Posts

Happy Friday.
(No travel this week, hello from Ashburn today where I’m stocking up on travel size toiletries in prep for the next few weeks of travel. More on that later, let’s focus on you: I’m kicking around the idea of teaching you everything I’ve learned on public speaking.Interested? Scroll to the bottom of this email to learn more.)

1. “If you’re an entrepreneur considering the move to VC via a non-traditional route, here’s my advice: Do your homework” [Link] [Tweet]

Apparently, everyone wants to be a VC these days. Here’s the thing though: it’s easier than ever to become a VC (or an angel investor) but it’s harder than ever to be good at it.

If you insist on getting your feet wet, skip the traditional path entirely (eg, get into a firm as an Associate and work your way up through the years) and start looking into AngelList Syndicates. As little as $1K will get you into the deals of many high profile investors and I can’t think of any other way for you to get a huge amount of experience with very little capital exposure. Bonus: you can tell your friends you’re an active angel investor which is why you want to do this anyway, right?

2. “I should be happy. Instead, I find myself constantly preoccupied with thoughts of the future.” [Link] [Tweet]

A couple of things:

1. If you love cars, you should read this. With all the talk of electric cars and the future of transportation, I can’t help but wonder how much of our history we might be losing. Call me nostalgic but I want to teach my daughter how to pump gas and change her own oil someday. Given the way things are going, maybe I’ll just have to keep my pick-up truck handy so she has something greasy to learn on.
2. Bookmark this article and refer to it when you start your next job. I can’t recall ever seeing anyone writing something this detailed and, at the risk of sounding like a fanboy, passionate. It’s a compelling reminder to all of us that we should be swinging for the fences. I was personally moved by this statement: “Our world is full of truly incredible tales waiting to be told, not just in the realm of cars but in every subject we cover. So that will be the primary goal of Jalopnik moving forward: to tell great stories about speed.”

3. “It’s easier to articulate why you want to leave a job; it’s much harder to articulate to where you want to go next.” [Link] [Tweet]

The most rewarding part of being a VC is watching founders grow — personally and professionally — as their company matures. Unfortunately, that includes watching them stumble more often than is discussed on tech blogs these days.

It’s easier said than done but take care of yourselves. You’re building the future, you deserve to be happy — try not to forget that.

4. “you should understand LPs, because they play a bigger role in the venture stack than most startups realize.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m convinced that if more founders truly understood how venture funds actually worked, everyone would be happier. After all, you should always understand how the other person makes money — only suckers take deals blindly.

5. “They are Goldman Sachs with guns—not to mention knives, bazooka launchers, sniper rifles, and assassins.” [Link] [Tweet]

Filed under only-in-Japan: “Other sources of gang discontent are increasingly odious restrictions on the use of gang business cards and the emblem.”

6. “The next adventure is waiting just around the corner — provided that you want to find it.” [Link] [Tweet]

This girl’s living on a train and all I can think about is how I’d continue using my safety razor every morning without slicing through my jugular. Also, adventures y’all — you got to live a little. (Have I told you about my Airstream idea recently? I digress…)

7. “The tech world doesn’t celebrate our kind of victory.” [Link] [Tweet]

“Doing a startup” and raising money have, for some reason, become the cool thing to do. This is a refreshing look at building a great business the old fashioned way “where unless your customers confirm your value in the form of real dollars, you don’t make it.”

8. “why wouldn’t I spend more time in a world where there are more people that ‘like’ me, wouldn’t you?” [Link] [Tweet]

Watch the embedded video, it’s moving.

9. “This represents about two-thirds of Facebook’s user base.” [Link] [Tweet]

1 billion people used Facebook on a single day. How did that not get more mainstream press? (Oh wait, probably because Donald Trump is running for President. Sigh.) ONE. BILLION. PEOPLE.

10. “when anything grows at the rate of a successful startup, the Y axis will take care of itself.” [Link] [Tweet]

PG wrote this, you should probably read it.

On Public Speaking (for Founders and Entrepreneurs)

On a crowded internet, the best UX/UI usually wins. In a crowded world, the best communicators usually win. I want to help you win.

Five years ago, I was a new (and young) VC with no brand, no history and no public speaking skills. I forced myself to get one one public stage somewhere on the planet each month and, despite my many embarrassing mistakes, I systematically improved my public speaking skills.

Since then, I’ve spoken to small audiences in rural Mexico, large multi-thousand person audiences in India and even did a commencement speech for a major U.S. university. It turns out, public speaking is a learned skill and one of the lowest-effort-highest-ROI skills anyone can have. Anyone can do it and, frankly, I wish I started 10 years ago.

I’m kicking around the idea of teaching you what I’ve learned — and spare you all the embarrassing mistakes I’ve made through the years. Interested?

On Books That Make You Smarter
I asked you about your favorite books last week and nearly a hundred of you replied. It seems that the two top recommended books are Zero to One and The 4 Hour Body. The latter has an entire chapter to improving your orgasms, I’m sure that had nothing to do with anything.

