Be a Shadow Co-Founder

FromSpearhead

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Be a Shadow Co-Founder

FromSpearhead

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Length:

2 minutes

Released:

Oct 28, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Create your own dealflow by helping companies get started. • Be a shadow co-founder to create your own dealflow • Get valuable pro-rata rights by investing pre-seed Transcript: http://spearhead.co/pre-seed

Released:

Oct 28, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (68)

Naval on angel investing. David Sacks on scaling. On Twitter at @spearhead.

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You Need a Brand to Get into Hot Deals: A brand is an authentic reputation you have with founders and investors by Spearhead
2 min listen
How to Angel Invest: A new podcast for angels in technology hubs. by Spearhead
2 min listen
Being a Founder Your Entire Life Is a Tough Road: As the hits get bigger, it makes more sense to invest and a little less sense to start companies. by Spearhead
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There’s Very Little Innovation in Venture Capital: You have to be willing to do something that hasn’t been done before. by Spearhead
3 min listen
Living in a Tech Hub Is Half the Battle: It’s a gold rush era in technology hubs like Silicon Valley. by Spearhead
5 min listen
IPOs Are for the Last Investors in Line: Financiers now come to Silicon Valley to invest in companies before they get to Wall Street. by Spearhead
3 min listen
The Best Deals Look Weird: If nobody thinks it looks weird, you’re making a consensus investment. Transcript: http://spearhead.co/weird by Spearhead
3 min listen
Don’t Let Deals Pass on You: Most returns come from a few deals—don’t let them pass on you. by Spearhead
2 min listen
You're Living Inside the Gold Mine: There’s no better place to invest today than technology. by Spearhead
3 min listen
Investing Takes Capital, Judgment and Dealflow: You need to raise money, develop judgment over time and gain access to the right deals. by Spearhead
3 min listen
Strong Opinions, Loosely Held: This is not investment advice; it’s just one unique approach to investing by Spearhead
2 min listen
Invest in Pure Tech Companies: Ask: What portion of every dollar invested goes to technology development? by Spearhead
1 min listen
You’ll Get Less Money in Your Winners: Always try to get your standard bite-size by Spearhead
2 min listen
Be Non-Consensus Right: You have to work from first principles and make up your own mind by Spearhead
2 min listen
My Original Brand Was in Growth Hacking: I pitched growth hacking to Twitter; they passed on it—but they let me invest. by Spearhead
2 min listen
The Best Deals Come from Your Network: Branch out from there after you’ve built your reputation by Spearhead
1 min listen
Judgment Requires a Willingness to Be Unpopular: Groupthink leads to poor judgment by Spearhead
2 min listen
You Can Give Every Deal One Fatal Flaw: A startup that breaks all the rules won’t get anywhere by Spearhead
2 min listen
Don’t Build a Brand in a Narrow Vertical: If the market never shows up or shows up late, your brand is shot by Spearhead
2 min listen
Your Reputation Is Built by the Companies That Are Doing Poorly: Don’t invest so much that you’ll behave badly when things get rough by Spearhead
1 min listen
Judgment Is the Work You Do Before a Deal Arrives: Over time you’ll need less data to assess a deal by Spearhead
2 min listen
Everybody Thinks They Have Good Judgment: It takes years to know if you have good judgment by Spearhead
2 min listen
You Can’t Build a Brand by Aping Someone Else: The airwaves are too crowded for undifferentiated content and distribution. by Spearhead
2 min listen
Be a Shadow Co-Founder: Create your own dealflow by helping companies get started by Spearhead
2 min listen
Judgment Gives You the Winning Lottery Numbers: But you still need a portfolio effect to be successful by Spearhead
2 min listen
Moving Fast May Mean You're Not Really Moving at All: Founders have to move incredibly fast to stay ahead of the competition by Spearhead
1 min listen
Avoid Teams That Would Sell Early: 3x returns won’t move the needle on your net worth by Spearhead
1 min listen
Pivots Mean Your People Judgment Really Matters: Bets on seed-stage startups are bets on founders by Spearhead
3 min listen
Startups Didn’t Have to be Good at Accounting Until Software Ate the World: Pure software businesses never had to be cost-conscious by Spearhead
2 min listen
Founders Almost Can’t Be Referenced: A founder who’s great for one business may be terrible for another by Spearhead
2 min listen

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Reading Social Proof Is an Art Form: The ultimate social proof is a credible VC increasing their ownership by Spearhead
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Social Proof Is a Valid Signal: If every investor brings new information to the table by Spearhead
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Ask About the Metrics They’re Not Showing You: One weird trick to get the truth about metrics by Spearhead
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It’s Easy to Exaggerate Early Traction: Put yourself in the customer’s shoes instead of fixating on traction by Spearhead
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Everything Is a Proxy for Traction: The holy grail is explosive growth, stickiness and an ability to monetize by Spearhead
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Early Winners Don’t Always Make It to the Finish Line: Competitors can catch up while the market’s still small by Spearhead
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Invest in the First Credible Mover: Pick the right founder at the right time by Spearhead
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Monopolies Fall When Platforms Shift: Companies that fail to innovate will get displaced by Spearhead
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A Lot of Great Tech Businesses Are Natural Monopolies: Silicon Valley’s dirty secret by Spearhead
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Great Companies Expand Their Markets: Seed investors can’t wait for obviously large markets by Spearhead
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Invest in $0 Billion Companies: If you can’t make at least a 100x return, you’re not seed investing by Spearhead
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Invest in Pure Tech Companies: Ask: What portion of every dollar invested goes to technology development? by Spearhead
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Raising Money Without Any Product Is a Red Flag: If a team hasn’t built anything, what makes you think money will help? by Spearhead
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Product Is the Resume of the Team: At the seed stage the product tells you what the team is capable of by Spearhead
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Expanding Fast vs. Dialing in the Model: The investing criteria of growth investors determines the balance by Spearhead
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In PayPal’s Early Days, We Lost Money on Every Transaction: The dot-com crash forced us to charge a fee by Spearhead
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Get the Operation Working at a Small Scale: Know your unit costs, focus on pricing and prioritize zero-to-one problems by Spearhead
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‘Tech-Enabled’ Often Means Thin Margins: The economics of tech-enabled businesses look like the businesses they're replacing by Spearhead
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Startups Didn’t Have to be Good at Accounting Until Software Ate the World: Pure software businesses never had to be cost-conscious by Spearhead
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You Can’t Optimize Profits If There Are No Profits to Optimize: Scaling with negative unit economics leaves no profit to optimize by Spearhead
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Negative Unit Economics Create the Illusion of Success: This leads to a brutal restructuring at massive scale by Spearhead
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Startups Are Susceptible to ‘Happy Talk’: The burden of proof should be the same for good and bad news by Spearhead
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Mature Your Culture as You Grow by Spearhead
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Nobody Wants to Give a Founder Tough Love: Smart founders ask people what they really think by Spearhead
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Culture Is a Macrocosm of the Founder’s Psychology: A founder’s strengths and weakness percolate into the company's culture by Spearhead
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Micro-Bubbles Are Constantly Building and Bursting: Companies that don’t adapt when a micro-bubble bursts will be swept away by Spearhead
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‘High-Burn Startup Meets Macro-Shock’ Is a Recipe for Blitzfail: Coronavirus is this decade’s macro-shock by Spearhead
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Moving Fast May Mean You're Not Really Moving at All: Founders have to move incredibly fast to stay ahead of the competition by Spearhead
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Be a Shadow Co-Founder

Be a Shadow Co-Founder

Description

Titles in the series (68)

More Episodes from Spearhead