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How to Craft Your Product Team at Every Stage, From Pre-Product/Market Fit to Hypergrowth

Since leaving his post as Credit Karma�s Chief Product Officer this past summer, Nikhyl Singhal has kept busy. Apart from time spent weighing options for his next adventure (and a much-needed Alaskan cruise vacation with his family), he�s been advising folks at every end of the startup spectrum, from scrappy early-stage founders to heads of product at some of the biggest unicorns.

That�s because, whatever stage your company is in, Singhal Click to read more >>>

Who Should Founders Listen To For Advice? - Aaron Harris

00:00 - Who should founders listen to for advice?
00:55 - Your job as a founder is to build a company not just get advice
1:35 - Pick someone and "Make for yourself a Rabbi"
2:25 - Pick an advisor who gives nuanced advice
3:25 - Pick an advisor who's seen the game multiple times
3:55 - Pick an advisor you get along with
4:20 - At the end of the day you need to evaluate the advice on its own merit

Watch the video >>>

How to Fix the Co-Founder Fights You�re Sick of Having � Lessons from Couples Therapist Esther Perel

I�m best known for being a couples therapist, for giving talks and writing about �romantic� topics, from sex and infidelity to intimacy and loss. At first glance, that may not seem relevant to tech entrepreneurs building the next big startup.

But ultimately, I work with pairs, in all their forms. And while marriages are complicated, business partnerships are even more so. The added pressures of courting investors, managing employees, speaking to the public and meeting the bottom-line add further strain to multilayered dynamics. Click to read more >>>

The Top 10 Posts of 2019

It's been an incredible year and one I'm grateful for. The most gratifying thing writing this blog is the feedback from readers who say the content is useful. That's the goal. Thank you for making this so much fun and deeply rewarding.

These are the top posts of 2019 with some commentary and behind the scenes notes on each. Click to read more >>>

EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE

Avery felt out of place at Away. Like many of the executives at the popular direct-to-consumer luggage brand, she�d gone to an Ivy League college, worked at a popular startup, and honed an intense work ethic that set her apart from the pack. But the higher-ups, who were almost all white and straight, still never gave her the time of day. �It was very clear who was in the clique,� she says. Click to read more >>>

German Startup Night: Captivate: Captivate features best-in-class German startups that have recently completed and graduated from German Accelerator�s three-month acceleration and immersion program 
 

????Living in a Distracted World with Brian Solis: Brian will join us for a special evening to host an important conversation about the relationship we have with technology 

????CES 2020: CES is the world's gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies

5 Predictions for 2020

The direct listing becomes the standard way for startups to go public in 2020. The idea has been proven by Slack and Spotify, and many others will follow. Most startups at IPO have plenty of cash and don't need to raise more in the public markets. The direct listing enables them to go public without raising capital.

Read more >>>

Nine Insights On How To Recruit And Keep The Right People For Your Company Or Startup

ABR. Always be recruiting. It�s hard to find people exactly when you need them. So, one thing that I did when we started our company was to never stop looking for great people. I talked to people at networking events, at meet-ups, at social gatherings, at conferences and on airplanes. It did not matter if I had an opening or not. You should always want to meet talented people. Quite a few of these people are not looking for a job. They are seemingly happy at where they are until you describe your company�s mission to them and their eyes light up. 

Click to read more >>>

a16z Podcast: 10+1 Lessons from a Serial Entrepreneur

Want actionable advice from a founder who has built multiple tech companies and has invested the time to be open, introspective, and transparent about lessons learned?

In this episode (which originally aired as a YouTube video), a16z General Partner Andrew Chen talks with Justin Kan. Justin is a repeat entrepreneur who co-founded Kiko Software (a Web 2.0 calendar that pre-dated Google Calendar by 4 years); Justin.tv (a lifecasting platform); Twitch.tv (a live streaming platform for esports, music, and other creatives now part of Amazon); Socialcam; and now Atrium, a software-powered law firm for startups.

Click to read more >>>

State of Startups 2019

Welcome to the fifth edition of the State of Startups. What started as an experiment in 2015 has since become a treasured tradition here at First Round. It's now the industry's largest dataset on what it�s like to run a startup with 3,600+ submissions and 190,000+ data points. 

