Growth strategies for marketplaces: key takeaways from a fireside chat on growth

Last week I had the great pleasure of sitting down with Andrew Chen for a fireside chat on growth strategies as part of the Version One marketplace meetup. More than 75 marketplace founders and investors attended the event – coming from as far as South Africa and Nova Scotia. As an investor and former founder, […]

Recapping the V1 Marketplace Meetup in SF

Last Thursday, we hosted a private marketplace-themed event in San Francisco, The Holy Grail of the Marketplace: The Virtuous Cycle. More than 75 marketplace founders and investors attended the event – coming from as far as South Africa and Nova Scotia. We initially started bringing the marketplace community together when we published our Guide to Marketplaces. […]

Announcing Canada Learning Code: Supporting bottom-up innovation

As the global economy shifts from analog to digital, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can help others thrive in this digital world and make the transition a success. There are several ways one can help build a strong tech ecosystem, be it in your city, local region, or country. First, you can […]

Creative Destruction Lab West: Helping create the next generation of entrepreneurs

Very often, start-ups fail at the earliest stages. They might get the wrong advice at a critical point, or they can’t raise the first hundreds of thousands of dollars required to move from prototype to initial product. This problem is relatively minor in large, vibrant ecosystems like Silicon Valley, but can be more pervasive in smaller […]

When you get a sense of inevitability from a founder’s pitch…

I recently tweeted… Getting this sense of inevitability from a founder is incredibly powerful. I instantly start believing that their vision is going to happen. As an investor, I want to get on board and help propel the team to their destination. So, what exactly do I mean by this? What are some of the […]