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We’re a little bit light today coming back from the holidays, but we have a selection of some recent posts by investors and operators that you’ll probably find interesting!

Did you write something great over the holiday weekend? Send a link to editor@mattermark.com and we’ll consider it for inclusion in the newsletter!

From the Operators

Paul Adams and Emmet Connolly of Intercom recap the lessons learned (and shared) around building software over the last year in "What 2017 taught us about product"

From the Investors

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures point out the value to a fund in returns from companies that don't have the largest exits, but exist in "The Second Quartile" of returns.

Bryce Roberts of Indie.vc points out that there's often a fair warning to VCs before funding for a specific vertical or industry dries up, and emphasizes that there's sometimes huge opportunity in companies that may have seemingly negative things happen to them in "Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire"

Matt Ward assembles a straightforward, explicitly tactical set of tasks that may help a startup grow to the point where they're worthy of an investment in "How to Start a Series A Fundable SaaS Business"

Sharon Pope of Y Combinator shares their gift guide, which is comprised of all YC-backed companies, and may be useful if you're a founder trying to solve a specific problem over the holidays - check out the Y Combinator New Year’s Buying Guide

Jason Lemkin of SaaStr is a prolific Quora contributor, and we found this question interesting and off the path of the usual content found around investing - learn about how slowly a VC can fail in "What are the exit options for VCs that fail to make it in the VC industry?"

… and that post reminds us of a great concept about “Zombie Startups” from Mattermark CEO Danielle Morrill - perhaps the next concept is that of a Zombie VC?

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