The Syndicate

Hardware is hard. Consumer hardware is even worse. As an ex ecommerce seller with years of experience manufacturing overseas, I can tell you dealing with suppliers, MOQs (minimum order quantities), quality control, cash flow and even LTV are tough. Unlike SaaS where you build it once and sell again and again with almost no added costs, hardware requires cash. Manufacturing 10s or 100s of thousands of products requires massive upfront investments that most startups cannot afford. And while every sale helps make up those margins, it is still nowhere near SaaS. Worst still is LTV (lifetime value of a customer). And like a one night stand, one and done isn’t efficient in the long run. Fishing vs farming Constantly acquiring new customers takes time and money. CAC (cost of acquisition) kills your margins. High unit costs make economics even worse. Most startups and brands fall into the fishing category. They launch product: let’s say a smart lock, an autonomous drone or a time machine… then they think about the business. “Well, obviously we Kickstart this, right?” As an ex-crowdfunding consultant, I saw this all the time. The “build it and they will come” mindset kills more businesses than Facebook. Without proper planning, founders often scale unsustainable business models Single purchase behavior is a like treadmill. Without repeat buyers or recurring revenue, businesses must constantly fight the same battle. Exceptions to this rule build strong organic acquisition channels (see this post). But even then, one and done loses every time. Farming is a 10–100x better business model. Rather than kill or be killed, startups that acquire recurring customers need a much lower hit rate to succeed. Why hunt rabbits when you can domesticate them? Source: Drawception The same is true of customers. Companies that effectively milk customers merit MUCH higher valuations and become more sustainable, long lasting brands. Repeat vs recurring There are two ways brands build success: repeat customers and monthly service fees. As a rule of thumb, these represent B2C and B2B businesses respectively. As an investor, I only invest in hardware/IoT companies with recurring revenue components, ie typically B2B plays. But today we are talking consumer. (For more on the B2B side of hardware/software plus IoT, see this interview below with Nick Moran, an accomplished VC in the space). Later in the article we will discussing B2C recurring revenue businesses and how hardware can be your businesses trojan horse. Repeat buying behavior There are several ways to prop up LTV here. Traditionally these include: New products — shoes, socks, shorts, shirts etc… Consumable products — toothpaste, contact lenses, lipstick etc… Replacements — new iPhone, new laptop, new fridge etc… Accessories — earbuds, Xbox games, HDMI adapter etc… Are you an Apple fanboy? You are on this article because of Apple, let’s start there. News broke recently that Apple was screwing customers, surprise surprise. The company that brought you the iPhone was conveniently slowing older ones down, right after new versions were released. In my opinion Apple is scumbag company. It didn’t use to be. But recently under leadership of Tim Cook, Apple has been only focused on numbers 3 and 4 above — the least innovative and most expensive...

Esther Dyson is a down to earth super angel that practically invented the category. Her incredible portfolio includes the likes of Facebook, Square, 23andme, Flickr, Evernote and many more. Esther now runs Way to Wellville, a non-profit focused on curing America health crisis with a focus on education and early, preventative care. She serves on the boards of Evernote, Meetup.com and 23andme and is also a trained cosmonaut! Listen and Learn: * How Esther hit big wins investing in Russia * Esther’s no bullshit investment criteria * What is wrong with healthcare in America and how we can try to fix it * Why this super angel won’t start a syndicate * How weigh upside with long term potential * What traveling can teach VCs about investing * How investors can actively help portfolio companies * Why businesses Esther invests in must have a strong business model * The reason blockchain is overhyped Esther’s Projects: Esther’s Angellist profile Esther’s Site: EDVenture.com Way to Wellville Esther’s Twitter: @edyson Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.Esther Dyson is a down to earth super angel that practically invented the category. Her incredible portfolio includes the likes of Facebook, Square, 23andme, Flickr, Evernote and many more. Esther now runs Way to Wellville, a non-profit focused on curing America health crisis with a focus on education and early, preventative care. She serves on the boards of Evernote, Meetup.com and 23andme and is also a trained cosmonaut! Listen and Learn: * How Esther hit big wins investing in Russia * Esther’s no bullshit investment criteria * What is wrong with healthcare in America and how we can try to fix it * Why this super angel won’t start a syndicate * How weigh upside with long term potential * What traveling can teach VCs about investing * How investors can actively help portfolio companies * Why businesses Esther invests in must have a strong business model * The reason blockchain is overhyped Esther’s Projects: Esther’s Angellist profile Esther’s Site: EDVenture.com Way to Wellville Esther’s Twitter: @edyson Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.

