Feld Thoughts

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Worth looking at the 40% rule for SaaS: https://www.feld.com/archives/2015/02/rule-40-healthy-saas-company.htm… The rule states that a "sane" target for annual growth rate + profit margin is 40%. At a 100% YoY growth rate and -33% profit margins, Elastic is sitting at 70% -- making it pretty solid!

Feld Thoughts is probably closest in tenor. TechStars and YC probably started around the same time circa 2007 https://www.feld.com/

And the first Techstars Ventures fund was a $5million fund that invested in angel rounds of Uber, Twilio, SendGrid, GroupMe, and more - http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/01/raise-150-million-vc-fund.html As Brad writes, that fund is "one of the best performing funds I’ve ever invested in". :)

A few great sources: http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/01/illusion-product-market-fit-saas-…

Keep it in cash & cash equivalents. Here is a great write-up on companies that looked at higher yield options: http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/04/cash-policies-startups.html

So what... Better he not be happy about who he is and his accomplishments? I don't think that this suicide post was a big humble brag... it was to address to his own readership a serious issue in his own light. The more role models that follow this line of thinking to their own audiences the less suicides and more awareness there might be as a whole. I applaud founders/engineers/leaders who speak transparently on the topic. shout out to Kyle at Keen.io for his very personal post in reaction to brad feld's own https://medium.com/@dorkitude/entrepreneurship-and-depression-5c4b19a0… http://www.feld.com/archives/2014/10/founder-suicides.html

I read the following from link 2 in your comment: http://www.feld.com/archives/2014/10/helps-depressed.html This may be veering off-topic, but reading the suggestions submitted by the reader in that post made me wonder some people (many, in fact) have to actively work so hard to hold off depression. Something is going wrong (organically, culturally, or both) that depression is the default state for so many. Culturally, I think our relationship with work is certainly part of it. And, some personalities (e.g. driven or obsessive) may just be more susceptible.

First -- you are by no means alone. It may not make you feel any better but you are in good company. Most people suffer depression at some point in their life, some worse than others. Lincoln, Churchill -- this famous VC, Brad Feld: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2013/12/dont-fight-depression.html If your grief is preventing you from functioning, I agree with people below who suggest therapy and medication. Why not give that a try? There's no shame -- it shows courage, and will help you grieve. Meditation and exercise are great eveners too. And being unemployed and depressed could make things even worse. Good luck and warm wishes. It will get better. You will find peace and you will recover.

This was great, and exactly the kind of thing I'd want sites to implement in protest of FCC's net neutrality rules: http://www.feld.com/wp/ But the code he links to in the article isn't what I'm seeing on his site. Where is it?

I keep hearing this book is a must-read: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2011/07/venture-deals-be-smarter-than-… If you don't want to buy it, you should check out the Venture Hacks Bible: http://venturehacks.com/friends I'm not sure any of them mentions SAFEs because they're very recent, you can read more details in YC's announcement: http://ycombinator.com/safe/

Brad Feld has a good article on the subject. I woud recommend it to you. http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/08/how-to-respond-to-a-cold-call-… and I posted it here to HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507841 Aside from agreeing with his advice, one constructive observation. We have no interest in raising, or spending any time resources whatsoever on establishing relationships with investors. The words "no" "any" "relationships" are sort of an odd mix in this sentenece. Consider how you are framing at the situation. As PG said in a recent post, if a company becomes big enough, there will be a market for its shares. So, the idea that you can be "doing well", or so well that you should never consider future investment, or even an exit, is a bit of a red herring.

Brad Feld has a great blog post on what he suspects happened at OnLive, given his experience with similar situations in the past: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/08/what-just-happened-with-onlive…

Brad Feld says the typical discount is 20% - 40%. I think a lot of investors ask for caps as well, which is essentially pricing the round (so don't let them pick one that you would regret). http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2006/02/whats-the-best-structure-for-a… PG said YC would release their convertible debt agreement, but I don't think they've gotten around to it yet. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1655585

Similar to his talk at TEDxBoulder, CO some weeks back (which I attended): Quarterly Week off the Grid. One solid week away with his wife: no cell, laptop, etc. http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/03/the-rhythms-of-life.html http://boulderreporter.com/tedxboulder-lets-hear-it-for-the-creatives/ Good prioritizing in a routine, but the argument becomes..is "4 minutes" (4, 15, 1hr) / 1 week a quarter adequate? How about daily several hours with the people you love? Her opinion?

