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The Power of the Power Law, “super-stars”, and moving the returns curve “to the right”!

I finally get to jot down some of my thoughts here about the “power law”, and more specifically the “power of the power law” …. I. The phenomenon of superstars OK, … Continue Reading

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Nuts and bolts #3: your financial model and your understanding of your business, your market and your customers, and your value drivers

Dear founder. This is a letter to all you founders who are preparing a financial model for your Series A or even Series B round. First, may I congratulate for … Continue Reading

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Great founding teams – a revisit

[An earlier version of this post was titled “Builders of the world, design and surf once in a while!”] As 2018 draws to a close, we reflect on how we … Continue Reading

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Nuts and bolts #2: 9 delightful things about product-market fit

A lot of ink has been spilled on “product market fit” but we are still very often answering Qs about this and so we are going to jot down a … Continue Reading

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Being long on innovation – part 2: Thriving under the shadows of giants

[Addition on 24 Oct: adding a link to an a16z blog-post published not long after on the same topic highlighted in point 5 below, that selling in the early stages … Continue Reading

Storm

Dear founder #3: building strong and weather-proof companies

We invest to support companies building for the long term and so we are very interested in founders who want to build long-lasting and strong companies irrespective of the state … Continue Reading

Search#3

The art and science of venture investing – #2: the search for great companies and great opportunities

Why is it so hard to find great opportunities?  Why are big success stories and sustained growth still so rare? What is the “formula” for improving our chance of backing … Continue Reading

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Nuts and bolts #1 – 8 things about Term Sheets

Yes – fundraising and Term Sheets. Something many founders have to deal with. We often get asked about this. And we find ourselves saying to founders more often than not … Continue Reading

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Getting ready for scale-up

We look to make Series A and Series B investments into companies, and so we find ourselves often asking the question: is this company ready to scale up? Perhaps one … Continue Reading

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Dear Founder #2

Dear Founder: You have invested some of your own money (and much “sweat equity”) into the company you founded, taken some seed or angel money as the initial funding, and … Continue Reading