Category: Newsletters

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.

Happy Friday.

I’m in the DC area today and getting 2-3 feet of snow dumped on me as I write this. Yay.

In other news, I’m starting to build a community around my 2016 tech tour. If you’re at any of the current cities (or know someone nearby), will you please share the link with them? If you RSVP to any of the cities now, you’ll be first to know when I lock down my schedule of events on the ground there. Also, I might buy you a beer (or pull one out of my fridge for you).

Oh, also, I opened something new this week.

1. “if you don’t decide on things for yourself, chances are someone else is deciding for you and that is no way to live.” [Link] [Tweet]

TK was one of the first founders I ever invested in and it’s been a real pleasure to watch him grow personally and professionally. I have to admit, though, that I envy his ability to share his thoughts in such an articulate way. I have a ton of drafts that haven’t seen the light of day for quite some time now.

2. “Gone are the days of the 40-hour work week that kept us at work eight hours a day.” [Link] [Tweet]

Look, the nature of work is changing. Our parents worked one job in their careers, we’ll likely work a few jobs in our careers and our children will likely work a few jobs simultaneously.

3. “Some of our feelings got hurt and our eyes were opened. And that is exactly what Tallahassee needed.” [Link] [Tweet]

I spent some time in Tallahassee earlier this month (a stop along my on-going tech tour). It’s an interesting city with a forward-thinking mayor and a lot of smart people. One of those people wrote a brief summary of my talking points.

4. “Here is the ugly truth: if you’re a non-technical entrepreneur, the odds are against you.” [Link] [Tweet]

Accelerators have come a long, long way. I remember running 500 Startups earliest accelerator batches just a few short years ago. Earlier this week, they kicked off batch 16. While all that was happening, hundreds of other accelerators have popped up all over the world.

For the most part, it’s now harder to be accepted to an accelerator than ever. And it’s way, way, way harder to get into the best accelerators than ever. The bar is rising for everyone.

5. “Startup founders must un­der­stand the basic con­cepts be­hind ven­ture fi­nanc­ing.” [Link] [Tweet]

If more founders understood the business of venture capital, I’m convinced that founders would deliver less shitty pitches.

6. “A lot of guys live like they’re going to be making $5 million for the next 20 years.” [Link] [Tweet]

Personal finance really ought to be something we teach in high schools these days. I learned most of what I know from my friend Ramit’s blog: I will teach you to be rich.

7. “Today, up to 70 percent of Internet traffic worldwide travels through this region.” [Link] [Tweet]

Hey, it’s my hood! I grew up in Ashburn.

The irony, however, is that while 70% of the world’s internet traffic goes through Ashburn, you’d never know it if you looked at the jobs available locally.

Earlier this week, I pulled back the veil on something I’ve been working on: The Brickyard. If you’re in the Northern Virginia suburbs, I hope you’ll join me there on a daily basis.

I leave you with this: almost every major city has an Ashburn of it’s own. Suburbs that are 10-30 miles outside the urban center but filled with tech-enabled workers and entrepreneurs. The Brickyard is made for them.

8. “Today we think of serendipity as something like dumb luck. But its original meaning was very different.” [Link] [Tweet]

In your professional life, try a lot of stuff. In your personal life, err on the side of “yes.” Actually, maybe do those things regardless of your personal or professional life.

9. “instead of wasting years teaching kids to memorize answers, why not teach kids to ask better questions?” [Link] [Tweet]

As the father of a two year old, it’s been amazing to see her take in the world. (I know, everyone says that about their kids. You’ll know when you have one too.)

I hope she always asks questions. And I hope you do too.

10. “There. Fixed your investing strategy for you.” [Link] [Tweet]

Everyone talks about Unicorns but not everyone will get to invest in one. So why don’t we build our investment strategies around that fact?

Oh, right. Because investing in Unicorns is more fun than actually making money.

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 in Ashburn, VA today and heading to Vancouver, BC on Sunday evening. If you’re around, I’m doing a fireside chat and scotch tasting with the Profile Coworking team on Monday night. (If the event is full, reply here and let me know. Depending on how many responses I get, I might pull together a separate event.)