The best resource on term sheet basics is http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2005/08/term_sheet_seri.html http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com is also often quite good on the basics.

Is there something you like particularly about his web log or other reason you have been following it? For reference here is where he introduces TechStars: http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/002136.html Does anyone know what programs besides YC he is talking about?

Hey rbliss, article author here. I've been out of pocket all day. I was getting ready for bed when I saw my article on the front page of Hacker News! Your comment is fair. It's late here, so I don't have the mental energy right now to write the 1000+ words I would like to on this matter. It's totally worth writing another followup blog post explaining in more detail, which I'll aim for next week. But, in brief: -- Flattening yield curve -- Ridiculously low unemployment ("full employment" is the term that's floating around) -- Record high housing prices -- Public corporations sinking profits into stock buybacks instead of acquisitions or capital investment (I find this a highly dangerous trend for the economy) -- Consumer debt levels now higher than they were in 2008 -- Subprime auto loans being "tranched" and sold to investors much like subprime housing was in 2005-7 (and this is even worse, since cars are depreciating assets): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-16/riskiest-subprime-a… And I saw this one yesterday: https://www.feld.com/archives/2018/07/early-stage-vcs-be-careful-out-t… -- specific to the startup/tech field. If anyone has any more questions, please feel free to ask me here, and as I said above, I'll aim to write a more detailed followup next week.

It shouldn't be the way. We met Brad Feld last year in Las Vegas (Up Summit) and he talked about his depression[1]. I suggest everyone to read the depression archives on Brad Feld blog [2]. Pretty insightful posts. I tend to be obsessive and I lost someone I really care about because of focus on money and too much work. At the end of the day, you have to focus on your priorities, your wife/family is one and should deserve a decent amount of attention. Brad said that when Amy call him whenever he's in a meeting he will still answer, because she's a priority. Outworking yourself is not likely the way you will succeed in the long run. Work hard != work smart George Bernard Shaw said: "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." 1. http://www.inc.com/magazine/201307/brad-feld/many-entrepreneurs-deal-w… 2. http://www.feld.com/archives/tag/depression

Top 4 Reasons Companies Shouldn't Buy from Startups: 1. Startups have a high(er) chance of failure or pivoting into something you didn't buy. ("Fail fast" is a popular mantra [a]) 2. If the startup does have an "all-star team" as you say, they're more likely to get acqui-hired by Google/Facebook and the product subsequently shut-down. (I've said before that this is a byproduct of the acqui-hire craze and I still believe it). 3. Many startups (especially those with all tech founders) seem to suck at customer service. They tend to focus on automation and hacking their way to avoiding any type of high-touch service (the exception seems to be companies that make support tools). Do you prefer phone support from your software vendors? Don't choose a startup. 4. Their pricing doesn't fit your buying model. Many government and educational institutions must buy using a PO process. Large companies don't want the "small team plan" for $29/month. FYI I'm not posting this comment to be a prick–rather it's a thought exercise. If you want companies to purchase from startups more often, stop trying to convince them why they should and start addressing the reasons why they don't. [a] http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/04/the-best-entrepreneurs-know-ho…

I want to preface this by stating that I have tremendous respect for all the people at EI^2, the folks of VentureLab, the people in ATDC and Flashpoint. I really I owe much of where I am now to you folks. That being said, I think your rebuttal missed Chintan's initial premise, which is that Georgia Tech's startup culture is a little underwhelming for the respective technical chops of its student body. The article is simply one student's (correct) assessment about the present level of entrepreneurial activity at the undergraduate level in Georgia Tech. Talking about how great Flashpoint, ATDC, EI2 are as rebuttal against Chintan's premise is like saying that just because a MacBook Pro has a long battery life, you can go without charging it. Surely you'd agree that the "build it and they will come" adage is entirely asinine in the context of a startup. Why should it be any different when it comes to communities? The "GT Establishment" has to market itself better and actively engage the entrepreneurial students where they are. In school. This might seem like a ridiculous thing to ask but VCs and influencers elsewhere in the country do this: ---- Jason Mendelson of the Foundry Group: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/11/new-online-courses-from-sympoz… Peter Theil (no explanation needed here) taught CS183:Startup-Stanford http://blakemasters.com/peter-thiels-cs183-startup David Skok teaches Startup Secrets at Harvard's…

