FundersClub Weekly Newsletter - April 21, 2016
FundersClub Portfolio News
HomeLight, the world's premier marketplace for finding real estate professionals, announces it has raised $11MM in Series A funding in "HomeLight Raises $11M in Series A Funding to Expand Marketplace for Finding Real Estate Professionals".
Bridgit, whose web and mobile platform acts as a digital “punch list" for document tracking incomplete or incorrect tasks on a construction project, has just raised a $1.7 million seed round in "Two 24-Year-Old Women Raise $1.7M For Tech To Streamline Construction Projects".
inDinero continues to expand as its Portland headcount is up over 60 and on the way to double that in the next year-and-a-half in "Fast-growing tech firm moves into larger Portland digs".
Taro Fukuyama of AnyPerk says that the key to employee happiness is to listen, act, and then reinforce your actions in "Employee Happiness: AnyPerk CEO On The Biggest Mistake Employers Make".
Parse.ly, a provider of audience insights for publishers, does a study and finds that Facebook and Google are way ahead of everybody else when it comes to driving readers to their sites in "The online universe belongs to Facebook and Google — the rest of us are just living in it".
The innovative Bluesmart Carry-On case is the world’s first luggage that pairs with its user via their phones, and keeps travellers’ belongings safe and tracked in "The hi-tech suitcase that can NEVER get lost - and keeps in touch by phone".
Investor Thoughts
Mark Cranney of Andreessen Horowitz highlights the importance of putting in place a strong sales, forecasting, and deal qualification process in order to successfully scale your company in "Control, or Be Controlled: Sales Forecasting Done Right".
Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital publishes his bi-annual state of the venture industry in "On the Road to Recap".
Alex Danco of Social Capital speculates about the future and looks at how it might fit into his "emerging layers" framework in "Emergent Layers, Chapter 4: Some Speculation About the Future".
Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital shares some of his thoughts on transforming industries, growing Facebook, innovating healthcare and education, and more in "Meet Facebook’s Most Successful Alum".
Simon Rothman of Greylock Partners says that there are three ways for marketplaces to buy scale: they can buy growth, speed and/or liquidity, and for Uber, money enabled them to win in "Why Uber Won".
Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures looks closely at the role of managers in teams, and says that in startups, a highly functional team beats groups of individuals pulling in different directions every time in "The Importance of Teams and Why the Best Leaders Cultivate Them".
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures says we are likely entering the middle era of SaaS, as there is still quite a bit of opportunity and revenue to seize in the industry in "Just How Far Along Are We In SaaS?".
Founder and Operator Thoughts
Katia Verresen, counselor of leaders at Facebook, Stanford, Airbnb, and Twitter, grounds the concept of abundance in real tactics and actions anyone can use to feel more energized, expand their world view, and achieve their vision of success in "The Remarkable Advantage of Abundant Thinking".
Daniel Eckler of Piccsy gives an intro to VR, AR, AI, IoT, Bitcoin, 3D Printing, Drones, Wearables, and Self-Driving Cars in "The (Near) Future of Technology".
John Gabbert of PitchBook Data believes it would be wise for both founders (and their investors) to check their expectations in the current market, to embrace the role of CEO, focus on building a fundamentally strong business, and hunker down for the long haul in "Founder responsibility and venture capital's new normal".
Dave Weisbeck of Visier advises entrepreneurs to create a clear focus, be paranoid and curious, and put their customers first in "Stay focused, be curious, and deliver: Dave Weisbeck (CSO of Visier)".
Gary Vaynerchuk of Vayner Media says, "Too many “entrepreneurs” these days are focusing their day-to-day trying to raise their next round, siphoning their own equity out of the business to artificially inflate their company’s valuation rather than focusing on what’s actually important: Building a sustainable business" in "Build a Business, Not a Financial Machine".
In Other News
Bill Campbell, one of the most influential background players in Silicon Valley, who was known as “coach” there for his work advising technology industry stars like Steve Jobs at Apple and Larry Page at Google, died on Monday at his home in Palo Alto, California at the age of 75 in "Bill Campbell, Coach of Silicon Valley Stars, Dies at 75".
Google's parent Alphabet Inc missed Wall Street targets for first-quarter profit and revenue, driving shares of the Web search company down more than 4 percent in late trading today in "Google's parent Alphabet misses Wall Street view".
Did You Know?
Did you know that the idea of a contact lens as a visual aid first started in 1508 by Leonardo Da Vinco, although the first corneal contact lens wasn't developed until 1949?