Thursdays at Abnormal Returns are all about startup and venture capital links. You can check out last week’s links including how venture capitalists make decisions.
Quote of the Day
"Some of the best founders and researchers I know are the ones who have a profound understanding of a market and deep empathy for a specific customer pain point."
(Sarah Hodges)
Companies
- Softbank is putting $250 million into lender Kabbage. (ft.com)
- SpaceX is now valued in excess of $20 billion. (ft.com)
- Remember the controversy at Reddit? Neither do investors as they put in $200 million at $1.6 billion pre-money. (recode.net)
- Patreon has gone NSFW. (theverge.com)
Lessons
- Four lessons learned from Jason Calacanis' new book "Angel." (thewaiterspad.com)
- Every company thinking of going public should listen to this recap of the OpenTable IPO. (a16z.com)
- Six questions for Steve Case. (collaborativefund.com)
Funding
- Seed-stage financings are down 40% from the peak. (mobile.reuters.com)
- Some good fundraising rules for founders and VCs. (thisisgoingtobebig.com)
- How to create an eye-catching pitch deck. (startups.co)
- How Basecamp's deal with Jeff Bezos is different than traditional VC. (m.signalvnoise.com)
Founders
- CEOs need to tell the truth and assign meaning to it. (a16z.com)
- Startup founders are on average middle-aged. (ftalphaville.ft.com)
- On the unrelenting stress of being an entrepreneur. (avc.com)
Operations
- Why everything starts to break around 25 employees. (getlighthouse.com)
- On the benefits of having some geographic diversity in your work force. (venturebeat.com)
- What to do when publicity hits before your product is ready? (ft.com)
- Even small startups need a code of conduct. (medium.com)
- Ageism has not gone away in Silicon Valley. (ft.com)
- Why does every lifestyle startup look the same? (racked.com)