Two days ago I had the privilege of moderating a roundtable with some of the smartest futurists and forward thinkers in the industry. Our panelists included Tim O’Reilly, James Allworth, Ben Gilbert and Jeff Morris Jr. [VIDEO REPLAY] The State of Consumer Tech Roundtable with Tim O’Reilly, James Allworth, Ben Gilbert… It was an interesting experience. They say you are the average of the 5 people in your life and these four certainly padded my total — and informed my perspective on the future. There was one point in particular that Tim on the nature of disruption and innovation. During the panel I pushed back some, with time however this truth becomes more and more apparent. Tim rightly pointed out, there is no such thing as a J curve. Sure short term graphs show up and to the right, but eventually everything levels out. There are only so many billions of potential consumers, pushing beyond that is impossible. And technology naturally plateaus. Moore’s Law is pushing its physical limitation already (at least in terms of economic feasibility), and many other technologies have displayed similar trends. But with every new plateau the new normal shifts further and further. “If I have seen far, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton The interesting intersections Technological innovation is interesting. Ultimately however, each innovation can only go so far. The most intriguing areas are found on the fringes, where multiple innovations meet. Today genetic sequencing is hot. But scientists have been studying the human genome for years. The intersection with AI and machine learning is particularly interesting because DNA is so vast. No human could ever understand or analyze DNA. Instead geneticists employ basic ML (machine learning) to find and analyze relevant genome sequences. Using data, companies like 23andMe can then accurately pattern match to known research and provide personalized conclusions: “you may have a 15% higher risk of heart disease” And in genetics we are still in the early innings. But with advances in gene therapies, medicine delivery, 3D printing, artificial intelligence and robotics, is a future of cyborgs really so far off? I would argue no. And as innovation is generally additive/transformational, this implies our S curve actually continues upward — in a lumpy, stepwise manner. Hockey sticks can hurt though There is a potential problem with conventional venture analysis. As a rule, any graph with up and to the right growth gets investors excited. But this only paints a small portion of the picture. Yes, founders found product-market fit but that isn’t always enough. What about the market? Actual total addressable market (ATAM) Investors always ask about the TAM (total addressable market). In general this is helpful, but not as much as you would think. The best startups are reinventing the world and creating new markets. If Uber’s addressable market was just the market for taxis/black cars, Benchmark wouldn’t be suing them (for the real problem with Uber’s business model, see this post). Instead this innovative “taxi” company redefined transportation and is destroying car ownership globally. They MASSIVELY exceeded original expectations. But this is generally not the case. In businesses where startups look to take on incumbents, it is often about stealing market share. In these scenarios TAM is largely unchanged. Great businesses can still be built in this manner, but the upside is capped (as opposed to almost unlimited). So the question VCs NEED to ask is: is the ATAM greater than or less ...

Parker Thompson’s a Partner at Angellist, an active investor and syndicate lead and likes to help startups in any way he can. Before AL, he was a mentor, partner and as an early employee at 500Startups, where he helped Dave McClure and co build 500 into a top tier accelerator., help His illustrious past includes Pivotal Labs, co-founding PlaceSite, preserving the interwebs at the Internet Archive, and working on digital copyright at UC Berkeley’s iSchool. Listen and Learn: * What is the Internet Archive and how they are preserving techs past * Whether optimistic or pessimistic investors have better returns * What to think about before investing in ecommerce * The thing to know about investing platforms like Angellist, FundersClub and OurCrowd * How VCs balance chaos and productivity * What 500 startups looked like in the early days and how accelerators and incubators transformed venture * How investors can actively help portfolio companies * The benefits of passive investors Parker’s Projects: Parker’s Angellist profile Parker’s Syndicate Parker’s blog Parker’s Twitter: @pt Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.Parker Thompson’s a Partner at Angellist, an active investor and syndicate lead and likes to help startups in any way he can. Before AL, he was a mentor, partner and as an early employee at 500Startups, where he helped Dave McClure and co build 500 into a top tier accelerator., help His illustrious past includes Pivotal Labs, co-founding PlaceSite, preserving the interwebs at the Internet Archive, and working on digital copyright at UC Berkeley’s iSchool. Listen and Learn: * What is the Internet Archive and how they are preserving techs past * Whether optimistic or pessimistic investors have better returns * What to think about before investing in ecommerce * The thing to know about investing platforms like Angellist, FundersClub and OurCrowd * How VCs balance chaos and productivity * What 500 startups looked like in the early days and how accelerators and incubators transformed venture * How investors can actively help portfolio companies * The benefits of passive investors Parker’s Projects: Parker’s Angellist profile Parker’s Syndicate Parker’s blog Parker’s Twitter: @pt Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.