Apple Watch Week 6

I’m leaning into this thing, I think I’m going to pull the trigger. I’m finding that I get the most utility out of the Apple Watch in the place that I thought I’d use it the least: at home.

These days, I can plug my phone in the corner and forget about it. I can focus on my daughter or the conversation/task at hand and know that important things will pop on my watch. That alone is worth it.

Thanks (again) to Russell Rosenblum and Ed Pizzarello of RMR Capital for letting me borrow your Apple Watch for a bit.

Miscellaneous

1. The #resultsjunkies community is cranking along nicely. Hundreds of you applied and I’ve brought 33 of you into the fold for now. We’ve got a good group of investors and founders that represent billions of dollars of capital. Unsurprisingly, the conversations have been tactical and incredibly interesting. Apply to join. (Flattery might work on me.)
2. I was interviewed on the Inside/Outside podcast this week and someone said my voice was soothing. Listen here.
3. I’m about to hit the road again for the next few weeks: Durham, NC, Victoria, BC, Vancouver, BC, Lincoln, NE, Madrid, SP, Lagos, NG and a bunch of other interesting places. If there’s cool stuff happening in your neck of the woods, let me know ASAP — let’s get it on the calendar, I want to see how startups are growing in your neck of the woods.

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.

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.
(No travel this week, hello from Ashburn today where I’ve been hunkered down working on the new #resultsjunkies community. More on that later. For now, will you please click one of the buttons above and share this with your friends? Me love you long time.)

1. “Many of the startup t-shirts I see are completely worthless ” [Link] [Tweet]

I’m going to save you some time: I use Next Level 6210’s for my men’s shirts and Next Level 6610’s for my women’s shirts. They’re super comfortable and are pretty cheap even on small orders. It makes me proud to see people wearing my company t-shirts all over DC (and places as far away as South Africa and India)… even if they’re just wearing the shirts to be comfortable.

PRO TIP: I’m a big believer in building culture through schwag. I order the Charcoal colored shirts for my own staff and Midnight Navy for everyone else. It’s a small (and relatively subtle) difference in the colors but the sense of pride it instills is tangible. Ilove Josh’s suggestion to put the current year on shirts, I’m going to do that from now on. (Keep reading below… a little further down, I may or may not be suggesting that #resultsjunkies schwag is on the way.)

The absolute best part of this article, IMHO, is that Josh includes a spreadsheet for calculating the various sizes you’ll need to order. PAY ATTENTION TO THAT SPREADSHEET.

2. “Today we are experiencing a dangerous cultural shift toward the expectation of instantaneous response.”  [Link] [Tweet]

Nothing surprising here. We all carry phones and, subsequently, we expect everyone to always be accessible. If you’ve got my email or phone number, you know I’m terriblyhard to reach. It’s not laziness, I’m just trying to stay focused on getting my work done. (OK, maybe I’m a little lazy too.)

3. “If your product costs $30 to produce and you sell it for $99 you make money, right?” [Link] [Tweet]

If you look past the aggressive assumptions here (seriously, what sort of hardware product “only” takes 9 months to develop?), this stuff is pure gold. You can easily use this same information in your software business as well. Pay attention to that margin, y’all.

4. “So many people are buying Airstreams that the company says it’s selling five times as many as it did in 2009.” [Link] [Tweet]

YOU GUYS, two things make me happy on this one:

1. You actually clicked on this article enough to make it the 4th most read link in my stream this week. You must love Airstreams as much as I do. (Great minds do think alike, I suppose.)
2. BECAUSE AIRSTREAM.

OK, I have to tell you a secret: I can’t seem to shake the idea of buying an Airstream, hitching it to my pickup truck, plastering it with logos of your companies and then driving all over America to visit as many startup communities as I possibly can. Is that crazy?

I imagine I’d pull up in your city, roll out a keg, open up some lawn chairs and we’d throw a little shindig for every entrepreneur within 25 miles. It might get a little rowdy but we’d have fun.

How do we make this happen? (I’m being serious.)

5. “I wear jeans, and don’t frequent Nordstrom. But most of the time, I like waking up in the morning.” [Link] [Tweet]

Fun fact: I went to San Miguel de Allende a couple years ago, found a mariachi band and proceeded to march them into the home of one of my portfolio companies. Hilarity ensued. True story, I’ll show you the videos when we see each other.

Seriously though, don’t work on stuff that doesn’t make you happy. Ever.

6. “The longer I do this the more humbled I become.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re planning to raise money, you should read this. Also, it’s Mark Suster — that dude is smart as shit. More importantly, you should read this and form your own opinion. Investors (like most armchair quarterbacks) can be “directionally correct” but only founders in the trenches should be making the final calls.

7. “It’s like being in Hollywood, but with less-good-looking people.” [Link] [Tweet]

Yep.

