Get paying users. Let someone else change the world.
I found this interesting article by David Mercer of smepals.com in AllBusiness. He shares 5 lessons he learnt in his entrepreneurial journey and they made a comprehensive list of learnings.
Startup Podcasts I listen to
As a startup founder myself I spend a lot of time reading and (writing). One thing I look forward to is listening to Podcasts. Here are 5 I frequent. They push my thoughts Masters of Scale – Hosted by Reid Hoffman it is wonderfully produced and brings in a lot of insights as founders open up like never before.
The next 30 Silicon Valley’s startup ecosystem
The Startup Genome Report for 2019 was out a few months back and it lists the top 30 destinations where the startup ecosystem is thriving.
What’s your Origin story?
David Cummings writes mostly short pointed posts which I find thought provoking. A post last month was on how a simple question “How did you come up with the idea for your company?” mostly get meandering uninteresting unmemorable responses.
Using Fermi’s Problem
I love to dig through Jason Cohen’s (CTO WP Engine) posts and look what I found – The Fermi estimation for Startup business models. This is an interesting and quick method to figure if your estimates have any legs at all. So what is Fermi’s Problem? Wikipedia says “ The estimation technique is named after physicist Enrico Fermi as he was known for his ability to make good approximate calculations with little or no actual data. Fermi’s problem typically involve making justified guesses about quantities and their variance or lower and upper bounds.”
Funding your startup
David Cummings recently wrote about re-evaluating the current methods of startup funding and proposed a structural change more conducive for funds to keep flowing for Startup investments. His solution is revenue financing – which is like a high (but adjustable) interest loan both in terms of interest and period that provides the much necessary cash to fund the initial stages without the Angles or investors loosing it all.
Hot Vs not : Seed investment trends
You would wonder if all seed stage startups are created equal. Well they are not. Investors always found a flavor of the year in most positive investment scenarios and backed ideas that seemed right for some disruptive value with the potential of a hockey stick growth. Fintech, Blockchain, AI/ML – you get the drift.
Debt as Growth Capital
The most discussed topic in any saas gathering is Funding. While you would like to think that it should be the product, it is not. “Have you raised?” “Are you raising?” “Pre seen? Series A? Angel? Syndicate?” – you get the drift.
The coming flood of Chinese Unicorns
According to CB Insights there are 361 Unicorns in the world. A recent report in Strategy + Business reveals China has about 200 startups less than 10 years old and have valuations of 1B or more. 70% of them are preparing to go global.
Lessons from James Dyson
I have been a fan of Guy Raz and How I Built this from NPR. I look forward to its episodes and have heard some truly fascinating stories of grit, determinations and growth. This is where I heard the Whole Foods Story from John Mackey ( remember the multibillion dollar Amazon acquisition?), of Jerry Murrell of Five Guys and a Burger, Melanie Perkins of Canva and today James Dyson and his vacuum cleaner story.
