Change.'Ecosystem' #11
Your weekly guide on tech news, early stage fundraising and venture capital.
Welcome to another ‘Ecosystem’ newsletter! Thank you for being part of this journey from the very beginning! For access to all monthly events, archive and expert-led workshops become an annual subscriber.
When was the last time you did something for the first time?
While it is useful to keep up (healthy) routine - as an example, I struggle starting my day properly without morning cardio and I am a huge believer in checklists to keep up productivity; habits greatly differ from monotomy. This week marks a big change for me - keep an eye out for the next newsletter to find out more.
In the meantime, a reminder that life starts at the end of your comfort zone and a dose of inspiration below!
“Fortune favors action. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.” -
Sophia Amoruso, Founder and former CEO, GIRLBOSS
“Great CEOs face the pain. They deal with the sleepless nights, the cold sweats, and what my friend the great Alfred Chuang (legendary cofounder and CEO of BEA Systems) calls “the torture.” Whenever I meet a successful CEO, I ask them how they did it. Mediocre CEOs point to their brilliant strategic moves or their intuitive business sense or a variety of other self-congratulatory explanations. The great CEOs tend to be remarkably consistent in their answers. They all say, “I didn’t quit.”
- Ben Horowitz, Co-founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
Ecosystem Events
September brings not one but two #EcosystemGiants sessions!
Join us tomorrow, Tuesday 15 September at 5pm BST to hear from Esha Vatsa, Principal at Pi Labs, Europe’s most active early state protpech VC firm. We’ll talk about joining and getting the best out of an accelerator programme, innovating in a traditional industry, working with incumbents. At the end, a proptech founder raising seed will do a 3’ pitch for feedback.
I am beyond excited to announce the next #EcosystemGiants guest speaker will be Manu Gupta - one of the most influential venture capitalists, investing in European tech. He was previously a founding team member and Partner of Lakestar, helping raise $1.4bn in 6 years to become one of Europe’s largest tech venture funds. In his first public talk since his departure, Manu will share how he built his career in venture, his investment criteria, assessing deals and lessons learned from partnering up with some of world’s most talented entrepreneurs. Tuesday, 22 September at 5pm BST - RSVP here.
You can also check out the recordings from August and July.
Innovation Ecosystem Updates
Whether you are an investor, a founder, an operator, a corporate or a friend. My top (about) 5 news stories this week that you may find of interest too.
A diversity standard for the venture industry. Non-profit organisation Diversity VC’s certification is the investment equivalent of the Fairtrade mark - a symbol for the firms(early supporters include Atominco, Notion), following the best diversity and inclusion practices(Sifted). Citigroup’s Jane Fraser becomes the first female CEO to lead a big Wall Street bank (The New York Times). Meanwhile, the world's largest beauty retailer, Sephora, appoints another male CEO, attracting social media controversy.
Historic wildfire smoke had the San Francisco Bay Area looking like a sci-fi set. Officials urged residents to stay inside with shut windows to avoid the very unhealthy air blankets (LA Times). Silicon Valley VCs (Semil Shah, General Partner, Haystack VC) coin the phrase ‘climate refugee’.
Proptech news. EQT acquired Idealista, the largest online real estate classifieds platform in Southern Europe for for $1.5bn via Tech.eu. Across the pond, Opendoor, the largest instant home buying platform in the US in advanced talks to go public through a SPAC merger with Social Capital via Crunchbase.
How soon are we to see the ‘unbundling’ of social networks? Facebook goes back to its exclusive community roots by launching Campus, a college student-only social networking platform (Techcrunch).
Funder
There is no user manual for venture capital but how can entrepreneurs best navigate the venture dynamics? Parul Singh (Principal, Founder Collective) lists a 10-rule guideline to help founders drive better outcomes when fundraising
Customer acquisition, sales and distribution channels - what should seed stage startups avoid? Marvin Liao (Former Partner, 500 Startups and Angel Investor) on why to focus on other priorities NOT business development (BD) and partnerships
The VC/investor market is changing. Entrepreneur, investor and content creator Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano (Founder & Partner, Morgan Creek Digital Assets) on the new era of solo-capitalists and launching a rolling fund
Why is customer churn important? Marton Medveczky (Investment Associate, Flashpoint Venture Capital) on predicting the variable (an example model included) and redefining the ideal client profile
Founder/Operator
Aaron Dinin (Lecturing Fellow, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Duke University and Co-Founder, RocketBolt) explores the simple yet complex question : “Why is nobody buying my product?” (hint - find your target audience!)
Tech and non-tech companies have been affected by the pandemic. A heart-felt farewell letter from an independent restaurant owner duo (Danny Abrams and Cindy Smith, The Mermaid Inn), who reflect on the impact the business has had on the NYC community and why Coronavirus is a financial disaster in the making with a ‘restaurant-closing tsunami on the way’
Eshita Nandini (Data Quality Analyst, Shareworks by Morgan Stanley) on the unbundling of social media and why audio-first is becoming the next big player
Twitter Highlight(s)
Corey Haines (Head of Growth, Baremetrics and Founder, Swipe Files)
Andreas Klinger (Investor, Remote First Capital)
Startup of the week
Curio, a curated audio platform for journalism. The company brings expert news stories to even more ears ;) with publications like FT, Wired, The Washington Post. It scored a $9M series A round(announced last week), led by Earlybird with participation from other leading VC firms Draper Esprit, Cherry Ventures and Horizons Ventures.
Tweet @curioio to share they have been featured in ‘Ecosystem’!
Who should I feature next?*
*I would love to hear from audio-first/voice tech companies. If you are building something in the space, reach out!
Startup Go-to Resources
Fundraising in a Pandemic World : Words of wisdom by Semil Shah, founder of Haystack Ventures and Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
B2B Selling in COVID-19 : 16 key questions to help you sell and survive; a guide by the investment team at a16z
Sonali De Rycker(General Partner,Accel) on Seedcamp's This Much I Know - on grit, ambition and supporting founders through lows and highs. Easily one of the best podcasts I've listened to in a while.
What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by A16Z's Ben Horowitz."Because your culture is how your company makes decisions when you're not there."
The Hard Thing About Hard Things - yet another absolute gem by Ben Horowitz. Reflections from his time as an entrepreneur(who prior to setting up A16Z sold his company Opsware to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in cash!), making decisions when there are no good available options and internal/external business communication.
Top Ten Questions for Boards to Consider During a Down Cycle - the best practices to follow to maximize your company's opportunities to weather the storm and emerge on the other side in an optimal position.
Alexis Ohanian on the Pomp Podcast - The former co-Founder at half-billion dollar early stage venture capital firm Initialized Capital and at Reddit, one of the most popular websites in the world, shares lessons learned from selling his company, being a partner at YC and more. Thank you for being part of the second ‘Ecosystem’ newsletter!