Will Startup Armageddon happen, or are VC's fixing the problem?
This week (and before), Gary Vaynerchuck spoke out about the startup hype, and that every student now thinks they are an entrepreneur. Building financial machines focused on raising round after round. VC's however, are noticing this trend and some are (re)focusing on revenue driven startups. Will this stop the armageddon (or bubble) Gary thinks is about to happen?
The must read this week is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking about crowd-funding their product. China will copy, but obviously only the cheap to produce and whatever it thinks will be an instant hit. I personally wouldn't worry about it too much.
What are your thoughts?
Must read
Your brilliant Kickstarter idea could be on sale in China before you’ve even finished funding it
We always inform entrepreneurs they shouldn't be afraid to share their idea because someone might copy it. This holds up, as sharing your idea can actually make people excited to help you realize it, but putting physical products on crowd-funding sites proves to become a problem, but with that come opportunities.
Sponsored
Guaranteed to Succeed:
97% of developers will fail you. We are the other 3%. Let Toptal match you with a great developer. Get started now!
Culture
Entrepreneur and investor Gary Vaynerchuk 'cannot wait' for the startup armageddon
Gary believes a lot of founders are doing a startup, even if they aren't fully fit to do so, just because they can. Obviously if this is the case, we will probably see a correction any time soon. Listen to this elaborate Recode Podcast on the matter.
The curse of a new building
At some point in my career as I began to ponder how/why startups morph from agile, “can do” companies to ones that have lost their edge. I didn’t need to look much further than the “new building” debacle I had a hand in.
Modern Entrepreneurship
Mostly luck, not an accident
To build a successful startup today is to be lucky. But is it accidental? Founders struggle to keep their teams focused, to avoid distractions, to scale their teams as they tackle bigger and bigger challenges. It turns out that a framework, which has been in place at Google since it was less than a year old, is one way founders today can set their companies up for long-term success.
Growth
How we launched one of the top games on Product Hunt
Disrupt Cards is tech's card game, read all about their launch lessons.
Product
Before growth
Before you start thinking about growth, ask yourself what the one metric is that you want to grow — your North Star. When your company is small, don't stress about growth, growth, growth...
Obscurity is a valid security layer
Many of us are familiar with a concept known as Security by Obscurity. The term has negative connotations within the Infosec community, usually for the wrong reason. The question of whether obscurity is good or bad reduces to whether it’s being used as a layer on top of good security, or as a replacement for it. The former is good. The latter is bad.
Finance
This is not the seed round you’re looking for
Indie.vc is trying to change the investment game, here is how.
Unicorns are eating seed investing
The business of seed investing has changed, as has it’s business model. We’re rapidly moving away from a business model of optionality to one of arbitrage. The implicit A rounds and the siren song of Unicorn culture have proven too compelling to resist. A business model that depends on the business model of upstream capital will significantly limit the profile of founders one can fund and the outcomes they can achieve.
Overdosing on VC: Lessons from 71 IPOs
'Efficient Entrepreneurs' vs 'Enriched Entrepreneurs' or; how much funding do you really need?
Thank you
Thank you & credits
Thank you for reading Startup Curated! This Startup Curated is curated and edited by Simone Driessen, and Esther Gons and Timan Rebel from Next Amsterdam.
If you value Startup Curated, feel free to forward it to friends or to share on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn to help us grow.