8. “you realize that the drop pales in comparison to all the gains the market has made over the past decade.” [Link] [Tweet]

Look, I don’t know how to predict the future and neither do you. The important thing to understand is that the losses we faced earlier this week were tiny in comparison to the gains the market’s made over the past few years. Perhaps more importantly, the markets are up at the end of the week now.

TL;DR: business as usual. Focus on revenue. Focus on your customers. Focus on your employees.

9. “women appear to be the ones capitalizing on this shift in the workplace.” [Link] [Tweet]

People skills. You need them. (PRO TIP: learn how to communicate and inspire. Look at my book recommendations below.)

10. “research on the effects of frequent travel finds 3 consequences: physiological, psychological, emotional & social.” [Link] [Tweet]

Best part of the article: “So these may be problems of the 1% (or the 3%, or the 5%). But they’re real enough regardless. By all means feel jealous of acquaintances’ Instagram photos of exotic meals and faraway attractions. But harbour a small amount of concern as well.”

There’s no way I can disagree with anything the author says but I don’t know any other way to do my job. Entrepreneurs are rising everywhere, great companies are growing everywhere and communities are thriving everywhere — traveling nearly constantly to see them all seems like the least-worst way to get a pulse on everything happening everywhere else.

On Books That Make You Smarter
OK, so apparently you people like books — I knew you were smart. I’ve recommended So Good They Can’t Ignore You and The Charisma Myth so far. What’s the latest book you’ve read (and recommend)? I’ll share the most common suggestion I get in next week’s newsletter.

(Actually, while I have you: have you bought one of the new MacBooks? If so, what do you think? I’m considering picking one up to replace an old MacBook Air.)

Apple Watch Week 5

OK, so I’ve had this watch for a month now and it’s time to make a decision. Do I keep it or send it back?

My only hang-up at this point: are the benefits of the watch worth $400 at this point in time? I really can’t decide. Help?

Thanks (again) to Russell Rosenblum and Ed Pizzarello of RMR Capital for letting me borrow your Apple Watch for a bit.

Miscellaneous

1. If you find this newsletter useful, will you please share with at least one friend? (Don’t be shy — sharing is caring. Also, I might send out some sweet schwag to the people that refer the most friends. No, that is not bribery.)
2. I kicked off an experiment this week: #resultsjunkies community. I’m intentionally keeping the initial group small — we’ve got 20 extremely smart investors, family offices, accelerator directors and founders already interacting with each other. Apply to join. (Flattery might work on me.)
3. What else can I be doing / creating / writing to be more helpful to you? Hit ‘reply’ and let me know.

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.

Have a great weekend!
-P

P.S. Don’t forget to share this newsletter with at least one friend. 🙂

Happy Friday.
(I’m back from Kelowna, BC… more on that later. Hello, from Ashburn, VA today!)

1. “In general, startups get distracted by fake work.” [Link] [Tweet]

Founders, please read this — I wish someone had called me out for making these same mistakes years ago. Focus on sales and product. Be honest with yourself and others when you’re deviating from those two things.

2. “Some of these literally blew my mind. Some blew my mind because I never realized how important they were.” [Link] [Tweet]

Two things make me happy about this:

1. The concepts are applicable in your personal and professional life. Win-win, y’all.
2. The author gives a shout out to Ben Congleton from Olark and he’s from Virginia, like me. VIRGINIA (FOUNDERS) FTW.

3. “He made so many kids smile, thousands. They all thought he was Batman, a hero. He was.” [Link] [Tweet]

This guy bought himself a Lamborghini but, instead of doing what ever “normal” supercar owners do, he bought a Batman costume (that might even be better than the one in the movies) and made sick kids smile. I’ve never met him but he was a real hero and the world is a little bit emptier for having lost him. RIP Batman.

4. Two Cows Explain Economics Better Than Any Class [Link] [Tweet]

The Irish Corporation FTW.

5. “Bullshit. There’s always enough time, you’re just not spending it right.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is obvious advice. Then again, going to the gym or saving money seem like obvious advice too.

6. “First, I was one of a few founders. As we grew, I became a manager of people. Then a manager of managers.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you had asked me about my thoughts on company culture about five years ago, I would have laughed and told you to go away. Today I realize just how important it is to a company’s success. Add this to the things-I-wish-I-knew-years-ago list.

7. “an enormous amount of a child’s fate is determined by luck, by accidents of birth, socioeconomics, and geography.” [Link] [Tweet]

My favorite part: “Life is just a series of moments, and it’s amazing how many of them we miss, rush past, or disrupt because our minds are elsewhere, anticipating the future or dwelling on the past. But a moment of joy or connection is its own justification, not a means to an end. Play can just be fun. Fart jokes can just be funny. Daydreaming and wasted time don’t have to be framed as developmental tools; they’re just nice.”

8. “It’s going to be on the phone and it’s going to be on paper.” [Link] [Tweet]

I used my iPad Mini to read books for a little while but have used nothing but my iPhone 6+ more recently. Actually, now that I think about it: I haven’t used my iPad Mini for anything in the last few months. Maybe it’s time to sell it.

