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Happy Friday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good companies always get funded. Always.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Firehose

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

Have a great weekend!

-P

Happy Friday.

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

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

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

Ugh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Firehose

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

Have a great weekend!

-P

Happy Saturday.

It’s been a tough week personally and professionally, I need to get my shit together. Today, I’m in flight back to DC (nursing an incredibly stiff bloody mary, natch) for a week off the road.

I’m giving away an Amazon Echo for free. I notified the winner today, let’s hope they check their email. 🙂

An observation on the Vancouver (and perhaps the broader Canadian) tech scene: a surprising number of the newer Canadian VCs are out raising their next funds (read: third or fourth funds) at the moment. That’s probably a sign that Canadian LPs are finally starting to recognize that the next wave of wealth generation isn’t going to come from natural resources or some other “hard” business.

I want to learn more about the AR-15 platform. What should I be reading?

1. “money you invest in growing a blog, an Etsy store, or a podcast, or going carless, is retirement savings.” [Link] [Tweet]

Most people, including me, built our careers (and bet our futures) based on information we received from our parent’s generation. “You should get your MBA…”, “Don’t forget to save a lot each month…” or “Keep your resume updated…” are good examples.

If you’re reading this newsletter, the chances of you ever retiring are shrinking by the day.

The world’s different now. Every business is in tech. You can’t always save your way to safety. We’re all media companies now.

Not everyone needs to be a founder but all of us need to be entrepreneurial.

2. “if your business generates $7,500 in revenue per month, you should ditch Stripe for Paypal.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re processing credit card transactions, ignore the title of the article and scroll down to the working capital part.

Travis is super smart (disclosure: I invested in his company via 500 Startups) to be using their platform to get the money he needs to grow faster.

The point: selling equity isn’t the only way to grow your business when your ambitions are larger than your cash flows.

3. “This is why once you’ve traveled for the first time all you want to do is leave again.” [Link] [Tweet]

I find myself nodding violently in agreement. My tech tour has been harder than I could have imagined but only in ways that I never thought about in the first place.

4. “Most people have all the apps they want and/or need. They’re not looking for new ones.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re working on a mobile app, please stop now. Building an app isn’t enough anymore.

If you want to make something people want (to download, to buy, to use), you need to watch what they do.

5. “If you’re talking to a VC, you should find out how decision-making happens.” [Link] [Tweet]

People > Firms. Faces > Logos.

If you choose to go down the path of raising VC, you need to understand how the dynamics work inside the firm. Good news: the best firms are extremely transparent. All you have to do is ask.

6. “The magic lies in being brave enough to even dare to start small.” [Link] [Tweet]

One test I ask of every entrepreneur I meet: “who is your target customer?”

Answers that include “anyone” or “everyone” are instantaneous red flags. The conversation rarely continues.

7. “Growth creates complexity, and complexity is the silent killer of growth.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you want to succeed in business and in life: entrepreneurship.

That doesn’t mean you have to start a company. Whether you’re freelancing or your working in a cubicle, thinking entrepreneurially is the best thing you could be doing for yourself (and your company / clients).

8. “VCs can afford to get a few decisions wrong. Entrepreneurs can’t.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for more than a few weeks now, I sound like a broken record: if you want to raise money, you need to understand the industry. It’s much simpler than you probably think and it’s the best way to improve your chances of a successful fundraise.

9. “Startups resort to jargon in order to sound more interesting than they actually are.” [Link] [Tweet]

Talk to me like a human. Talk to me like a friend. Talk to me like a second grader.

In the worst case, we actually become friends. In the best case, we become friends and I invest in your company.

Stop working on your pitch decks and jargon. Start working on your likability, your charisma and your storytelling.

10. “1M miles add to that total every 10 hours with data collected from 70,000 Teslas with autopilot gear on the road.” [Link] [Tweet]

Think about that for a second: there are tens of thousands of cars currently mapping roads all around the world and all of them are privately owned.

We’re living in the future, y’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 (and the rest of the Results Junkies community) in Slack, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P

Hey,

I’m sorry for the radio silence lately. These past few weeks have gotten away from me personally and professionally.

The Brain Trust was an experiment to see whether you’d find value in joining a live video call with other experts. In that way, it was a success. The problem is that I’m stretched a bit too thin (and, admittedly, a little too disorganized) to make this happen on a weekly basis.

