Ride the Wave
In the course of your career or start-up, nothing is more powerful than catching a big wave at the right time. I was reminded of this as we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th. I was 16 and living in (West) Germany when the wall was torn […]
Entrepreneur-investor relationships
The relationship between entrepreneurs and investors is never an easy one – like in a marriage, you have to work every day on making it better and more productive for both sides. So it put a real smile on my face when I got this email from an entrepreneur this morning whose company we just […]
Announcing Version One Fund II
On behalf of our team at Version One, I am incredibly excited to announce that we have just closed our second fund. Version One Fund II is $35M, slightly larger than our initial fund. In many ways, Version One Fund II is identical to Fund I. It’s the same investing team (myself in Vancouver and […]
Founders’ talents are the essential ingredients for your start-up
Over the years as an investor, I have come to realize just how much a start-ups’s DNA is driven by the original founders. The personalities, strengths, and focus of those first founders shape a business long after the individuals have moved on. In the early days, it is incredibly hard for a founding team to […]
Comparing Two SaaS Models: Hubspot and Moz
Rick Perreault of my portfolio company Unbounce recently called my attention to an interesting comparison between two SaaS models: Hubspot & Moz – A Tale of Two (Very Different) SaaS Business Models. At first glance, Hubspot and Moz are very similar companies: both are popular marketing platforms, use web-based subscription models, and primarily target the SMB […]