C
Chris Dixon
cdixon.org · Personal blog · on HN since 2009
Chris Dixon, a venture capitalist, writes about startups, technology trends, and investing, with essays on new technologies and network effects.
What HN saysEarly commenters call his blog very insightful on startups and VC deals, while a later one criticizes his past promotion of NFTs and Web3.
373HN people shared it
157linked it in comments
407stories submitted
11Kstory points
2 months agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1The next big thing will start out looking like a toy (2010)27 people · 263 points · first shared 2010 · 198 comments on HN
- 2Climbing the wrong hill (2009)15 people · 298 points · first shared 2010 · 101 comments on HN
- 3How Bundling Benefits Sellers and Buyers15 people · 27 points · first shared 2012 · 20 comments on HN
- 4Selling pickaxes during a gold rush10 people · 101 points · first shared 2011 · 20 comments on HN
- 5Full Stack Startups9 people · 181 points · first shared 2014 · 37 comments on HN
- 6The idea maze9 people · 165 points · first shared 2013 · 29 comments on HN
- 7Come for the tool, stay for the network9 people · 61 points · first shared 2015 · 9 comments on HN
- 8Six strategies for overcoming “chicken and egg” problems8 people · 3 points · first shared 2010 · 1 comments on HN
- 9The Bowling Pin strategy7 people · 86 points · first shared 2010 · 10 comments on HN
- 10What’s strategic for Google?6 people · 10 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 11What the smartest people do on the weekend, everyone else will do in 10 years5 people · 216 points · first shared 2013 · 114 comments on HN
- 12How to disrupt Wall Street5 people · 141 points · first shared 2010 · 27 comments on HN
- 13Facebook’s business model5 people · 95 points · first shared 2012 · 55 comments on HN
- 14Don't Keep Your Idea a Secret5 people · 20 points · first shared 2011 · 2 comments on HN
- 15Techies and Normals5 people · 7 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
rrhoover · 2011-04-02
Although not tech news blogs, I find Chris Dixon (http://cdixon.org) and Mark Suster's (http://bothsidesofthetable.com/) blogs very insightful. You should also check out Suster's weekly video podcast, This Week in Venture Capital (http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-venture-capital/). Even better, imo, is Jason Calacanis' This Week in Startups (http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/).
tylerhwillis · 2009-11-16
The issue is around how many deals Sequoia funds. If other investors think that Sequoia already has the best 3 companies in any class sewed up before demo-day, why come to pick up the less interesting companies.
Chris Dixon wrote a good post on this recently: http://cdixon.org/?p=1746
finiteloop · 2009-11-02
This is a great presentation. We ended up having a good set of terms when we did the FriendFeed Series A because we were fortunate to find good advice, but I wish I had read this when I left Google to start a company. The incentives implicit in these deal terms turn out to really impact your company at its most important points (acquisition, new funding rounds, etc).
Also worth reading:
Chris Dixon on "Ideal first round deal terms": http://www.cdixon.org/?p=271
Fred Wilson's response to Chris' post: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/08/the-ideal-first-round-term-sheet.html
SWalker26 · 2009-10-01
Thanks Brandon - excellent point. Indeed, Chris Dixon addressed this issue in a recent post here: http://www.cdixon.org/?p=702. Moreover, I made a similar comment to your solid interview with Andrew Warner on mixergy.com (http://bit.ly/dVkS1):
"Lesson #3: understand the deal terms and run models as to what happens under various scenarios. Fenwick & West puts out a quarterly survey of market deal terms in venture capital financings (see, e.g., http://www.fenwick.com/publications/6.12.1.asp?...). At a minimum, the entrepreneur should understand what is "market" and how each deal term plays out in a liquidation. For example, in Q1 ’09, participation only occurred in 51% of the Silicon Valley vc deals and 40% of those were capped."
Thanks again.
cornercasechase · 2023-06-28
Chris Dixon just spent 2 years investing in and hyping NFTs. AI is a legitimate innovation that can do without all of the “Web3” con artists driving any aspect of it.
Source: https://cdixon.org
pilingual · 2020-01-03
The foremost problem is lack of domain expertise as others have noted. If you lack domain knowledge but love your idea, the best course of action is to keep your day job and gain as much knowledge as you can before quitting.
But another problem is lacking the conviction and traversing the idea maze[0]. Several comments here have provided good paths for possible methods of execution like offering a free API and seeing who is using it.
