Best of VC/ Startups Articles

Running list of good articles on VC/ startups space we have read.

Updated Jan 2020

1] VC DD toolkit

On babe Ruth, networks, decision trees***

https://medium.com/metamorphic-ventures/babe-ruth-power-laws-and-what-it-all-means-778dc1e788d2

Story telling/ hypothesis testing**

https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/understanding-products-through-storytelling-b4f212ee5cfa

Evaluating Marketplace**

http://abovethecrowd.com/2012/11/13/all-markets-are-not-created-equal-10-factors-to-consider-when-evaluating-digital-marketplaces/

Decision criteria n learning cycle**

https://medium.com/at-the-front-line/using-data-to-shorten-vc-learning-cycles-6a8589cdb8cf

Using decision trees for DD**

https://bettereveryday.vc/i-continue-to-be-on-a-kick-towards-better-and-more-systematic-decision-making-a45d5c1d534d

https://medium.com/@alexlee611/binomial-decision-tree-in-vc-investing-6628120f5789

https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/journal_posts/applying-decision-analysis-to-venture-investing

https://www.slideshare.net/nextviewvc/a-vcs-decision-tree-how-startup-investors-get-to-yes-or-no

Cohort analysis

https://medium.com/@kalliagk/cohort-analysis-for-startups-101-70a1c3bd85ae

https://chartmogul.com/resources/cohort-analysis-cheat-sheet.pdf

Investment memo

http://milesgrimshaw.com/sequoia-investment-memo/

TAM

https://medium.com/@samir.ghosh/the-tam-onion-de1ffc413e07

Why TAM doesn’t matter

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/05/why-tam-doesnt-matter-to-me/

Seed investing framework ****

https://medium.com/@checkwarner/a-seed-investing-framework-5c7844157baa

2] VC fund strategy

Forming investment thesis***

https://www.usv.com/blog/usv-thesis-20

On VC vs PE; and styles of VC**

https://zhuanlan.sina.cn/article?ch=tech&id=27665&vt=4&page=2

What kind of A deals

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/24503536

Why do VCs fail*** (on cross point cap)

http://www.iheima.com/article-162411.html

Vision fund thesis n process

https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/28/pulling-back-the-curtain-on-how-softbanks-massive-vision-fund-works-including-just-how-big-a-check-it-can-write/

VC fund promotion

https://medium.com/sosv-accelerator-vc/vc-marketing-using-your-positioning-thought-leadership-and-results-13dba0f8491e

Capital n equity efficient

https://medium.com/@alibhamed/capital-efficient-vs-equity-efficient-118cc0fa88d3

How china VC is changing **

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SaCUxkmdz5YZ03XVKtSWIg

Gold rush problem in PE- increase debt/ op improvement?

https://medium.com/@americanaffairs/private-equity-overvalued-and-overrated-10c27def2248

VC fund alignment issues

https://medium.com/the-raabithole/misaligned-incentives-in-venture-capital-bf4844caae1a

Building great seed fund (IA ventures)

https://blog.usejournal.com/building-a-seed-stage-venture-firm-c432816ce45e

https://www.businessinsider.com/on-raising-a-fund-the-ia-ventures-story-2010-12

Homebrew fund tips

https://hunterwalk.com/2019/01/17/two-portfolio-tips-for-first-time-seed-funds/

Vertical specialisation

https://medium.com/@alibhamed/should-vc-funds-specialize-505e2f374077

Covering Europe

https://medium.com/@vincejaco/how-vcs-cover-europe-ef5e1f0544b

Raising fund 1***

https://www.businessinsider.com/on-raising-a-fund-the-ia-ventures-story-2010-12

https://blog.usejournal.com/building-a-seed-stage-venture-firm-c432816ce45e

Add value, source better, invest better

https://www.forbes.com/sites/valleyvoices/2019/02/14/there-are-only-three-vc-strategies/

Emerging manager must do

https://medium.com/@arjundarora/emerging-manager-must-dos-the-path-to-your-first-fund-3bd86e432d8d

