BC STARTUPS
Saved by @zmbnski

๐Ÿ‘‡ Thread. New deck getting published this week: "Consumer startups are awesome, and here's what I'm looking to invest in at Andreessen Horowitz." If you want to read it, subscribe to my newsletter here: https://t.co/262t8eh0wf

 1/ A lot of new consumer technologies have been introduced to US households in the last 100 years. But it's taken many of them - like the telephone - more than 50 years to get to the majority of the US. Why is that?
2/ We had to literally teach people how to use phone. Which end goes to your mouth, which goes to your ear. Say "hello" when people call. The motivation of consumers to talk to their friends has always been there, but we had to teach the behavior
3/ If you compare phones to the latest technologies, there's been a huge shift. Things are being picked up much faster.
4/ Even while there's been all this innovation recently, physically speaking, we are still the same human beings from 100,000 years ago.
5/ We are the same humans who painted on cave walls because we love creativity. We are the same humans who built theaters because we love to be entertained. We took selfies as soon as the technology allowed. And we've always loved scooters.
6/ Technology changes, but people stay the same. And at the intersection of that, when startups find growth hacks that get them going with a killer product, something magical can happen.
7/ I have a bunch of case studies. First, the car industry in the 1900s, and the Michelin Guide. Second, the US postal service and the first chain letters. And third, the invention of toothpaste, CPGs, and how to solve the chicken and egg.
8/ (I'll unpack these in the actual essay. But here are some cool pictures)
9/ And for these historical case studies, I talk about their modern antecedents - what does modern content marketing look like, for Michelin? Chain letters are kind of like referral programs in their mechanics. And how do you think about bootstrapping marketplaces today?
10/ Ultimately, it's all about tying all of these ideas today. 1) A killer new product enabled by an emerging technology or platform. 2) Pre-existing consumer motivations. 3) An insight on growth to kick it off
11/ I run through a bunch of emerging platforms/tech that's interesting to me, and then deep dive on two areas where I'm in particular excited. (Again, actual details in the thing I'll publish)
12/ Two visuals I want to share from the section of the deep dive though - which fascinate me and where I'm digging in...
13/ First, check out this amazing graph on the number of live viewers of Riot's @LeagueOfLegends (100M+!) versus Wimbledon (9.4M). Wow.
14/ Second, check out this amazing photo of tens of thousands of people at a Pokemon Go event walking around, looking to catch them all.
15/ Hope you enjoy the deck - will be publishing it shortly! As I mentioned, please subscribe to my newsletter here to make sure you get it: https://t.co/tzmBSVaMDd
PS. Worth mentioning that this is kind of the qualitative mirror of the quantitative approach that I published here - "The red flags and magic numbers that investors look for in your startupโ€™s metrics": https://t.co/CGR2Mf3mX5
Ultimately you have to believe there's a breakthrough, an insight, a story about why a particular new startup is going to succeed. And so the deck I'm publishing this week is about some of those soft factors that come into play when looking at a new product
However, once you get interested, then you use metrics and frameworks to check that your intuition is in the right place. There are plenty of new products that have a great story, but have terrible metrics. You want to really make sure you understand what's up
That's why analyzing things like acquisition channels becomes so important: https://t.co/5f0m5qZI7B. If a product is supposedly so cool everyone's telling their friends, but 80% of new users are coming from ads, that's a problem
Ultimately you need both. A great story and vision for the business. And metrics that are real. I think you can probably invest in a company if you have one of those two things, but if you have both of those things, it's magical.
UPDATE: It's been published! Here it is: https://t.co/q4ONJn8c8g

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A few things I've learned this year from building a small, profitable internet business from zero to $100k ARR in 8 months.

Ride the wave:

People often ask what we do for marketing, and I don't really have a good answer. You don't have to push your product as hard if you're building for a vocal community of passionate people within a growing market. They'll do most of your marketing for you.

Scratch your own itch:

If you don't experience the problem you've set out to solve, youโ€™ll have a slight disconnect between what your problem actually is, whoโ€™s experiencing it, and how to reach them. Iโ€™ll probably never do another user test in my life.

Get specific:

The web hosting space may be crowded, but the web hosting space for Notion is not. I used to think a niche would limit the total size of my business, but If we capture 1% of all Notion users, we'd be making at least $720k/monthโ€”far beyond what's enough for me.

Use side projects as marketing:

Some of our record signup days came from one of my side projects. The only mention of it was a link to it in the footer of the page. Your side projects don't have to be clearly correlated in order to still correlate.
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Paul Metcalfe \U0001f3a7
Paul Metcalfe ๐ŸŽง...
@pauldm
New startup does $150K in 12 months but still doesnโ€™t have a landing page ๐Ÿค”

Listened to Jeremy Thiessen explaining how and why, on the Sales for Founders podcast

3 takeaways...

