Are you Better at Running the Company Or Running Your Board Meeting?

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 6/17 7:23A Charlie O'Donnell

Some of the best operators I know are terrible in their own board meetings. On the other hand, I know quite a few founders better at smooth talking their boards than they are at actually executing....

Climbing the Wrong Mountain: When Founders Build Around Familiar Problems

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 6/16 4:44A Charlie O'Donnell

The first check I ever wrote into Edward Woodford of ZeroHash went into a company that doesn't exist anymore. He was building an exchange for alternative commodities, futures on markets where some weird regulatory friction had scared everyone...

Does the Rule of 40 Work for Hardware?

Feld Thoughts 6/15 6:36A

I first wrote about the Rule of 40 in 2015. I d heard a late-stage investor describe it at a board meeting - growth rate plus profit should add up to at least 40% - and the simplicity stuck with me....

Sourcing Versus Thinking: Should We Put the Deal Flow Sharing Call to Bed?

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 5/27 8:06A Charlie O'Donnell

Everyday, throngs of mostly junior investors join deal flow calls--regularly scheduled check-ins to "compare notes" on what's out there and being considered. It's a careful dance. You want good deals...

What is this Financial Model for Anyway?

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 5/20 7:12A Charlie O'Donnell

This is a Thingamabob—the main character in a children’s book that feels like it explains a lot about how startups think about their financials. “…In an instant, the thing exploded into gobs and gobs...

Why Bother Writing a Book?

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 4/21 5:32A Charlie O'Donnell

I mean… She’s the one killing all these people, right? Everyplace she shows up, someone dies. It's a question I got a lot before Founder Unfriendly came out and became the #1 Bestselling Business Entrepreneurship book on Amazon, and honestly,...

Give First, Build Right with Eric Ries

Feld Thoughts 4/20 8:51A

Eric Ries wrote The Lean Startup in 2011 and changed how a generation of founders thought about building companies. He’s been an inspiration for me, especially around writing about entrepreneurship. Eric has a new book coming out on May 26 called...

Raising Capital for Consumer Products: How to Get the Green If You’re Not a Bear

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 4/17 3:02A Charlie O'Donnell

If you're a consumer founder who's gotten passed on by investor after investor, you've probably been told some version of "You're a little too early for us"—or you've assumed that most VCs just don't...

Venture Capital Has a Starting Line Problem

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 4/9 1:01A Charlie O'Donnell

What most people don’t know is that the game engine for Nintendo’s Excitebike (1984) was used to power Super Mario Bros. a year later. I backed a micro-mobility company about six or seven years ago....