3] GENERAL VC

VC primer

https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/a-kiss-venture-capital-primer-1-8d578ea527f0

VC fund overview

https://www.codingvc.com/behind-the-scenes-at-a-vc-fund-part-3-fund-structure-fundraising-investor-relations-and-faqs/

Why VC funding not for every startup

https://www.teampay.co/insights/unicorn-fail-vc-funding/

https://marker.medium.com/reflecting-on-my-failure-to-build-a-billion-dollar-company-b0c31d7db0e7

Advice to new VC

https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/three-pieces-of-advice-to-new-investors-e69f11ffd6a9

10 things about VC

https://25iq.com/2013/07/05/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-about-venture-capital/

Learnings from a top china VC**

https://m.huanqiu.com/r/MV8wXzkyMDc4NDBfMjM1XzE0NjkwODI3MjA=?pc_url=http%3A%2F%2Ffinance.huanqiu.com%2Froll%2F2016-07%2F9207840.html

Growth vs profitability

https://medium.com/swlh/the-three-words-no-early-stage-vc-wants-to-hear-14293a064276

Getting into VC

https://medium.com/@Haje/how-to-get-a-job-in-venture-capital-be1a6054d1f9

Paths into VC

https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/04/top-vcs-on-how-to-break-into-venture-capital/

VC fears n loathing

https://blog.maxniederhofer.com/fear-and-loathing-in-venture-capital

Keep your identity small

http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

VC’s PR problem

https://medium.com/@carinecarmy/the-vc-pr-paradox-4d2c990e3dcd

VC why the best keep winning

https://medium.com/s/understanding-venture-capital/why-the-most-successful-vc-firms-keep-winning-b3146a261ac8

Ethics in VC

https://medium.com/@acjf37/the-ethics-of-venture-investing-what-is-virtue-ethics-2-4201e71ee5a5

VCs pitching to startups

https://medium.com/@ads.long/surprising-learnings-from-vc-firms-pitching-to-startups-5141e162027e

VC vs entrepreneurs

https://summation.net/2019/01/21/venture-capitalists-are-much-less-ambitious-than-their-private-equity-siblings/

4] market/ sector knowledge

VC seed investing growth n decline**

https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-has-seed-investing-declined-and-what-does-this-mean-for-the-future-6a9572357130

Seed investing monopoly by large funds

https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/22/the-fight-for-seed/

Changes in VC/ history overview + risks

https://bothsidesofthetable.com/the-continued-changes-in-the-venture-climate-331c69cc4be4

Growth in VC as an asset class

https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/doubling-down-on-vc-in-a-post-dot-com-post-recession-era-5fb8df60fcca

Recession in 2019 n implications

https://medium.com/road-less-ventured/why-an-economic-downturn-may-not-affect-the-vc-landscape-uniformly-62f00cb20326

Seed is now a phase not single round

https://medium.com/@hunterwalk/for-fundraising-seed-is-no-longer-a-round-its-a-phase-70b1c927a06

SAAS fund raising napkin***

https://medium.com/point-nine-news/what-does-it-take-to-raise-capital-in-saas-in-2019-26829debef29

Getting to 100M Rev n growth trajectory

http://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-fast-is-fast-enough.html

T2D3 for saas ARR (triple/ double)

https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/01/the-saas-travel-adventure/

50 lessons from unicorns

https://medium.com/@alitamaseb/land-of-the-super-founders-a-data-driven-approach-to-uncover-the-secrets-of-billion-dollar-a69ebe3f0f45

IDG on investing in fashion

https://luxe.co/post/85465

China internet history

https://kknews.cc/finance/6kqjzy3.html

D2C china playbook

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/G49oY0zlUtJrSmxveIXkrw

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/P-P2t54Npi4yyQrlLaImdg

D2C overview

https://blog.usejournal.com/glossier-on-my-face-to-allbirds-on-my-feet-d2c-from-head-to-toe-b16044699239

D2C overview of funding***

https://medium.com/@sitararamesh/d2c-by-the-numbers-breaking-down-the-hype-into-dollars-and-cents-d5d74e807494

