What makes a great investor?
As someone who is still relatively early in his investing career, I often think about what qualities set successful investors apart from the rest. Good investing doesn’t just happen. And while luck may help at times, it’s not the answer. Here are few key ingredients that I consider important for being a great investor: Live in […]
New investment: Figure 1, a healthcare photo sharing app
Over the years, we’ve seen web and mobile technology disrupt business, education, legal and many other fields as professionals adopt products that help them work more effectively and efficiently. While the healthcare industry has always been more conservative, it is now primed for change. At Version One, we have been looking intensely for investment opportunities […]
How to really learn from your experiments
At any stage of a start-up’s life, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different directions to take. In the early phases, you need to pick the right product direction and find your product-market fit. Later, you may wonder which marketing channels will work at scale and which ones won’t. Since you never want to […]
What’s more important: product or sales?
It’s the age-old debate among start-up circles: which is more important to the success of a start-up: the strength of the sales/distribution strategy or the quality of the product? On one end of the spectrum, many start-ups think that great products sell themselves, while the other camp argues that it’s the channel and monetization that […]
The easiest path to growth and profit is up: why startups should focus on the long-tail
The easiest path to growth and profit is up, and the most deadly attacks come from below This quote from Clayton M. Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma perfectly encapsulates how startups can find success over incumbents in their markets. Incumbents often look left, right, and above – yet sometimes they’re most vulnerable from below. The tiny market niches […]