The startup world has undergone seismic shifts since we first launched our survey � from the ebb and flow of market trends to important and evolving conversations around topics such as diversity and inclusion, sexual harassment, company culture and the role of tech in society.

Click to read more >>>

Farewell 2019 and hello 2020! We had such a great year with the launch of Passport, lots of new team members and some amazing events. So to end a great year off strong, we are offering 20% off Passport one more time! At the stroke of midnight, the offer will be as dead as 2019... so act quickly. 

His early investment in VIP Kid's $20M series B. The company has gone on to raise an additional $950M and is valued at $3.5B
 

Bryant�s very first investment a 10% stake in healthy sports drink maker BodyArmor � that truly scored, after Coca-Cola purchased a majority stake that turned Bryant�s initial $6 million investment into more than $200 million.

Founded The Kobe And Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation which raised money for cancer, helped stop youth homelessness, and promoted sports in underserved communities.

Has VC become so big it must be disrupted?  

Nathan Heller published an article called Is Venture Capital Worth the Risk? in the New Yorker. It�s a well-researched critique of the venture industry. The key question he poses is: has the industry become so large that it needs to be disrupted?

It�s a thought provoking question and a good opportunity to ask for feedback on how we can imrove. If you have ideas for how to improve venture capital for founders, please tweet me or send me an email with the link above. I�d love to hear them. Click to read more >>>

Going fully remote was nice, but the real benefit was in going fully asynchronous. Here are a list of the benefits we've seen at 
@Gumroad:

1) All communication is thoughtful. Because nothing is urgent (unless the site is down), comments are made after mindful processing and never in real-time. There's no drama.

2) Because everyone is always effectively "blocked," everyone plans ahead. It also means anyone can disappear for an hour, a day, or a week and not feel like they are holding the company back. Even me!

Click to read the whole thread >>>

How Do You Keep Stress From Crushing You As A Startup CEO?

�I think we should sell the company,� �Raul,� one of our investors, said to me. I was meeting with the investor at his office on Sand Hill Road.

We were in the process of closing our Series B funding. We had a term sheet from an outside investor that he (and our other investor, Gill) had agreed to, so Raul�s change of heart took me completely by surprise.

�What?� I responded. His request made no sense. We were doing well. Really well, in fact. Click to read more >>>

The Three Steps a Startup Has to Take to Become a Large Company

A few years ago I got a call from Patrick, an ex-student I hadn�t heard from for eight years. He was now the CEO of a company and wanted to talk about what he admitted was a �first world� problem. Over breakfast, he got me up to date on his life since school (two non-CEO roles in startups) but he wanted to talk about his third startup � the one he and two co-founders had started. Click to read more >>>

Kobe Bryant: The Athlete, the Legend, the Investor

Kobe Bryant, one of few in the world of sports, celebrity, entertainment and fame known the world over by just his first name, was far more than a five-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic medal winner, Oscar winner, author, mentor and family man.

Even before retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers following the 2015-16 season, Bryant was already intensely focused on his second act: putting money to work in new initiatives, businesses and ventures. Click to read more >>>

VectorGrove :Choose from over 1.2M Vectors/Graphics with VectorGrove's Unlimited Download Plan. Extended License is included.

Burnrate: BurnRate makes it easy for founding teams and sales leaders to build bottoms up-plans for revenue growth.

Dellaena Maliszewski: GTM Manager at Twilio.

Sanjay Tripathy: Co-Founder & CEO at Agilio Labs

SIlicon Valley Events:

????Recology Composting Workshop: Michelle Sung from Recology will be giving a presentation in The Academy on Tuesday, February 4th from 12-1pm. Come to learn about how to get rid of your trash, or come with questions. Come grab a slice of pizza and learn composting 101!
 

????GSVlabs Lunch & Learn with Digital Ocean:Join us to learn some of the basics to scale your startup and its infrastructure! From your first to your one-millionth customer, we'll share insights on what has worked for DigitalOcean, and how you can apply some of the takeaways for your business.
 

Boston Events:

Venture Cafe Kendall: Office Hours: Venture Cafe Foundation runs weekly office hours with our advisers every Thursday at Venture Cafe Kendall. 

