Thought Leadership Threads

We’re witnessing one of the most exciting periods in VC history. Funding is flowing freely, valuations are stratospheric and gigantic exits have become the norm. As a VC this should feel great, but does it? Maybe not. What follows is a rant that bears my soul on the topic:

Many people have asked why #Banks can’t just copy #Fintech functionality and then crush them with their scale and advantaged funding and regulatory apparatus. It’s because they’re in the “functional relief” business vs. the “magical transcendence” business. Unpacked:

My first post about #BTC and it’s a challenge for the #BTC community:

This🧵details 4 questions that I’m wrestling with regarding #BTC. In full disclosure, I have a very deep understanding of the benefits of #BTC but I’m not yet on board. Help me get there:

I've been spending a lot of time this past year thinking about inflation in the US. There are skeptics and there are some that believe the signs and portents are here.

(I think it's already here and that our systems aren't tuned to measure it correctly)

A few fun stats:

So you want to be a top performing #VC investor. Here are six exercises you can practice as you evaluate #startups that will hone your skills, establish frameworks, and help identify great investments.

Read on if you’re interested:

It was amazing to see the reaction to the thread by @dunkhippo33 about “why ownership doesn’t matter for early stage investing”. There are great nuggets in her thread but I have a very different perspective and counter-argument.

The case for why ownership DOES matter:

I asked a number of institutional LPs that invest in VC funds what they thought about the recent rise in exit valuations and if the resulting VC results were going to impact their view of managers and allocations.

You might be surprised about what they said! Unpacked:

It seems to be a trend that’s hit peak levels during the pandemic, but people in the #startup ecosystem are throwing themselves into their jobs to the detriment of everything else in their lives. It reminds me of a funny story.

It’s been 6-months since I posted a thread about the trend of early stage companies raising of 2-3 back-to-back rounds with minimal progress in-between. I asked some amazing VCs whether or not anything has changed since. They think it’s gotten worse. Their thoughts: