Happy Saturday.
The Airstream’s parked in Pittsburgh, just down the street from Alphalab, and we’ve wrapped up a week long set of events for founders, investors and the broader tech community. I didn’t come into Pittsburgh with any expectations or assumptions — I was blown away, they’ve got a good thing going here. You can find a bunch of photos here,here and here.
I’m considering making an angel investment in at least three Pittsburgh companies ($100K+ revenue, reasonable valuations, clean term sheets and incredibly smart founders), please join my AngelList syndicate if you’d like the opportunity to participate alongside me. You can invest as little as $1,000 in deals, you get to opt-in/opt-out of deals as you wish — no pressure and more dealflow for you.
I’m currently speaking with a few partners / sponsors for the 2016 tech tour — if there are any companies or organizations in your network that would like to be super visible in the founder/investor/technology community, please send them my way.
Next up: I’m in Vancouver Tues/Wed of this week before pulling the Airstream towards Tulsa next weekend for the second tech tour stop
1. “The staff’s inability to spell your name correctly is actually a giant conspiracy to make them more money.” [Link] [Tweet]
Yep.
2. “if you do decide to do a startup, keep an eye out for the deferred life plan.” [Link] [Tweet]
This part rings so true: Yet, many people I know are spending these years hunched over a computer, thinking of few things besides their company, their career, and how to “make it” in the world. They’ve bought into the same deferred life plan as the 22-year old banker at Goldman Sachs; it’s just sugarcoated with words like “disruption,” “ownership,” and “innovation.”
3. So I made a thing: It’s not sketchy, it’s UP AND COMING. (Gimme feedback, yo.) [Link] [Tweet]
I posted my first video on YouTube this past Sunday night, what did you think of it?
I tried to carry my GoPro with me the entire time I was in Pittsburgh. Now I have a ton of footage and no time to edit it all down into anything good. Any tips on how to get it done more efficiently (or tips on how to find the right editor to help me do it all)?
4. “Journalism is fun, but you’ll be a VC one day too. Once you realize how dumb and easy it all is.” [Link] [Tweet]
Another reality TV show focused on startups, y’all. Wonderful.
5. “It’s because they care about their dignity more than they care about their finances.” [Link] [Tweet]
For the sake of argument (and if we temporarily put aside Trump’s own verbal support of racism and other terrible things), what are the rational reasons to support him?
6. “Big Food maker plans to invest $125 million in startups.” [Link] [Tweet]
One more VC in the industry can’t be a bad thing, right?
7. “When in a new location, Uber will only employ three: marketing manager, driver ops manager & general manager.” [Link] [Tweet]
If you’re starting something new, your founding team should probably look as lean as Uber’s model. Someone building the product, someone marketing the product and someone making sure that the product has everything it needs to survive long enough to win.
8. “I had to quit to put myself in a position to believe in myself.” [Link] [Tweet]
Saying ‘no’ is a tool to do the few things that matter to you very well.
9. “Angel investing is about experience.” [Link] [Tweet]
Successful angel investing is about seeing a lot of deals and doing a lot of deals. Sure, there’s a bit more to it than that but the point is that you’re not going to get better at it by reading more of the same stuff.
If you want to see all the deals I’ll be doing this year, you can back my AngelList syndicate. It won’t cost you a penny and you’ll likely see more qualified deals through my tech tour this year than you will on your own.
10. “there’s a big difference between pleasing people and helping them.” [Link] [Tweet]
Can someone build these into Gmail’s canned responses or something?
Firehose
You can get the full stream of the things I read, it’s all on Twitter — follow me: @paulsingh. Sometimes I write stuff too. You can always find me on Slack, apply to join.
Have a great weekend!
-P
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