BNI Financial District Networking Meeting: BNI Financial District is a group that is based upon helping people to get what they want. In this case, what people want is referral business. 

11 Conferences Every Entrepreneur Should Attend in 2020

One of the best ways to boost your status as an entrepreneur is to go to the right conference. Conferences provide insight from some of the field�s biggest names, they also afford you the opportunity to connect with people in the same boat as you. No one succeeds in business alone, and conferences are a great way to make valuable connections. 

You'll notice that number one on the list is Startup Grind! It's a fantastic conference with amazing speakers and attendees. If you happen to be at Startup Grind this week, swing by booth #30 and say hi! Click to read more >>>

Here are top startup trends to look out for in 2020

2020 just started and it looks like there will be some exciting times for the startup world. Although 2019 showed great promising IPOs and startup stories, it also had its fair share of major hiccups such as the fall of WeWork.
There are plenty of lessons to learn for VCs and especially founders on what is the definition of a successful business. Although innovation will still be a key trait for startups, many are leaning towards early profitability and enterprise-level business models as key traits, especially software.

Click to read more>>>

What Paul Graham thinks about why startups fail

The #1 cause of startup death is making something no one wants. The #2 cause is spending too much. Those two account for so many deaths that I'm not even sure what #3 is. If you merely make something people want and don't spend too much, you're way ahead.  Click to read the whole thread>>>

Ranking Countries With Medium-Sized Startup Scenes

In startup funding, there are hubs where most investments originate and there are so-called venture deserts, where deals hardly ever happen. And then there are places in the middle, which see a steady, but not massive, number of funding rounds.

Usually when we talk about startup hubs we�re referring to metro areas. But the categorization can apply to countries as well. For as long as we�ve been tracking, a handful of nations rake in the vast majority of startup venture funding while others get virtually none. Click to read more >>>

See how startups work with the Brex Quarterly Review

Startups are a crucial pillar of growth for the global economy. They drive innovation and force companies everywhere to constantly improve their products and provide the best customer experience. While many of them will go out of business, some of them will go on to become the next Facebook or Apple, becoming iconic companies and beacons of progress around the world. Click to read more >>>

Ignitepost: Send robotically written, real pen & ink handwritten notes at scale!

Hotjar: Everything your team needs to uncover insights and make the right changes.

Carl Hessler: Partner, VC / Startup Attorney at Lowenstein Sandler

Harry Schechter: CEO / Editor-in-chief at Empirical Learning / LeaderMind

Christopher Machen: Strategic Advisor at Sisu Advisory Partners

A Study of More Than 250 Platforms Reveals Why Most Fail

Platforms have become one of the most important business models of the 21st century. In our newly-published book, we divide all platforms into two types:  Innovation platforms enable third-party firms to add complementary products and services to a core product or technology. Prominent examples include Google Android and Apple iPhone operating systems as well as Amazon Web Services. The other type, transaction platforms, enable the exchange of information, goods, or services. Examples include Amazon Marketplace, Airbnb, or Uber. Click to read more >>>

Congrats to Plaid!

???? Congrats to @Plaid�to be acquired by @Visa! @NEA has had the privilege of partnering with @williamhockey, @zachperret & team at the seed????stage w/ just 3 people and a dog????
In trying to share the magic ???????with other founders, here are 7 learnings that led to Plaid's success???? Click to read more >>>

Why My Startup Flopped

When I started my so-called startup in 2015, I thought startup=early stages of a company. In other words, to me, so long you start a business, between starting it and reaching some form of organic growth, you are considered a startup.
If we follow Paul Graham�s definition of startup=growth, my startup flopped miserably, stagnating in growth for two long years. At that time I didn�t even know what growth means. More customers, profit, staff? Click to read more >>>

Uber Is Going to Zero and Their VC Backers Know It

On the surface this seems contrarian. When is being last better than being first?

Steve Jobs understood this. Apple didn�t make the first MP3 player or the first smartphone. Yet in consumer tech, Apple is synonymous with both.

