This week, I had a really fascinating conversation with a portfolio founder named Joshua Lee, who’s the CEO and co-founder of a company called Ardius. Ardius helps startups claim R&D tax credits. So it’s a no-brainer why founders sign up for Ardius, because they can get free money, and Ardius takes a cut of what … Continue reading Do you set up your exit before you start your company?
Wow. What a week. I’m sure most of you reading this are in and around startups and already know what I’m referring to. But if not, the most popular bank for startups and VCs called Silicon Valley Bank just went under. They are still getting a final count on what percentage of deposits are not … Continue reading Leadership during a crisis
I cannot be more excited to officially announce Hustle Fund 2. So many of the tactics we used to raise our first VC fund we applied to Fund 2. I won’t rehash what I wrote in How I raised my $11.5m VC fund. In this post, I’ll just cover our new learnings and new tactics … Continue reading How we tripled our first VC fund to raise a $33.6M Fund 2
Wow 2020 – what a year! I’m not going to lie – it’s been a pretty crappy year. The world often feels like it’s falling apart. I hope you are staying safe and healthy and wishing you the best in everything. At the same time, I also have tremendous gratitude. And today, I’m specifically calling … Continue reading Happy 3rd birthday Hustle Fund!
I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and grew up during the dot com boom in the late 1990s. One of the most interesting things in looking back are the stark differences in what it took to be successful back then with a software company and what it takes to be … Continue reading Why marketing is eating the world
I recently spoke with my business partner Eric Bahn about the importance of selling products that fit into customers’ existing workflows. That conversation got me thinking how important switching costs can be to the success of products — often in ways that don’t seem obvious at first. So I’ve written about the relationship between switching … Continue reading Here’s why understanding switching costs is crucial to good product strategy
I think we’re all pretty exhausted. Exhausted from hearing the same things over and over about COVID-19 and people losing their jobs. On top of that, entrepreneurs are probably tired of hearing about how VCs are slowing their investing or are waiting for predatory valuations. These times can be quite frustrating. Many people don’t know … Continue reading Operating in tough times
VCs debate quite a bit about whether they like The YC SAFE or not. (Spoiler: Most do not…) We’ve done a lot of investments on SAFEs as well as on notes and in equity rounds, so I thought I’d outline pretty openly the pros and the cons of raising money on a SAFE. First off, … Continue reading To SAFE or Not to SAFE?
At Hustle Fund, we talk a lot about speed of execution. Part of this is grit and founder hustle. But what most people don’t realize is that speed is also baked into the business model itself. For example, one of the things that people don’t realize is how much sales cycles and payback periods matter. … Continue reading An analysis of going from $0 to $1m revenue in 1 month
A couple months ago, we announced that we finished fundraising for fund 1 of Hustle Fund. Hustle Fund is my new venture capital firm, and our fund 1 is an $11.5M fund dedicated to investing in pre-seed software startups. Eric, Shiyan, and I could not be more grateful to our investors for their support and … Continue reading How I raised my $11.5m VC fund