The internet has changed. The world of the walled garden is here. This creates interesting dynamics, problems and opportunities for startups. It is exciting, and terrifying. Let me explain. My background is ecommerce and Amazon. In 2015 I invested ~$8k in product and managed to scale my “startup” to a 7 figure exit at the end of year one. If you are scratching your heads, you should be. Building and flipping a business in a year is dumb. But my goal was just to make some quick cash selling products online, primarily via Amazon. It worked. And through the process I built a top 3 Amazon podcast, met hundreds of FBAers (Amazon sellers), and helped 1000s build businesses on Amazon. As I grew, I started to wisen up. What started as a personal challenge suddenly become scary. Let me explain. Platforms are like distribution on steroids Platforms and marketplaces like Amazon, Android and the App Store are unparalleled acquisition engines. Never before in the history of mankind could companies, let alone startups access this scale and breadth of consumer. The world is literally there for taking. Starting a hardware startup? Kickstarter can help. Building an ecommerce app? Shopify’s add-on store speeds its up. Not a developer but got a great idea? There are even UI and chatbot based platforms for creating apps. The power and resources at founders’ fingertips are unprecedented. And so is the speed at which startups scale. Zynga.org was a rocketship, riding on Facebook’s coattails. The social network grew and viralized distribution, allowing Marc Pincus gaming company to ~10x in under two years. 260M+ MAUs (monthly active users). That is unheard of in gaming, at least it was. In the world of platforms, this is starting to become normalized. But there is a huge problem. Platforms are great, until they aren’t Zynga, more than any other company, took advantage and built an incredible gaming business directly through the Facebook Graph API. Over time, Facebook began making changes to how developers could interact with specific data and just as quickly as Zynga grew, they fell — and fell far. There are many companies, big and small, that have suffered a similar demise. — Ben Schippers: TechCrunch And I knew of sellers who shutdown overnight, with no warning. Amazon’s a double-edged sword. All platforms and marketplaces are. When it is good, it is great. But playing on some else’s playground often ends in tears. There are two ways this happens: rules/algorithm changes copy/paste competitors Both kill startups. The age of the algorithm The first and most obvious example would be Google. Google indexed the world’s information and built the leading search browser, with 77–80% of worldwide searches. That makes Google powerful. SEO and organic search make and break businesses. And throughout their history, Google has done just that. The infamous Panda updates broke the backs of many businesses. Imagine adding a wall around a local mall. The number of visitors drops drastically. Businesses collapse and the mall defaults on the mortgage. Those are the metaphorical examples of a small algorithm change. And they happen, even with the best of intentions. Google wanted to clean up search. They saw marketers manipulating results, creating backlinks and gaming the system to get more visitors. So Google fights back, adding penalties for overly specific and frequent backlinks. These hurt many sites, not just the grey and black hat players. And entrepreneurs (and mom and pop sites) had NO warning and NO recourse. Even Ebay lost 80% of it is organic search thanks to Google’s Panda 4.0 updates. This was 2014. This can happen to anyone. But blacklisting is even worse

