Pause. 'Ecosystem' #18
Your weekly guide on tech news and early stage fundraising. Democratising access to venture capital for underestimated founders and investors.
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Hello and welcome to issue #18!
November already! The end of the year marks a threshold and invites a pause for reflection. Reflecting back is a critical yet often forgotten key to growth and the way to meaningfully plan ahead.
The only real shortcut in life is to understand it backwards. It's easier to solve a maze backwards. Life is the same. Learn from people further down the path from you and make their hindsight your foresight. - Shane Parrish, Founder at Farnam Street and Syrus Partners
If you have personally interacted with me, you know of my interest in voice-based/first tech solutions. My preferred platform has been Chalk (sorry, Clubhouse!), that offers an all-in-one, secure voice rooms for community builders.
One of the best conversations I joined took part last week - Damir Becirovic(Principal, Index Ventures) in a chat with Joe Thomas, Co-Founder of asynchronous video startup Loom. If you don’t know too much about Loom(valued at $350 million!), I recommend reading this. I followed up with Joe asking about the advice he’d give his 20-year-old self. The response is too good not to share with you:
“Your brain and personality are a sum total of the people and knowledge you surround yourself with. Find the people that bring out the best in you and inspire you to work on the passions that you have. Read the books, watch the documentaries, listen to the podcasts/ebooks that help you connect dots in important areas.
Realize that building the muscle and discipline to do the things you don't want to do but you know is right for you longer term is what what truly separates outliers from the pack. It's easier when you're surround by people and work that inspire you.”
Joe Thomas, Co-Founder and CEO, Loom
EcosystemGiants Events
Very happy to announce Chis Heivly (VP Innovation, Techstars) as the next #EcosystemGiants guest! Chris Heivly is one of the US leading experts on launching startups, named the "Startup Whisperer." In 1999, he sold his startup MapQuest to AOL for $1.2 billion. Then, for over 30 years, Chris has worked at the highest levels for some of the world’s most recognized brands and is now EIR with leading global accelerator Techstars. The conversation will focus on building a billion-dollar business, finding early stage product market fit and why communities are essential to growing your startup. RSVP here. In collaboration with UNDP Cambodia’s Bluetribe.
Supported by Kaiku, ParlayMe and Startups Magazine.
Links to the September, August and July recordings.
Innovation Ecosystem Updates
Whether you are an investor, a founder, an operator, a corporate or a friend. The top news stories this week you may find of interest.
Market updates. How has the innovation economy adapted through the year’s uncertainty? From startup layoffs, rental prices in major tech hubs to tech convertible debt -Silicon Valley Bank’s State of the Markets Q3 2020 report explores the stats in detail. Plus the earnings of the five largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. are out - ‘Apple stock is falling, Twitter is getting hammered, Facebook is choppy, and Alphabet is rising above the rest’ as referenced via Barrons
New funds. HV Holtzbrinck Ventures announced a new (eight) €535 million fund to back up-and-coming European startups and rebranded as HV Capital (Sifted). Air Street Capital, founded by sole GP Nathan Benaich (previously at Playfair and Point Nine) launched a $17 million AI-focused VC fund (backed by Twitter and top executives from Google and Supercell) via Fortune.
And news from the US. Bessemer Venture Partners expands into Europe and follows Sequoia in choosing London as its HQ. PayPal invests $50 Million in 8 early-stage black and latinx-led VCs to boost economic equality (The New York Times). 645 Ventures, a Black-owned venture capital firm backed by Princeton University’s endowment, with a third(four times the size of the previous one!) $160 million fund (Bloomberg).
IPOs, sales and acquisitions. Under Armour is selling MyFitnessPal for $345 million, nearly a third less than it paid for in 2015 (CFO). A year after the IPO fiasco, WeWork may try to go public again after it becomes profitable (NY Post). The French conglomerate LVMH acquired US jeweler Tiffany for $15.8 billion in a deal set to reshape luxury (The Guardian). Dr Oetker buys German drinks delivery startup flaschenpost for €1 billion (Eu-Startups).