9. “If it worked, some would call it genius; if it failed, it would be called the stupidest thing I had ever done.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is badass. Depending on your own views, hacking politics is either amazing or depressing.

10. What happens when you throw a camera into a black hole? [Link] [Tweet]

Fact: Interstellar is one of my favorite movies ever. I may or may not have watched in at least 10 times this year.

On Books That Make You Smarter
I mentioned So Good They Can’t Ignore You in last week’s newsletter and 80+ of you asked for another book recommendation. Read this: The Charisma Myth.

Kelowna, BC this week.
Suffice it to say, it was fun and full of smart people. Also, I learned to wake surf — you’ll find the video in those tweets.

I’ve spent the majority of the last 3 weeks on the road and it’s time for a bit of a break. It’ll be nice to be in one timezone for at least the next 2 weeks.

Anything interesting happening in your neck of the woods?

Apple Watch Week 4

I’m still not impressed with Siri. When it works, it’s OK. When it doesn’t, it fails spectacularly. Ask me about how I used Siri to say something about logistics and Siri decided to “autocorrect” my text to indicate that the recipient was a whore. (face palm)

Thanks (again) to Russell Rosenblum and Ed Pizzarello of RMR Capital for letting me borrow your Apple Watch for a bit.

What else?

If you made it all the way down here, I want to hear from you. What else can I be doing to make this more useful for you? How would you feel about being able to access me, my successful friends, advisors and confidants via a private Slack channel just for members of my email list?

Firehose

You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me here: @paulsingh. Sometimes I write stuff too.

Have a great weekend!
-P

P.S. Don’t forget to tell me your thoughts on a private community of fellow #resultsjunkies. 🙂

Happy Friday.
(Hello from Ashburn, VA where I’m just now getting off a flight from Greenville, SC. It’s good to be back… until I leave on Sunday for a few days of tech, VC and other smart people in Kelowna, BC.)

1. “Bottom line: You can see the impact of mobility, social, the cloud, and broadband on society.” [Link] [Tweet]

Take a look at the chart of public tech company stock prices over the past year and you’ll immediately see how quickly things can change in this industry. It’s a solid reminder that technology is pushing into every industry now — if you’re not thinking ahead, you’re already behind.

2. “80% of the writing about angel investing is total crap, written by inexperienced amateurs who have never done it.” [Link] [Tweet]

Ignore the article’s title, read the rest of it and you’ve got a really good overview of angel investing — especially the challenges. If you’re lazy (why are you even reading this email?), it boils down to this: angels should use AngelList Syndicates for individual deals, angels should invest full-time if they want to go direct or angels should avoid investing entirely to focus on building their own companies.

Yep, sounds about right.

3. “You see all those headlines of companies just crushing it, but you know what the founders are really going through.” [Link] [Tweet]

Startups have been Hollywood-ized and, for better or for worse, everyone’s trying to be a founder these days — mostly for the wrong reasons. This should be required reading for that friend of yours that has a cool idea and is considering quitting their job to prove their commitment.

4. if I was 10 years younger: @AngelList Analyst Program [Link] [Tweet]

If you’re a recent graduate and have ever considered a career in venture capital, you should hustle hard to get one of these slots. You’ll likely be exposed to more things in 12 months at AngelList than you would probably see in 6 years at a “regular” firm. Deadline is Aug 23, hurry up.

5. “Work hard, know your sh*t” [Link] [Tweet]

I love this — especially the part about confidence, entitlement and deserving it.

6. “I hate it when people ask me how things are going and all I can do is give them a vacuous response.” [Link] [Tweet]

THIS. So much this.

On a related note… if you ever have a burning desire to receive unsolicited advice: have a baby, start a company or become an investor.

7. “Google can’t organically grow themselves to $1T fast enough and they have decided to financially engineer it.” [Link] [Tweet]

Three thoughts on this:

• Someone’s going to build a $1T company in our lifetime. Crazy.
• Google’s going to go after the financial industry. Totally plausible.
• Sad but true: “The rest of America won’t take Google as a financial conglomerate seriously until they sponsor a PGA event.”

8. “Yet again, a great time to be a founder…” [Link] [Tweet]

I’ve seen this “bang bang” fundraising up close recently as well and I’m not sure what to make of it. For the most part, the founders and investors are behaving rationally given the circumstances: founders see an opportunity to raise more money and investors see an opportunity to get in earlier.

9. “As a VC, I have to make bets on where the world is going. So, I follow the attention.” [Link] [Tweet]

That statement above captures the challenge (and the opportunity) of working in venture capital. As the author says, “the behavior of the young is predictive of the future.”

10. “even if a job is just a job, you can still have a profound impact on someone else’s life.” [Link] [Tweet]

Another reminder that actually giving a shit about getting good at something is good for you and good for others. My absolute favorite book on this subject is So Good They Can’t Ignore You (affiliate link) and I recommend it every chance I get.