The Airstream’s coming along nicely and my 2016 tech tour is getting even more stops as you read this. More signup links for all of the events I’ll be attending, hosting or speaking at in each location will be added shortly. (And yes, that is a picture of my truck and trailer — I’ll be adding more too.) 

If you’re in the DC Metro area next Thursday, Jan 21, join me at a popup coworking event I’m hosting in Ashburn, VA. The more, the merrier. 

1. “Another prediction for 2016: bootstrapping will be cool again.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re based in the Valley, NYC or any other tech hub, all the talk about unicorns, bubbles and corrections is probably old (and boring) to you. If you live outside of those places, you should read this.

Everywhere I go, smart founders and investors point to the existing tech hubs as “the best” place to raise money and, when you read all the funding news that comes out each day, it’s hard to argue with them.

If you’re having a hard time raising money, the problem is either your business or your pitch (or probably both). If your first reaction is to blame the lack of investors, you’re doing it wrong.

2. “The pressure to offer lower and lower rates led to an arms race for super-massive, super-efficient ships.” [Link] [Tweet]

Dat ship tho.

3. “Life is more fun when you don’t compare.” [Link] [Tweet]

Seth Godin’s daily newsletter is one of the few things I read every day. Some times it’s a bit out there but, most of the time, it’s really good. This is the latter.

4. “Most people in the startup world aren’t founders, but most written advice is for them.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re thinking about joining a startup, download the ebook and start reading. If your compensation package includes stock options, read this.

5. “Don’t try to satisfy everyone too soon.  Do your thing, do it well, and find true believers.” [Link] [Tweet]

There’s nothing wrong with focusing on a niche. In fact, it’s exactly what you should be doing at the earliest stages of your company. The real challenge is knowing when to pivot versus when to expand to the next niche.

6. “To be a successful angel investor, you have to make a lot of investments.” [Link] [Tweet]

Having hosted a number of angel investing workshops, it still surprises me how often people think successful angel investing is about picking “the one” right startup.

The real trick to angel investing is to wiggle your way into the most promising investment opportunities at least 10-20 times each year and hope that you don’t run out of money while you wait for one of your investments to mature.

7. “that first kilowatt of electricity someone gets is worth an awful lot because they go from darkness to light” [Link] [Tweet]

If I was 10 years younger (read: had more patience), I’d move to India to help solve problems like this. Instead, I read about other people doing the noble work of trying to bring electricity, water and other basics to the poor.

At the risk of sounding a bit insensitive, I have to admit that moving into my Airstreamhas forced me to recognize how wasteful I’ve been with water, electricity and waste. It really is eye-opening to watch the on-board gauges move when I’m doing even the simplest of things.

8. “the internet age will have substantial impact on how we use that most precious of resources: time.” [Link] [Tweet]

Two thoughts:

• It seems that we, as a society, haven’t changed much: we’re always looking for a distraction. This time, it fits in our pocket.
• The last time the Fed raised the interest rate (old news, I know), iPhones didn’t exist and many people were still trying to figure out if the internet was a fad.

9. “Control your future. It makes fundraising much easier.” [Link] [Tweet]

Regardless of which predictions you believe, this is probably the best advice you can take. Assume you won’t raise money. Assume your sales projections are too optimistic. Assume you’ll lose your biggest customer.

Then get back to work.

10. “It’s the internet’s scale that makes the cultural use of the term so useless” [Link] [Tweet]

“As individuals, we construct our own private corners of the internet, believing ourselves to be in touch and of the moment. The least we could do is acknowledge life in its complexity—and stop talking about “the internet” as if the term still contains any meaning at all.”

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 (and welcome to 2016).

I’m writing today’s newsletter from my Airstream somewhere just south of Petersburg, VA. I’m on my way to Durham, NC later this morning and spending the day with Chris Heivly (co-founder of MapQuest) and his team. If you’re in Durham this afternoon,please join me and Chris at happy hour.

About that Airstream, my 2016 tech tour is coming together nicely. (And yes, that is a picture of my truck and trailer.) It’s a work in progress and I’ll be adding even more stops over the next few days. If you’re in any of these cities (or know someone that is), I hope you’ll keep an eye on that page — I’ll add signup links for all of the events I’ll be attending, hosting or speaking at in each location shortly.

