Accidental Angel investor (@AristaNetworks, @zoom, @cycognito, @SentinelOne, @spekitapp and more!). Believer in great founders.
Northern California
- Tweets 42,179
- Following 400
- Followers 14,952
- Likes 275,174
Everyone has an opinion on Google in the wake of Eric Schmidt comments. I have one story. I once interviewed a Google VP who had about 1500 people under them. I asked how many people they had fired for non-performance in last 2 years. Zero. Was not culturally appropriate.
32
47
1,617
561,234
Every VC who did not invest in Zoom is now an expert in the verticalization of video conferencing. Some of the same folks who literally told me there was no market demand 5 years ago. 🤷♀️
41
148
1,375
Have been shy to disclose this, but have a family real estate business in SF. We currently have an addict squatter we cannot evict who is driving out paying actual tenants. We have zero recourse. Things are out of whack.
134
40
1,029
Also, if you judge him by the people who know him best, none of the people he brought on in the first term stayed, or backed him again in public. The people who know him seem more likely to not back him.
26
68
690
85,499
This is not good for SF. This is the only city in the world where the political elite will cheer the loss of jobs (and hence taxes). It is bad for CA as well. This is a sad day for me, and for all of us who pay taxes and want the area to win.
51
36
822
166,622
I heard from one CEO on WFH. Individuals report productivity gains. Managers report team productivity losses. 🤷
52
56
786
When I was a lawyer, we were ripped off by a con man. The defense lawyer told me something that has stuck with me: You will never meet an unlikable conman.
22
56
676
110,005
“They went from company to company. Always getting promoted. And when they left, no one was ever sure if anything had been accomplished.” From a reference check.
26
30
662
195,597
I was a donor @BerkeleyLaw This is the most tone deaf hire in their recent tone deaf history.
Recalled ex-@SFDAOffice & former @sfdefender @chesaboudin named founding executive director of new Criminal Law & Justice Center at @BerkeleyLaw @UCBerkeley
53
54
571
151,988
I have been talking about 2000. I lost 90% of my net worth in 90-180 days then. I learned who my friends were, and the importance of family (and honestly how little money has to do with wealth). If this is you today, heads up look forward. Better times ahead.
9
29
580
Talked with a very publicity shy very successful tech investor (at this for 40 years). He told me that the whole reason he still invests is to keep learning. Money has lost its appeal, but learning has not.
17
24
581
Look, 90% of startups fail. Most make some poor decisions, some are just wrong time, and others unlucky. Fast appears to be failing, and for the investors and employees, this is not fun. I think the glee shown here is a bit overdone.
44
43
546
The Amazon VP who quit elicits a lot of feelings in me. The biggest one is if you are at a BigCo, know for sure what your line is and what you would quit over. I made too many compromises with my line. Don’t.
13
27
467
The top 8% in CA pay 78% of the income tax. If we lose even 10% of that, it is not good for CA. We should want more successful folks here. Now is the wrong time for more taxes.
45
26
489
169,822
Being an angel investor has lots of highs and lows. The reality is whatever I go through is 1/100th of what founders do. I can go home and sleep and never have to worry about payroll, recruiting or culture. Being a founder is by far the harder journey. Never forget.
13
42
487
I believe we are going to a return to VC being hard, and only top funds doing well. For the last three years, we have lived in a place wher 75%+ of funds are above average. Those moments are exceptions in my experience.
32
36
480
Was talking to an LP today about the secondary market for venture LP interests. They claimed that average discount is now 40%. It is super interesting to me to see how low this dips.
37
33
438
The people you hire at 0$ ARR are different from those who will join you at 5M$ and again 10M$. In some cases the earlier people will not scale. Be honest with them and yourself.
21
38
427
Was on a call to see if we could “save” an employee who was a culture carrier from going to a new opp. Here is the thing, everyone loved this person, but modeling great values meant they ended up with less $ and equity than some of the whiners. Pay your culture carriers!!
3
36
424
The diseases of big tech companies: Self promotion, over valuation of communication skills, efforts prized over results.
7
9
388
51,369
I used to think that investment banks and commercial banks got way too much press in the pre-digital world. Now I think people pay way too much attention to VCs. The founders are the real story. We as check writers are inherently not as interesting.
17
29
350
I am like a broken record on this, but the single most important step to think through as an enterprise startup is exactly who are your first customers exactly. Most do not know. The ones who do are ahead.
