From the Operators
Mikhail Ledvich of Shippo not only provides some tactical advice, but clearly explains the value a considerately integrated marketing automation platform brings to SaaS in "Marketing Automation for a SaaS Business"
Daniel Debow & David Pardy, both of Helpful, share that truly visible engagement with a team provides a "mental state, a feeling, a vibe" that, when repeatedly practiced and operationalized, is incredibly effective at driving team success in "Don’t be an invisible manager"
Hiten Shah of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, Quick Sprout, and others, endorses listening to customers to drive product development, and also advocates listening to future customers as a way to determine what the road ahead truly looks like in "Look Beyond Existing Customers When Building Your Product"
Steve Blank of Stanford spells out nine flawed assumptions that startup founders often make in "The 9 Deadliest Startup Sins"
From the Investors
Sam Altman of Y Combinator offers a follow up to a widely shared, controversial post in "A Clarification"
Hunter Walk of Homebrew covers topics around the "echo chamber" often found in Silicon Valley, and identifies some truths and opinions which may shape the next round of conversation in "What I Think We’re Talking About When We’re Talking About What We Can’t Talk About"
Y Combinator has announced the formation of a growth program specifically aimed at founders of post-Series A companies with around 100 employees. Read more about the pilot and what's next in "Announcing YC’s Growth Stage Program"
Ben Wiener of Jumpspeed comments on Bilal Zuberi's article (which we covered last week) and insists that VCs should be held accountable for behavior, performance, and provable knowledge in "Accountability in VC"
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures addresses a common issue (why does this investor do that for Startup ABC but not us?) and explains that even VCs play different roles for different companies in "Playing Your Role"