To be clear for those who aren't following the salient detail here - the preferred stock does not convert to common if the liquidation preference is exercised. The investor gets up to their money back (1x preference), and no more. If they choose to participate pro-rated they convert to common first, and participate equally with everyone, without the preference. The investor would chose to convert to common when the sale price is greater than the post-money valuation of the deal. On this basis their pro-rated participation will be greater than the amount invested. If the sale price is less than the post-money valuation of the deal, they would be sensible to keep their preferred stock, and exercise their 1x preference, meaning they get their original amount back 100 cents on the dollar. The remaining is then split between the common shareholders proportionally (in effect without the dilution from the investor that exercised their preference). Mark Suster (@msuster) from GRP put together a good spreadsheet [1] that shows the preference effect on sale, including preferred non-participating stock and preferred-participating (PP) stock (essentially double dipping into sale proceeds). Brad Feld (@bfeld) from Foundry Group has a good write up of the different types of participation on his blog [2]. [1]: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/47831420/Venture-Capital-Valuation-Spreads… [2]: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2005/01/term-sheet-liquidation-prefere…

There are many non-traditional routes to get to know investors besides the usual networking events/cold email/calling. I'm friends with the author (Charlie) outside of just the tech world. We became friends a couple of years ago when he tweeted out about needed volunteers for a kayaking program he helped start over at the Brooklyn bridge park (http://www.bbpboathouse.org/ for anyone in NYC that's interested). I had grown up kayaking so was mostly interested in having way to do so in NYC, but also wanted to meet Charlie. When I showed up, there were probably 10 or so people from the NY tech scene that wanted to get some face time with Charlie and over the course of the day he spent 1-on-1 time with everyone. Most only showed up for that one session, but a few have been back from time to time. This isn't a strategy that you can use to get access to every investor because like Charlie said, it takes time to build up relationships and really get to know people. However, if you do have a few key people you want to get to know, getting to know they outside of the tech scene can be a great way to build a long term relationship. You need to figure out a non-creepy way of doing so (i.e. don't just start showing up where they check in on foursquare (http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2011/03/did-someone-ruin-foursquare-fo… but at the end of the day, investors are people and they often have causes/activities that they're passionate about and may overlap with your…

That depends on your definition of 'rationally'. Sometimes preferred will be fully-participating preferred, and the investors will get their money back and then take a share of what's left equal to their ownership. Sometimes preferred will be non-participating preferred, and the investors can choose between getting their money back or converting their preferred to common and getting a share equal to their ownership. Never ever will a VC do a deal where they don't get at least 100% of their money back before common stock holders (aka you) see a dime. Complicating this is that 'getting their money back' is actually just a 1x liquidation preference - and while 1x is common (the VCs get 1x their money back before you get anything), it's possible for this preference to be higher. If there's a 2x liquidation preference, the VCs get 2x their money back before the common gets anything. If there's a 2x liquidation preference and the stock is fully-participating preferred, the VC gets 2x their money back and then a share of whatever's left equal to their ownership. Early-stage rounds are often relatively simple and more 'rational' - it's multiple rounds with many different investors that make things interesting. Brad Feld's 'Term Sheet Series' is the best resource I know of for basic definitions of all this stuff: http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/term_sheet/

see also: enshitification https://feld.com/archives/2025/11/enshitification/

Other than in the title, there is no mention of ‘AI’ in the article. Quite refreshing. And very interesting blog as well. https://feld.com/blog/

Didn't know him before. Googled his blog in case people are looking https://feld.com/blog/

Asking for an NDA from an early stage VC is likely to actively hurt as it can make you seem inexperienced in the realm of startups/venture capital. A decent amount has been written on this. Here's a couple examples, but there are others: http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html https://feld.com/archives/2006/02/why-most-vcs-dont-sign-ndas/

Checking my rss reader ... https://feld.com/ (VC, but wide ranging) https://mapbrief.com/ Snarky GIS content https://randsinrepose.com/ Management advice for a level I'll never get to :) http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/ Right of center economics https://ultrasaurus.com/ Tech https://www.eugenewei.com/ Big pic tech and society

Me too, but this link works: https://feld.com/archives/2019/10/whats-your-hobby.html