FundersClub Weekly Newsletter - February 25, 2016
FundersClub Portfolio News
Captain401 has raised $3.5 million in seed funding to help small businesses and startups give their employees retirement savings help in "Captain401 Raises $3.5 Million to Help Small-Business Employees Save for Retirement".
Flexport aims to bring global freight transport into the 21st century through a web-based software that allows companies to track all of their freight in a single online dashboard without spending millions on software and implementation in "Ryan Petersen's Flexport Aims To Simplify Global Freight Transport Business".
Mike Swartz joins Instacart as its first senior VP of Operations to oversee the network of contractors and employees who do the personal shopping in partner grocery stores and deliver orders to customer doors in "Amazon Operations Vet Joins Instacart to Make Its Delivery Network Run Smoother".
Zoomcar, which raised $11 million last year, is planning to expand more aggressively into tier-1 cities and is currently looking to raise more funds in "Zoomcar Looks to Expand in Tier-1 Cities, May Raise $50 Million in Next Round".
Coinbase wins a place on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2016 list in "Coinbase, Motif Investing Earn Spots on Fast Company’s Most Innovative List".
drchrono announces that Direct Urgent Care has implemented drchrono EHR to support its growing urgent care business and its new medical facility in Mountain View, California in "drchrono Delivers All-Inclusive Mobile EHR Experience From Check-In to Medical Billing on iPads for Direct Urgent Care".
Bluesmart's high-tech suitcase connects wirelessly to your smartphone and a corresponding app to provide a number of benefits in "This Is The Most Practical Carry-On Bag You’ll Ever Use".
Investor Thoughts
GSV Capital has identified 250 private companies (including FundersClub's Coinbase, Teespring, Estimote and Flexport) that are poised to become the next generation of game-changing businesses in "Trailblazing the Global Silicon Valley".
Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz tries to understand and predict the product cycle of the computing industry by studying the past and extrapolating into the future in "What’s Next in Computing?".
Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures analyzes the venture market and gathers data from 159 VCs in "The Full Dataset on What VCs are Thinking About Funding in 2016".
Mitch and Freada Kapor of Kapor Capital believes the most effective method to build a diverse portfolio is to make it a priority to increase the diversity of your own firm in "Dear Investors: So You Want to Take Diversity Seriously (Part 1)".
Alex Iskold of Techstars highlights the importance of thinking about different types of investors when financing your startup in "7 Sources of Seed Capital from Friends and Family to Billion Dollar Funds".
Tomasz Tunguz of Repoint Ventures finds that the median growth in startup valuation has fallen from a high of 74% in Q2 2015 to 39% in Q4 in "The Impact Of A Changing Venture Environment On Startup Fundraising Terms".
Founder and Operator Thoughts
Mike McCue of FlipBoard advises that when making a judgment call, first you should start by agreeing with your team on the facts, and then let those guide your decision in "The Most Powerful Lesson I’ve Ever Learned In Business".
Product Hunt compares career and life advice from some of the most successful entrepreneurs and investors that they have previously interviewed in "The Best Startup Advice You’ll Ever Receive".
Biz Stone of Jelly offers three engineering techniques that have helped them "stay simple and keep things moving out the door" in "3 Ways to Keep Startup Engineering Simple".
Jason Toff of Vine lists some of the lessons he has learned to be true while being a General Manger in "Telling a Good Story is Everything".
Nick DeWilde of Tradecraft compiles advice based on learnings from lots of new startup employees and their bosses about what turns a fresh hire into an invaluable team member in "How to Become Indispensable in Your Next Startup Role".
In Other News
After tests in a few countries, Facebook is rolling out its augmented Like button “Reactions” to all users in "Facebook Enhances Everyone’s Like With Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, Angry Buttons".
Apple chief Tim Cook said that complying with a court order to help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters would be "bad for America" in "Apple CEO: Unlocking San Bernardino iPhone would be 'bad for America'".
Did You Know?
Did you know that the average computer user blinks seven times a minute and the normal rate is twenty times per minute?