On Doing Interesting Things
As I mentioned last week, 1776’s acquisition of Disruption Corporation is complete and I’ve decided to move on from 1776. If you’re working on something interesting and think I can help, hit ‘reply’ and tell me about it.

Kelowna, BC this week.
Any chance you’ll be there Sun PM – Wed AM? If so, let’s link up. (Any interesting events coming up in your neck of the woods?)

Apple Watch Week 3

More thoughts:

• Checking for notifications on the watch seems to be less rude than pulling out your phone in a meeting. So, there’s that.
• On that same note, it always takes two hands to operate the watch. That’s one area that the phone wins on.
• The lag time is terrible. Checking the time, pulling up an app, replying to texts via Siri — everything seems to take forever. Ugh.

Thanks (again) to Russell Rosenblum and Ed Pizzarello of RMR Capital for letting me borrow your Apple Watch for a bit.

Firehose

A few of you asked about getting the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me here: @paulsingh. Sometimes I write stuff too.

Have a great weekend!
-P

Happy Saturday.
(Sorry for sending this much later than usual this week and hello from Miami this morning as I return from Santiago, Chile today — more on that below.)

1. “Money will solve surprisingly few of your problems.” [Link] [Tweet]

My favorite line from the article: “Venture capital is a tool designed for a very specific purpose. It’s hyperdrive.” This is a great read for anyone that’s thinking about raising their first round — especially if you’re based outside the Valley.

2. “If you’ve never seen a term sheet or before — or have for that matter — it can have a dizzying effect.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is a straight up glossary. Bookmark it, you’ll want to have it handy when you’re reviewing your next term sheet.

3. “Founders are more concerned with raising the next round of funds than actually building the business itself.” [Link] [Tweet]

Nothing surprising or new in this one. Still worth a read… actually, pretty much anything Gary writes is worth reading. (Where does that guy get all his energy? I need it.)

4. “accelerator (n.): An institution connecting college dropouts with wealthy investors eager to lose money.” [Link] [Tweet]

Hah.

5. Shark Tank Investment Data [Link] [Tweet]

Two thoughts as I checked out this spreadsheet:

• Where’s all this data coming from? It’s surprisingly detailed.
• Those valuations tho.

6. “To me, [Silicon Valley] encapsulates a feeling, both the very best and worst of it.” [Link] [Tweet]

This one’s my personal favorite this week. If you’ve ever wondered about life in the Valley, this nails it.

7. “startups should do a better job with all aspects of their incentive stock compensation” [Link] [Tweet]

Given all the interest in working with startups these days, I’m surprised at how little employees know about stock options. Here’s a great guide on stock options, you should read it before accepting that offer to join a startup.

8. “If you say and do 1,000 ridiculous things, then 1% of them might work out.” [Link] [Tweet]

I normally don’t read this kind of stuff but James Altucher has a way of making everything funny. And useful. There’s lots of good stuff in here, I hope you’ll take a minute to read it.

9. “the single most important change in the startup ecosystem: transparency between founders and investors.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is a transcript of a keynote I gave in Bangalore back in 2012. The vast majority of it is still true today.

10. “For every dollar that goes in the wrong place, that’s a shitty dollar. And it should matter.” [Link] [Tweet]

There’s a lot of confusion around the usage of data / algorithms in private market investing: data isn’t about making more right decisions, it’s about making fewer wrong decisions. When you’re investing in early stage startups, that’s a huge thing.

On Doing Interesting Things
Earlier this week, 1776’s acquisition of Disruption Corporation was completed and I’ve decided to move on from 1776. Next up… we’ll see. 🙂 I’m spending time with some of the smartest people I know and looking at a bunch of interesting opportunities.

If you’re working on something interesting and think I can help, hit ‘reply’ and tell me about it.

On Santiago, Chile (and everywhere else… again)
Last week, I told you about my experience in Lincoln, NE: “Lincoln’s come along way in four years but it’s growth is just one example of what’s happening in smaller cities all over the US and abroad. It’s fascinating to watch.” I could say the same thing about Santiago.

I first visited Startup Chile for a demo day in June 2013 — the people were smart, the event was organized and the teams were interesting. Fast forwarding to this week’s demo day, Startup Chile’s come a long way: every team had revenue ranging from a few thousand dollars per month to $60K a month, the organization itself is bigger and their ambitions have grown exponentially.

In short, Chile has less startups and more businesses now.

(Any interesting events coming up in your neck of the woods? I’ll be in San Francisco, CA and Greenville, SC this week — let me know if you’ll be around.)

Apple Watch Week 2 

A couple of additional thoughts:

• I’ve continued to use my phone less, so there’s that. More interestingly, I now wish there was an easy (read: cheap) way to switch my iPhone 6+ for a smaller iPhone 6.
• The number of notifications on the watch became a bit much. I’ve pulled it back so that the only alerts I get now are texts, specific emails, phone calls, calendar alerts and weather alerts.
• The battery life isn’t as bad as I imagined. The watch routinely makes it through a full day with plenty of charge left. I put the watch on with 100% charge yesterday morning and there’s 45% remaining nearly 24 hours later.

