Investing in and supporting calm companies at https://t.co/ldlavAFtLO.
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Feb 20, 2023 • 32 tweets • 9 min read
Ok folks, Feb marks 4 years since we started investing at @calmfund and it's time for a big update thread. It's been a challenging but insightful few quarters but I'm absolutely fired up about the road ahead. I'll cover what we've been up to, our strategy & the game plan for 2023
If you're new here, @calmfund is a fund built to support founders of calm companies that are capital efficient, grow sustainably, & built for the long term. Here is an overview of our high level investment thesis (we used to be called @earnestcapital btw):
I think folks are sleeping on one of the biggest and most obvious "zero interest rate phenomena" that's going to get vaporized slowly and then all at once: Andreessen Horowitz
Here's my thesis:
In recent years a16z built an incredible machine to accumulate "assets under management" (AUM) to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Nominally they were supposed to be doing venture capital—investing in startups and entrepreneurs—but really they were making a different play
Feb 17, 2023 • 18 tweets • 5 min read
Good morning, AI-based tools will be a massive opportunity for calm companies, but a dud for VC. Here's my thesis:
1/ this market map will become an iconic case study of "was a feature not a product" with all of the value ultimately being split between the actual core AI platforms in the top left corner and incumbent software tools with distribution (mostly not shown) who will add AI features
Nov 24, 2022 • 31 tweets • 4 min read
✨ Cultivating a Calm Company ✨
A running thread of the most important things I have learned about building a calm company and being long-term ambitious as an entrepreneur. Let's go 🙏👇
Note: I plan to expand on each of these in short essay form. Subscribe to the @calmfund email list to receive them: tyler-tringas.ck.page/94b41c3e91
Nov 22, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
People keep asking me "why aren't more investors using a strategy similar to @calmfund's"... the answer is very simple: it is *unbelievably* difficult to raise capital for an early stage fund that doesn't fit the traditional VC model. That's it.
For our first 3 small funds we had to raise money from nearly 200 individuals. I had to write 200,000 words of content and build a fully automated fundraising funnel such that for Funds 2 & 3, I didn't even speak to >half of the investors before they committed.
Nov 22, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I looked at dozens (100s?) of crypto/web3 startups and projects the past few years. I felt obligated to not miss an opportunity for my LPs. With each one I asked a simple question: "does this do what it says it does?" and every. single. time. the answer was "it does not."
I'm talking about technical and logical due diligence of the basic claims being made about the technology with regard to utility, security, and decentralization. And every time I did a little homework, the answer was an obvious no.
Nov 17, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Making Twitter truly great feels like an empathy challenge, not a technical one.
I don’t really see how being hardcore yields better results here like it would launching rockets?
Besides squashing crypto-spam-bots, what other technical solutions would make twitter materially better?
Nov 9, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Reilly is the first founder to fully pay off his Shared Earnings Agreement (SEAL), so we now have one data point we can analyze to see if the structure we've been using at @calmfund is a good deal for founders, investors, or both. Let's dig in...
We invested in Reilly/Hostifi *very* early and since then he has never raised another dollar of capital and steadily built a very profitable $2m ARR business. The whole reason we created the SEAL was to be aligned with this as a success for everyone: calmfund.com/shared-earning…
Aug 4, 2022 • 24 tweets • 7 min read
It's been a minute since I laid out the @calmfund strategy for y'all so let's buckle up and talk about why now is the best time to build and invest in profitable capital-efficient calm companies that grow at a sustainable pace...
What are calm companies?
They are lean and capital-efficient.
They go after niche markets and build a micro-monopoly.
They maximize optionality for founders and all stakeholders.
They raise capital opportunistically but aren't dependent on it.
Aug 3, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
If you, like me, found yourself last year wondering “have all these people breathlessly hyping ‘play-to-earn’ lost their minds… or have I?” Well, you’ll enjoy this thread.
Some will dismiss this as schadenfreude, but I think it’s important that folks who allocate capital and direct the energy of entrepreneurs actually think about stuff… especially when regular folks can get fleeced in the process.
