728 private companies are valued at $1B+
Many were founded in the last two years

some thoughts: 1/ raising larger rounds legitimizes your company

hiring becomes easier: one of the new ways to hire fewer, more senior people who can easily go work at any high growth startup

team size is no longer a proxy for personal success, in fact leaner team = more leverage, more upside

The early users of your product dictate the future of your platform

In every pitch, I ask founders how they plan to scale beyond tech ie: *default white male*

Closed beta. Invite-only. Selling to other startups. A diversity problem from Day 1

Here are actionable strategies: 1/ your first round of funding is your user acquisition strategy — stack your cap table with angels who have influence and reach beyond tech circles

Trust is critical when acquiring early users. Angels are gatekeepers to trusted groups you can’t reach alone

The 6 types of builders who will thrive in the new world:

* The designers who code
* The career jumpers
* The ambitious advisors
* The creative hackers
* The industry academics
* The community builders

wfh.substack.com/p/the-6-builde… The designers who code

Combine art w/ technical acumen
Build user-informed, not dictated, features
Team culture reflects product philosophies

Design-led founders build differentiated products that become category leaders

Notion and Figma are both now valued at $2B

The 2010s will be remembered for transformational changes in the physical world - brought to you by SoftBank.

The 2020s will foster a thriving creative scene like the Roaring Twenties.

Here's a look at what's to come: 1/ All eyes are on Adobe, but it’s still too f*cking expensive.

Adobe will serve as a positive signal to the public markets with a larger market cap than Salesforce

Plenty of new opportunities for prosumer and professional-grade tools because Adobe is still too expensive

In May I wrote about The New American Dream:

How creative expression, online influence & flex work is changing how Americans define success

briannekimmel.com/thenewamerican…

A lot has changed in 5 months w/ new opportunities inside tech co’s that provide both flexibility & stability 1/ Tech companies are creating more affordable and accessible entry points: apprenticeships + moonlighting opportunities

A number of startups reinventing apprenticeships for roles in marketing, customer success at FAANG & others

@whitehatGB @acadiumofficial

Thoughts from my discussion w/ @SlaughterAM & small group of Silicon Valley tech leaders
(including founders of $1B+ cloud companies)

- U.S. labor today is similar to 1830s
- Apprenticeships are sufficient for most roles
- Skilled tech labor needs its version of SAG U.S. labor is shifting back to a guild model:

Most skills can be learned on the job

Labor will be measured more on skill and contribution (ie: Github for all types of work)

Labor needs more power: less licensure, collective protection & benefits similar to Screen Actors Guild

The 5 criteria for freemium by Slack's @far33d:

1. Do you have low-cost distribution?
2. Is there a fast activation path?
3. Does your product have growth loops?
4. Does your user have purchasing power?
5. Is there a clear value metric?

📽️ 1. Do you have low-cost distribution?
If not, start by building an acquisition engine

An acquisition engine requires a deep understanding of users: content, competition, cross-company virality

"Paid marketing & freemium are oil and water"

closed beta vs. mass freemium?

Before you choose to launch with a closed beta, here are some considerations:

• Waitlists only work if there's scarcity and demand
• Demand = product innovation & reputation
• If the learning curve is low: self-serve > onboarding 2/ A closed beta can set valuable parameters for early customer development.

Works well if you have a strong network 👍
Limits learning & development if you don't ❌

More angels & micro-funds = more options for founders

See thread for recent news 👇🏻

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 - more operator, angel, influencers are starting funds

First time founders look for 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿 $ 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 - show horses vs. work horses More triple threat angels are starting funds: operator, angel, influencer (blog/newsletter/podcast)

https://twitter.com/briannekimmel/status/1183829930917806080?s=21

The future of work in 3 stats:

• 70% of people work remotely one day per week

• 72% of people are willing to pay out of pocket for programs and services to advance their career

• 74% of people believe they aren't achieving their full potential at work

Thread: Over the last 10 years remote work has grown 91%.
The majority of remote work is done from home.

New post: The deck that closed Marc Andreessen, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan and my first LPs

A comprehensive overview for operators, angels and emerging fund managers.

1. How to start angel investing
2. Why start a fund?
3. The pitch - give, give, give before you ask for $1 1/ Start with access:

Access is everything when you're just getting started.

