Was interesting to read (yes, i got it transcribed) the @jeremysliew + @HarryStebbings chat on 20VC where they discuss the 2012 Lightspeed round into Snapchat that Jeremy led.

Link to transcript: notion.so/sajithpai/Podc…

Link to the investment memo: thetwentyminutevc.com/wp-content/upl…
What I found most interesting was this account of Jeremy Liew's persistence in trying to contact Evan Spiegel. VCs chasing founders who dont give them any bhav:)

Remember something like this for Sarah Cannon leading Index's recent round into Notion.
Liew's laws of consumer social investing!
- can this become part of pop culture?
- can this become a habit?
- is there a scalable, repeatable way to grow?
- does the founder have a unique insight that explains the success, that explains what's going on?
Evan Spiegel's insight into the importance of ephemerality
Benchmark consumer engagement metrics in consumer social.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Sajith Pai

Sajith Pai Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @sajithpai

28 Feb
Thinking aloud.🧵

Useful to see
- Bitcoin
- the sudden spurt in collectibles (StockX, GOAT, Artsy, RallyRd) including NFT + the entire financialisation of everything trend
- Gamestop + WSB
as decentralised coordinated accelerated creation of value.

Let us unpack this.
Value of anything incl currency, stocks has a broad subjective basis.

That said, to ensure that we dont start questioning the value of currency or what we are buying in every transaction, we base value in some centralised authority's diktat - state / central bank / market.
That means the gatekeeper / centralised authority (who also maintains the ledger) has a fair amount of power.

Historically transactions in stock market / art / currencies have all been intermediated or coordinated through a central authority (NSE / NYSE / Christies etc.)
Read 11 tweets
28 Feb
I thought this was an outstanding podcast - one every dev tools startup founder should listen to or read the transcript of. Brief 🧵 on what I found interesting.

Features @jeffiel of @twilio and @davidu + @smc90 of @a16z
a16z.com/2021/01/12/ris…
.@jeffiel: AWS + APIs have given us the supply chain for building software.
Rule 1: Build the software that faces your customer.
Rule2: The act of building software is but the act of listening to your customer.
Read 10 tweets
26 Feb
New post + 🧵

This one is on product-market fit or PMF, that most discussed yet misunderstood concept!

Hitting PMF is about getting to 2 different fits
- the 1st is product to problem fit;
- & the 2nd is getting the go-to-market (GTM) to market fit.

linkedin.com/pulse/how-foun…
1st fit: product / solution to problem fit - ensuring that you are able to create a product that solves some or most of the customer problem that spurred you to start up. This is the Minimum Viable Product or MVP as it is called.

(also ref to as the value hypothesis)
2nd fit: GTM to market fit, where you reach the ideal combo of customer segments, sales channels & customer acquisition approaches (collectively GTM) getting you to +ve contribution margin (i.e., revenue minus COGS minus direct mktg costs) for every new customer. This is PMF.
Read 8 tweets
20 Feb
A startup learns about itself in 3 ways. Or rather founders learn about their startup, & how well it is doing, or not, in one of 3 primary ways.
- customers / product iterations
- interviewees / hiring
- investors / fundraising

In that order.

Let us unpack this.
Customers / product iteration.

The best customer feedback is not by hearing them talk, but seeing how they interact with the product - buying it, or using it.
Learn from the feedback + reactions you get, & further iterate the product. And again go back to them with the product. The faster the pace of product iteration, the faster the learning cycles.

This is really what matters for learning from customers
Read 10 tweets
18 Feb
Interesting that Bytedance is targeting edtech through hardware - this smart lamp for instance.

Clever way to hack into the crowded edtech space in China, buy distribution.

gizmochina.com/2020/10/29/byt… Image
Of course hardware in edtech isnt new. Byju's for instance has thus far sold its content via tabs.

Incl MBA Prep, not just high school tuition. Image
Hardware is a great way to build a pipe / enable access in markets where internet bandwidth is iffy. As this SD card play from Nigerian startup @uLessonApp by @SimShagaya shows... Image
Read 5 tweets
12 Feb
Interesting to see Substack, Teachable (or Didactic from @wes_kao @gaganbiyani where @Lennysan is offering this cohort-based course) as the initial tiles of a larger revenue jigsaw (puzzle).
The core theme is of course @kevin2kelly's famous making a living of your 1,000 or (more) true fans. All of these (Substack, Teachable, Patreon, BuyMeaCoffee etc.) can be seen as ways to enable different route of making a living via your 1k fans

kk.org/thetechnium/10…
Before the internet, you had to go through gatekeepers (editors, music co CEOs etc) to reach your fans.

Then, in the first phase of the internet you had marketplaces (Skillshare, Udemy, itunes) where you dont have emails or even direct connects with your fans.
Read 14 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!