Avidan is the Founding Partner of Root Ventures. Before Root, he designed industrial robotics for Food Network’s kitchens. Prior to that, Avidan was CTO of CIM Group, where he focused on industrial internet investing, and worked as an embedded application developer at Excite@Home. Listen and Learn: * Why Avidan focuses exclusively on hardware based startups * Avidan’s incredibly unique investment philosophy * The reason no having recurring revenue is typically a deal breaker * How hardware investors can contribute to startup success * Why Avidan filmed a reality tv show with the FoodNetwork on robotic kitchens * What the smartphone wars did to tech * The future of connected devices * Why boring businesses bring the best returns Avidan’s Projects: Avidan’s Angellist profile Root.vc Avidan’s Twitter: @avidanross Avidan’s Recommending Reading: Start with Why by Simon Sinek The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.Avidan is the Founding Partner of Root Ventures. Before Root, he designed industrial robotics for Food Network’s kitchens. Prior to that, Avidan was CTO of CIM Group, where he focused on industrial internet investing, and worked as an embedded application developer at Excite@Home. Listen and Learn: * Why Avidan focuses exclusively on hardware based startups * Avidan’s incredibly unique investment philosophy * The reason no having recurring revenue is typically a deal breaker * How hardware investors can contribute to startup success * Why Avidan filmed a reality tv show with the FoodNetwork on robotic kitchens * What the smartphone wars did to tech * The future of connected devices * Why boring businesses bring the best returns Avidan’s Projects: Avidan’s Angellist profile Root.vc Avidan’s Twitter: @avidanross Avidan’s Recommending Reading: Start with Why by Simon Sinek The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

Yes, that headline and image is meant to be provocative. Startups need to sell. Attention is critical. But not clickbait. So grab your coffee and let’s go (btw that definitely isn’t me!). First, a quick backstory My background is ecommerce and Amazon. In 2015 I invested $8k in product and managed to scale my “startup” to a 7 figure exit at the end of year one (all while traveling the world). If you are scratching your heads, you should be. Building and flipping a business in a year is stupid. But my goal was learn and make some quick cash so I could focus on things that actually mattered. Somehow it worked. And through the process I built a top 3 Amazon podcast, met hundreds of Amazon sellers and helped 1000s build businesses on Amazon. But startups NEED 100% Forget the “give me 110%. soldier” Sure, it sounds cool to say but 100% is it. There is not higher gear — and this stress kills entrepreneurs. Starting a business is really freaking hard. I spent a year of 80–100 hour weeks, grinding, hustling and trying every trick in the book to make things happen. Some worked. Many didn’t. It didn’t matter though. I was 100%, I was all in. That takes its toll. You can only give 100% for so long, especially when you heart isn’t really in it. And I was doing it just for the money — that isn’t enough. Founders NEED to be obsessed with what they are building. How else can you handle the stress, rejections and sleepless nights…? The importance of obsession People tell you to follow your passion, that isn’t enough. Passion is a good start, but I’m passionate about peanut butter. A banana with peanut butter is heaven on earth, nothing beats it. But I sure as hell don’t want to start a peanut butter company. That small snacky passion isn’t a driving force for me. It won’t keep me going day in and day out. And the market is competitive. There are plenty of peanut butter brands and almost no differentiation or innovation. Instead, the best founders are obsessed with an idea. They set out to radically change the world and follow their obsessions to its logical conclusion — success, or failure. But as an investor, I’ll bet on intelligence plus obsession any day. When Zuckerberg first described Facebook or Elon explained Tesla’s mission, it was clear these cats were hooked. They were incredibly smart, driven and drinking the kool-aid. Whether you are building a venture scale startup or bootstrapping a business, commitment is everything. There will be huge highs and horrible lows — it is a roller coaster. Between the stress of running out money, the pressure to push product and the problems hiring and managing great talent, starting a startup is arguably the most grueling (and rewarding) work. Only the obsessed survive, everyone else quits or sells out early… Managing is hard The best founders build great teams, using their obsession and charisma to attracts followers. They know they cannot possibly do alone, so they surround themselves with complementary talent. This is something I have always struggled with. Most of my career has been a one man show with a large outsourced team. I’m a builder, not a manager. When it comes to managing people and optimizing existing success, it gets dull for me. I have never been “obsessed enough” with the mission to push through. And most founders are not natural leaders. Instead they grow into the role, not out of desire but out of necessity. When you are obsessed with a goal, you sacrifice yourself for the mission. The shiny object A.D.D. issue Yes, I have attention deficit disorder — never diagnosed (but spend enough time with me and it is easy to see). This makes shiny object syndrome challenging. In the past I got distracted easily. A new PPC strategy, Instagram ads,