Thanks (again) to Russell Rosenblum and Ed Pizzarello of RMR Capital for letting me borrow your Apple Watch for a bit.

Firehose

A few of you asked about getting the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me here: @paulsingh

Have a great weekend!
-P

Happy Friday.
(And hello from Lincoln, NE and Chicago, IL this week.)

1. “some of the key myths about success in Silicon Valley are at risk.” [Link] [Tweet]

Ugh. The author accuses entrepreneurs of lying, ignorance and amnesia — that’s a bit much. I’m sure there are a few bad actors in there but the vast majority of people are just trying their best. You simply can’t succeed in this business unless you’re an optimist. That being said, I do agree that there ought to be more transparency between entrepreneurs, their employees and their investors.

That transparency, however, is easier said that done — especially as the number of investors on the cap table increases. I spoke to one founder who has 52 (52!!) individual investors on his cap table and he quietly complained about how he dreaded sending his monthly investor updates because of “all the $10K angels that now want to be armchair quarterbacks and live vicariously through my company.”

If you’re raising money for your own company, consider this:

• Avoid letting yourself be someone’s first investment.
• Remember that the amount that an investor puts in can often be inversely correlated with the amount of information they may want on an on-going basis.
• Run the best fundraising process you can, take the money you can get and avoid running out of it.

2. My Financial Stack as a Millennial [Link] [Tweet]

Remember when we all used to log in to our shitty bank websites? Hah. So any bets on when the big banks going to start their acquisition sprees?

3. “AngelList will be the largest and most profitable venture capital fund, without deploying capital.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is a great explanation of (1) the economics of venture capital funds and (2) where AngelList will make it’s money in the long run. You should read this.

4. There’s reportedly a big, secret spreadsheet where Google employees share their salaries [Link] [Tweet]

More transparency FTW!

5. “Millions of people are beginning to realise they have been sold a dream at odds with what reality can deliver.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you’ve ever wondered what the future might look like, this is worth a read. The real question is whether it’ll take us, as a society, 20 years or 200 years to get there.

6. “This seems obvious, but you’d be amazed.” [Link] [Tweet]

If nothing else, read the section where the author talks about pivots and uses a compass to visualize them.

7. “there is plenty of opp for a wide range of investors and entrepreneurs, and a healthy economy depends on diversity” [Link] [Tweet]

This is the most coherent overview of the changes in private market investing that I’ve read in recent weeks. It’s not possible to predict the future accurately but it’s safe to say that the venture model of the past 30-40 years doesn’t really work in today’s world — venture capital firms and angel investors need to think of the business of investing as a startup itself.

8. “In the past, Ms. DeLoge never made as much as $30,000 a year. Her salary now is nearly $80,000.” [Link] [Tweet]

When mainstream America realizes that a 3-4 month coding course might give them a $50,000 raise, we’re going to see a lot more coding schools. Wait, we already have a ton of coding schools. This should be fun — let’s see who takes over the market. 🙂

9. “A lot of people think that you have a shovel and you dig. That’s not the way it works.” [Link] [Tweet]

OK, so what they’re telling you is that you probably won’t ever be able to dig a tunnel for yourself. No underground lair for you (unless you’re El Chapo or Batman).

10. “They will switch housing and jobs as frequently as necessary to improve their quality of life.” [Link] [Tweet]

Those damn Millennials, shaking shit up again. (You’re welcome.)

On Lincoln, NE (and everywhere else)
I keynoted the Nmotion Demo Day last Tuesday but, more importantly, 500+ people attended it. If you’re on the coast or some other big city, this probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to you.

So, a quick story: in July 2011, I was on a cross-country drive and stopped over in Lincoln. A quick Google search turned up no startup events, no coworking spaces and I simply couldn’t find anyone that seemed to be associated with the startup/tech community.

When Brian Ardinger asked me to speak at the event, he mentioned that he expected ~200 attendees so I agreed and scheduled my flights for a quick in-and-out. A few weeks later, he sent me a quick update and mentioned that they had 525+ RSVPs (and still climbing). That caught me by surprise considering I couldn’t find anything related to the tech community just four years earlier so I asked to spend an extra day there to meet as many founders, investors and corporates in the area.

Long story short: Lincoln’s come along way in four years but it’s growth is just one example of what’s happening in smaller cities all over the US and abroad. It’s fascinating to watch.

(Any interesting events coming up in your neck of the woods? People sometimes tell me I’m a pretty good speaker. 🙂

RMR Capital FTW.

Last week, I told you about my first world problem: I wanted to try out an Apple Watch Sport but wasn’t ready to cough up $400 to do just that. Ten of you stepped up to the plate — you’re all pretty awesome and I really appreciate it.

