I was describing to a first-time entrepreneur the other day why we don’t do ad-supported deals at Founders Co-op, and she wondered out loud why so many first-tier VC firms are willing to make these kinds of bets. My answer at the time was that they have (much) more capital to work with and can continue…
Since we announced Founders Co-op a few weeks ago I’ve taken over a dozen meetings with prospective entrepreneurs (and declined meetings with quite a few more). A handful of these meetings were with founders who hoped to rely at least in part on ad or sponsorship dollars to make their business idea work. My glib continue…
A while back I did a series of post on Warren Buffet’s partner Charlie Munger and a compilation of his thoughts and speeches titled Poor Charlie’s Almanack; The Wit and Wisdom of Chares T. Munger. The longest of these was a condensation of Charlie’s speech on the Psychology of Human Misjudgement. (The shortest noted the continue…
As a partial explanation for my recent series of “Investment Thesis” posts, Andy and I are announcing today the formation of a new seed fund here in Seattle called Founders Co-op. I’ll be writing about it much more in the days to come, but between our site for the new fund and my investment thesis continue…
Thanks to Mike Arrington for his timely post on Sequoia Capital’s Elements of Sustainable Companies. While my own list of investment heuristics is a little more modest in its ambitions, theirs covers many of the same topics while winning hands-down on brevity. My personal favorites from the list include: Rich CustomersTarget customers who will move continue…
This is the third installment in a series. For context, here are links to the prior two posts:– Investment Thesis Envy– Investment Thesis: The Basics This one will focus on the beliefs and assumptions I use to evaluate the content of an investment opportunity (independent of the people behind it, or the price at which continue…
Per my recent post introducing the topic, this is the first installment in a series in which I plan to put in writing the themes and heuristics behind my early stage investing activity. For this first post, my goal is just to categorize and ‘bucket’ the major themes. In subsequent posts, I’ll pick up each continue…
Some of my favorite blogger-investors have posted recently on the whys and wherefores behind their investment approach, including Fred Wilson on his latest fund at Union Square, Brad Feld on the launch of Foundry Group, and Paul Graham on what sets Y Combinator apart from traditional VC. While each of these three has a slightly continue…
As most readers of this blog know, I’m a big fan of Warren Buffet’s partner Charlie Munger, but as a startup investor I follow Fred Wilson just as closely. I just read this Fred Wilson post and I swear Fred was channeling Charlie when he wrote it. If you don’t want to click through and continue…
Following up on my recent book review of Poor Charlie’s Almanack; The Wit and Wisdom of Chares T. Munger, below is an excerpt of some of my favorites from the Charlie Munger Investment Principles Checklist. The point of these isn’t their novelty (most of them should be familiar to you), but their fundamental soundness; as continue…