Published in Jovono·May 28Using secondaries strategicallyWhy startups should look at secondaries more favorably — Investing in private companies is quite different than investing in public companies. In private companies, a typical investment involves the issuance of new shares by the company, which are then sold to the investor (often involving the creation of a new tranche of preferred stock). This is a primary transaction…Venture Capital6 min read
Published in Jovono·Apr 2Engineers who look upThe value of curiosity and initiative — Most people are not curious. When engineers are not curious, they look at their screen and don’t go from their desk to understand anything beyond the code they are writing and planning to write. The best engineers I have met aren’t necessarily the most technically minded. …Technology5 min read
Published in Jovono·Jan 17What’s happening with valuationsMaking sense of valuations in Startup Land — Startup valuations have gotten incredibly high in the past few years. Airbyte even raised at an ARR multiple exceeding 1200x, which has raised a few eyebrows. With $100m post money seed rounds, stalwarts like Fred Wilson have done calculations wondering whether seed funds could even make the economics work. So…Venture Capital6 min read
Published in Jovono·Jan 7The future of SPACsA thought exercise in stable equilibria — 2021 was a crazy year for SPACs. There have been over 500 SPACs raising over $100 billion of capital. In 2010 there were just two. They haven’t yet replaced IPOs — there were 2388 in 2021 — but they are now a force to be reckoned with. People are asking…Spac8 min read
Published in Jovono·Nov 8, 2021The Complete InvestorThe rise of the full stack VC model — Venture capital is fundamentally changing its business model for the biggest firms. Some, like Andreessen Horowitz, are becoming more operationally intensive. Some, like Founders Fund, are raising several big funds across every stage. Most notably and recently, Sequoia announced in a memo that Sequoia is restructuring completely. This is the…Venture Capital10 min read
Published in Jovono·Aug 20, 2021So is raising VC easy right now or what?It’s harder to raise more venture capital than ever — It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. At least in startup land, where there was too much money and not enough. Some people are noticing there is so much money, and VCs are complaining about there being “too much capital.” …Venture Capital3 min read
Published in Jovono·Jul 7, 2021The verticalization alternative to B2B2CWhy verticalization is often a better decision than B2B2C — There is a category of businesses where the ultimate vision of the company is B2B2C. Often, it is a complex service that involves significant expertise but a lot of data from the consumer, or where the offering is so complex that it is usually done through an intermediary. …Startup7 min read
Jun 11, 2021Twitter’s acquisition strategy: eat the public conversationTwitter is trying to revitalize itself by adding more contexts for discourse to its repertoire. The result, if everything goes right, will be an influence superapp that hasn’t existed before. — The last few months have been interesting for Twitter. After years of no innovation at all, Twitter is making big product changes. It has acquired Breaker and Revue, and presumably has more M&A coming. It’s coming out with Spaces. …Tech9 min read
Published in Jovono·Feb 12, 2021Rolling funds: An old frontierWhat to make of a revolution in venture capital — February 5, 2020 was a big day in venture capital. AngelList announced a new way to raise capital: the rolling fund.¹ The core idea is simple. Instead of a single fundraise establishing a committed capital base, venture capitalists can garner quarterly commitments, giving them fresh capital each quarter to invest…Venture Capital14 min read
Published in The Startup·Jun 12, 2020Member-onlyRevolt of the Public: A Reconsideration and George FloydMartin Gurri’s book now looks prophetic. It can teach us about the present crisis — In 2014, Martin Gurri published Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millenium. Gurri, a former CIA analyst, argues that the Internet did more than just enable new voices to be heard. He argued that it fractured any common notion of the public and dissipated…George Floyd13 min read
