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....

Nothing New to See Here

Feld Thoughts 3/27 7:25A

A founder I ve been emailing with sent me something that made me laugh. Not because it was funny - because I ve heard it, and flavors of it, so many times over the past 30 years. “I committed to Cursor and went heads down for about 4 months. Our...

Probable Versus Possible: Managing Expectations as a Startup CFO

Thisisgoingtobebig.com 3/18 10:11A Charlie O'Donnell

You’re sitting in a board meeting watching your CEO paint a picture of the next 18 months, and everything they’re saying is… … not impossible, but.. . But you know the assumptions underneath it. And you’re about to have to present the model...