Adam Draper’s the founder of Boost.vc, an accelerator and fund focused creating a sci-fi future. They work with and invest in blockchain and VR companies with exceptions made for breakthrough businesses. Adam comes from a venture background and is working to continue the Draper tradition of excellence and advancing the future. Listen and Learn: * Why VCs should focus more on crypto * How venture capital can effectively incorporate ICOs in portfolio companies * What is the future of VR? * How growing up in a venture family affects outlook * Why VCs must be constantly learning * Why AR is overrated and ICOs are underhyped * The benefits of founder bonding Adam’s Projects: Adam’s Angellist profile Boost.vc Adam’s Twitter: @adamdraper Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.Adam Draper’s the founder of Boost.vc, an accelerator and fund focused creating a sci-fi future. They work with and invest in blockchain and VR companies with exceptions made for breakthrough businesses. Adam comes from a venture background and is working to continue the Draper tradition of excellence and advancing the future. Listen and Learn: * Why VCs should focus more on crypto * How venture capital can effectively incorporate ICOs in portfolio companies * What is the future of VR? * How growing up in a venture family affects outlook * Why VCs must be constantly learning * Why AR is overrated and ICOs are underhyped * The benefits of founder bonding Adam’s Projects: Adam’s Angellist profile Boost.vc Adam’s Twitter: @adamdraper Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.

“If you’ve got a dream and your dream doesn’t require a team, you need to dream bigger.” — Unknown When working with startups (both as an investor and advisor), I like to focus on incentivizes. The more aligned your organization is, the better the performance will be. Commissioned sales people are hustlers. Ever buy a used car? They do anything to get the sale, but they don’t care about the dealership. The majority of their compensation comes from sales. They don’t get a piece of the bigger pie, so why help other salesmen? It is a bit of a dog eat dog world. The other extreme (Corporate America) is just as bad. If you are working at a startup, you don’t want just a job. Your goal isn’t simply a paycheck and benefits — you want meaning. And upside. Founders are crazy. They have to be to fight to bring something radical new way to the world. And they magnetize others to follow them. But early startup employees are crazy too. They believe in the vision of building something bigger — but they also “own” the company in a sense. This is their baby, they have a stake and they create the culture from day one. But it isn’t all fun and games… A pirate’s life for me? Being a pirate is a lot like joining a startup — a rebel on the high seas setting sail into the unknown in search of treasure and adventure. And the seas aren’t smooth, anything but actually. But the rewards can be life changing. For ships to function, the entire crew must be aligned. Every mate has his (or her) job. Everyone relies on everyone else. There is little room for error, and the opportunities to die are endless. The pirate captain Everyone knows the captain’s in charge — at least that’s the myth. The reality, much like any situation is that leaders succeed (and survive), only when their crew permits it. Too much trouble, running out of food, stock price plummeting… mutinies occur. The collective pick the person most able to help them achieve their goals. If it is not you, you are out. It is a bit like game theory. That is the motivation for this post: the pirate’s riddle. In essence, a captain has 100 gold coins. How does he divide them among the 4 members of crew to maximize his share — keep in mind the majority can throw him overboard if they feel cheated (here is the riddle if you want to try and solve it). The riddle isn’t important, the consideration of others in the equation, specifically the equity equation is. Startup equity How much is too much? That is the number one question I get from founders. We are hiring a VP of this or a head of that and I don’t know how much equity to give them. Fred Wilson has a great system here, but says “for your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula”. Alternatively, Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures presents another well thought out, data-supported strategy. At 1–10 person companies, 0.5% — 2.0% is a pretty common range, though some companies fall outside of this range. For 11–50 person companies, 0.1% — 1.0% is typical. For 51–200 person companies, 0.01% — 0.2% is typical.

