Required Reading for Aspiring VCs

As the level of interest in starting and joining early-stage tech companies grows, so does interest in funding them. Sara Deshpande of Maven Ventures gathered resources and tips for becoming a startup investor to share whenever someone is seeking input and advice.

For the first time, she's sharing her list publicly.

From the Investors

Rob Go of NextView Ventures recommends that if you’re trying to decide what kind of approach to use when you’re hiring or fundraising or building a go-to-market strategy, stop to consider a high-failure strategy in “Lose More, Win Big: The Power of High-Failure Strategies”

Ben Einstein of Bolt tears down a Juicero Press to reveal some important lessons for hardware startups in "Here's Why Juicero's Press is So Expensive"

Gideon Hayden of Leaders Fund recognizes knowing if your company is a feature, a point solution or a system of record is vital to understanding what you can achieve, and what you need to do to change your trajectory in “Why Entrepreneurs Should (Occasionally) Think Like VCs”

David Rogg of FirstMark Capital provides his analysis of trends and opportunities in the direct-to-consumer market in “What Box Stores?”

From the Operators

Sam Shank of HotelTonight digs into the four steps they took to get from burning $30 million a year to owning their destiny — in seven months in “From Burning Millions to Turning Profitable in Seven Months — How HotelTonight Did It”

Ooshma Garg of Gobble talks openly about issues that many founders struggle with like dealing with competitors, being a non-technical founder, changing business models, and more in “The Fastest-Growing Companies Start Really Slowly”

Benjamin Libor of Spreadshare reflects on how he met his co-founder, Sidney, a few weeks ago, decided to build a product, launched the MVP after 3 weeks, and ranked #1 on Product Hunt in “From Strangers to MVP in 3 Weeks”

Terry Lee of Panacea debunks the common reasons startups forgo PR for launch in “Why We Decided to Invest $48k in PR for Launch”

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