I’m looking forward to meeting even more of you through 2016. You’re doing important work and I want to help in any way I can. Maybe I’ll invest, maybe I’ll help make some noise for you, maybe I can inspire your community to swing a little harder or maybe we’ll just share a beer. 

1. “Your job as an executive is to edit, not write.” [Link] [Tweet]

The classic founder narrative goes a little something like this: grind, grind, grind, grind, grind and grind. A lot of hard work.

That’s not sustainable and, perhaps more importantly, it’s not good for your business. There is a difference between working “in” the business and “on” the business.

In order to make that transition, you’ve got to learn how to communicate and inspire others to follow your mission. (I created a free email course about public speaking — it’s got tips you can use on stage and in 1:1 conversations.)

2. “We fucked ourselves as an industry.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is one of the best written pieces I’ve ever read about making the transition awayfrom a dependence on venture capital. It’s about focusing on sales and profits.

As we head into 2016, founders should be thinking more about how to ramp sales rather than listening to the raging debate about when the bubble’s going to pop.

As they say, revenue solves a lot of problems. Funny how that works.

3. “If you dictate what the poor should get, you take away their rights to choose what they think is best for them.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you live inside the US, you probably haven’t noticed that India is throwing a wrench into Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org — his initiative to provide free but limited internet to the developing world.

The gist: Facebook / Internet.org wants to build Free Basics. It’s a way to bring a lot of information to people that may not have access (or the ability) to the internet. In developing countries, you’d have access to the internet as long as you’re using Facebook — it’s a bit of a walled garden — and that’s what everyone’s concerned about.

My view: Facebook is a private company that wants to invest a ton of their own money into the developing world. Why not let them do it and then determine how the local laws might need to be modified to protect the people?

I’m not suggesting that we put people in harm’s way or ignore them until Facebook treats them poorly but, just as VC’s haven’t historically been great at predicting unicorns, the government (especially the Indian government) hasn’t historically been great at understanding the pros / cons of technology.

Everyone agrees that getting more people online is a good thing. If a private company wants to put their money on the line to do it, let them do it and keep a watchful eye on them. Otherwise, build it yourself.

4. “The hardest part of changing your life is getting started.” [Link] [Tweet]

Yep. Just yep.

5. “it has never been easier to start a company and never been harder to scale one.” [Link] [Tweet]

This article, like most, tries to explain the Power Law and how it relates to the business of venture capital. The problem is that it doesn’t take fund size into account.

“Lower risk investments with higher probability for success, but where success isn’t massive, don’t typically make good venture investments because the time horizon to reach liquidity for investors in early stage companies is lengthy (except for the rare large early exit which is difficult to plan for) and therefore the asset class is only worthwhile for LPs if they can earn significant multiples on their capital.”

If you’ve got a big-ass fund (let’s say >$100M), then the above statement is absolutely true. For smaller funds, things start to get a little more interesting — and tricky.

With a small fund, you still hope that you’ve invested in a something that will get huge but you’re able to generate a great return for your LPs when portfolio companies sell for “just” $20M-$100M. Assuming you have access to the founders that can build those companies.

6. “Employees will realize their options are underwater and will start leaving tech startups in droves.” [Link] [Tweet]

I don’t know man. If my stock options are dropping in value, where do I go? An early stage company? A big corporation? Start my own thing?

7. “I will fail if I worry about the things that really, really don’t matter.” [Link] [Tweet]

The end of every year brings a bunch of reflective posts on life and this one’s no different. However, I’ve met Kalsoom a few times now and her ability to really open up is great. I hope she writes more (and that you do too).

8. “The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans.” [Link] [Tweet]

Oh hey, that Trump guy is raising a ruckus in the Republican party. Grab some popcorn, y’all.

9. “If you do must do something, do something you will enjoy, not force yourself to enjoy—or endure.” [Link] [Tweet]

My favorite line: “Just as we learn as we get older that we don’t change on the days of and after our birthdays, we learn that the slates aren’t magically rubbed clean on Jan. 1.”

10. “It took a few months to realize that I was making the same mistake I have accused others.” [Link] [Tweet]

Yep. Maybe I’ll write a post like this at the end of 2016.