19
43
342
Another contrarian view. Until series B, the idea that the health of the business can be determined by revenue metrics alone is flawed. Some days, I think the single most important metric during that time is actually employee turnover.
10
30
334
Ten years ago, I was (maybe) Silicon Valley middle class wealthy. I had been called old and stupid (with no irony by folks older than me in some cases). Blessed that so many founders took a risk on a rookie investor. I know more now, but miss the neurotic energy of then!
14
4
284
I like many VCs. Some however are still tough to deal with. I was recently lectured about how Cisco M&A works. I had to remind myself I ran Cisco M&A.
11
14
267
The venture world is still a mess and I am hearing weekly stories of funds who are downsizing or closing. All I will say is if there ever was a time to be “contrarian” it is now. There are good businesses out there that will be great. They are just wildly out of favor.
26
23
264
37,396
I am not the person to give lifestyle advice usually. But today, here we go. One thing that I wish more founders would do is find folks they can just talk with. It can be old friends or other founders or investors. So much stress comes from having no place to go to chat.
10
35
249
And with no press oversight. No one has looked at the budget and questioned the spend, the effectiveness, or the efficacy.
7
17
248
12,418
There are some folks I know who are working too hard. The current mania is that it is a land grab and you need to just work and move fast. I think people need to touch grass. The quality of decision making can erode when all you do is work.
11
9
252
24,887
Any time a company removes a CEO and it fails, the CEO always get a free public shot at those that removed him. Consumer warning. There are always 2 sides of the story. We should hear both sides before tarring one side.
15
4
249
80,624
I know the value of great VCs, but I still believe there is too much ink about VC and too little about the great leaders/founders.
14
11
228
No matter where you are career wise, please keep being ambitious. There are a lot of folks who exist to tell you what you cannot do. When you start listening to them is when you get old!
4
33
225
At seed, sometimes I think the single most important thing to pitch to an investor is: why are we doing THIS? So many pitches I see essentially the team has no passion for the problem, it is just something they found.
21
30
237
Folks who have never been operators at scale in general are not great sources of wisdom on how to operate at scale.
15
18
228
So many people tell me they want to be on boards. When I ask why, I generally get a blind ambition answer (I am smart, or I deserve it). Boards are a service job, so think about how you are going to serve the shareholders and management.
7
17
229
I really love all the customers in the ecosystem who take time with super early startups and provide feedback. For a company not yet in market, it is like oxygen!
11
20
218
Yesterday, in the midst of hearing three credible pitches, I had one call with someone that went wrong right at intro:
“Despite graduating from Harvard, I have managed to stay humble.”
20
5
218
I am getting more than a little worried about the velocity of money into startups. There is a lot of learning (try/fail) that happens in reaching milestones. When the market gives capital before demonstrated milestones, the risk is building bloated companies.
23
19
215
Many founders I meet have been educated by 3-4 years of a bad market. They want to raise too much too soon. They over emphasize seed valuation. They want to spend way too much too soon. We are going to need to rewire a lot of boom market thinking.
19
22
216
New prediction. A lot of folks are going to chase building a new Zoom most of whom have zero experience with building video product, egged on by VCs who have less knowledge. Yes, I am biased, but I have been around video for 20 years.
29
6
217
Used to think of Porsche as a divorced white guy car. Now, 75% of the drivers are see are women. They did a great job of brand diversification.
30
3
199
Was with a senior female exec at very big company. She spent a lot of time explaining why she felt Zoom was really good for her (everyone has same box size, everyone can sent comments, physicality does not matter). She felt Zoom was the platform of inclusion. Very cool.
9
4
206
As an early investor, with the right founder, crowded markets actually represent opportunities.
11
17
194
Sorry for all the tweeting, but one bit of irony. This weekend, VCs got to experience the stress and critical problem solving skills that founders have to deal with 24x7. Many did great. Some did not.
9
17
196
27,373
In every bear market, eloquent bears present highly credible cases where the world can further go to hell. They then miss the turn and spend 10 years predicting next disaster. We seem to be at that stage now.
14
22
194
Been reading today about folks who cold answered an email from some 20 year old. Cool. Want to know what is 10x harder? Getting launched as a 45 year old. I remember all who took time with me and were kind. It is not a long list.
11
13
187
Had my third email from founders who raised huge seed and have not got #’s to raise next round and now are looking for angels to help. That is called a bad bet.