I’m going to refund your last payments (you should see those hit your cards in 2-3 business days usually) and I’m going to try spending more time in the Slackcommunity. I hope you will too.

Thanks for jumping into the Brain Trust with me — I’m sorry I let you down.

-P

P.S. if you have smart friends / coworkers / peers that should be part of the community please send this link to them: www.resultsjunkies.com/community

P.P.S. come hang with me in-person on the North American Tech Tour or follow my firehose on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

Happy Saturday.

I’m on the move again. I left Fargo, ND on Friday night (after a solid tech tour week), spent the night just outside Theodore Roosevelt National Forest (uh, that place is gorgeous — check it out on Snapchat before it disappears), dropped the Airstream off in Bozeman, MT today and am en route to DC tonight. I’ll be hanging at Metabridge in Kelowna, BC next week (*cough* I’m parking the Airstream next to a helicopter *cough*) and I hope to see you there.

I’m giving away an Amazon Echo for free. You’re already reading this newsletter, so there’s no catch. Head over here and enter to win. Here’s that URL for you once again: contest.resultsjunkies.com/giveaways/june-echo/

One observation after spending the week in Fargo & Grand Forks, ND: the drone industry is saturated with hardcore technologists that want to build cool drones OR forward-looking pilots that just want to fly more stuff. Where are the hustlers that want to actually build a venture-scale business? Discuss.

1. “appears to be just another Honda Civic driving for Lyft—until you notice it has Congressional license plates.” [Link] [Tweet]

It was only a matter of time before someone in a politician’s family tried to use license plates with special privileges while they made some extra money on the side. I’m surprised this didn’t get more coverage in DC’s local news.

2. “The older I get, the less sure of myself I become. Certainty, it seems, diminishes with age.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m not a fan of long reads but this one’s good. I love that he’s found a way to integrate his personal and professional lives so completely — while also giving Geraldine all the credit she deserves along the way too.

3. “make sure you aren’t opening up a sweatshop in the middle of the country.” [Link] [Tweet]

Has anyone publicly been tracking tech companies that have opened new offices in other cities and tried to identify the types of jobs they’re creating in those new cities? (Off the top of my head, I recall Uber opening an engineering-heavy office in Pittsburgh and Vaynermedia opening some sort of new office in Chattanooga…)

4. “Raise now. Be humble. Build something great. Don’t worry.” [Link] [Tweet]

Ignore the advice (for now) and spend a few minutes trying to understand all the moving pieces in the venture world. Whether you like it or not (and whether you raise money or not), it affects you.

5. “if the only thing that keeps you going is success still out of grasp you’re gonna hit a wall at some point.” [Link] [Tweet]

Yep, I hit this wall last year — it was rough. Not gonna let that happen again.

6. “The rapid increase in college enrollment can be defended by intellectually respectable arguments.” [Link] [Tweet]

Interesting: “the military’s budget is about 1.8 times higher today than it was in 1960, while legislative appropriations to higher education are more than 10 times higher.”

It seems that the costs of education are rising because more people than ever are choosing to go to college and college institutions are increasing their administrations (as opposed to their faculty) in size and pay. Am I reading that right?

7. “You are wasting your time because you aren’t prepared and the timing is likely off.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you know anyone that’s been trying to raise their round for more than two months without a single closing, please tell them to stop. Now. (You wouldn’t believe how often I meet founders around North America that have had their rounds open for 4+ months with $0 coming in the door.)

8. “Pick your investors correctly.  Don’t pitch larger seed stage venture funds.” [Link] [Tweet]

Again: founders need to spend more time understanding how the money going into the venture industry works. Given how transparent the venture industry has become, I still can’t believe how often I meet founders on the tech tour that still view investors as some sort of bank.

9. “it’s the best way I can describe my early-stage investments.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m stealing the “mission-driven, commercially-focused” line from this one — it’s perfect.

10. “The power law that benefits old TV media, however, will make its downfall that much more dramatic.” [Link] [Tweet]

The key lesson here: it takes a long time to build something new and an incredibly short amount of time to destroy something old. Incumbents beware.

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 in the Brain Trust, apply to join.

Have a great weekend!

-P