Category: Apprentice VC

Attores :: Cool stuff made in Singapore

~ michael_msft ~ 1 Comment

Singapore is a pretty happening place when it comes to fintech stuff and startups using the blockchain to build product.

One such company is http://attores.com/

They actually just hosted an event last night that Vitalik of Ethtreum attended – some pics here :: https://www.facebook.com/attorescom/

It’s interesting to see Singapore be the regional HQ for innovation around finance, thank you MAS, and of course seeing Singapore lead the way with autonomous vehicles as well.

Good times. Good place to be.

Great VC post 

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to Chris from http://kintulabs.com/ for the link.

A must read :: http://whoo.ps/2016/08/31/a-junior-vc

There is much to glean from the read but some spot I like:

Fear not, that wide open new paradigm does exist. What’s happening today on the Bitcoin blockchain and other new blockchains is incredibly exciting and intellectually consistent with Schumpeter’s model of creative destruction and the cyclical history of communications networks. If you still view Bitcoin as a techno/anarchic/utoptian/libertarian model for consumer payments, you haven’t been paying attention.

Very true. It is early days in the blockchain world and anyone working on anything cool in the space is really just getting started, so hard to tell traction and revenue models yet. This area is especially perplexing for me because I find it so interesting but yet it is not easy to grok and hard to separate the charlatans from the real entrepreneurs.

This is awesome too:

But more importantly, talk to people who are building things. Don’t just talk to founders of investible companies, but also talk to people who are experts in their field or following modes of thought that contravene mainstream thinking. Play with their API’s and go deep in forums, even if there’s no investment in sight. Mess around in the corners of the internet.

Structuring my time is really hard now since I have tons of folks to meet, lots of fund mechanics to learn, a team to manage and also need to find time to learn. Not complaining but time management becomes a big deal.


I’ll end with this one:

It is a difficult job. As I described at the beginning of this post, I was naïve when I entered this business. Two years later, I have graduated from being naïve to being dumb, because now I am no longer so naïve that I fail to realize all the things that are happening in the world of technology that I don’t yet understand. The license to study these things is what makes it such a privilege to work in venture capital.

I am super lucky to be where I am. If you ever hear me complain – slap me.

Term Sheet Hell

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Update – Another post about this discussion :: http://continuations.com/post/149697635535/pre-money-vs-post-money-valuation-best-practice

Interesting post out today getting lots of Internet chatter, from a blog I have not read before – http://robgo.org/2016/08/29/quick-post-post-money-valuations/
The short of it is the discussion around how a new investor, say a seed stage VC like myself, wants to see the term sheet expressed in post-money valuation terms versus pre. I am not an expert at this by any means so I won’t claim to be but I think this paragraph really nails it though as to why this is happening:

Today, nearly all early stage term sheets I see are expressed as post-money valuations. The main reason for this, I think, is that there has been such a proliferation of convertible notes, SAFE’s, and other instruments that it becomes tough for a new investor to feel confident that they fully understand a company’s cap table prior to an investment. On top of this, the rise of multiple seed rounds prior to an early stage investment further complicates matters, since you might have multiple notes stacked on top of each other, each with different discounts, caps, etc.

Lots of startups are taking notes – which I won’t diss but generally it means there is very little paperwork, not much due diligence and many of the documents needed for an equity round have not been created or finalized. So when the equity guy comes around, they want to get things all cleaned up and sometimes the only way to do that is to get the post money math all worked out.

I think it is a good thing for the startup and the VC.

Your mileage may vary.

On this point I will also add that if you are a startup raising money and you have NOT read this book – you are entering into a complex deal without the knowledge you need to negotiate it.

Read the book :: Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

Happy fundraising!

No NDA’s

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

I think most startup folks know this but funnily enough, we get asked this quite a bit.

Let me break it down – VC’s don’t sign NDA’s.

Let’s have Brad tell you why :: http://www.feld.com/archives/2006/02/why-most-vcs-dont-sign-ndas.html

I love this paragraph:

As an entrepreneur, don’t think of this as “arrogance”, think of it as “practicality.” Your friend the VC is actually trying to save you time and money. If you think you have something super secret that no one else should know, just don’t tell me about it. Oh – and check your assumption in that case – especially since the value is in creating the thing, not simply having the idea.

Enjoy…

Thailand and Apple musings…

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

I am sitting in the newly remodeled Don Muang airport and using an unlimited WIFI pack. Which I bought for 39 baht to get unmetered WIFI till midnight. For all of you penny pinchers out there – that is like 1.12 USD. Pretty decent in my opinion. I have been using 4g for the past week for 99 baht. Been getting good speeds but that has 2GB cap for 7 days of usage. That’s 2.84 USD. For a whole week of 4g but of course I used it up and added 400 MB for 15 baht. That’s .43 USD. 

Crazy the competition in wireless data and how easy it is to get it and top it up.

This week I paid for our truck insurance but this was after realizing that we don’t have the bill for it. So my wife called the insurance company who then sent her 1 SMS with a number in it we took to 7/11. Paid the bill and the 15 baht convienence fee for paying at the ATM. The services one can pay for at 7/11 or other convienence stores is cool.

It is always interesting to me the fintech stuff that pops up in rural Thialand when credit cards are not the thing and cash is king. Not sure if this type of stuff will flourish more or if credit cards start to take over but given the way my wife’s parents bank, they will never get a credit card so these cash delivery systems are key for them.

As a side note this is what is always bugging me about Apple. In the rural parts of Thailand you just don’t see a lot of iPhones except for the wealthy or the aspiring wealthy or hip teenagers who want to show off. I think in all the emerging markets this same phenomenon exists in that outside of the cities you see way more android than iOS phones. I personally have never thought this was only about the price of the handset but it is more about the ecosystem that Apple has created which is basically a wall that only people with credit cards can climb over. Apple continues to power the App Store and Apple services with credit cards where Android, who pushes Google pay, but allows app developers to integrate lots of local payment methods is flourishing. Apple really should do telco integrations or work with wallets that are not card based to get something going before it is too late.

When I was a resident of Thailand, it was always uniquely frustrating place as an expat trying to make it but when I visit I tend to look at things with another lens and I am impressed with the infrastructure growth, the mobile connectivity and the startup mantra that is slowly permeating the place. Maybe some day even politics will get changed but that is not a subject for this blog.

At the airport now they have a sign for a co-working space which I find odd to be located here but who knows. Is it peak co-working spaces in SEA yet?

For the time being I will have some overpriced airport coffee but enjoy my all day 39 baht WIFI.

Marketing in 4 easy steps :: Seth Godin

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Always amazing to me how Seth can boil huge subjects down to simple steps.

Here he attacks marketing :: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/08/marketing-in-four-steps.html

I love step 4:

The last step is so often overlooked: The part where you show up, regularly, consistently and generously, for years and years, to organize and lead and build confidence in the change you seek to make.

I think this is the one the startup crowd likes to overlook. The patience required in building a real brand and how that takes time and consistency.

Hence – my newest read :: http://www.nokpis.com/2016/08/21/how-brands-grow-books-2/