Thursdays at Abnormal Returns are all about startup and venture capital links. You can check out last week’s links including a look at how the online mattress brands are doing.
Quote of the Day
"If you’re worried about fundraising, first worry about executing – and feedback on whether you’re executing on the right things. For the most part that’s under your control and it’s, in my experience, rare for a company that’s executing well to fail to raise a Series A."
(Hunter Walk)
Slack
- Slack ($WORK) conducted a direct listing today. (venturebeat.com)
- Mattermost is an open-source Slack with a focus on privacy. (businessinsider.com)
- An analysis of the Spotify ($SPOT) direct listing. (papers.ssrn.com)
Venture
- GE ($GE) wants to sell off its startup portfolio. (cnbc.com)
- The Softbank Vision Fund strikes again with a $205 million investment in Collective Health. (axios.com)
Gender
- Female-led companies raise less VC money. (industrialfelt.com)
- "Women-led research teams are 26 percent more likely to focus on female health outcomes." (papers.ssrn.com)
Companies
- Why Atlassian ($TEAM) is publishing standardized term sheets. (cnbc.com)
- WeWork had $34 billion in lease obligations at the end of 2018. (wsj.com)
Startups
- Fred Wilson, "If you plan to be raising venture capital for your startup and don’t have the benefit of experience or a fantastic course on the topic, I would strongly recommend you pick up Scott’s book ["Secrets of Sand Hill Road"]. (avc.com)
- Some tips on surviving the emotional roller coaster that is a startup. (firstround.com)
- Andrew Chen talks with Justin Kan about 10 (or so) lessons he has learned as a successful entrepreneur. (a16z.com)
- Startups need to ask up from about ethical issues using certain data and AI. (wsj.com)
- A look back at the paper that kicked off the idea of 'network effects' and 'increasing returns.' (fastcompany.com)
