This era of startups will reward copy-cat companies who can clone models of larger competitors who went bust. Many of these companies died not because of lack of demand but due to their capital stack or spending too much.

If you want to make progress, just show up, day after day, and you’ll achieve everything you can dream of.

I heard a rumor that OpenAI is looking to move to San Francisco. Lord, please make sure our city politicians don’t screw this up - SF really needs this!

Elite athletes always have a few injuries at any given moment. Great Founders always have a few fires burning. Basically, the best make no excuses. They just show up and perform!

Most advisors are used to getting paid to give their advice to startups. Yet some founders can convince you to give them all your advice for free and you must also invest in them. Oh wait, that’s just called Angel Investing 🫠

As someone who has built many companies and invested in 50+ Building companies is HARD.

I am seeing a flurry of activity across every area of real estate. San Francisco home prices just increased after 8 months of decline. I’m feeling like we are past the bottom of the market:

The only convincing investor update is “we have revenue from paying customers”. Not: - We just shipped our product - We had good prospect meetings - We hired someone - We brought on an advisor - We won an award … Blah blah blah

Buying the worst home on the best street can be equally as dumb as buying the best home on the worst street.

A portfolio company went bankrupt last year. A certain VC backed out after a SIGNED $20M term sheet. Somehow, this startup reorganized their debts and has re-launched! Never, ever underestimate a Founder. Even after they’ve been knocked down and declared dead by everyone.

The SEC is so incompetent and is holding back innovation in crypto. More of my thoughts on Fox: youtube.com/watch?v=Nfdh_E…

Why is there a huge cruise ship docked in San Francisco? Oh they’ve come to save our people as our city’s leadership continues to run it into the ground!

Zuck can beat Elon if he does 3 things: 1) Bulk as much as possible to neutralize the weight difference 2) Do the fight ASAP so Elon is still a fresh beginner with little skill 3) Develop a game plan focused on grappling tall opponents to counter Elon’s reach advantage

Video podcast w/ Zain Jaffer dropping next week Here Zain shares the scrappiest thing he and his co founder did when building Vungle You can check out the audio version here: businesspodcast.transistor.fm

Those uncapped financing notes are now starting to convert at valuations I never imagined possible. How times can change.

Working with some of our seed stage Founders who hope to raise a true Series A next. Here’s what I’m saying: You have 3 options: 1) If you think growth will be less than 30% YoY: Focus on profitability so you have infinite runway. Make major cuts ASAP to get there as no

Seeing a flood of investor updates as an LP from other real estate GPs - not looking good out there. Preferred returns are being reduced or stopped altogether. Values are down and preferred equity is at risk in some markets or asset classes.

Had a great time chatting with Adam Mendler (Adam Mendler) about the journey of building Vungle from the ground up, especially as the underdog in the early days. adammendler.com/blog/zain-jaff… #leadership #startups #entrepreneurship #impact #philanthropy