Tag: Entrepreneur
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I’ve usually been a SaaS or marketplace guy. But then something interesting happened at Duolingo… A year ago, I looked at the consumer subscription market and I didn’t see a lot of big winners. What I did see were crowded markets, high advertising costs, and scary churn. But Duolingo’s rise…
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+ Duolingo, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Stock Market, Tech, Venture Capital+
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Coinbase is the world’s 2nd largest crypto exchange. But in 2012, the company was barely getting off the ground. Let’s dig into the deck they used to pitch investors at YC Demo Day… Explaining What Coinbase Does Right on slide #1, founder Brian Armstrong makes clear what Coinbase does: it…
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+ Bitcoin, Coinbase, Crypto, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Silicon Valley, Stocks, Tech, Venture Capital, YC+
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The best founders in the world have their choice of investors. So I’m not waiting for them to contact me — I’m going to them. When I started as an angel in 2021, I let the deals come to me. These days, I’m doing a lot more outbound. Here’s how…
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Deel is one of the most successful startups today, valued at $12 billion. So when I found their pre-seed deck this week, I was really intrigued. Deel’s deck from 2019 is simple and effective. Let’s dig in… Framing the Problem Founders Alex and Shuo do a great job of framing…
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I found myself in the kitchen last night, cracking an egg into a frying pan. This wasn’t a normal dinner — this was research. Decks and deal memos are great. But to really understand what a startup does, you have to use the product. So when I had the chance…
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If you’re having trouble raising money, it’s not just you. Angel, pre-seed, and seed funding in January fell to the lowest level since before ZIRP, according to a new Crunchbase report. Those earliest rounds totaled just $2.1 billion in January. This funding slowdown happened even as total venture funding actually…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, Venture Capital+
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“I have to be a little bit skeptical, or I’d invest in everything. But it’s also my job to ask myself ‘What if it works?’.” If you invest in startups, you have to hit a delicate balance. You can’t give everyone a check . And yet, you have to believe…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital, Work-Life Balance+
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So much for the down market. Seed valuations reached an all-time high in 2023, according to a new report from Pitchbook. Median pre-money valuations hit $12 million last year. This was higher even than the peak of the 2021 bubble, when they sat around $8 million. For seed valuations, there…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Startups, Stock Market, Stocks, Tech, Venture Capital+
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I look at around 2,000 startups a year. Certain ideas pop up over and over — and keep failing. Today, I thought I’d break down a few common startup ideas I see, and why they tend to go wrong. 1) Geolocation – “An app to find your friends and hang…
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+ Angel Investing, Apps, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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Note: This is not investment or legal advice. Once you’ve decided to invest in a startup, how do you actually finalize the deal? This morning, I’m signing and wiring for a new investment. Here’s how it works… 1) Term Sheet. The lead investor generates a term sheet. This document tells…
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+ Angel Investing, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, Venture Capital+
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Tremendous 