That was no accident. This is Thiel�s theory in practice. Wealth accrues not to the first but to the monopoly, the company that captures the market, makes consumers forget all others, and rides the waves as long as profits pour. Click to read more >>>

A Seed Raise by the Numbers

This is the article I wish I could have read when setting out to start my company, Parabol. Raising capital is a ruthlessly difficult process and one a venture-class founder must master to survive: Entrepreneurs are alone in a canoe barreling down a river with nothing but potting soil, a pine cone, and a blade for whittling, and somehow they�ve got to grow a tree large enough to fashion an oar and paddle upstream before their boat is tossed over a waterfall. A founder must be good at learning while in continual existential crisis. Click to read more >>>

Congrats to Elanation, who is inspiring healthy habits. The Elanation platform is designed for kids, families and schools who wish to champion a healthy balance of physical and digital play. 

They won $2,000, 2 free hot desks, and a free Passport membership. You can watch their pitch here.  

Is AWS no Longer King?

Over the last 6 months, the number of enterprise software startups I've met building on: Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud: 70% AWS: 30% While this is anecdotal, it may be a result of Microsoft and Google's partnership vs AWS's competitive approach to enterprise software startups. Read more >>>

This Is What It Takes to Go from $0 to $1 Million in Less Than One Year

I came across an individual who figured out how to start a successful business from zero multiple times.

No resources, no capital, no investors.

His name is Michael Sherman, a Long Island native. He launched his latest business LetterDash in July 2018. One year later, he says his business is on track to pull in over $100,000 in revenue in July 2019.

Previously, he started a handful of other businesses, including Qualified Impressions, which reached $2M per year before decline, Penalty Be Gone, $500,000 before decline, and Great Agencies, $100,000 per year. Click to read more >>>

The 9 Most Brilliant (and the 9 Most Disastrous) Business Moves of the Decade

This was the decade of the pivot, the unicorn, and the unicorpse. It seemed like everyone � from cosmetics retailers to pizza chains � began calling itself a tech company. Yet they do have a point: Tech has redefined everything, ushering in a business world that moves with unprecedented speed. You either disrupt or get disrupted. You�re nimble or you collapse. The bold are both rewarded and punished. Here�s a look back at some of the best and worst business moves of the decade. Click to read more >>>

5 Tips for Pitching Your Startup to Investors

Cast, an operating partner of the Pritzker Group Venture Capital team and clinical professor of entrepreneurship at Kellogg, sits through more than a hundred young firms� spiels a year. Some of these come from seasoned entrepreneurs; others from neophytes fresh out of school and looking to go to market for the first time. Regardless of source, successful pitches usually galvanize investors�they either move toward a startup or away from it.

So how can entrepreneurs make the most out of this opportunity and land the capital they need to build out a new business? Cast offers five tips Click to read more >>>

How Consumers Actually Responded to All Those Black Friday Ads

Although Cyber Monday is described as the biggest online shopping event of the year, more than $7.4 billion in online purchases were made on Black Friday in 2019.

While a majority of Black Friday purchases happened online, a Fiserv study found that brick-and-mortar store purchases rose by 4.2% compared to 2018. The same study found that a quarter of people traveled 25 miles or more to stores with Black Friday discounts. Click to read more >>>

NeedToMeet streamlines the process of meeting administration, attendee polling, and scheduling any type of meeting.

NLPBOTS helps automate conversations & processes across employee and customer experiences. 

Max Faingezicht: Co-Founder at Telescoped

Adam Blake: Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Telescoped

Snehal Bhatt: Founder & CEO, Executive Coach at Job Branding

Pioneer Pitch Night is a dynamic event series designed to highlight and bring together the most promising early-stage startups in the GSVlabs community. 
 

Agenda:

5:30-6:00pm: Registration / Meet the Startups

6:00-6:15pm: Welcome / GSVlabs Introduction

6:15-7:00pm: Startup Pitches

7:00-7:20pm: Fireside Chat with Nancy Lue - COO, Advanced Education Research & Development Fund

7:20-7:30pm: Winner Announcement

7:30-8:30pm: Reception and Networking

Dice Technology and Engineering Virtual Career Fair: Dice Virtual Career Fairs help you reach top technology and engineering professionals in a virtual, online environment, without the cost, time and effort of travel.

