IPOs!
Welcome to the public market, SendGrid! 8.2 million shares at $16 raised $131 million" for the company, now listed on the NYSE.
From the Operators
Wilson Galyean of Intuit, in a tweetstorm, has practical advice for early employees at startups, emphasizing that some inkling towards product/market fit is crucial for a startup to survive.
Mat Vogels of Zestful explains the difference between motion and momentum, emphasizing that if a startup stops talking to customers and loses momentum, survival is incredibly difficult in "The ultimate startup killer"
David Bland of Precoil breaks down the three components of a successful product and explains why many crowdfunded products fail to address one of them (hint: it's the obvious thing) in "The Perils of Crowdfunded Innovation"
Mark James of Shedd outlines their product development process, detailing how a "Jog" is followed by a "refresh" where employees choose what to work on, along with how this process is becoming more effective in "Jogs vs Sprints — A product team backstory"
Farhan Thawar of Helpful also discusses product development cadences, using data to show that missing a weekly product update often resulted in problems, and that one of the best ways to solve this is by asking questions and trying things that seem... well, stupid, in "Why looking stupid is my superpower"
From the Investors
Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures uses a story of a portfolio company to establish the importance of innovation and systemization when turning a startup into an operational powerhouse in "What Happens When Startups Turn from Their Innovation Stage to Operational Excellence?"
Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital discusses the process they used to dive into funding healthcare startups, as well as the mindset required (and so much more) when entering a new vertical like healthcare in "The Ezra Klein Show: VC Bill Gurley on Transforming Health Care"
Eric Tobias of High Alpha outlines three ways fundraising founders can push a VC to get a deal done in a matter of days (rather than weeks) in "VCs Move Fast When They Want To"
Andrew Oddo of Bowery Capital has five areas for operators and their senior business staff to focus on as we enter 2018, including a great tip on R&D tax credits, in "2018 SaaS Business Planning Benchmarks"
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures looks at a management principle that can make or break a team, tracing it from Jeff Bezos' 2016 shareholders letter back to Andy Grove at Intel, as he emphasizes how important it is to "Disagree and Commit - A Management Principle for Highly Functioning Teams"
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures explicitly defines the importance of location when investing in startups, saying that if you're outside of Silicon Valley, "you have to go where the best opportunities are" in "Location, Location, Location"
Other Newsletters
I shared this last week, and want to again because it’s so great.
I recently started reading Morning Brew every day on the train to work, and I must say, it’s awesome. They cover a great assortment of business news, including a great quick snapshot of the public markets and summaries of the top things that matter from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. If you like the Mattermark Daily, you’ll love Morning Brew!