[0] Summary of Balaji's concept here: https://cdixon.org/2013/08/04/the-idea-maze
charleyma · 2018-07-09
Nvidia is my favorite example of "the next big thing that started out as a toy" ala A16Z's Chris Dixon (http://cdixon.org/2010/01/03/the-next-big-thing-will-start-out-looking…
Literally started off as a device for playing games, and significantly expanded out use cases since then.
scarface74 · 2018-05-24
Best article I've read about the topic....
http://cdixon.org/2012/07/08/how-bundling-benefits-sellers-and-buyers/
adventured · 2016-09-13
Chris Dixon's bowling pin post is among my favorite on this topic:
http://cdixon.org/2010/08/21/the-bowling-pin-strategy/
w1ntermute · 2015-08-04
I apologize if I sound overly negative, but I have expended significant time and energy exploring this idea maze (http://cdixon.org/2013/08/04/the-idea-maze/), only to hit one dead end after another. I left for greener pastures (software), but I wish you and the rest of the YC biotech founders the best of luck.
untilHellbanned · 2014-09-26
> My policy for Practical Typography was simple: reading the book would require no prepayment. ... Call it an honor system. I’ve never used the term free to describe the book, because I don’t see it that way.
Onarbor, https://onarbor.com, follows the same ideal.
Digital currencies, with their minuscule fees, pricing flexibility, and instantly international availability, will enable the proper monetization of digital works.
If you don't believe me, believe Chris Dixon: http://cdixon.org/2013/09/14/the-internet-is-for-snacking/
clamprecht · 2014-08-20
People heard about craigslist, yes. Before AirBNB, before Indeed.com, before OkCupid. Very good reading: http://cdixon.org/2012/11/23/some-problems-are-so-hard-they-need-to-be…
bjones53 · 2014-08-07
Chris Dixon does a great job at explaining vesting schedules for founders and employees http://cdixon.org/2009/04/21/founder-vesting/.
If he feels like a co-founder then you should be able to have a conversation with him about equity; if things go poorly then the partnership was never meant to be. Use this as an opportunity to discuss commitments and expectations; will he quit his job? how about cover costs?
Some people suggest that equity should be awarded based on set milestones, but I think this strategy makes people feel more like employees than co-founders.
GFischer · 2013-10-02
Remember the often quoted advice from Joel Spolsky:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.html
Enterprise sales cycle is EXPENSIVE, so, while the actual cost of your service may be much less, you have to pay for the ten airplane flights and meetings and hotel rooms before you close your sale (and add a few one afterwards for good measure).
also
http://cdixon.org/2010/02/06/selling-to-enterprises/
"Enterprise-focused VC’s sometimes refer to products priced between (roughly) $5k and $100K as falling in the “valley of death.” Above $100K, you might be able to make a profit given the cost of sales. Below $5k you might be able to market your product, hence have a very low cost of sales"
I'm not sure if all of that advice applies to a Ruby gem... big freaking enterprises don't use Ruby that much.
That said, it's a great success story :)
qeorge · 2013-07-18
Chris Dixon has a great post about this phenomenon:
http://cdixon.org/2012/07/08/how-bundling-benefits-sellers-and-buyers/
replicatorblog · 2013-06-19
There are a lot of economic breakdowns showing that a la carte pricing doesn't do much to reduce cost. Chris Dixon did a quick breakdown: http://cdixon.org/2012/07/08/how-bundling-benefits-sellers-and-buyers/
Also, I'm not sure the fallback to channels is a bad thing. I've been spending a lot of time in the YouTube ecosystem and finding good regular series on a topic is a HUGE challenge. If there was a well curated food channel or educational channel on YouTube I'd pay to subscribe — It's a huge time suck searching, especially using the current tools.
nrao123 · 2013-06-19
This is a really great & insightful comment. Thank you!
Is your point similar to the point that Chris Dixon made about cable bundling?
http://cdixon.org/2012/07/08/how-bundling-benefits-sellers-and-buyers/
callmeed · 2013-05-31
Video is great. App/service looks solid. But marketplaces are so tough that I feel you almost HAVE TO START IN A NICHE and take the bowling pin strategy [1].
Look at Yardsale–they're a YC company and doing essentiall the same as Sold. I haven't seen much press about growth or follow-on funding.
