Announcing our investment in Lolli – Bitcoin for everyone!
When Lolli launched in August, co-founder Alex Adelman wrote, “Over 60% of Americans have heard of bitcoin, but very few actually own any.” For all of us in the tech bubble, this is a good reminder of the relative inaccessibility of cryptocurrency. Many of us have Coinbase accounts (a V1 portfolio company) and don’t think twice […]
Shopify’s big people investment: how a startup scaled coaching beyond its executives
We know that companies are successful (or not successful) because of their people. Over the past few years, it has become relatively acceptable to work with a leadership coach and investors typically have a handful of good coaches in their rolodex ready to support and develop young founders. Yet even with this rise in popularity, […]
Play your own playbook
Given the frequency of media stories focused on a handful of startups with billion dollar valuations and high profile rounds, it’s understandable that founders get impatient with their own company’s natural pace of growth. This sense of urgency is intensified by the fact that growth is an elemental part of being a startup. Paul Graham […]
Introducing our latest investment: Shippo, simplified shipping for small e-commerce sites
Shipping is a huge pain point for smaller e-commerce businesses of any size. They don’t process enough volume to grant them bulk discounts from the major providers. It’s costly and resource-intensive to work with shipping carriers, and the barrier to entry is extremely high. Prices aren’t transparent and negotiating as a small business is next […]
What type of market are you operating in?
When we look at investment opportunities, we need to consider the type of market that the potential investment is in. How much room is there for a market leader or leaders? Is it winner-takes-it-all or winner-takes-almost-all? Is there room for multiple potential winners? Winner takes all These markets are driven by network effects and only […]