Peter Cowley has been active angel investor for ten years, personally investing in over 60 startups and was named UK Business Angel of the Year 2014/15 and Best Angel of the World by the World Business Angel Investment Forum in February 2017. He is also the chair of the board of the Cambridge Business Angels and the Investment Director of the Marshall of Cambridge, Martlet Corporate Angel division. Listen and Learn: * The problem with transparency in investing * How startups and investors can align incentives for better outcomes * Why angel investing in the UK has HUGE tax benefits * How to evaluate startups for funding * Why Peter only invests in founders he’s met in person * What to look for in co-investors * How investors can build a successful brand * What proper due diligence actually means * Will Brexit affect UK startup scene? Peter’s Projects: Peter’s Angellist profile PeterCowley.org The Invested Investor podcast Peter’s Twitter: @plcowley Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.Peter Cowley has been active angel investor for ten years, personally investing in over 60 startups and was named UK Business Angel of the Year 2014/15 and Best Angel of the World by the World Business Angel Investment Forum in February 2017. He is also the chair of the board of the Cambridge Business Angels and the Investment Director of the Marshall of Cambridge, Martlet Corporate Angel division. Listen and Learn: * The problem with transparency in investing * How startups and investors can align incentives for better outcomes * Why angel investing in the UK has HUGE tax benefits * How to evaluate startups for funding * Why Peter only invests in founders he’s met in person * What to look for in co-investors * How investors can build a successful brand * What proper due diligence actually means * Will Brexit affect UK startup scene? Peter’s Projects: Peter’s Angellist profile PeterCowley.org The Invested Investor podcast Peter’s Twitter: @plcowley Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.

The Syndicate hosted The Future of Consumer Tech and Humanity Roundtable on 12/20/17. Our Expert Panelists: Tim O’Reilly is a futurist that has reshaped the computer industry, coined the terms “open source software”, “web 2.0” and “the Maker movement” and had a hand in framing each of those big ideas. He is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of O’Reilly Media, and a partner at early stage venture firm O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV). He is also on the boards of Maker Media (which was spun out from O’Reilly Media in 2012), Code for America, PeerJ, Civis Analytics, and PopVox. He is well known for best selling book WTF: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us. Twitter: @timoreilly Tim’s Book: WTF? What’s The Future and Why It’s Up to Us James Allworth is currently Director of Strategy for Medallia and co-author of New York Times best-seller “How Will You Measure Your Life?”, which he wrote with best-selling author Clayton Christensen. He is former Fellow at the Forum for Growth and Innovation at Harvard Business School, a think tank devoted to developing the academic understanding of the innovation process and co-hosts the Exponent podcast with Ben Thompson on all things tech. Twitter: @jamesallworth Jeff Morris Jr. is currently the Director of Product Management for Revenue at Tinder, where he leads the top grossing app in the world in monetization and growth. He has also built one of the top syndicates on AngelList, all while working full time at Tinder and he focuses on his strong suits: subscriptions, advertising, and a la carte products. Twitter: @jmj Ben Gilbert’s an ex-Microsoft guy with a passion for startups and growth. He runs Pioneer Square Labs, an innovative venture studio that after raising $12M, has cranked out half a dozen successful startup spin offs — think Rocket Internet without the copy/paste. Ben is also the co-host of the Acquired podcast where he and David Rosenthal of Madrona Ventures discuss the most prolific acquisitions and IPOs in tech history. Twitter: @gilbert We discuss Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple and do deep dives on the monopolies of consumer tech, the upcoming trends like VR & AR, wearables & IOT, the future of startups and much much more. Want more great round tables and investor interviews. Subscribe today to never miss a thing! Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow. The Syndicate hosted The Future of Consumer Tech and Humanity Roundtable on 12/20/17. Our Expert Panelists: Tim O’Reilly is a futurist that has reshaped the computer industry, coined the terms “open source software”, “web 2.0” and “the Maker movement” and had a hand in framing each of those big ideas. He is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of O’Reilly Media, and a partner at early stage venture firm O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV). He is also on the boards of Maker Media (which was spun out from O’Reilly Media in 2012), Code for America, PeerJ, Civis Analytics, and PopVox. He is well known for best selling book WTF: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us. Twitter: @timoreilly Tim’s Book:

