Month: November 2018

Track Record – AVC

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

I probably link to Fred too much but he is only hitting a nerve with me.

I don’t have a long track record yet – I would say I barely have one but I can very conscientious about that it is being built day by day, deal by deal.

VC is a slow game – especially when it come to building a track record.

I hope to be celebrating some wins but I am sure there will be losses as well.

The learnings from all sides of VC pour in daily. There are the regrets about lost deals – these are the ones that you were in but got away.

There are the regrets about looking back on a deal and realizing that you should have done it another way.

Tons to learn. 

ABL. 

Track Record – AVC

How do you DD a VC who issues a term sheet? – grayscale_vc

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Interesting list. I won’t say I don’t agree with the list but I think it is missing one big section.

#4 hints at it a little but not directly enough.

Do you get along with your VC is one I would add.

You will be spending potentially years around your VC either in board meetings, in coffee chats or on WhatsApp. I always tell founders to spend some time with the VC over lunch or coffee – just to get to know each other more. 

I don’t think its only a financial transaction but there are lots of other elements involved.

How do you DD a VC who issues a term sheet? – grayscale_vc:

4. Operating Style Connected with value-add is the fund’s operating style. Are they hands-on or hands-off? If hands-on, how many times a month do they like to meet and what do they usually want to discuss. Will they get to know your whole management team or just the founders. And then choose which kind of VC you want for the next phase of growth. It’s preferable that you talk to companies regarding the specific manager within the fund team who’ll handle you post investment.

Seed funding in Singapore isn’t dead. Here’s all the proof you need.

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Normally behind a paywall but this article is free for the day.

Here is one of my incendiary quotes:

Smith adds: “The meme that there is a stage-specific crunch is usually started by founders who have struggled to raise a round. The truth is that everyone struggles and fundraising for startups or venture funds are never easy.”

Seed funding in Singapore isn’t dead. Here’s all the proof you need.

What Bear Markets Look Like – AVC

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Trying to grok this. Interesting framework for thinking about it but not sure it is true.

Might be a long time to be proven right or wrong on this one.

What Bear Markets Look Like – AVC:

But those who stayed were rewarded, although it took a long time for that to happen. We didn’t see meaningful paydays in the Internet sector until the 2007-2008 period and the big paydays didn’t start coming until 2010 and beyond.

The thing to look for in the downturn is signs of life. There were little projects that turned into big ones. Blogger was started in late 1999, almost shut down many times in the next few years, and was picked up by Google in 2003. Myspace, LinkedIn, and Facebook all emerged in the 2002-2004 period, as the Internet was finally coming to life again.

So that is my framework for thinking about where we are with crypto and where we are going.

I think some crypto asset (and possibly a number of crypto assets) will have a price chart like Amazon’s current one in 18 years. But we will have to do what Amazon did, hunker down and build value and survive, for quite a while to get there. And I think things will get worse before they get better.

Facebook to send VP instead of Mark Zuckerberg to international committee – CNN

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

It is so telling that he can’t even offer a video conference.

Pathetic.

Facebook to send VP instead of Mark Zuckerberg to international committee – CNN:

But Facebook declined multiple invitations to send Zuckerberg, saying in a letter to the committee last week that he is “not able to be in London.” The company also said they couldn’t make Zuckerberg available via videolink.

WeWork opens co-working ‘lab’ space in Singapore for early-stage start-ups, Business News & Top Stories – The Straits Times

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Blockpunk!

WeWork opens co-working ‘lab’ space in Singapore for early-stage start-ups, Business News & Top Stories – The Straits Times:

WeWork Labs piloted its concept for the first cohort of start-ups here in September. These included graduates of accelerator programmes and non-profit organisations. Eight start-ups participated in the pilot, including BlockPunk, which is building a next-generation anime studio.

Chief executive and co-founder Julian Lai-Hung said: “Having graduated from the Entrepreneur First Singapore incubator, we wanted to find a similar start-up-friendly culture and global community. WeWork Labs provided this and also helped in attracting new hires and kept the team happy, collaborative and productive.”

You probably won’t make it to the top – Signal v. Noise

~ michael_msft ~ 1 Comment

I don’t always agree with DHH. Sometimes I feel he just likes to say something controversial.

But I like this post.

It’s so true. When I look back on all the so called big goals I had or the roles I thought I should have or the places I thought I should live – many of my so called dreams just didn’t pan out. However it was clear that in my haste to chase stuff I wasn’t enjoying the micro leaps and I wasn’t paying attention to the smaller stuff to enjoy in life.

My 30’s was rough. Kind of a blur.

My 40’s are much better but I tend to get regretful about not accomplishing more in my 30’s – whatever the more is.

It is important to figure out your own path and to make sure that each and everyday you react and regroup accordingly.

The journey is the thing and if you don’t enjoy it you may look back and wonder what happened.

You probably won’t make it to the top – Signal v. Noise:

But you do have control over whether you’re doing a good job, as measured by your personal sense of satisfaction in the work. Over whether you’re taking the time to notice, to learn, to improve. That’s the most fulfilling part of being up there, at the top, anyway. The “being good” part. Hell, even the “becoming good” part is pretty amazing, if you play it right.

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Old but good.

Still digesting it. Had never heard of this one before.

http://www.hacer.org/pdf/Hazlitt00.pdf

The One Lesson:

From this aspect, therefore, the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.