Since launching Buried Reads in September, we’ve created a new newsletter for software engineers. Instead of linking to blog posts, Kevin decided to do his own original research and writing. The first edition is out: How Computing Came About. We went deep into history, back to the days when “Computer” was a job title held by humans. Early reviewers, even non-technical ones, told us they loved learning history they didn’t know about. We’re building an audience for more content like this, and hope you will subscribe and share with anyone you know who would enjoy this history.
From the Operators
2018 was the year of people resolving to use their phones less, stay away from Twitter, delete Facebook and perform various forms of “digital detox”. There’s clearly something to this, but I also believe this trend is swinging the pendulum too far the other way. Replace the word “phone” with “my connection to all human knowledge” and then try to talk about how pernicious it is with a straight face. Given this, I was elated to hear Sachin Monga formerly from Facebook offer some valuable perspective on wielding these new attention gravity devices in Screens & Time.
Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal of Pioneer Square Labs kicked off Season 4 of their amazing podcast Acquired. This episode tells how ESPN got off the ground. It brought me back to the days before the Internet when cable was a welcome relief from the three major network channels.
Ting Ni and Hendrik Pretorius of ImmiPartner go in depth on transforming immigration HR from a nuisance to a strategic advantage. 70% of foreign candidates view a company’s green card policy as a major consideration when joining. At Mattermark, we took pride in working to secure green cards, and are so proud of being able to help families stay in the U.S. indefinitely.
Bob Crimmins of Startup Haven started a series on why founders should play poker. In Poker is “Wax On, Wax Off” for Startup Founders, he reminded us of a great quip from Peter Thiel: when everyone around you is taking shortcuts, you should dig deep and research from first principles. When everyone around you is moving slowly, you should find the shortcuts that cut through the noise. A classic lesson from the poker table that works in business too.
From the Investors
David Sacks of Craft Ventures posted a tweet this week soliciting off-the-shelf Series A docs. After seeing legal bills in excess of $100,000 to do a fairly standard Series A, we’d love to see the startup community optimize.
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures has a great distillation of Eugene Wei’s Novel Mental Models for Technology. Danielle had been reading The Theory of the Leisure Class this summer, and it took us back to how signaling shapes humans culture.
Sammy Abdullah of Blossom Street Ventures offers a seldom spoken truth: strategic investors can hurt you. Too few people talk about the strings that can come with this ”easier” money.
As a hiring manager, references checks scare Kevin. He was influenced by the advice that if a reference isn’t a screaming “Yes!” for a candidate, then it’s damning. On this basis, he almost turned away what ended up being his greatest engineering hire ever. He’s looking for ways to make reference checks work, and thinks the ideas from Bowery Capital in The 7 Do’s and Don’t of Sales Reference Checks are a good start.
Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures tweets a reminder that trust underlies our society and economy. We wish more economists and psychologists studied the inner mechanics of trust. The closest Kevin has found recently is Gottman’s The Science of Trust.
For founding teams that didn’t give away board seats to investors in early rounds, it is tempting to forgo board meetings. Jason Lemkin of SaaStr argues holding board meetings is a great way to secure investor commitment for follow on or at least a bridge in 5 Reasons to Actually Have Board Meetings.
Brigitte Hackler of High Alpha answers the perennial question from founders How Much Should You Burn. She’s doesn’t provide a single answer, but rather a framework using risk and distance from needing to raise again to help you come to your own answer. Later stage founders should think about the Rule of 40, which Dave Kellog wrote an awesome update on this week.