Improvement.'Ecosystem' #8
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.
They say humans are creatures of habit and routine. Other than taking 21 days to form, a habit is a function of familiarity (doing something over and over again).
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ” - Aristotle
If we are talking about habits in the context of a career, repetition (or hard work) alone would not lead to excellence. Grit, determination and collaboration all matter. A key factor in achieving excellence that is often underestimated? One’s eagerness to learn and ability to (quickly) self-improve. To embrace vulnerability and creativity. To show up, be seen and to iterate. Iteration not only creates the opportunities for improvement but for innovation.
What have you done to improve yourself in the past months?
"The quality of your work will eventually catch up to your ambition." - Polina Marinova, Founder and Author, The Profile
“If you know how to learn, you know enough.” - Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway
Ecosystem Events
#EcosystemGiants returns in September. In the meantime, check out the recordings from August and July. If you are a founder who would like to pitch for investor feedback (it’s free!), email me.
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.
The VC industry is reportedly weathering the Covid-19 pandemic much better than many parts of the world economy. More on the findings of the new report and how VCs have adapted to navigating a ‘great deal of uncertainty about the future’via Institutional Investor.
IPOs are back. Why are tech startups in Silicon Valley keen to go public? (The Economist); and the biggest IPO ever may (again) be a Jack Ma company (Fortune). Meanwhile, Europe’s latest unicorn (from Croatia!) is the biggest business you may have never heard of - and plans to go public in 3 years time (Sifted).
The Covid-crippled property markets ring the alarm for banks. The story on why the real estate sector is a victim of the virus, debt and technological change and what is next via Financial Times.
Lambda School, an edtech startup, raised a $74m series C round for its virtual coding school (Techcrunch). The funding largely came from VC firm Gigafund, whose previous investments include SpaceX, Y Combinator.
Base10, world’s largest black-led VC firm raised a second $250mn fund, nearly twice the size of its previous one. 1% of its management fees and profits will be permanently donated to organisations supporting diversity in tech via Bloomberg
Funder
How important is building (and keeping up!) momentum in startup fundraising?Amit Garg(Managing Partner, Tau Ventures) explains and offers advice on how to successfully close a funding round.
Gary Vaynerchuk took his father’s wine store online and grew it from $3M to $60M in revenue using social media; his ad agency is estimated to be billing $200M annually, launched a micro VC fund and branded himself as a professional speaker on entrepreneurial motivation(charging >$120k per talk). Marvin Liao(Former Partner 500 Startups and angel investor) looks into his ‘master plan’ and the lessons we can all learn from his journey.
What are the benchmarks to look into prior to pitching to investors? Dominik Lambersy (VC analyst, Speedinvest) demystifies Deep Tech traction and how VCs measure commercial validation. You may sign up for Speedinvest Deep Tech team’s formats (or ask a question) here or RSVP to their latest Pricing Strategies for Early-Stage Deep Tech startups event here.
Are you working on closing your early customers and building a repeatable sales process?Priyanka Somrah(VC analyst, Work-Bench) shares the key takeaways after analyzing the go-to-market strategies of 20 upcoming data tools.
Founder/Operator
The media industry is changing and media consumption is accelerating(the online streaming market is up 100% YoY!). Eric Feng, Co-Founder, Packagd on the increase in consumer demand for content, the new class of content creators (DNVC) and meteoric growth of DNVC enabling platforms.
What are the social dynamics that drive impactful membership organisations? Nick deWilde (Product Marketing Principal, Guild Education) discusses online communities and how founders can design the social architecture to maximize the value that gets exchanged between members.
What would Polina Marinova (Founder and Author, The Profile) say to her younger self? Her 11 practical pieces of advice - on career, life and more.Highly recommended!
How do you rise back up when you have lost everything?Diego Saez-Gil(Founder of Pachama*) reflects on how losing his house to the raging California fires has made him stronger and even more motivated to fight climate change.
Twitter Highlight(s)
Zach Abrams, VP Product, Brex
Scott Gorlick, Operating Partner, Florida Funders
Startup of the week
Yepic AI, AI powered text-video generator. The startup allows brands to create videos from an audio/text file to better engage with customers and partners. Yepic AI will simplify the process of producing high quality video at scale, with the aim of making it as easy as sending an email.
Who should I feature next?
Startup Go-to Resources
B2B Selling in COVID-19 : 16 key questions to help you sell and survive; a guide by the investment team at a16z
The ultimate guide to Startup Metrics : What to track, when and why - a must read by Speedinvest Pirates(the growth marketing unit of Speedinvest!)
The All Raise Summer 2020 Reading List : A selection of the favorite books by 26 exceptional funders, founders and operators
20:VC with Joe Thomas (Founder and CEO, Loom) on how early stage founders should select their investors
How are company valuations made? An encompassing guide on multiples by A16Z
Visible, a new investor database for and by founders
Step-by-Step Fundraising Tactics from DoubleClick CEO Kevin Ryan, who has raised over $750m in venture capitalThank you for being part of the second ‘Ecosystem’ newsletter!
*Pachama uses AI to drive carbon capture and protect global forests.