abiekatz

Great post!

I think if a founder speaks to a small handful of VCs and/or other knowledgable startup people: they can get a good sense of how easy or difficult fundraising will be...and that will be more useful than any one guideline that can be provided. Series A lead VCs need to see a potential path to $100 million in revenue going to $300 million to be a home run...and a combination of the team/product/market/traction combo gives an investor the necessary conviction and excitement to propose an investment.

The limitation with growth + revenue guidelines for fundraising is that it will never be enough information as there are so many factors that go into an investment decision. And there has been a proliferation of startups that reach $1 million in revenue growing ~15% a month and still the vast majority won't get to the scale that makes a series A VC happy.

As a side note, I'd love to see any company with "Engagement rates that are higher than Facebook" that can't fundraise. :) I think there may be some off the charts positive indicators: team with incredible track record, off the charts engagement + retention in a large market, amazing unit economics + high growth that the ability to fundraise is all but inevitable.

I like Sam's line: "I always tell my partners that our job is to fund all the companies we can that can be worth $10 billion or more. That’s such a difficult constraint we can’t have any other constraints."

Build something that people want and make it grow and things have a way of working out. Many VC firms actively monitor the top of app stores, angellist and ask what software their friends and portfolio companies are using. Build something awesome and people--including investors--will find a way to connect with you.

There are benefits of working at another startup first: gained skills, experience and network. If you want to go right away into starting a startup it'll take some combination of increased hustle and more solid proof/the company being further along before raising a seed round.

Many investors also regularly check app store rankings, angellist, accelerator demo days and ask their friends and portfolio companies about "what is interesting?" or some version of that question. Build something interesting/awesome and word can spread across silicon valley very quickly.

What are the key differences between Stellar and Ripple?

Interesting look into your fundraising process Jarrett.

It's impossible to distinguish the impact that YC had on your second go around at fundraising versus the impressive progress that EasyPost had made as a company.

YC definitely helps with fundraising--it's a strong signal of social proof and it can generate a sense of urgency in investors--but growth metrics and traction are usually the most important things.

What work is for an investor and an entrepreneur are quite different.

As PG says entrepreneurs should "Live in the future, then build what’s missing."

Investors allocate capital to what will be more valuable in the future: whether it is something that is missing now or whether it is something that will simply continue to grow in value.

Venture Capital is an interesting middle ground because not only do you allocate capital but you also assist the companies in creating value and you have to compete to be able to invest in the most promising companies. By blogging well you are building your brand and this will help you meet great entrepreneurs and increase your ability to have access to invest in their companies. Of course your reputation will mainly be based on the track record of your investments and how much you help the founders you work with but writing well and having it consistently on top of hacker news helps.

Plus, your writing helps clarify your thoughts and provides you with useful feedback which can help you refine your investment thesis.

Warren Buffett has said he spends 80% of his days reading and 20% talking on the phone. He only has needed one good idea per year to be the best investor of all time. His schedule doesn't sound like work to most people but it clearly has worked well.

Why not offer both options? Either take it at a predefined pace in line with academic semesters or at your own pace. Seems like it would be the best of both worlds.

Does anybody know when it will be possible to buy a self driving car and how much of a premium the cost will be?