Meet a lot of companies and start to narrow your filter over time.

Meet companies, make intros, build and maintain founder, investor and operator relationships.

I joined @HarryStebbings on 20VC to discuss Super Angels 2.0:

Original "Super Angels" @pmarca @m2jr @asenkut went on to start @a16z, @floodgatefund @felicis

"Triple threat" angel investors are the future of early stage investing: operator, angel, influencer

Some highlights: 1/ The original Super Angels founded iconic companies Netscape, PayPal...

Angel investing was reserved for individuals with large exits and established reputation in the ecosystem

1/ “The next generation of applications for the workplace sees people spinning out of Uber, Coinbase and Airbnb,” Kimmel said.

If you're thinking about building something for the workplace, here's what you should know

⚠️ Tough feedback ahead ⚠️ 2/ In the early days of the company, things will come easy

It feels a lot like building a consumer product, but maybe better (early users pay $)

Keep in mind: these users are the easiest to acquire

Selling to other startups is a great strategy, but that well easily dries up

If you're building a workplace product, take a step back and map the Work Graph for your product.

🏬= individuals, teams, leadership
connected by projects, meetings, company-wide events

🏬🔁🏬= new hires, freelancers, agencies

Thoughts to get started [thread👇] 1/ The Work Graph can be clearly defined using a company's org chart and team structures

In the case of Facebook's "Social Graph," mapping the relationship between entities can be fairly complex

Acquaintance vs. friend is harder to identify than
direct report vs. manager

Thread: Expedia is a great example of how software can disrupt large, antiquated industries by

* Aggregating supply
* Removing middlemen
* Giving tools to consumers
* Holding supply accountable

This applies to any sector w/ middlemen, low transparency and dated systems. Expedia started as an internal project at Microsoft focused on advanced search technology.

It aggregated hotel, airline and car rental information that was highly fragmented and only available to travel agents.

People doubted that consumers would want to book their own travel

In 2019, every company needs a customer review strategy

87% of people say a review influences their decision to purchase a product, but only 3% of consumers write reviews.

Here's a look at how some companies are using in-product reviews & others are paying for fake reviews! Reviews are a trusted source for information.

Reviews and opinions are a top source people trust for information about products, services, brands and organizations.

Shocking fact: Millennial men are less likely to work than any other age and gender demographic in America.

Today, there are 500,000 young men missing from the U.S. workforce.

Research suggests video games & improved leisure tech plays a role in the problem. 👇 Thread: Following the 2007 to 2009 recession, 25 to 34 year old men exited high school with fewer middle-skill job opportunities than years prior.

During this time, we saw an increased number of men living with parents & choosing unemployment over lower paying jobs.

The fastest growing software companies have something in common…
They started with no sales team aka product-led growth 🏆

When I talk to founders today, it's easy to get addicted to self-serve revenue. But here's the problem: Self-serve rarely lasts forever. Self-serve SMBs churn at a much higher rate than Mid-market and Enterprise customers. This is especially true if you’re selling to other startups or tech companies who typically try a number of free tools and ultimately choose based on price, feature set and relationships.

Thread: Your startup can’t afford to ignore the competition.

100 million startups are launched every year.
That’s 3 startups per second. How are you going to compete?

You need a systematic way to outsmart your competitors — Too often startups focus on product alone and forget about the importance of a well planned and executed GTM. Products are easy to build and deploy, which means anything that’s working will ultimately get copied.

I recently joined Forget the Funnel to discuss why startups need a customer data strategy. In the workshop, I break down how Peloton uses data to personalize the experience. This is an iterative process I call “The Customer Data Flywheel.” Here’s why it’s important: 94% of marketers say personalization is a top priority for their company. But 39% say they don’t have enough data & 38% worry about data accuracy. Personalization is easy to get wrong!

1/ I'm calling it now, we'll see the end of influencer marketing this year. Brands are tired of working with influencers. Consumers are tired of seeing fake posts. Influencers are tired of being influencers. The current model is broken, here's why: 2/ Brands pay more than 10x what they would pay to reach the same number of people in a traditional or digital media buy. Read more on Forbes: bit.ly/10xspend