Keith is an experienced investor, advisor, operator and PE manager focused on impact investing for awesome ROIs. Prior to working at Flat World Partners, a global impact VC firm focused on truly worldchanging products helping move humanity foward, Keith worked his way up the private equity world before making the jump into venture. Today Keith also runs Bioneca, a medtech company startup focused on personalized supplementation planning. Listen and Learn: * The biggest difference between venture capital and private equity investment * Where investors should look to see the large returns * How to think about impact while investing * The similarities of Cape Town and San Francisco * How to think outside the bubble * The key difference between good investors and good operators * How blockchain is transforming the developing world * Which field will dominate startup returns Keith’s Projects: Keith’s Angellist profile Flat World Partners on Angellist Keith’s Twitter: @keithmauppa Bioneca Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.Keith is an experienced investor, advisor, operator and PE manager focused on impact investing for awesome ROIs. Prior to working at Flat World Partners, a global impact VC firm focused on truly worldchanging products helping move humanity foward, Keith worked his way up the private equity world before making the jump into venture. Today Keith also runs Bioneca, a medtech company startup focused on personalized supplementation planning. Listen and Learn: * The biggest difference between venture capital and private equity investment * Where investors should look to see the large returns * How to think about impact while investing * The similarities of Cape Town and San Francisco * How to think outside the bubble * The key difference between good investors and good operators * How blockchain is transforming the developing world * Which field will dominate startup returns Keith’s Projects: Keith’s Angellist profile Flat World Partners on Angellist Keith’s Twitter: @keithmauppa Bioneca Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.

Software as a service is the new heroine. Companies and individuals sign up for free trials and are instantly hooked. It is a hell of a drug. For B2B customers this is especially true. Most businesses hate change. When the ball is rolling, the last thing you want is overhaul the entire new system. You stick with what is working, the easy solution. Even if it means a few more dollars. Dollars be damned. Time is money to these guys and saving days, weeks or even months from switching software is usually a no-brainer. If your product solves a pain point for companies and customers, you are in business. Software is eating the world. You have probably heard this. It is true. AWS, Salesforce, Slack, Shopify, Intuit… These companies don’t have physical assets. What they provide and sell is a service, a SaaS product. These are some of the most valuable and powerful companies in the world. They don’t focus on physical products. They aren’t buying real estate. They don’t invest in cars, gold or bitcoin. They build businesses others NEED to have and are willing to pay for. The beauty of SaaS lies in the margins. Once a piece of code is built, it costs almost nothing to run and maintain. You can scale servers, bring on more devs and the costs never balloon out of control. They stay very small and manageable — a low percentage of the actual price. And more and more, companies are moving towards these models. The reason: revenue. Recurring revenue is king. It is the thing all investors and VCs look for. It is the mark of a healthy business. How consistent are your cash flows? That is business basics 101. Money in versus money out. The 7 keys to killing it with SaaS Part 1. Acquiring customers In its simplest form, acquiring customers is a must for every business. How do you get individuals or organizations to pay? That is the big question. And for every business this is different, not the approach but the end result. To get customers, you need to get in front of prospective customers. You need to show the value of your product and explain how it will make their lives better, easier etc… (For sake of argument let’s say you have an awesome product) (If not, please stop reading and go talk to customers. Figure out what the heck they want and would pay for. Find their pain and fix it.) Okay. So assuming you have a good product, how do we get you users, customers, etc… The strategy depends on the product, the market and the price point. The higher the price, the more touch points you will need with prospective customers and the harder it will be to get impulse buys or downloads. Let’s cover the strategies and pros and cons of each. Ways to get customers: Referrals Paid Ads Social Media Affiliates Partnerships Marketplaces Content Creation 1. Referrals aka Word of Mouth This is the best, most popular and scalable way to build a business. When your product or service is EPIC and people love it, they talk about it. Every new user they bring is gold. $0 CAC. But it is really goddamn hard. Things don’t just GO VIRAL. There is a science and a bit of luck involved. Net Promoter Score or NPS is the best way to measure virality. It involves polling customers to find their thoughts and affinity towards your brand/product and how likely they are to share with a friend. There are a lot of ways to increase NPS — the most obvious are a great product and killer customer service. But virality can also be engineered. Airbnb offers a free stay for any friend you refer. Groupon gave great deals for large groups.

