Bootstrapped from zero. “Sell a product or course online! Sell services locally!” There are millions of different get rich quick schemes floating online now. The goal here is to secure the bag and escape the grind ASAP. Raised $100M+ from VCs. “Are you a Unicorn yet? Which Y Combinator class were you in?” Startups areContinue reading “We Need A Middle Class For Startups”
Tag Archives: Startups
The Decades Are Short But The Centuries Are Long
Labdoor is turning 10 years old this month! We’ve been through so much — moving cross-country to SF to join Rock Health, raising a seed round led by Mark Cuban, creating a passionate community of smart consumers, getting accepted into Y Combinator’s Winter 2015 class, fighting multiple lawsuits from supplement companies, raising a Series A ledContinue reading “The Decades Are Short But The Centuries Are Long”
Public Ventures
How Governments Can Run VC Funds The public should get equity in businesses that take government funding. No more free-money bailouts for billionaires. Public VC funds share in the upside when the startups they fund succeed. This incentivizes governments to invest more in earlier-stage startups. Public VC is a renewable economic resource. Successful investments inContinue reading “Public Ventures”
43North for Detroit
Create a $5M+ per year fund sponsored by the City, State, and/or nonprofits. 43North invests $5M per year in startups that move to Buffalo. This accelerator is funded by the State of New York as part of its Buffalo Billion program. 43North’s Grand Prize winner gets a $1 million investment. Create thousands of jobs inContinue reading “43North for Detroit”
Arsenal of Progress
We don’t have enough food. We don’t have enough medicine. We don’t have enough masks. We don’t have enough semiconductor chips. We must have enough before we can dream of more. Literal factories. Hundreds of them. These factories of abundance are our new Arsenal of Progress. Movement: Detroit vs. Shenzhen Accelerator: YC for Manufacturing Fund:Continue reading “Arsenal of Progress”
Detroit vs. Shenzhen
Let’s honor and build on this legacy by making Detroit the home of America’s new manufacturing revolution. Turn Detroit into a free trade and advanced manufacturing zone. Create a concentrated supply chain in Detroit near the US-Canada border. Create thousands of jobs in Detroit. Manufacture critical supplies in America close to where they’re needed most.Continue reading “Detroit vs. Shenzhen”
Y Combinator for Manufacturing
Invest in a new American hub for rapid R&D and manufacturing of critical products. See: Detroit vs. Shenzhen Newark secured a $50M partnership last year to relocate HAX’s US headquarters. Funding: $25M from New Jersey (NJEDA) + $25M from VC firm SOSV. Detroit: Raise $50M+ to build a manufacturing and technology accelerator in the City.Continue reading “Y Combinator for Manufacturing”
Studios vs. Startups
Startup = Growth. No company can grow forever with just one product. The best startups launch, buy, and grow many products. Xerox → PARC Google → X Amazon → Grand Challenge Google → Alphabet Facebook → Meta Keeping their startups in perpetual studio mode is key to staying relevant for another generation. Running an indieContinue reading “Studios vs. Startups”
Founders vs. VCs
If you’re really ambitious in startups, there’s only ever been two paths: founder vs. VC. Founders go deep on one company. VCs get to build a broad portfolio. So they’re incentivized to keep founders locked up in their original startups. They don’t want founders to diversify. VCs want a portfolio for themselves but not forContinue reading “Founders vs. VCs”
Decentralized Failsafes
When someone steals your crypto, it’s gone forever. How can we build this feature into decentralized finance (DeFi)? We need a decentralized consensus mechanism to track and reverse theft of digital assets. One Coin = One Vote rules exposes blockchain protocols to the risk of 51% attacks. Example: The Beanstalk protocol was robbed of $182MContinue reading “Decentralized Failsafes”