Being a successful venture capitalist requires various skills, but we believe that the ability to empathize with founders separates the good from the great. The first years of a startup are a rollercoaster of stress for founders where success is unpredictable and sometimes seems out of reach. Most investors have…

By Amanda Herson I couldn’t be more excited about joining the partnership at Founder Collective. The last two years on the team have been energizing, and I am even more bullish about the next 20. Founder Collective is open for business, and I am eager to invest! Here’s what I’m…

By Micah Rosenbloom Entrepreneurs solving their own problems can be a formula for startup success. But often, I see founders over-index on their unique situations. Before starting, consider the following: 🥸 Are you weird? 🧮 Are you objective or obsessed? 📈 Is it a big market or a mirage? For…

By Amanda Herson VCs offer a lot of advice from a 30,000-foot view. Here are 7 bits of practical wisdom I gleaned when managing a large, resource-constrained, growing team that you can apply to your startup today. 📈 Think big, but set small goals Focus on getting 100 orders a month. Then 100 a week. Then 100…

By Joseph Flaherty Levi Strauss’ biography is the model for the “picks & shovels” business model. He sold jeans to prospectors, and while most mining claims went bust, his tough trousers minted a fortune. Many founders believe it’s better to be a toolmaker than a miner. But is it? In…

By David Frankel We recently held a roundtable discussion with founders of scaling startups in our portfolio on managing hybrid organizations in this third year of COVID. They shared a dozen tips based on learnings from managing thousands of remote employees. 📅 More meetings are an unfortunate necessity The common belief was that these needed to be…

By David Frankel As capital gets scarce, I want to relay a few thoughts on startup marketing that Kayak founder Steve Hafner recently shared with the Founder Collective portfolio: First, order it well Steve suggested the following order: 🗣️ Word of mouth: Free 🔍 SEO: Inexpensive 💵 Paid: Measurable/scalable 📣 Brand: Save for last …

By Joseph Flaherty Almost any pitch is better when the founder and product are at the story’s center rather than waiting to be activated around slide eight. Here are three tips on turning a pro forma checklist into a page-turning narrative: 1. Lead with your product. Put a picture of your product on your cover…

An important question every startup needs to ask ASAP — by David Frankel Humble founders often think that their customers are way stronger and more stable than their own “little” startup. That could be a false assumption, particularly now. Plan accordingly. “Cut your burn” and “shore up your balance sheet” have become conventional startup wisdom over the last few weeks…