Large D2C deals in 2019

https://medium.com/swlh/billion-dollar-burgers-razors-bags-and-elephants-1680540f7b68

Success factors for D2C

https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/26/predicting-success-in-startup-consumer-brands/

DNVB characteristics

https://medium.com/@dunn/digitally-native-vertical-brands-b26a26f2cf83

DNVB list

https://medium.com/@dunn/the-emerging-encyclopedia-of-digitally-native-vertical-brands-dnvbs-74bfd0e581bb

Consumer product investing

https://doc-0o-as-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/ha0ro937gcuc7l7deffksulhg5h7mbp1/7d98pfq638u15h77n0ipover8e76eaig/1566655200000/04464252427486419540/*/0B0RgmdZ4l-HzWUFHWEd6STdNeDQ?e=download

Why there’s opportunity in VC consumer

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/vc-investing-in-consumer-goods-companies/

Consumer: easy understand, hard to do

https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/31/consumer-internet-companies-are-easy-to-understand-but-hard-to-create/

Manufacturer going into D2C

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/should-cpg-manufacturers-go-direct-to-consumer-and-if-so-how

Skepticism on DNVBs

https://2pml.com/2019/05/13/dtc-playbook/

2 disruptions of D2C

https://medium.com/hackernoon/diagnosing-direct-to-consumer-disruption-aa85d3badad0

Retail brand cycle

https://medium.com/@efeng/the-circle-of-brand-life-retail-is-dying-as-retail-is-thriving-ac9df55f9143

Omnichannel

https://medium.com/shiprocket/omni-channel-retail-the-indian-scenario-and-excelling-through-shipping-strategies-b4143447589d

Death of middle class in US affecting retail

https://2pml.com/2019/08/05/gilded-age/

50 companies w little funding

https://medium.com/hackernoon/50-big-companies-that-started-with-little-or-no-money-4ef1b68aac25

Analysing apps metrics

On choosing right usage metrics

https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/selecting-the-right-user-metric-de95015aa38

On behaviour, DAU, WAU, MAU

https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/the-laws-of-nature-strongly-influence-product-behavior-5743fe3247fe

Alternative meat

https://medium.com/future-positive/hunting-and-gathering-our-meatless-future-with-meatable-62430592cca5

Food n machine

https://medium.com/@mhdempsey/robotics-food-and-people-announcing-our-investment-in-ono-food-co-faf17e57a9a8

About lab grown meats meatable

https://medium.com/future-positive/hunting-and-gathering-our-meatless-future-with-meatable-62430592cca5

Lab grown fish

https://medium.com/neodotlife/corby-kummer-on-finless-foods-80fdfec10e14

Hybrid meat

https://medium.com/@philipp.stangl_24038/the-case-for-hybrid-meat-bd711ea9855b

Consumerisation of enterprise tech

https://medium.com/@tiffinewang/the-consumerization-of-enterprise-tech-344ba7fbfc58

C2M businesses

https://medium.com/swlh/the-new-wave-of-consumer-to-manufacturer-615a00f13f60

Buy now pay later

https://medium.com/better-marketing/the-buy-now-pay-later-comeback-and-the-impact-on-the-e-commerce-industry-cfe7566b9db5

4 horsemen n deliver wars / restaurant threat***

https://medium.thanx.com/four-horsemen-restaurant-apocalypse-64947b3d9657?gi=a723cf1fa042

5] DD process

https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-you-should-never-have-a-data-room-the-most-counter-intuitive-fund-raising-advice-youll-ever-9380172366ea

Impact evaluation

https://medium.com/@theimpactengine/impact-due-diligence-the-questions-we-ask-fb849617c509

Asking good questions

https://medium.com/@timhanso/the-questions-that-matter-46c5dd978f0c

Valuation

https://www.mrharkins.com/angels-value-entrepreneurial-investment/

6] profile pieces

On indiebio

https://medium.com/neodotlife/arvind-gupta-indie-bio-7a5557c41b70

Female VC: Jess

https://medium.com/bloomberg-businessweek/sequoias-first-woman-partner-is-raising-capital-and-standards-7e7a9abf15aa