1/ When you build a landing page, youโ€™re putting all your assumptions out there. In the early stages of a business you need facts. To do that, youโ€™re better off talking to a prospect. Instead of making wrong assumptions, in a place where you canโ€™t control the conversation. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

Later, when youโ€™ve got facts, build the landing page

2/ Figure out who youโ€™re serving and where they are. Then start calling. Need to have one person who wants this โ€œthingโ€ other than you ๐Ÿ“ฑ

3/ When cold calling get to the point. Donโ€™t sell. Ask good, authentic questions. Show that you want to help ๐ŸŽฏ
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1/ Pro Tip: Best way to find a job at a startupโ€ฆ

Hint: it doesnโ€™t start with a job boardโ€ฆ

a thread

2/ Go to @crunchbase and set up a filter for the following:

1. Amount raised: $5M - $10M
2. Announced on: today - 3 days ago
3. Headquarters location: your preference
4. Investor Name: @Accel, @Greycroftvc, @Sequoia, @a16z etc...

It should look something like this.


3/ When a company raises moneyโ€ฆ they are going to use the capital to build out their team.

It isnโ€™t rocket science!

4/ When successful venture firms with track records like, @Accel, @Greycroftvc, @Sequoia, @a16z sink money into a startup. Their chance of success increases astronomically.

5/ Filtering for recent fundraising allows you to get a pulse for when a company is going to add positions to their job board (if they havenโ€™t already)
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This is a thread about what happened, why and my emotions about it. For more detail:

https://t.co/vYImcm1bTM

Much of this I have never talked about.

2/ My goals: I hope it helps founders feel less lonely than I did. Little public content about the challenges of transitioning exists, but I longed for it. Iโ€™m not here to provide a playbook- just to share my experience. Hope it might build greater empathy.

Here goesโ€ฆ.

3/ Why: When I tell people that Iโ€™m transitioning to an Exec Chairman role their first question is always: โ€œwhy?โ€ Short answer: co. pivot + fertility issues + health issues + a false sense that grit was always the answer = burnout. Long answer: is longer so hang in there with me

4/ Over a 12-18 month period that ended in late 2017 I ran my tank far beyond empty for far too long. You know that sound your car makes when itโ€™s sputtering for more gas? It was like that. Worst year of my life. Since then it has felt like bone on bone.

5/ Here is what happened:

Professionally: pivoting a Series C company was a living hell in and of itself, as Iโ€™ve talked about before.
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@brainhubeu
โ€œEvery time you write a new code, you should do so reluctantly, under duress, because you completely exhausted all your other options.โ€ย - Jeff Atwood @codinghorror

Hence the growing popularity of the no-code software.

A quick thread ๐Ÿ‘‡


1/

NO-CODE IS EATING THE WORLD

The concept isn't new (remember Microsoft FrontPage?) but the capabilities that the no-code and low-code tools offer today change the way individuals and businesses approach building digital products.

WHY IT'S INTERESTING? ๐Ÿ‘‡

2/

No-code tools let you build things without writing code. Websites, mobile apps, online stores โ€“ all that (and a lot more!) can be built without any prior coding experience.

3/

Even though the โ€œno-codeโ€ label is often an oversell (many platforms are "just" low-code and still require some low programming effort), the capabilities offered are game-changing, especially at the first stages of product development.

4/

Key no-code platforms:

โ€ข@Shopify: e-commerce
โ€ข@canva: design
โ€ข@airtable: databases
โ€ข@webflow: web development
โ€ข@zapier: process automation
โ€ข@bubble: mobile app development
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Simple and effective way 2 make Money


Idea 1:- Use pivot level like 14800 in case of nifty and sell 14800straddle monthly expiry (365+335) exit if nifty closes on daily basis below S1 or above R1

After closing below S1 if it closes above S1 next day or any day enter the same position again vice versa for R1

Idea2:- Use R1 and S1 corresponding strikes multiple
Incase of R1 15337 take 15300ce
N in case of S1 14221 use 14200pe
Sell both and hold till expiry or exit if nifty closes below S1 or above R1 around closing
If the same bounces above S1 and falls below R1 re-enfer same strikes

Use same criteria for nifty, usdinr and banknifty

(This is must)Use this margin rule for 1lot banknifty pair keep 4Lax margin
For nifty one lot keep 3Lax
For usdinr 100lots keep 4Lax

I bet you if you do this on consistent basis your ROI will be more than 70% on yearly basis.

Couldn't explain easier than this

Criticisms are most welcomed.
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A long time ago, I was a talent agent. I worked for a woman named Susan Smith, who had her own small boutique agency. She was known for three things:

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3. She was insane.

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We should stop confusing what someone was doing when we became aware of them with all they are capable of, interested in, or ever hope to be

Let folks have their many talents, interests and gifts. Life is far more fun with variety, loves.

A lot of folks have come to know me as an activist & Iโ€™m grateful that folks care to know me at all.

But I wasnโ€™t born in 2014. I was a whole teacher, executive, policy person, speaker, arts and culture lover, reader, writer, woman of faith, fashion and more before 4 yrs ago ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿพโ€โ™€๏ธ

We rightfully complain that marginalized people are not allowed to be fully human.

But we internalize and transfer our oppression daily. Itโ€™s a smog. We all breathe it in & act it out.

And then tell WoC โ€œgirl ainโ€™t you supposed to be a _______? Why you doing ____?โ€

Can I live?

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Iโ€™ve just been observing that behavior more and more lately. Especially when it comes to marginalized folks.

Evolution should be our aspiration.

โ€œCanโ€™t knock the hustleโ€ should be our anthem.

As long as someone isnโ€™t bringing active and continual harm, why canโ€™t they explore their many sides?
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