Cardinal Sin #1: Delusions of Grandeur The worst kind of founder is one who thinks they are the second coming of Christ. NO, your company isn’t going to be worth billions. NO, your idea won’t change the world and feed the poor or stop climate change or bring peace to the Middle East or save […]
What the Heck Happened to Creativity in Silicon Valley
Everyday I see the same things: The same startup names that take a perfectly normal word and change it by adding a “-ly” to the end; the same generic websites with screenshots of the startups app on an oversized iPhone; the same startups who proclaim they are the next “Uber” or “Airbnb” of this and […]
The Upside & Downside of This New VC Firms Strategy
Silicon Valley has long prided itself for creating the Pied Pipers of the world, but venture capitalists themselves have been reluctant to disrupt their own industry and the traditional 2/20 model. But just recently, Kent Goldman, a former First Round Capital partner, is trying something radical: he’s spreading the wealth with his founders. It’s simple enough. […]
What Barbara Walters’ Amazing Career Can Teach Us About Women in VC
Jeff Bussgang’s recent article about the lack of women in VC struck a nerve with me as this topic has always been near and dear to my heart so I want to share the story of Barbara Walters and show what it can reveal about the lack of women in VC. Back in 1976, Barbara […]
Should VCs Start Crowdshaming Sh-tty Startups?
Like most VCs, I get carpet bombed with pitches almost non-stop. They can range from the benign and harmless pitches all the way to the ones that were clearly written by someone who had just discovered bath salts. Most pitches are just plain awful and seeing them infest my inbox has brought me to the […]
The Unusual Economics of My New Small Fund
Charlie O’Donnell wrote a short blog post of the economics of his fund and no surprise, it was representative of how a typical VC fund operates. But since my fund is far from being typical, I would like to share with you the weird, un-sanitized and detailed economics of it so lets get started. Management […]
Do not Go Chasing Distribution Waterfalls: The Future of VC Compensation
Just recently I read Kanyi Maqubela’s post on distribution waterfalls and carried interest and felt compelled to write a rebuttal. First of all, there is no such thing as a European style waterfall – not anymore, at least. If anything, most American VC firms are the ones who use that supposedly “European” style waterfall, where the principal […]
The Purple Cow: Startup Edition #1
As a purple cow evangelist, I always have a few crazy ideas that are percolating in my head, which is why I started the Purple Cow, Startup Edition. I will take a fledgling startup and come up with a few remarkable ideas. My goal is to encourage creativity and motivate marketers to do something different. […]
Chasing Unicorns #3 NYC Edition
Pijon, Modalyst and Kid & Coe are part of this weeks special NYC edition of Chasing Unicorns. What Kid & Coe is travel platform dedicated to families only Problem When you think of a family vacation, a trip to Ibiza or Cancun on spring break doesn’t exactly come to mind. In reality, it’s hard for hotels […]
Chasing Unicorns #2 STD’s & Mastering Time Edition
Welcome to the second edition of Chasing Unicorns. Last week was the special love edition and the first of many Chasing Unicorn features where I will be busting out my deal flow for all to see. In this post, I will showcase 3 startups that are tackling problems like STDs and rental management. There’s even a startup […]
Chasing Unicorns: The Love Edition
This special edition of Chasing Unicorns is all about the business of love. As always, ratings are from a scale of 1-3 like Michelin stars. I’ve come across dozens of wedding startups and it’s easy to see why there are so many of them – weddings are big business. But the very appropriately named, Carats […]