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From the Operators

Avni Patel Thompson of Poppy explains that "the product, in the earliest days, is not the actual physical product you’re going to sell, or the website or the app. It’s the end-to-end experience that is solving the problem you set off to solve" in "Starting up? Why your product isn’t actually your product. It’s the mechanics."

Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation argues that until VC makes diversity a priority, it will continue to be a blocking force in the march towards equality in "VC Isn’t Concerned About Diversity. It Should Be."

Haje Jan Kamps of LifeFolder has an interesting set of recommendations for publicly addressing mistakes made by a company in "PR 101: This is how you backpedal in style."

Ciara Trinidad of Blend lists tactics (including using data) that aid in promoting diversity, and points out that a safe work environment not only fosters diversity, but allows employees to be authentic and perform outstandingly in "Here’s How to Wield Empathy and Data to Build an Inclusive Team"

From the Coaches

Robyn Ward of FounderForward and Justin Doyle of Level Up discuss the benefits of executive coaching, including who it's for and why it's valuable in "What’s the Deal with Executive Coaching? Digging into a Popular Topic."

From the Investors

Michael Brown of Bowery Capital walks through how B2B marketplaces in multiple verticals have performed in 2017, and calls out the most efficient new player in "Mapping The B2B Vertical Marketplace Ecosystem"

Allie Burns of Village Capital has a list of (perhaps unorthodox) tactics VC firms can take to meet their own investor requirements while innovating on finding new, diverse talent to fund in "2017: Betting big on ideas in blind spots"

Jason Lemkin of SaaStr follows up a post on churn we featured yesterday from Christoph Janz by recommending startups segment their churning accounts by revenue retention and loss in "If Nothing Else"

Atomico has assembled a fun microsite with visualizations, explanations, and data that summarizes "The State of European Tech in 2017"

Alexis Robert of Kima Ventures explains and analyzes what a "leaver clause" means to startup founders who exit their company in "Let’s talk about leaver clauses"

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