I ended up accepting the offer from the first people that responded: Russell Rosenblumand Ed Pizzarello of RMR Capital. I’ve been wearing it since Tuesday and I’m still learning to use it. I’ll probably write up more detailed thoughts in the next week or two but, for now, the biggest change has been that I don’t carry my phone in my pocket or hand very often anymore. That’s resulted in me drastically reducing the habitual email checking every few minutes that I’ve been doing for far too long. Anyway, back to you Russell and Ed — thanks for making this happen for me. 🙂

Have a great weekend!
-P

Happy Friday.
(And hello from Denver, CO and Ashburn, VA this week.)

1. “You won’t find me wasting founders’ time on that crap anymore.” [Link] [Tweet]

Aside from the fact that it’s not clear whether Paige got approval from Brian/AirBnB to post all of the details for everyone to see, this is a great reminder that angel investors need to actively seek opportunities. You can’t just expect them to show up on your doorstep — especially when everyone’s an angel these days.

2. “Someday if it works, we’d love to fund 1,000 companies per year like this.” [Link] [Tweet]

Y Combinator doing it big, as usual. Nothing to see here folks.

3. “most people applying to startups do it wrong.” [Link] [Tweet]

This should be common knowledge but, especially for people moving from BigCo to startup, this is a great read. TL;DR: results matter.

4. “Human relationships are the only way that the deal gets in front of the right people and gets taken seriously.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you can ignore the clickbait title, the underlying point is important: unless you’re in the Valley (or find a way to break in), it’s hard to raise money for your company. Things are certainly getting better (rise of the accelerators, anyone?) but we’ve got a long way to go.

5. “When not one hand goes up in a room full of VCs, go there. It is going to be profitable.” [Link] [Tweet]

OK, so here’s the deal: everyone’s investing in Bitcoin, no one wants to admit it and I still don’t fully understand the blockchain. Sounds about right.

6. “Being a founder is easy.  You just start something.” [Link] [Tweet]

Other than the potential for making serious money, I’ve learned that watching founders grow into CEOs can be incredibly rewarding.

7. “We are prideful but only because our doubts can kill us. They come for us, those doubts.” [Link] [Tweet]

This article (and this line especially: “And we’re going to fix your economy so thank us later.”) was my favorite read this week.

8. “Here is the thing – most founders feel like their idea is amazing, and is worthy of an investment.” [Link] [Tweet]

Every first-time founder thinking about raising money should read this: it’s a great summary of how/why VC works. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll be more successful in your own career if you can better understand how the other person makes money.

9. “Welcome to the exclusive, 84-member Unicorn Club: the top .14%” [Link] [Tweet]

Unicorns are everywhere, they’re mostly consumer focused, they’re not efficient with their capital and immigrants play a huge role. Great, let’s get back to funding/helping earlier stage companies — kthx.

10. “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this wasn’t possible over two years ago. We are in a new world.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is such a great summary of the HUGE changes happening right now. Consider this: “those who want to invest in YC companies but live in rural Florida can now do so with a click of a button without ever having to meet the direct investor or the company itself.” We’re living in the future, you guys.

Meet me in Lincoln, NE or Chicago, IL?
I’ll be keynoting the Nmotion Demo Day this Tuesday and speaking at Work Design Magazine’s event this Thursday (use “PAULGUEST” as the discount code). Hope to see you there!

Two (Small-ish) Favors?

1. Forward today’s newsletter to one other person and tell them to sign up. They’ll probably thank you. Also, I’ll buy you a beer when we meet next.
2. I wear a Fitbit Charge HR daily but can’t seem to justify spending $400 on a new Apple Watch Sport (42mm Space Gray with the Black Sport Band, if you must know) just yet. What’s it going to take to let me borrow yours for a week?

Have a great weekend!
-P

Happy Friday.
(And hello from Ashburn, VA — where I’ve managed to be sick all week.)

I read (and tweet) a lot. This week, 125,000+ of you told me which of the reads were the most interesting (and reminded me that most of my tweets are terrible) — here are the top ten:

1. “It’s no secret that most startups fail. What’s a bit less obvious is that most startup accelerators also fail.” [Link] [Tweet]

Unless you’re part of the top-tier, the days of running accelerators and incubators on the economics of venture capital funds are over. Accelerators and incubators are the new business schools, it’s time they explored similar business models as well.

2. “So there I was with my finger inside 50 Cent’s mouth. At his invitation, I was massaging the back of his tongue.” [Link] [Tweet]

Despite 50 Cent’s recent bankruptcy filing, it’s interesting to get inside his head through articles like this one and understand how he thinks about being a musician and a moviestar. As he says, “If it makes money, it makes sense.” Perhaps this is an early signal that we all may have to think about how our skills can be applied across multiple disciplines.

3. “having kids is like having your heart running around outside your body.” [Link] [Tweet]

This.

4. “Keep it simple, do less, and manage your stupidity.” [Link] [Tweet]

Jason Zweig of the WSJ came up with this format in 2012 and Motley Fool brought it back recently. Most of the advice is similar but the more interesting part is that you can almost sense the competitiveness amongst the investors based on the words they’ve chosen.

