FundersClub Weekly Newsletter - June 2, 2016
Updates
Join VC Mike Abbott of Kleiner Perkins for a webcast Q&A / AMA on Facebook Live with Alex Mittal of FundersClub, as Mike discusses his experiences as an early investor in Snapchat, Airware, and more, and as an operator and founder in tech. Click here to RSVP on Facebook
FundersClub Portfolio News
AnyPerk launches AnyPerk Rewards, an employee recognition platform that empowers employees to praise achievements, celebrate milestones and show gratitude in "AnyPerk Launches Rewards to Help Businesses Boost Employee Happiness".
Cleanly, the on-demand laundry service looking to take on FlyCleaners, announces a new annual or monthly membership program that discounts service while offering a recurring pick-up and drop-off schedule in "Cleanly launches subscription laundry service with Cleanly Reserve".
BioBots 3-D printer prints human cells, and may have a solution to decreasing organ donor waiting list times as their dream is to have a printer with different skin, lung and liver tissue options in "BioBots May Totally Wipe Out the Organ Donor Waiting List".
Le Tote is a fashion subscription service where users are sent a box with three articles of clothing and two accessories and can keep them until they would like to return them for a new box of options, or can purchase items at 20%-50% off the retail price in "The Best Subscription Services You Haven't Tried Yet".
Memebox is a Korean beauty shop that curates themed boxes and sells beauty products from a variety of brands, and My Subscription Addiction reviews "The Best Hits Skincare Box" in "MemeBox The Best Hits Skincare Subscription Box Review – May 2016".
ShapeShift, the crypto-to-crypto digital currency exchange has announced the inclusion of two new crypto-assets on the platform, DGD and DAO, in "ShapeShift Adds DGD and DAO Support".
LeadGenius delivers high-quality leads based on a business’s target market, sourcing information from public and private data sources so sales teams can spend more time connecting with their leads in "4 Tools That Will Help You Personalize Your Sales Pitches".
Investor Thoughts
Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz discusses the past, present, and future of tech in “Notes for the summer: what happened, what's happening now and what's next".
Bill Trenchard and Brett Berson of First Round Capital offer an inside look at their Pitch Assist program, and share lessons on creating fundraising pitches and processes learned from over 10 years of experience in "The Fundraising Wisdom That Helped Our Founders Raise $18B in Follow-On Capital".
Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures distinguishes between the installation and deployment phases of a technology, and highlights that we are currently in a deployment phase with drones, self-driving vehicles, AR/VR and others in "Do Believe the Hype (Benefits Coming Later)".
Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures looks at the evolution of social networks through Twitter and Facebook, and notes Snapchats high innovation in "Half Lives. Social Media. And Snapchat Stories".
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures says that the most effective way to focus is to default to the idea that everything is noise, as it will help you find what is important and simplify decision-making about time allocation in "Start with the Premise that Everything is Noise".
Silvia Li Sam of Startup Grind breaks down how Ashton Kutchersucceeds as an investor in "Beyond Hollywood: How Ashton Kutcher is Winning in Tech Investments".
Founder and Operator Thoughts
Product Hunt compiles advice from investors to founders about what they look for when it comes to evaluating a new startup idea or founding team in "Startup Metrics: Which Ones Matter Most to Investors?".
Brandon Redlinger of PersistIQ discusses how in order to track the success of your sales campaign, you need to understand what makes a good metric in the first place in "How to Choose, Track and Improve Key Sales Development Metrics for Predictable Growth".
Jon Westenberg offers a survival guide for creative entrepreneurs in their first year in order to gain critical skills and get through difficult challenges in "How to survive your first year creating a business".
Larry Kim of WordStream looks at how skills other than intelligence, such as self-regulation, a growth mindset, resilience, passion, etc., can all help you define success in your own life and drive your career further in "These 8 success factors are even more important than IQ!".
Heather Morgan of Salesfolk explores why the most obnoxious salespeople are actually doing the wrong things, and what the best ones do instead in "The Difference Between Annoying Salespeople and Highly Effective Ones".
Benjamin P. Hardy emphasizes how nothing in life is free, and when it comes to your time, the cost is heavy and you must spend your time towards becoming who you want to be in "Anything Is Possible If You Pay The Price".
In Other News
Uber announces that it took $3.5 billion from Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s main investment fund as part of its latest round, which is their largest investment to date and brings the total balance of both cash and debt to more than $11 billion but doesn’t increase the company’s current $62.5 billion value in "Uber takes its most significant investment yet at $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia".
In Tesla's annual shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel candidly discussed many of the issues and problems that affected Tesla in its early days, and Musk also talked about more recent problems for Tesla, like challenges with getting the software and doors to work on its Model X in "Elon Musk Confessions: All the Stupid Things Tesla Has Done".
Did You Know?
Did you know that a spammer gets about 1 response to every 12 million emails they send, and yet it still makes them a small profit?