Ride It to the SkyDon't Die of Heart Disease
During my "hiatus" I've been doing research in a variety of different areas that interest me. After a personal experience with basal c...
Ride It to the SkyThe Deal
Founders have little to no diversification. They are all in on one idea, company, and mission. It's an insanely high-risk, high-reward endeavor. As founders become increasingly wary of this level of risk concentration, they begin to think about ways to mitigate it. One idea I've heard repeatedly is the notion that a group of founders can self-assemble and contribute a percentage of their equity in their company to a shared pool. That way, if they fail and one of the other founders in the grou...
Ride It to the SkySequoia Wants It Hard
I have seen a lot of young first-time founders play it fast and loose in their fundraising processes the past several years. It’s been frothy times, so I think it brings out a lot of strange behavior. It got me thinking of when I was a young founder and the things I’d do, particularly one specific story that I tell people when I get asked “what not to do” when fundraising. Back in 2010 Steve and I launched GroupMe to much fanfare. It got a lot of attention out the gate because we built it at ...
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>600 subscribers
Ride It to the SkyDon't Die of Heart Disease
During my "hiatus" I've been doing research in a variety of different areas that interest me. After a personal experience with basal c...
Ride It to the SkyThe Deal
Founders have little to no diversification. They are all in on one idea, company, and mission. It's an insanely high-risk, high-reward endeavor. As founders become increasingly wary of this level of risk concentration, they begin to think about ways to mitigate it. One idea I've heard repeatedly is the notion that a group of founders can self-assemble and contribute a percentage of their equity in their company to a shared pool. That way, if they fail and one of the other founders in the grou...
Ride It to the SkySequoia Wants It Hard
I have seen a lot of young first-time founders play it fast and loose in their fundraising processes the past several years. It’s been frothy times, so I think it brings out a lot of strange behavior. It got me thinking of when I was a young founder and the things I’d do, particularly one specific story that I tell people when I get asked “what not to do” when fundraising. Back in 2010 Steve and I launched GroupMe to much fanfare. It got a lot of attention out the gate because we built it at ...
Subscribe to Ride It to the Sky
>600 subscribers
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
One of the hallmark traits of what makes a consumer product weird is having difficulty describing the thing. That’s somewhat to be expected given the novelty of some products, particularly in this day and age when AI and crypto are enabling user experiences we’ve never seen before.
There have been several instances at USV lately where we’ve spoken with early-stage consumer companies and struggled to define what the product actually is. “It’s like a tool that makes everyone a creative wizard, but also a network where sharing things is a ton of fun!” “It’s a game, but also like a storytelling platform mixed with a group chat!” When we articulate these things to people the commonplace response is a look of bewilderment. I think that’s a good thing.
When we find ourselves using the Dre and Snoop refrain “It’s like this and like that and like this and a…” we know it’s time to take the product seriously and that the founder very well may be onto something special. An inability to succinctly articulate what a consumer experience does can actually be a positive signal. It means you’ll just have to try it out for yourself and see what it conjures.
One of the hallmark traits of what makes a consumer product weird is having difficulty describing the thing. That’s somewhat to be expected given the novelty of some products, particularly in this day and age when AI and crypto are enabling user experiences we’ve never seen before.
There have been several instances at USV lately where we’ve spoken with early-stage consumer companies and struggled to define what the product actually is. “It’s like a tool that makes everyone a creative wizard, but also a network where sharing things is a ton of fun!” “It’s a game, but also like a storytelling platform mixed with a group chat!” When we articulate these things to people the commonplace response is a look of bewilderment. I think that’s a good thing.
When we find ourselves using the Dre and Snoop refrain “It’s like this and like that and like this and a…” we know it’s time to take the product seriously and that the founder very well may be onto something special. An inability to succinctly articulate what a consumer experience does can actually be a positive signal. It means you’ll just have to try it out for yourself and see what it conjures.
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