to the table. Have you?

6. “Just do it fast, get it closed, get back to work­ing on the com­pany.” [Link] [Tweet]

So much good stuff here, go read it. As I mentioned last week, everything you need to know to start a company is online these days and this piece is a great example of that.

7. “entrepreneurs should understand how their investors are being compensated.” [Link] [Tweet]

Not every angel needs to be a VC and not every company needs to raise VC money. That being said, I’m willing to bet that founders and angels would make far better decisions if they understood how the economics of venture funds actually work.

8. “a YouTuber who operates on food the way Dr. Frankenstein operates on cadavers.” [Link] [Tweet]

Oreos and Reese’s Cups. You guys, what’s not to love about this?

9. “Without realizing it, I found myself in the middle of a hot new trend in VC.” [Link] [Tweet]

It isn’t just VC, it’s every industry. This year, I expect to see LPs starting to write much, much more often.

10. “Marketing channels don’t last forever.” [Link] [Tweet]

Whatever you do, it’s time to consider yourself a marketing company that does [whatever you do] rather than a [buzzword] company with an intern that handles your social media.

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.

Happy Friday.

I’ll be heading to Kelowna, BC later this week — if you’re around, let’s meet up. RSVP here and I’ll send out a note with some meetups that aren’t already on the calendar.

I’ll likely be heading to Phoenix, Shreveport, Pittsburgh and a few other places over the next ~30 days. If you’re around (or know someone that will be), RSVP to the respective stops on my 2016 tech tour and you’ll be the first to know when I post the event calendar for each place.

Finally, if you’re in the DC Metro area and looking for a place to work (and hang out), join me at Brickyard Ashburn. If you mention that you learned about it through my newsletter (or you just hit reply now), I’ll hook you up with some sweet discounts. 😉

1. “By now, all of the information on how to navigate the early hurdles of starting up is available online.” [Link] [Tweet]

It kills me, especially now that we’re in 2016, when I hear a shitty pitch. Or when I see a deck seeking funding for an idea.

If you’re already thinking about an entrepreneurial path for yourself, everything you need is probably a few Google searches away from you.

Between the rise of entrepreneurship, the rise of blogging and the rise of coworking spaces and accelerators, all the basic information you need to turn an idea into a company is already online. Google it. Use it. There’s no excuse for a shitty pitch these days.

As for there being too many accelerators, I think we’re looking at it the wrong way.

If you look at accelerators through the lens of venture capital, the vast majority of them are probably uninteresting. If, however, you look at them through the lens of the modern day MBA, accelerators look quite a bit more interesting and useful to the communities they exist in.

2. “For twenty years, a group of satellites has taken pictures of India every night.” [Link] [Tweet]

When you’re sitting here in the US, it’s easy to forget that the rest of the world is coming online faster than ever. If you do one thing in 2016: travel someplace that your friends haven’t been. (Or join me at one of my tech tour stops.)

3. “it doesn’t feel right in a world in which even mature adult media consumption habits seem to be quickly evolving.” [Link] [Tweet]

Most printed newspapers generate the majority of their income from the printed edition (as opposed to their online efforts). Most of the customers that buy those papers will likely die off over the next 30 years.

There’s a problem there… but only if you’re a printed newspaper, I suppose.

4. “Hello…from the parking lot.” [Link] [Tweet]

The interesting part is that it’s the machines (controlled by scalpers) and not the actual listeners that are driving the speed at which the tickets are actually being purchased.

5. “I’ve had several friends tell me that they’re leaving the Valley because they want to rejoin the real world.” [Link] [Tweet]

When I left the Valley for the DC Metro area, the first thing I noticed was that I didn’t feel like I was constantly missing out on something. It was a relief.

Everyone ought to visit the Valley at least once a quarter, especially if you’re a founder. Living there, however, isn’t a prerequisite for success.

On the flip side: the unrelenting sense of urgency that exists in the Valley is unparalleled anywhere else. If you’re compelled to build a replica of the Valley in your own hometown, figure out how to import urgency and the rest will follow.

6. “A dose of reality may be hitting angel investing.” [Link] [Tweet]

Company valuation is only one line item on any given term sheet but you wouldn’t know that when you read articles like this.

If you think a company is overvalued, you have three options ahead of you:

• Walk away.
• Complain about it.
• Figure out what you’re actually worried about and solve for that.

With the first option, you’re giving up your chance to invest in a company that might go on to return cash. That’s your choice, I suppose.

With the second option, you could try to walk a fine line between negotiating with the founder or complaining about valuations publicly… but you’re running the risk that other entrepreneurs won’t bring their funding opportunities to you. Read: your deal flow will likely suffer.

The third option is the only option but investors rarely talk about it openly. Yes, it’s hard to make money on companies with high valuations — especially when most of your early stage investments will likely fail. When you’re making an initial investment in a company with a valuation at or above $5M, the real risk (aside from company failure) is that they’ll get “acqui-hired” and there are ways to solve for that. 🙂 (Hit reply if you’re interested to learn how I solve for that.)

To be clear, I’m not saying that high valuations are OK. I’m simply trying to suggest that there’s much, much more to any given investment than just the valuation.

7. “Founders make different decisions when money doesn’t matter.” [Link] [Tweet]

So true.

8. “Most technology startups fail. There’s a winner, and there’s 7 out of 10 that lose.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if more founders understood how venture funds (and angel investors) actually make money, I’m convinced we’d see much better pitches.

When I’m speaking with a founder, it’s incredibly easy to turn the conversation towards my thoughts on their idea. That’s the lazy way to speak to a founder.

What I think about someone’s idea doesn’t matter, the real question is “can this team do it?” and, if so, “could this company be big enough to make a meaningful return for me?”

9. “Start now thinking about what you think will make you happier. Start planning how you will get there.” [Link] [Tweet]

Yep.

10. “Too many founders feel that their idea is way too special.” [Link] [Tweet]

I have a policy: I don’t invest in stealth companies. You probably shouldn’t either.

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 on Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

P.S. If you loved this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you hated this newsletter, share it with an enemy.