????= At GSVlabs Innovation Center
????= Costs Money

Life in 2030

My day job is to think about the future, so I�ve been thinking a lot about what life will look like in the 2030s. What do we need to build? What social acceptance do we need? What business models do we need?

My daughter, Katie, is a high school junior, which means that when we hit the year 2030, she�ll be in her late-20s, heading into her mid-30s. In this presentation, I�ve imagined what a day in her life might be in the year 2030. Read more >>>

How to escape competition (and build a business on your own terms)

�There is nothing to do in Finland,� they immediately say, reacting to our suggestion. �Why travel there when Europe offers so many cooler destinations like Rome or Paris?�

I want to convince them that Finland has many underestimated gems, including its beautiful nature. But it�s only their second time in Europe and they want to tick the popular spots off their bucket list first. Click to read more >>>

Startup sector leaders reveal their personal highlights for 2019

Cameron Adams: Chief Product Officer, Canva
Canva's going from strength to strength with lots of product announcements this year and a big new valuation, which is great recognition of all the amazing work that our team is doing.

I�ve been particularly focusing on our video product this year so it was great to launch that at our big public event a couple of weeks ago. Click to read more >>>

Did Employee Startup Equity Change Much in 2019? I Don't Think So.

2019 didn�t herald any major innovations in how early startup employees receive equity. Which is a shame since, on the margins, the most talented hires deserve more of it. On the positive front, I did encounter more founders making early exercise available to their teams and much less resistance overall to the idea of a 10-15% pool (perhaps because valuations continued to increase so founders themselves were taking less dilution in financings). Click to read more >>>

The next big D2C brand will need to do this in 2020

The next unicorn D2C brand will capitalize on the widening income gap and win wallet share from lower income households.

In the last 3 years, more D2C brands have launched than the past decade. But, they focused on the privileged 1%. It�s understandable given online shopping demographics lean more towards higher-income households. Click to read more >>>

Pioneer Pitch Night is a dynamic event series designed to highlight and bring together the most promising early-stage startups in the GSVlabs community. Apply to win $2,000 in cash and 2 free hot desks for a year in our Silicon Valley Innovation Center!

Warren Buffett: �Really Successful People Say No To Almost Everything�

When Bill Gates first met Warren Buffett, their host, Gates� mother, asked everyone around the table to share the single most important factor to their success. Gates and Buffett both gave the same one-word answer: �Focus.�

When I tell people that Warren Buffett follows the 5-Hour Rule and spends 80% of his time reading and thinking, they have an immediate and predictable reaction: �Well, he can do that because he�s Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world. I could never do that.� Click to read more >>>

Scaling SaaS companies can be cash efficient.

Agreed, but people (founders) should also keep in mind the businesses that they compare themselves to. Lots of damage has been done when people say "oh, Salesforce did this" or "oh, Facebook did that", so we should set aggressive (unrealistic) targets otherwise we won't be successful. Click to read more >>>

How to Manage Your Angel Investors

James Currier laughs at how little he knew as a first-time founder looking for angel investors in 1999. The more investors the better, he figured � until he had to handle the fallout of an angel round with sixteen backers.

�They want you to talk to their lawyer and their tax accountant and, before you know it, my 16 angels turned into 64 different relationships,� says Currier. Click to read more >>>

What Eventbrite Did Early to Create �Sustainable� Success

By early 2009, Eventbrite had been turned down by practically every venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. The economic downturn had taken its toll, and Co-founders Julia and Kevin Hartz and Renaud Visage had a choice. They could give up, or they could continue to bootstrap and grind as the only three employees � like they already had for the previous two years on less than $250,000. Click to read more >>>

Germany Breaks Korea�s Six-Year Streak as Most Innovative Nation

Germany took first place in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index, breaking South Korea�s six-year winning streak, while the U.S. fell one notch to No. 9. Singapore�s leap into the third-place ranking returns it to its post from two years ago.

The annual Bloomberg Innovation Index, in its eighth year, analyzes dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies. Click to read more >>>

Yay Images - is the answer to all your image woes, with Millions of Affordable Stock Images, Video, and Graphics. 

Create & Learn - If you are a parent, power up your child�s future with courses in AI, Robotics, Data Science, and more.

