Thought Leadership Threads

Most outsiders don’t understand that Venture Capital is ultimately a sifting exercise. VCs meet with hundreds (sometimes thousands) of Founders every year searching for the perfect combination of a brilliant idea and an exceptional leader.

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A direct result of the “volume game” is that VCs learn to bucket Founders into a variety of personality types with many of these profiles being “un-investible”.  And just this week I encountered a common red-flag profile that led to a quick decline: The "Need to be Right" Founder.
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At a startup, stock options can be lucrative depending on the success of the company.

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With valuations down, Founders are asking to reprice historical options.

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Here’s what it means, why it’s important and when it’s appropriate.

Founders worry more about the war for talent than they do wars or Covid.
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In a recent LinkedIn survey, I asked founders and the fintech community at large what they saw as the greatest challenge in the new year.
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Whereas only 6% of respondents picked Covid as the top challenge, an overwhelming 48% pinpointed the war for talent as their top concern.

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The idea that each company has its own culture isn’t questioned. Most people claim that it’s important and a contributor to an organization’s success or failure.

But guess what? People struggle when asked to explain what culture is!

A framework and thoughts on the topic: