Seed Investing Landscape: Live Insights From San Francisco
The state of seed investing today. Reporting live from San Francisco.
Ship Fast: Speed Beats Polished Slides Every Time
The incumbents are still polishing their slide decks. You just shipped the product. While the world waits for permission, you are paving the road. Speed is your unfair advantage. Keep shipping!
Arriving in Startup Hub, Ready to Invest
Just landed in the most powerful startup city on earth. Eager to make some new investments! https://t.co/IoVBJ2W8J2
Skip the Fluff—Just Build a Prototype and Relocate
You don’t need a notable cofounder. You don’t need a warm intro. You don’t need a perfect pitch deck. You need a prototype that works and a one-way ticket to SF. Everything else is noise :). Happy Thanksgiving!
Focus on Function Over Form Signals Strong Startup
If a tech startup founder apologizes for their prototype looking ugly, yet their demo works perfectly then seriously consider it. They spent their time on the physics, not the paint.
Cofounder Breakups Kill Startups More than PMF
Startups die from cofounder breakups/tensions more often than not finding product market fit. We just blame PMF because "irreconcilable differences" sounds too much like divorce court jargon.
VCs: From Actuarial Skeptics to Post‑IPO Mystics
At Seed, pessimistic VCs are actuaries calculating your startup's probability of death. At IPO, they are mystics claiming they always saw the vision.
Revenue Fuels Growth; VC Praise Is Just Hype
VC praise is opium. Customer revenue is oxygen. Asking a VC if your idea is working is like asking a spectator if the punch hurts. Get in the ring pal.
Frugal Founders in Booming Markets Ignore Abundant Funding
Startup founders building in rapidly expanding markets who optimize their burn rate, while competitors are raising $100M, remind me of people who count calories at an all you can eat buffet.
Treating SAFEs as Credit Cards Erodes Real Equity
Startup founders who treat SAFEs and convertible notes like credit cards until the Series A closes... and then realize they have been playing Monopoly with real equity.
Rejection Fuels Stronger Pitches, Like a Growing Hulk
Every founder who got rejected 39 times before their Series A reminds me of Hulk. The angrier they got, the stronger the pitch became.
Great Founders Keep Asking Why; Quitters Go Corporate
Every successful founder I know is still asking why like a toddler who just discovered speech. The ones who stopped? They are in bd or corp dev right now.
Gen Z Founders Profit in Obscure Niches, Early Backers
Gen Z founders are printing money in niches VCs can barely spell; early preseed backers are becoming legends quickly!
Uncomfortable Customer Interviews Separate Rich Founders From Poor
If your customer interviews don't make you sweat like you are asking someone to prom, you probably are not asking real questions. Founders who stay comfortable, stay poor.
Digital Founders Were Time Travelers Predicting Fax Extinction
Tech startup founders who digitized entire industries are basically time travelers who went to 1990 and whispered "trust me, the fax machine will die" to VCs!