Max Faingezicht: Co-Founder at Telescoped

Adam Blake: Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Telescoped

Snehal Bhatt: Founder & CEO, Executive Coach at Job Branding

Silicon Valley Events:

???? Community Happy Hour: San Mateo members: Join us at GSVlabs for a classy community happy hour. Pair your favorite wine with your favorite cheeses and come mingle with our community of startups! 

????2020 Cleantech Forum San Francisco: Connect to the people and companies with the power to deliver a decarbonized future at Cleantech Forum San Francisco on 27-29 January 2020. 

????Bay Angels Investors Event - Jan 28, 2020- San Francisco : Bay Angels Pitch Event - Investors' event - all are welcome - please register, as door tickets are not available.

Boston Events:

???? Whiskey, Wine & Whiteboards  - A FastCTO workshop at GSVlabs: Bring your problems, challenges and questions and this group of experienced CTO's will literally hash them out on a whiteboard

????MIT Enterprise - Bookkeeping and Taxes for Startups : Jennifer Kuser of Supporting Strategies will discuss the �Three C�s� of proper bookkeeping - consistency, controls and cash - for your business to ensure you can produce accurate and useful financial information. Robert Traester of WithumSmith+Brown, PC will discuss tax planning opportunities for your business in a post-tax-reform climate.

Other Events:

????Scaling Your Startup: A Workshop for Entrepreneurs : Gain the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the healthcare landscape as a budding #HealthcareStartup at the Scaling Your Startup workshop at #HIMSS20.

Election 2020 Key Startup Issues 

The upcoming U.S. Presidential Election is dominating the news cycle and sparking discussions around policies that will inevitably impact American businesses. In response, Brex has carefully examined the election through the lens of the technology industry with a specific focus on startups.

Startups are unique in the political landscape in that they are not only technology companies but also small businesses (albeit with the ultimate goal of becoming larger).Click to read more>>>

Determining Your Target VC Check Size

How founders can rationally determine their ideal number of participating investors and what size checks to seek. 

Founders seeking venture capital typically know their target round size, but they underestimate the sales process involved with successfully closing. To make an otherwise distracting and stressful fundraising process more efficient, it�s important to have a target check size.  Click to read more>>>

Why David Sacks of Craft Ventures thinks founders need to focus

Most startups are doing too many things. They don�t make tough prioritization decisions until they start to run out of cash. A good thought experiment is to ask, what would you do in that situation? Don�t wait. You should be all-in on your best idea now..  Click to read the whole thread>>>

16 Things About the 409A Valuation

When startups grant stock options � which are important for attracting talent � how do they determine the value of common shares? For a privately-held company, the 409A valuation is the only method you can use to grant options on a tax-free basis to your employees. However, a 409A valuation can often feel like a black box to many people, especially as it has evolved so much over the 15 years since it was first introduced. Click to read more >>>

The Distribution of Series A Deal Size In U.S.

You wouldn�t be wrong for believing that venture capital is just a big bowl of alphabet soup. GPs invest the money of LPs. Performance is measured by metrics like TVPI, DPI and IRR. In pitches, founders and their funders may talk up low CACs and high LTVs. And with the exception of �seed� (which is a semantic morass best addressed separately) the rounds are labeled, alphabetically, starting with Series A, then Series B, followed by Series C, and so on through the alphabet. Click to read more >>>

Personas: Persona-based data discovery and campaign automation platform

John Roberts: CEO, Co-Founder at Sevwins

Sanjeev Nair: Co Founder at NLPBOTS Inc.

Jeff Goldman: Attorney at Law Offices of Jeff Goldman

RSVP to Attend:
UpStart Disrupt: An Interactive Workshop For Silicon Valley Professionals 
February 19th | Share knowledge and creativity to provide feedback on CHM�s prototype traveling exhibit UpStart: Silicon Valley and Kansas City Startup Stories.

????GSVlabs Silicon Valley Open House 
February 20th | Take a tour, work in our space for the day, and network at our community happy hour.

????GSVlabs SIlicon Valley Community Happy Hour | Trivia Night! 
February 20th | Grab your team and join us for food, drinks and competitive trivia! Come test your knowledge on popular music, television shows, tech and much more in this fan favorite happy hour!