19
7
192
One thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of excellent VC associates tracking some of my early stage companies. If the fund decides to invest, the associate will have played a huge role. Some of these folks will not get the credit they should have!
9
5
191
We have so many real issues. Do most folks put this in their top 10?
San Francisco is about to embark on evaluating its nearly 100 statues and monuments to figure out which ones no longer represent the city’s values and should be removed from view, relocated or re-interpreted with explanatory plaques. trib.al/E35Zvvu
30
4
182
14,016
San Francisco is not in the position to choose which job creators it likes and which it does not. We need all of our job creators. We should not be afraid of those who have a different opinion.
Elon Musk is ending his roughly 20-month situationship with San Francisco by officially closing the company’s flagship HQ at 1355 Market St. So we put together a greatest (mis)hits of his time at Twitter/X. Cue Green Day’s “Good Riddance”. sfstandard.com/2024/08/05/ti…
17
11
173
13,680
Another side of abnormal times. I have gotten multiple companies reaching out to see if me, a seed investor, would invest in a pre-B round. This is a 🚩 that existing investors are not doing the bridge, the company is missing targets, and more time and $ will solve issues.
11
10
182
I often struggle to deal with hyper articulate people who are eloquent but wrong. Another example today where someone was pitching and it took me until 3 hours later to figure out why the pitch was wrong.
17
3
169
When I left my corporate job, I was essentially unemployed and I quickly learned not as hot a commodity as I thought. If I can go from that place to a much better place, many of you can too. Ten years of happiness and fun and stress.
9
6
172
Tim Cook and Satya Nadella are leaders who have taken over from founders and done really well. Neither get the credit they deserve.
16
17
175
As people who know me know, I am starting to again question my viability as an investor in this market. The best teams I am seeing are raising too much at seed (and building a high burn biz) and at valuations that make me uncomfortable. Perhaps that makes me too old and grouchy to keep investing!
19
4
176
46,604
Oddly, this resonates with me. When I left Cisco, I had no plan, no contact list. Today, I am part of over 100B of value creation and on the board of 3 public companies, and invested in numerous wonderful private ones. Take risk!
When I left the New York Times I had no plan, no email list.
Today more than 750,000 people subscribe to The Free Press.
Join us @TheFP.
Subscribe: thefp.com/subscribe
11
7
171
52,473
I invest early, and to be honest I want obvious/non-obvious founders. Meaning. I tend not to like the founders who are not loved early, but in retrospect, it seems like they were obvious. Almost none of my teams had easy early raises.
21
9
173
But Sachin, once we remove the statues that are offending the Berniecrats, all will turn around. Ha.
3
2
168
6,697
San Francisco should stop importing addicts, should stop demonizing ambition and success and should build great public schools. Sometimes it really is that simple.
12
8
171
40,179
VC is the MOST over analyzed business. Most of it is lagging (ie, backwards looking). Founders quite frankly matter 100X more than any of us who write checks.
2
15
157
One reason people flee the Bay Area: status. I know a bunch of folks who felt they never got enough status here, but in more “normal” places, they could be higher status.
47
4
158
One thing I still think most founders do not fully appreciate is that if you run a capital efficient business, you are in far more control than otherwise.
8
22
159
Being an early stage VC means a long slog until liquidity. This past two months, I have gotten wonderful updates from friends who started a decade ago and are now seeing the fruits of their efforts. It is really cool.
8
7
157
But Noah, it was not an unforced error, it is the core of progressive thought. Capitalism bad, success worse. Inequality is the only issue that matters. The movement has been wrong. The unforced error was that mainstream Dems were afraid of them.
10
3
156
5,993
The power of Jeff Bezos’ personal statement is really sticking with me. His parents quite frankly articulated my entire investment thesis: We are not investing in books, we are investing in you. They are the most remarkable angel investors.
5
11
148
Talked to a founder who spoke with 30 early stage investors and funds. He was frustrated by the lack of coherence in the advice he was getting. I think simple: what gets you to 1M ARR (so he can raise next round), and a clear view of how to get to 5M. The rest is noise.
8
17
154
At least one thing the downturn in tech and VC has killed: the notion that building a Decacorn is easy and common.
5
6
149
My occasional pep talk to my more mature readers out there. In my mid 40’s, I was unemployed (by choice), without a ton of momentum, and since then, my life has really begun again. Do not give up and keep grinding!