Raises. More news from Germany -one of the country’s hottest startups, booking platform for travel experiences GetYourGuide secured a €114 million convertible note financing (led by Searchlight Capital) to help it keep moving forward (Techcrunch). Jiko, the first fintech startup to acquire a nationally regulated US bank, raised a $40 million series A, led by Upfront Ventures and Wafra (MSN).
Wins for women. Female-managed VC firm The Engine raised $230 million from MIT and new backer Harvard to become the largest university-led venture capital fund in the US (Forbes). Well done to CEO and managing partner Katie Rae 👏 Upfront's now co-managing partner Kara Nortman is one of the first women promoted to a leadership role in VC (Techcrunch) 👏
Funder
How to make board meetings worth everyone’s time? Philip Specht (Principal, Speedinvest) open-sources the VC firm’s Board Meeting Template to help founders focus on content rather than slide production as they prepare for their first board meetings
Once the chicken and egg problem in a marketplace is resolved and initial liquidity built, how does it become a prime option for both : a) the buyers purchasing a specific type of good/service and b) the suppliers generating revenue from multiple streams? Julia Morrongiello (Associate, Point Nine Capital) explores the ‘share of wallet’ concept and the metrics to measure it.
Building a hyper-growth company to tackle hard, meaningful real-world problems is one of the most difficult things an individual can decide to do, so let’s at least try our best to not make it any harder than it already is.
Andrea Di Pietrantonio (Portfolio Operations Director, Inventure) gets into the stages of the VC version of Customer Success Management or ‘Portfolio Operations’, sharing reflections on 3 years of finding a product/market fit inside a venture fund.
Founder
After six months of trying to find the right path in this space, we decided to end our journey.
Vlad Oustinov (Former Head of Events, The Family and Co-Founder, fromyourcouch) on the lessons learned from a failed startup attempt
How to evaluate startup ideas? Holly Liu(Co-Founder, Kabam (acquired by Netmarble & FoxNext)) on finding a great problem to solve and solving it well and what makes a solution fail
No matter the business you're in — non-profit, retail, SaaS, DTC, B2B, whatever — you've created some sort of value. You attach a unit of measurement to the value you created: your price. Put simply, your price is the exchange rate on the value you're creating in the world.
How do you go about pricing your SaaS product? Patrick Campbell (CEO, ProfitWell) on the two foundational elements of a good pricing strategy (incredible insights!) in a step-by-step guide for Lenny Rachitsky’s newsletter
Twitter Highlight
Shane Parrish, Founder at Farnam Street and Syrus Partners
Elizabeth Yin, Co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund
Startup of the week
The first no-code native web builder for SaaS
Candu is a native web builder for non-tech CSMs and PMs. Its drag and drop interface enables teams to build beautiful UI without writing any code.
Tweet @CanduLabs to share they were featured in ‘Ecosystem’!
In my current day-to-day role, I look at supply chain tech. Now specifically focusing on solutions to measure/reduce/quantify carbon footprint. What are the startups working at the intersection of supply chain and sustainability I should know about?
Startup Go-to Resources
The bi-annual Marketplace Conference December 1st and 2nd 2020 - an online and global edition! Join for keynote sessions, panel discussions and networking covering everything marketplaces: from design, strategy, growth hacking to fundraising. Organised by Autotech Ventures, Battery Ventures and Speedinvest x
Sequoia Partner Roelof Botha on evaluating founders/markets, empathy and vulnerability in venture(20VC) - "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."
Future Now (FTRNW) is a platform focused on building an innovative ecosystem across CEE linking early stage startups with key investors and industry players. Now running a fully digital bootcamp from 23 November – 11 December 2020 where selected startups will get advice from the best mentors, partners and VCs in the region. Apply here by 6 November 2020.
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 B2B SaaS Pricing Masterclass - how subscription software companies price, package, and position their productsFounder Narrative Fit - what is it, how investors detect it and why they invest in it. A great podcast interview of Katherine Boyle (Partner, General Catalyst) with useful tips for founders and anyone working in venture.
Ever wondered what are tools investors use day-to-day? Balderton's Francesco Corea maps out the The VC Tech Stack (useful read for startup founders and employees too!)
CEO and Co-Founder of AngelList Naval Ravikant's AMA is a must read - value-add tips to succeed in business and life