What Can You Learn From Ring’s Astounding Success? – Both Sides of the Table
Mark Susterbothsidesofthetable.com
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What Can You Learn From Ring’s Astounding Success? – Both Sides of the Table
By definition, you will likely succeed a vanishingly-small percentage of the time, but—as the saying goes—that’s a feature, not a bug. The point is to venture—fistfuls of money in hand—at the furthest extremes of capitalism, hoping to stumble upon that rare, proper intersection of technology and commerciality.By design, most investments will miss t... See more
Tom White • This Time is Different
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A looming question mark is how companies will build competitive moats; true tech differentiation is rare, and companies will need to find ways to stay ahead of competition, perhaps with network effects or with iterative loops of user engagement and product refinement.
Rex Woodbury • AI in 2023: The Application Layer Has Arrived
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While Marc Andreessen may still be right in his assessment that the complexion of a market is the biggest determinant of startup success, talent may be the least replicable element. It was comparatively easy to see Uber’s early success and emulate the product, harder to manufacture the manic win-at-all-costs mentality and technical savvy of Travis ... See more
Mario Gabriele • VC's War for Talent
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Startups with moats and strong defensibility factors had a higher chance of becoming billion-dollar companies. Defensibility comes in many forms: deep engineering, partnerships, data, brand, network effects, and, as Keith Rabois said, accumulating advantages. Defensibility does not mean that no one can copy a company. There are lots of examples whe
... See moreAli Tamaseb • Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups
Competition is good, or at least not an extinction risk; over half of billion-dollar startups competed with large incumbents at the time of founding. It’s good to compete with incumbents or compete in fragmented markets; they are easier to beat than a highly funded startup with the same idea. Remember Zoom’s founder telling the story of competing a
... See moreAli Tamaseb • Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups
Back then, technical prowess meant market dominance. Y Combinator, the spiritual center of Silicon Valley,1 crowned technical founders as the chosen ones. Those who could manifest and master software were seen as gods. Venture capitalists funded those who could scale that code to massive heights. After all, software alone could transform giant, leg... See more
Mo Shafieeha added
A decade ago, I was only a couple of years into my venture career. I believed that growth and progress were synonymous – in an industry where scale was the ultimate target, platforms that achieved it were glorified. A decade later, I have learned that success is more nuanced, and we have to take accountability for the outcomes we encourage. New dom... See more
Mario Gabriele • Modern Meditations: Rebecca Kaden (Union Square Ventures)
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