5. “It did most of this while living together in an unremarkable McMansion in suburban Maryland.” [Link] [Tweet]

I read stories like this one and wonder if I’d be able to make the same commitment that these people did.

6. “I’m boring my dad because he will take any text, any call, any time, even on the ski lift.” [Link] [Tweet]

I hope that I never make my daughter feel this way.

7. “money is simply data, a simple way to measure and keep track of exchanges in value, or accumulations of wealth.” [Link] [Tweet]

I own a few Bitcoins and messed around with a (small) mining rig a few years ago but I’m still not sure what to make of it all. Reid’s article is a great overview if you’re looking to wrap your head around it.

8. “And people are afraid of hard work. Which is why they’re being left behind.” [Link] [Tweet]

This is yet-another-reminder that knowing how to code is important — not because everyone needs to be a coder but because you’re going to be dealing with coders regardless of your career path.

9. “Hindsight is unfair and inaccurate, but I still enjoy its lessons.” [Link] [Tweet]

If you can get past the title of the article, the actual tips are gold. The startup world is Hollywoodized — let’s get back to building businesses.

10. “I’m loyal only to results, and I suspect you are, too.” [Link] [Tweet]

Our phones are getting crowded with single-apps. As the author says, “I don’t want Yelp; I want to know where to eat. I don’t care about Google Calendar; I care about not missing appointments. I don’t buy iPhones; I buy best-in-class pictures of my kids.” This is an interesting read on the future of mobile.

Meet me in Lincoln, NE or Chicago, IL?
I’ll be keynoting the Nmotion Demo Day on Tuesday, July 28 and speaking at Work Design Magazine’s event on Thursday, July 30 (use “PAUL” as the discount code to get a free ticket). Hope to see you there!

Have a great weekend!

-P

Happy Friday.
(And hello from Greenville, SC today.)

I read (and tweet) a lot. This week, 125,000+ of you told me which of the reads were the most interesting (and reminded me that most of my tweets are terrible) — here are the top ten:

1. Two developers made 14% of mobile app revenues in 2014 [Link] [Tweet]

As a consumer, apps — Uber, Weather, Twitter, Spotify and more — have made my life easier and more effective. As a developer, this data is a stark reminder that (1) most markets are winner take most and (2) it’s incredibly hard to cut through the noise.

2. “Ownership, it turns out, can be a one-way street when you’ve only got 0.001% of a startup’s shares.” [Link] [Tweet]

This particular topic — the rise of the party round — seems to be top of mind for everyone this week and it’s about time. In general, it’s probably a good thing that early stage capital has become easier to raise. However, I suspect we’ll start to see a number of new “angel investor training” courses and events popping up over the coming year. Something about selling shovels and jeans during the gold rush, you know.

3. Putting Floyd Mayweather’s $220 million payday into perspective [Link] [Tweet]

Frankly, I still don’t get the economics of boxing but, given the amount of money involved, maybe I’m the idiot here.

4. “high-reputation VCs acquire startup equity at a 10 to 14 percent discount.” [Link] [Tweet]

Although it’s interesting to see research around this topic, I’m not quite sure that I ever got a discount on an investment opportunity because of my/our brand. Rather, I got access to the investment opportunity in the first place. Regardless, consider this yet-another-reminder that brand matters in a business driven by the Power Law.

5. “Traction is everything — in a great market.” [Link] [Tweet]

I’ve invested in Matt’s company multiple times over the past few years and it’s been interesting to watch him mature from a founder to a CEO. One of my other favorite quotes from this article: “To put it bluntly, product traction can be engineered for a price, but treasure maps get term sheets.”

6. “No one wants to buy from a person who is frowning.” [Link] [Tweet]

You guys, this 13 year old can sell — someone ought to hire her for their startup soon.

7. Success is a Question of When, Not If [Link] [Tweet]

Another (great) @pmarca tweet storm. I can only hope that, one day, I’ll be able to condense my thoughts into coherent tweets and then repurpose them directly into a blog post.

8. The most important piece of advice for folks starting their careers [Link] [Tweet]

If your career is just getting started (or you’re trying to break into the Valley), this is worth a read. Key takeaway: hustle hard and learn faster than your peers.

9. “The danger is that we’re in an Everything Bubble — that valuations across the board are simply too high.” [Link] [Tweet]

In a nutshell: “The Shiller CAPE ratio, generally regarded as a good measure of the market’s over- or undervaluation, is indeed unusually high — though not nearly as high as in January 2000.” Everything might be overvalued. Or it might be. Economic forecasting, as usual.

10. “Unfortunately we have noted recently that the number of accidents caused by lovers of self-photography.” [Link] [Tweet]

OK, the illustrations alone are worth browsing. You’re welcome.

How can I make this newsletter better?
To those of you that responded last week — THANKS. I’ve updated the format of this week’s newsletter with a bunch of your feedback. What do you think?

Have a great weekend!

-P