Sarah Drinkwater
@sarahdrinkwater
Knowledge beachcomber interested in the ownership economy, flourishing communities, ecosystem building, magic, and knowledge as an end to itself.
Sarah Drinkwater
The Indie Era of Startups
bryce.medium.com
perspectives on funding and venture capital (VC) and venture capital
As the amount of capital raised by venture capital firms nearly 8x’d between 2013 and 2022, the number of new startups funded didn’t even double.
When you take total VC dollars raised, divided by the number of new companies, you’ll see the average startup today has 5x more VC capital available than its counterpart did in 2013.
Rather than fund more ideas or more types of founders, most VCs simply ended up giving more dollars to more of the same founders and ideas they’d always back.
Great businesses aren’t good enough to drive the kinds of returns needed to generate the kinds of returns mega funds demand. As more capital was consumed, more risk was layered on to push from a great outcome to a mega-fund returning outcome.
Today, the fuel for startups and the oxygen for funds are being cut significantly. There is less available capital and appetite for burn
Beyond Euro-Optimism: Who Can Fix European Tech and Why They Haven't
substack.com
The second structural problem with the VC industry is that most venture firms are selling a product that is fundamentally an undifferentiated commodity — capital.
Erik Torenberg • Productizing Venture
I’ve started two companies that have raised $95m
today I take a seat at the other side of the table
House Capital (@housecapvc) is a completely new type of venture fund
here is what the next generation of top VC’s will look like:
jacob peterstwitter.com
Status Signaling and why curation...
Just proved the thesis of this piece - on the endless selfish human desire to signal - in adding this to my sublime nail painting emoji
It’s interesting to think about how new generational consumer behaviors translate into new businesses. We’re seeing a slew of startups building better solutions to the housing crisis, the climate crisis, the education crisis. But there are also less obvious impacts from consumer behavior:
Rex Woodbury • Welcome to the Internet: Millennial & Gen Z Ennui
Are these limitations helping you be more creative?
— Exactly. It’s the most critical part. With any kind of creative work you start disabling as much as possible and narrow it down only to the necessary tools you need, and from there start making the work. That’s what I believe makes you super creative.
The founder of Teenage Engineering opens up to his creative space
As with other forms of Cheems, there is obviously an important distinction here between ‘friends giving you helpful advice about obstacles you’ll need to overcome, or trade-offs to be aware of’, and ‘reflexive cynicism’.