Dollar Shave Club
Hey fellow founders,
Our must read for the week is about a company that started with an amazing viral campaign about shaving and eventually got sold to one of the largest fast moving consumer goods companies in the world, Unilever. The article describes how they did it, and one of the most interesting parts is why their initial investor invested in the first place.
Also read about subtle sexism at the workplace, why WeWork evicted a startup, how Netflix does A/B testing, and a simplified framework of what investors are looking for.
Enjoy and have an awesome weekend!
Must read
Another major win for LA tech
The LA Tech scene is in it FTW! The latest Unicorn shows that you can get big outside of the valley with physical products. We are talking of course about the Dollar Shave Club.
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Culture
'You look good in a tight skirt’: readers share their #canhesaythat moments
When the co-founder of Shoes of Prey, Jodie Fox, received a comment about her appearance from a potential investor, she wondered whether his comment was appropriate. On the Guardian, commenters reacted and shared their experiences of subtle sexism in the workplace.
Startup throws shade at WeWork, gets evicted three days later
WeWork evicted a startup because it wrote a critical blog. Should one be careful to be openly critical? Or did WeWork go to far?
The secret to Silicon Valley’s success is mass delusion, says ‘Chaos Monkeys’ author
If everybody believes in the success of silicon valley it sort of becomes true: a podcast about why Silicon Valley’s cult of optimism works.
Modern Entrepreneurship
A peek inside the moonshot factory operating manual
This is the operating manual on how Google creates it's moonshots.
The four letters that have simplified our business
All you need is A, B, C and D. A simplification of a startup's process.
Design
How Netflix does A/B Testing
"Do you want to learn how they completed their homepage plus other UI layout redesigns through A/B testing? If so, then this article is for you!"
5 Startup landing page TEARDOWNS
Read the critique a couple 500 companies in batch 13 received on their startup landing page from a conversion rate optimizer. And learn how you can apply the heuristic analysis approach to your own startup website.
Where inclusion meets human-centered design
Great teams are diverse and inclusive. That leads to great products. Learn why and how that is so.
Team
How small companies can attract talent from Google, Apple, and Facebook
You don't need to be a Unicorn to get the best talent. These tips will not only get you the best talent but also lets you keep them.
Lonely? Get used to it.
"There is one thing that stands out to me as being particularly hard: the loneliness that comes with being a founder-CEO."
Finance
Raising capital for marketplaces in 2016
"..This chart can be a useful framework for founders to understand what benchmarks we as marketplace investors look for, and when we look for them."