Julian Zawistowski is founder and CEO of Golem, the decentralized supercomputer company that raised $8.6M in 30 minutes in their crowdfunding/ICO. Julian’s company is now valued at $280M and he talks candidly about building a crypto company, managing investors and building a gamechanging disruptive technology. Listen and Learn: * How the cryptocurrency landscape has evolved * The way ICOs are disrupting traditional venture * What happens when a pre-product company is worth ~$280M+ * Why blockchain enthusiasts overestimate short term impacts and underestimate long term impacts * How crypto companies should prepare for an ICO * What cryptocurrencies and decentralization mean for government and regulation * Why Ethereum is the platform of the future Julian’s Projects: Golem.Network Julian’s Twitter: @julianzawist Golem’s Twitter: @golemproject Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.Julian Zawistowski is founder and CEO of Golem, the decentralized supercomputer company that raised $8.6M in 30 minutes in their crowdfunding/ICO. Julian’s company is now valued at $280M and he talks candidly about building a crypto company, managing investors and building a gamechanging disruptive technology. Listen and Learn: * How the cryptocurrency landscape has evolved * The way ICOs are disrupting traditional venture * What happens when a pre-product company is worth ~$280M+ * Why blockchain enthusiasts overestimate short term impacts and underestimate long term impacts * How crypto companies should prepare for an ICO * What cryptocurrencies and decentralization mean for government and regulation * Why Ethereum is the platform of the future Julian’s Projects: Golem.Network Julian’s Twitter: @julianzawist Golem’s Twitter: @golemproject Are you an accredited investor? Apply to join our angel syndicate if you’d like to access our deal flow.

The Syndicate hosted The Future of AI and Autonomous Vehicles Live Streamed Roundtable on 12/11/17 Our expert panelists include: Dennis Mortensen a super successful serial entrepreneur with 3 exits and is currently the founder of X.ai. His company has raised $44M and are solving the issues of scheduling and personal assistants. He has a ton of experience dealing with large data sets and founded several successful analytics companies. Prateek Joshi is an 8 time author and researcher/thought leader in the field of AI. He’s given 3x TEDx talks on applied AI and deep learning and is the founder of Pluto AI— a startup using AI for something meaningful, smart water analytics and management. Clara Brenner is the Co-Founder of Tumml and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. She is also a Managing Partner at The Urban Innovation Fund. Ms. Brenner is responsible for the firm’s partnership development, marketing, fundraising and building the organization’s national presence and working closely with the organization’s portfolio companies. Zach Coelius is an accomplished startup founder and an even better angel investor. As a syndicate lead, Zach was an early investor in Cruise Automation, the driverless car startup later acquired by GM for $1B. Zach is a humble and knowledge investor, advising and investing in numerous startups and offers an in-depth jack of all trades view on future of tech and society. We covered a wide range of topics from level 5 autonomy, Tesla and the driverless competition, the future of transportation, the implications and disruptions of displaced jobs and much much more. Want more great round tables and investor interviews. Subscribe today to never miss a thing! The Syndicate hosted The Future of AI and Autonomous Vehicles Live Streamed Roundtable on 12/11/17 Our expert panelists include: Dennis Mortensen a super successful serial entrepreneur with 3 exits and is currently the founder of X.ai. His company has raised $44M and are solving the issues of scheduling and personal assistants. He has a ton of experience dealing with large data sets and founded several successful analytics companies. Prateek Joshi is an 8 time author and researcher/thought leader in the field of AI. He’s given 3x TEDx talks on applied AI and deep learning and is the founder of Pluto AI— a startup using AI for something meaningful, smart water analytics and management. Clara Brenner is the Co-Founder of Tumml and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. She is also a Managing Partner at The Urban Innovation Fund. Ms. Brenner is responsible for the firm’s partnership development, marketing, fundraising and building the organization’s national presence and working closely with the organization’s portfolio companies. Zach Coelius is an accomplished startup founder and an even better angel investor. As a syndicate lead, Zach was an early investor in Cruise Automation, the driverless car startup later acquired by GM for $1B. Zach is a humble and knowledge investor, advising and investing in numerous startups and offers an in-depth jack of all trades view on future of tech and society. We covered a wide range of topics from level 5 autonomy, Tesla and the driverless competition, the future of transportation, the implications and disruptions of displaced jobs and much much more. Want more great round tables and investor interviews. Subscribe today to never miss a thing!