9
10
146
A lot of people are joining late stage privates without understanding the risk they are taking. If you are going to do that, you should understand that the late stage market has changed.
11
8
150
In the last three weeks, I have run 51 miles. My average heart rate is down 10 bpm. Never waste a good crisis.
7
3
149
I say this not as a political statement but as a statement of fact. Musk selling 5B of Tesla stock outside of CA means that 13% (CA tax rate) was lost. It is an epic bad thing to lose folks who generate lots of potential tax gains.
23
7
139
2 myths which I hope get killed by the current market:
1) the best companies have exponential growth right from launch.
2) the best company is the one which has the highest early growth rate.
All the money in venture is made late and winning at the end matters way more.
4
20
146
David, a President is called to lead. She has not lead and in fact is a product of the same ideologies you decry. Harvard needs new leadership. She is not going to fix this. We have the tyranny of the kind, decent and inept leftists here in SF. Change is needed.
4
2
139
14,953
I made a personal ethical decision. It essentially ended my BigCo career. Since then, I have been 10x happier (and arguably 10x more successful). It is hard, but always do the right thing.
3
7
143
Strangest pitch 2021: we do not have a CEO yet, but I have an idea who it might be. Me, can you tell me who? If I do, it will raise the valuation. Official insanity.
18
6
145
Merry Christmas. This happened to me to! I was sitting next to a founder pitching a good idea poorly to an investor in a coffee shop. After the investor left, I introduced myself and said I can help. The founder looked at me and laughed and said “YOU?”
19
6
141
This is an insane window into how people think. Her view is that as a “victim” her actions should have no consequences. There is no understanding of the impact of her actions or the message she was sending. I have zero sympathy. And I am not fond of the doxxing generally.
22
9
136
46,133
One oddity of the venture world is that 1) everyone positions themselves as contrarian, and 2) they all use the same market maps to chase companies. A lot would be helped if we had true early stage contrarian capital.
22
12
142
16,116
Zoom's founder left a 6-figure job because he wasn't happy—and following his heart made him a billionaire
He is a great leader. The whole story is quite frankly unbelievable (he might not have got a visa, he might not have left Cisco). Glad to help! cnbc.com/2019/08/21/zoom-fou…
3
29
139
Dan Price is a disgrace. I have seen a lot of Dan Price types get rewarded for their "vibe" and virtue signaling. As a kid, it used to drive me nuts. It is one of the big challenges of the US is that we repeatedly promote these types.
7
4
134
Thank you @garrytan for doing what was right. I am in awe of what you have accomplished.
3
2
141
I just got a really bad cold pitch. Dude you should look at us because X and Y are investors. Um, I would rather have a root canal than invest with X or Y. Always pitch your biz first.
18
3
133
Just read the @sequoia deck and it is very good. Who knows when this period will end, but wishing and hoping is not a strategy. I think if you are a founder, you should read it. There are nuggets in there that I think will cause good thinking.
8
11
137
I am worried about SF. I love this place and what it represents and I want to do what I can to help. Whenever I start feeling that way, I donate to @GrowSF. I think they are high bang to buck, smart and focused on the real solutions to the governing problem.
10
7
128
41,212
Of course congrats to YC, but hey, I would be on this list too. Kind of amazing for a small dude.
Of startups worth $5B+ started since 2012, Y Combinator was seed investor 20% of them
(I'm also quite proud of @Initialized as seed co-lead for 3 of those too!)
9
2
136
27,007
One famous Silicon Valley luminary once told me their dream was to be anonymous. Sort of the ultimate luxury was to be able to go to the grocery store and not be recognized (or asked for $).
19
3
129
If you are sitting around jealous of the PR some early stage companies are getting, ignore the noise. Overfunding is one of the leading causes of failure early. You just keep executing. Good things follow.
7
9
128
I do hope that this great reset in VC will lead to people examining critically the hiring process for VCs. This is a people business and taking smart people with poor people judgment is not a path to success.
8
10
129
12,126
In 2020, all on Zoom, I made 4 new investments (my most active year). What struck me in all 4 was quality of founders was very high. Is there risk, of course. Do I feel I missed anything because it was on Zoom? No, and in fact perhaps I know more.
8
4
125
Early stage vs late stage investors on Boards. My role as early stage is to make founder as successful as possible. A late stage guy explained to me that his role was to “protect his firm’s position” in the company. Explained a lot to me about our behaviors.
9
11
122