Oct 29, 2021 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
What the heck is going on in VC/early stage right now? My theory:
Mega funds have found a new product for their LPs that allows them to invest in the same companies with an approach that is completely disrupting VC 🧵
The original "product" that VC funds were selling to their LPs (ie endowments, pension funds) was: relatively small funds shooting for huge outlier individual investments that translate into outlier fund returns. The "power law" you've heard so much about.
Sep 19, 2021 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
Starting a thread of Founder nudges: things I find myself saying over and over to different founders that they seems to find somewhat helpful 👇
prioritizing is basically the job
I'm getting more and more excited about applying @shopify's "arming the rebels" strategy to the @earnestcapital thesis. I think we're going to see more and more VC-backed B2B marketplaces get unbundled by SaaS that let's suppliers sell directly with all the same ease.
Venture-funded marketplaces have done good hard work infusing technology into a ton of business verticals but ultimately these models become predatory: taking more control & more of a cut of revenues. Now-tech-savvy suppliers see value in SaaS to sell direct
Mar 18, 2021 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
There's a growing quiver of tools for new fund managers to deploy innovative investment strategies, but it can be confusing for investors. Let's go over: 1/ rolling/subscription funds 2/ syndicates & SPVs 3/ crowdfunded GP equity
1/ rolling funds (from AngelList) or our own subscription fund allows Limited Partners (LPs) to invest into funds on a quarterly subscription rather than a big multi-year commitment. Here's our deep dive earnestcapital.com/quarterly-subs…
Mar 17, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Rad. 100+ commitments, $500k, 4 hours. We’re gonna do this. Excited to open up a way for more (unaccredited) investors to get involved in the @earnestcapital mission. More soon.
Fill in the form to reserve a spot for when we’re live.
bout to hit $600k (of course these are just soft commitments)! My plan is to raise no more than $1m and maybe less. Will give preference to folks on this list so feel the FOMO.
Mar 16, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
2 good simple questions being asked about this:
1/ what would you do with the money? 2/ how would investors get paid back?
1/ For legal reasons, this can't be capital that we actually invest in startups. We raise that from LPs who then only see upside in the companies we invest in from that fund. This money would go to the @earnestcapital operating company that pays for our awesome team.
I'm seriously considering doing something similar. If you'd be interested in investing in the future of @earnestcapital drop your info here airtable.com/shrDoev78pTuLD…
If you haven't been following. Republic allows unaccredited investors (who otherwise can't invest in startups or funds like ours) to buy equity for as little as $100. We'd be looking at something similar to @Backstage_Cap here republic.co/backstage
Dec 9, 2020 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
Hi folks, I've been remiss on introducing you to the awesome companies we've been fortunate to back at @earnestcapital so here's a quick update thread 👇
Productized Services are an awesome opportunity for internet entrepreneurs and @manyrequests is the all-in-one-platform they need to manage clients, services requests, and the team fulfilling them. earnestcapital.com/earnest-capita…
Sep 22, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
The magic formula: a founder with 1) an unfair advantage 2) in a strong market 3) with compounding benefits
1/ Create an unfair advantage. I think of these as mostly in either the Differentiation or Distribution buckets.
Sep 21, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Reminder: the next opportunity to join @earnestcapital as an investor, backing founders of calm profitable software at the early stage, is coming up on 1 Oct. Looking likely we'll hit our $1.25m/quarter cap for this fund.
Our funds run on a quarterly subscription model.
Minimum investment is just $5k/quarter (some lower exceptions made for unrepresented folks): earnestcapital.com/quarterly-subs…
Sep 17, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
How to hire your 1st software developer (for technical founders with a growing business):
1/ Keep a running list of development jobs that are
* well encapsulated
* high value but non-urgent
like:
* upgrading dependcies
* internal admin dashboards
* long-term performance tweaks
2/ Write a job description
* explaining your tech stack
* articulate your work style
* emphasize growth opportunities
* ask for work samples