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’m back in Ashburn, VA after a quick trip to Vegas mid-week. The jetlag’s catching up to me but that might be my last flight for the year… unless I find out that I need a few more PQM’s to keep my 1K status on United. 

1. “Still, nobody wanted our app.” [Link] [Tweet]

I probably sound like a broken record but knowing how to build an app isn’t enough. You’ve got to be thinking about user acquisition (e.g., “how will I convince people to wantto download this app?”), user retention (e.g., “how will I make this useful enough to make them want to open the app enough to not forget about it over the other 80+ apps they have installed?”) and monetization (e.g., “how are we going to pay the bills?).

2. “But if you see it. Clearly. And have 24+ months to get to 10 customers. And 10 years to real success. Go for it.” [Link] [Tweet]

It’s never too late to start a company as long as you recognize that you have to be in it for the long haul. Building a company is harder than you think.

3. “The web is less than 8,000 days old.” [Link] [Tweet]

A little more perspective on this week’s Fed news: the last time the Fed raised interest rates, iPhones didn’t exist.

4. “We built this spreadsheet and we modeled these two scenarios — one is build, one is buy.” [Link] [Tweet]

At a basic level, the most desirable acquisition targets are the ones that are growing the fastest. That’s as simple as it is.

In this case, Respondly had product, traction and a growth rate that convinced Buffer that it was worth buying the company rather than start building the business from scratch.

Growth > Product

5. “Silicon Valley is cooling, not crashing. Valuations are falling. The era of cheap money is over.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re an early stage company focused on revenue and growth, you’re going to be just fine. The only people freaking out at this point are the ones that raised on high valuations in the past and haven’t been able to get their company to grow into that number.

6. “every company is now a software company, whether they sell sugar water or build buildings.” [Link] [Tweet]

On that note, you should be making friends at larger companies just outside of your industry. If your goal is to sell to Google, Facebook or any of the other big companies in the Valley, here’s the bad news: they’re likely to undervalue you, if they even notice you.

Last year, 100+ corporate venture arms were setup. That’s 100+ big corporations saying “Hey, we want to figure this tech thing out. Maybe we should invest in some stuff.” They’re recognizing that technology isn’t “the IT guy in the basement” but rather it’s the stuff that’s going to grow them for the next 100 years.

7. “It used to be that having your own car provided the ultimate sense of freedom for young adults.” [Link] [Tweet]

My first car was about freedom. Hell, my latest pickup truck is still about freedom. I guess I don’t understand those damn kids either.

On a serious note: I wonder if my daughter will ever learn to drive. By the time she’s 16, I imagine that self driving cars and the sharing economy will change the way we take our children to school, soccer practices and shopping.

8. “The problem with early stage investing is that markets can never be sized in Excel.” [Link] [Tweet]

Three things about early stage investing:

• Most due diligence happens in the rear view mirror.
• You just need to be directionally right about the market.
• If the company is spending >50% of the time talking about the product, you should see that as a red flag. The best founders recognize that the product is table stakes, growth is everything.

9. “There’s something metaphysical about driving alone through the night.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m looking forward to the stops on my tech tour next year — and the long drives that will come with them. I’ve got 7 states confirmed around the US and the events are starting to come together. More on that next week. 🙂

10. “The best time to start a company is when you can nucleate a team around yourself and your vision.” [Link] [Tweet]

Investors will always chase great teams pursuing unique ideas. That is a constant, despite the vacillations of the financial markets.

How about we spend a week together in 2016?

I’ve spent the last few years jetting in/out of places for keynotes and demo days. It’s an effective way for me, as an investor, to meet the maximum amount of companies in the shortest amount of time. I want to give back to local tech communities in 2016.

Here’s the general idea: I’ll come spend a week in your community and we’ll put together a week full of office hours, tech meetups, angel investing workshops, keynotes and fun. I might even bring some other investors with me to help.

In exchange, you cover my costs and help me figure out how to best help your tech community. Bonus: I might do it all in an Airstream.

I’m only going to do a few of these week-long trips in 2016, please fill this out ASAP if you think I can help your local tech community. I’m booked into seven states already, hurry 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.