Evening light near Fort Mason, San Francisco
March 2015
Month: April 2015
Punk rock isn’t something you grow out of… Punk rock is an attitude, and the essence of that attitude is ‘give us some truth’
Joe Strummer (via thecvre)
Opportunities lost in a sea of growth rounds
These days in startup land we see an enormous number of startups being seed financed by angel investors, seed funds, venture capitalists, hedge funds and celebrities.
This trend has been happening for many years now and has simply continued. More seed capital isn’t necessarily a bad thing and generally I’m happy about that. The alternative is problematic.
The more recent thing is the rise of growth rounds. In 2014 our industry saw more growth rounds than the actual number of business days.
The interim stage between the seed round and the growth round is happening at an accelerated and compressed pace.
Consider the Tumblr financing history.
Year 1: $700k
Year 2: $4M
Year 3: $4M
Year 5: $25MM
Year 6: $75M
Take a look at the first three years. That financing history is rare these days for a promising company. In fact those first three years of financing history would look like a messed up company in today’s environment.
Today it would look more like this for a promising company.
Year 1: $4MM
6 to 12 months later: $25-$50MM
The difference is dramatic.
Yes it means a Series A crunch for many startups. It also means more dilution and higher expectations.
But the thing I’m most concerned about are the startups that won’t get their next round done just because they aren’t on a rocket ship.
Some companies take time and patience. And I do worry we aren’t valuing or appreciating those startups well enough in this environment. It would be a mistake to overlook them and a loss for our industry.
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
So we have this jar sitting on our kitchen counter.
It’s called the gratitude jar. It was given to us by a dear friend Susan. Next to the jar is a notepad and a pen. The idea is that every time you want to be grateful for something, anything, you stop, write it down, fold up the note and place in the jar.
Then on first day of the year, our family opens the jar and we read the notes together.
Here Comes My Baby, Yo La Tengo
Happy cover Friday. Original by Cat Stevens.
This was a long week for me. I’m ready for the weekend.
To ensure no one faces discrimination and ensure everyone preserves their right to live out their faith, we call on all legislatures to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws and to explicitly forbid discrimination or denial of services to anyone.
UPDATED: Over 70 Tech Industry Leaders Join In Call To Legislators | Human Rights Campaign
Standing together with other members of the tech community on this very important issue.