????GSVlabs Boston Happy Hour:
February 20th | Free food and beer will be provided!

While we're all thinking about, talking about, reading about the current and future effects of the Coronavirus on our personal businesses and health, as well as the larger economic and healthcare ecosystems, there are applicable resources on navigating inevitable obstacles at this time. Rather than focusing on what''s out of our control, we can shift our focus to applicable resources to learn how to manage what we can.

Trello released a  best practices guide for successfully transitioning from in-office to remote teams, which many if not all of us are experiencing. We're also sharing a a Fireside Chat from Startup Grind 2020 in which MasterClass CEO & Co-Founder, David Rogier discusses his experience of discovering business constraints that positively impact a founder's focus and success. Lastly, we're sharing a conversation started by Electric Capital Co-Founder, Avichal Garg. He posted a lessons from running a startup through the 2008 recession, while emphasizing prioritization of health and family - it''s all about balance. 

The Best Advice For Remote Work Success From 10 Global Teams [Free Guide]

In this guide we are:

• Debunking common remote work myths
• Highlighting remote work communication best practices for communication
• Providing ideas for balancing relationships between remote and in-office teammates
• Giving specific software recommendations
• Advising on finding remote jobs, as well as tips for hiring managers
• Exploring the company culture that forms around remote work

Creative Constraints as a Tool for Discovery and Innovation - David Rogier + Allie Miller (Startup Grind 2020)

Video: A Fireside chat with David Rogier, Co-founder + CEO of MasterClass, talking about how to leverage your creative restraints as a tool for discovery and innovation. 

David  also shares his strategy for beating "the cold problem" of impressing key people with no content, product or funding, and why his north star metric is whether or not MasterClass has changed it''s users lives.  Watch the Video >>>

Electric Capital Co-Founder, Avichal Garg shares lessons from running a startup through recession 

New Tools on Passport

Mailjet: The email solution to send marketing and transactional emails

Klaviyo: A marketing platform, helping brands deliver experiences via email/mobile
 

Curated with Love by Team GSVlabs

We send the best articles on startup strategies each week so if you found this content valuable please share it with your friends and colleagues.

If you are interested in being a guest curator please email us at info@gsvlabs.com.

Coronavirus: The Black Swan of 2020

Here is a note that Sequoia Capital sent to Sequoia founders and CEOs to provide guidance on how to ensure the health of their business while dealing with potential business consequences of the spreading effects of the coronavirus. 

Dear Founders & CEOs,

Coronavirus is the black swan of 2020. Some of you (and some of us) have already been personally impacted by the virus. We know the stress you are under and are here to help. With lives at risk, we hope that conditions improve as quickly as possible. In the interim, we should brace ourselves for turbulence and have a prepared mindset for the scenarios that may play out. Read More >>>

 

Catalyte''s Chief of Staff, Lolita Taub shared her personal Airtable of 500+ US female investors - and it''s awesome!

DocSend''s new pre-seed data shows how many founders you should have and how many investors you should meet

DocSend has become one of the most popular tools for sharing venture fundraise decks, not only because of the control it offers, but also because of the analytics it can provide founders on how VCs read decks and where they might get stuck as they are perusing from slide to slide.

The company has been generous sharing its data with us on what times are best to fundraise and how to structure a slide deck for best performance. Now the company has released a new report on the state of pre-seed funding, and it is chock full of interesting facts and figures. Read More >>>

New Tools on Passport

Lever: Every business transformation starts with strong talent!

Mailtag: An email tool that helps you make more sales, in less time.

SEMrush: SEMrush is all-in-one marketing toolkit with over 5 mln users worldwide.

Dan Newman: Founder/Chief Learning Whisperer at Learn to Scale

Maria Forney: Global Head of Business Development, Oracle for Startups at Oracle 

Emily Fletcher: Controller - Owner at E-Squared Partners, LLC

GSVlabs major events have been postponed in March due to recommendations around COVID-19, look out for new dates as we reschedule!

??Should I Stay or Should I Go? Building Products In Uncertain Markets: Boston, March 11th

??Lunch & Learn: Finding Your Customer in the Wild: Silicon Valley, March 24th

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