Poshmark, on the other hand, is niche-focused (women's fashion) and seems to be growing well. Raised $15.5M. [2]
[1] http://cdixon.org/2010/08/21/the-bowling-pin-strategy/
[2] http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/04/poshmark-nabs-12m-series-b-led-by-men…
cdixon · 2012-11-30
This follows a classic pattern. Incumbents once argued that having a 3rd wireless carrier per city was a threat to the public: http://cdixon.org/2012/10/10/regulatory-hacks/
aaronbrethorst · 2012-07-06
Having high-quality products in the App Store is a great way to convince prospective contracts that I'm legit. http://cdixon.org/2011/02/05/selling-pickaxes-during-a-gold-rush/
akg · 2012-06-13
Some excellent advice from Chris Dixon on the chicken and egg problem: http://cdixon.org/2009/08/25/six-strategies-for-overcoming-chicken-and…
and also by Joel Spolsky: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000054.html
achompas · 2012-05-09
I agree wholeheartedly and would point people towards Chris Dixon's article on the topic.[0]
Specifically, I think we're witnessing early-stage overinvestment. This has been anecdotally validated by Dixon and Fred Wilson, who state that companies are struggling to follow up blowout seed rounds. "Anecdotes" and all that, but this fits with Neil's idea above (not the one on a Chinese Oppression Bubble, though :P).
[0] http://cdixon.org/2012/04/29/is-it-a-tech-bubble/
mwexler · 2012-04-16
Reading this reminded me of this recent post by Chris Dixon, which is also a good read: http://cdixon.org/2012/04/14/there-are-two-ways-to-make-large-datasets…
twakefield · 2012-02-29
I was excited to try this out and was very impressed with the quality and speed of the service.
Back when I was working at Big Co Inc., the shared admin assistants were an incredibly valuable resource to leverage your time. Unfortunately, it's not a feasible option to hire one at a startup. Exec changes that.
It's a great option for times when you need something NOW but can't or don't want to stop what you are otherwise doing. Examples: taking a mac to the genius bar, getting printer ink, getting batteries.
Also relevant is this cdixon blog post about how the internet is changing what a "job" is. [1]
[1] http://cdixon.org/2012/02/26/the-internet-is-reshaping-our-economy-fro…
izak30 · 2011-12-06
In his own words is probably best here: http://cdixon.org/aboutme/
ja27 · 2011-10-10
I've been thinking for a while that the next phase of my career might be as a "gamification expert". I enjoy Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. and have a reasonable amount of interest in game theory, game design and mechanics, and psychology. But whenever I even type "gamification" I cringe. Can it really be a good thing for so many companies? Does it matter as long as they'll spend money on it?
I love this quote from Chris Dixon: "The next big thing will start out looking like a toy". That's certainly the prevailing attitude about "gamification".
http://cdixon.org/2011/09/28/some-lessons-learned/
revorad · 2011-03-22
Yeah, consider this from another post from Chris in 2010:
Entrepreneurs should always ask themselves “why will I succeed where others failed?” If the answer is simply “I’m doing it right” or “I’m smarter,” you are probably underestimating your antecedents, which were probably run by competent or even great entrepreneurs who did everything possible to succeed. Instead your answer should include an explanation about why the timing is right – about some fundamental changes in the world that enable the idea you are pursuing to finally succeed.
http://cdixon.org/2010/11/07/timing-your-startup/
Here Chris argues that even if he is able to recognize brilliance in advance, he wouldn't necessarily bet on them because of other external factors. So has he changed his mind in the last 5 months?
The more I read about startups, the more I feel like ignoring all advice and jfdi.
starkness · 2010-10-18
This post is insightful: http://cdixon.org/2009/08/23/dividing-equity-between-founders.
At the early stage, people tend to overvalue past contributions, and undervalue future contributions. Equity grants should be for a person's expected value over the next four years.
beh · 2010-10-07
Chris Dixon wrote an insightful post on this last year: http://cdixon.org/2009/08/23/dividing-equity-between-founders/
jorgeortiz85 · 2010-06-19
Great example of pivoting. (As Chris Dixon said: "Ask yourself: if you started over today, would you build the same product?" http://cdixon.org/2010/06/14/pivoting/)
Another tidbit I found interesting:
Now that the company has its HTML5 and iPad strategy in place, Adler says they are focusing on making Scribd more social and less reliant on search engines. Today, the majority of their traffic comes from Google, but Scribd is putting a greater emphasis on the social by closely integrating with Facebook.
If Facebook (rather than search) becomes the principal way that people find content online, that could spell big trouble for Google.