Thinking clearly

https://thepolymathproject.com/a-few-principles-for-thinking-clearly/

Sequoia partner on heart n passion

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/GSVNw2eUGCPXSV0nQ9vxIQ

Andressen horowitz

https://medium.com/financial-times/andreessen-horowitz-rides-the-wave-of-silicon-valley-ipos-b6152c6ac89b

On vision fund

https://medium.com/@paulbliot/how-softbank-has-disrupted-vc-and-start-up-investment-be708c5450a5

7] portfolio growth

Pitch deck design

https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/what-we-learned-from-analyzing-100-startup-pitch-decks-31551809710d

Startup scaling process*

https://www.quora.com/What-is-involved-in-a-startup-scaling

Challenges of Series B

https://medium.com/@fdestin/series-b-is-usually-the-hardest-b40df7b9c166

Barbell of find raising

http://freddestin.com/2009/03/good-ol-barbell-back-in-vc-fashion.html

Business value quadrant

http://www.ghosh.com/blog/business-value-quadarrow/

Brand building

https://medium.com/s/how-to-build-a-brand/lets-talk-about-how-to-build-a-brand-543b2dfbc4f5

9 ways to make product viral

https://medium.com/gabor/9-ways-to-build-virality-into-your-product-5975e1fe74e3

Building viral brand- 3 channels

https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/how-to-build-a-breakout-brand-457ae6e8c961

Word of mouth virality

https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/word-of-mouth-virality-in-the-real-world-ea69aaa360b6

Data n story telling

https://medium.com/nightingale/is-your-data-story-actually-a-story-3d1fa52394d9

B2B scaling to Europe

https://medium.com/at-the-front-line/5-questions-every-ceo-should-ask-before-expanding-into-europe-e2bad8ada67d

Build relationships not things

https://medium.com/article-group/make-relationships-not-things-4c20df2fb249

Value based hiring and firing

https://medium.com/@gokulrajaram/values-based-firing-5a6646617530

Innovating/ scaling , executing/ managing hiring framework ***

https://medium.com/lessons-from-startup-ceos/how-to-use-jacksons-matrix-to-make-startup-hires-b47c655fff18

Product market fit process

https://medium.com/costanoa-ventures/3-signposts-on-the-road-to-product-market-fit-95699fe075ce

8) founder issues

Dead equity

https://medium.com/swlh/what-is-dead-equity-and-why-do-we-care-b7ba4765f279

9) fund investing and LPs

Initial call questions

https://medium.com/@alibhamed/some-advice-on-first-calls-with-fund-managers-you-might-be-evaluating-4a3b479f4668

Framework for fund diligence

https://medium.com/@DrTJ_Eckleburg/due-diligence-the-vcs-part-one-the-limited-partner-perspective-33b78f1e04c8

Raising a 1st fund

https://medium.com/@arjundarora/emerging-manager-must-dos-the-path-to-your-first-fund-3bd86e432d8d

Setting fund size for GPS

https://medium.com/@Samirkaji/how-to-set-a-good-fund-target-as-an-emerging-venture-fund-manager-6a65844ab133

10) startup fund raising

Fund raising process

https://medium.com/@mattwichrowski/funding-faq-what-is-investor-due-diligence-4af685c8e235

Customer DD calls

https://medium.com/@mattwichrowski/funding-faq-customer-due-diligence-c3110d8f0b8a

Raise at top end of normal

https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-startups-should-raise-money-at-the-top-end-of-normal-2d07310b17ae

Do not measure urself by ur fund raise

https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-i-fucking-hate-unicorns-and-the-culture-they-breed-9b30fcc98019

Getting cold responses from VCs thru portfolio CEO’s

https://medium.com/startup-muse/how-to-meet-wealthy-strangers-f33d3bcb09

Valuation

https://medium.com/@flaviarichardso/valuation-as-a-process-a2d79cdbda37

11) ecosystem building

Built community from spaces

https://medium.com/whub/are-co-working-spaces-and-community-synonyms-e2331810bdf7