Founders struggling to come up with a “good business idea”: Instead of trying to develop an entirely new idea, try focusing on delivering a 10x better experience for an existing user behavior. Advantages include: Stripe, Shopify, Brex, Carta – these are all examples of companies that didn’t invent new ideas, but instead made existing processes … Continue reading Make Things Better
A former-operator-now-turned-a-VC I know seems to be frequently going into two modes: I get the sense that this person might be in a wrong profession… Continue reading Don’t Be Jaded or Envious
Founders sometimes fall into the trap of building products for investors and advisers, instead of for users. I’ve made that mistake myself. Once, after a productive conversation with a VC who raised some interesting points, I went back to my team and we built out the features he suggested. A few months later, when I … Continue reading Building Product For Investors vs Users
Shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Arie Abecassis. Ever since Rob Pereyda introduced Arie years ago, I kept in touch with Arie and became an LP in his deftly.vc fund (which, by the way, is in good hands with Paul Canetti and friends). Arie and I would talk about our life goals, the … Continue reading Remembering Arie
Recently I was talking to a founder who wanted to introduce someone to me, saying he’s getting a lot of insights from this person and I should talk to him. Turned out, I was the one who introduced him to the founder in the first place 😂 It’s a good habit to remember who made … Continue reading Always Try To Circle Back
Which cold call request do you think has a better chance? A: “Hi John, I’m a founder starting a new venture in (a field that John doesn’t have interest in). I’d love to pick your brain and get some advice. Do you have any time available this week?” B: “Hi John, I was chatting with … Continue reading Cold Call 101
A highly successful former executive told me at a recent dinner: “I used to be somebody when I was running my company. But after I left, I felt like I was nobody.” He initially enjoyed the anonymity of blending into the crowd. But soon, that feeling shifted to anxiety — what if he stayed a … Continue reading Feeling Like Somebody Again
For this election, immigration should be one of the most important topics. America was built by immigrants. Four out of the seven CEOs of the so-called Magnificent Seven companies (the top tech companies in the US and the world) are immigrants. As a naturalized American citizen, immigration is a topic I personally care deeply about. … Continue reading Immigration Policies
“CK, you’re cool, calm, and collected,” said a VC after my pitch some years ago, early in my previous company. At the time, I took that as a compliment — though, in hindsight, it probably wasn’t 🙂 I think what he really meant was that I didn’t show as much charisma as he expected from … Continue reading Confidence and Charisma
A founder innovating in the healthcare device industry today said: “Our biggest competitors are Company A and Company B, but that’s within an existing market. Most people who have trouble with X just don’t do anything.” Sometimes the biggest competitor can be non-users, i.e. people who aren’t doing anything right now. If you can somehow … Continue reading Non-users: The Biggest Competitor
