This week I’ve been thinking about the important connection you can build with employees.
Just recently, our longtime friend René Barranco opened his first business Element Bar in Panama. I first started working René at Microsoft in 2003. When I started growing the team at Mattermark in 2015, he was one of the first people I wanted to hire. We worked together there for several years, and he was universally loved by everyone at our company as an amazing engineer and a boundless source of optimism, fun and laughs–even a counsel in tough times. I hope in some small way we gave him the itch to start his own business, and it’s amazing to see it up and running this week. If you’re ever in Panama, he makes amazing cocktails!
Another longtime employee just hit the employment authorization stage of their visa process and is now in the final step to get their green card. This would make the 3rd green card that we were able to get for employees at Mattermark. The first two both had families, and it meant they didn’t have to completely upend their lives. It was life changing, and I can’t wait to see what they create in their adventures.
Whether or not your company survives, the relationships you build with employees can be a long lasting treasure you get to hold onto.
From the Operators
Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad shares his humbling journey from 19-year-old wunderkind founder to profitable and independent in Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company
In a GIF laden post Frank Denbow tells his story of building his company, applying to YC, only to be rejected and discover what really gave him happiness. We’ve helped a bunch of people with YC interviews over the years, and while some make it, there’s always the possibility of that tough rejection email. Frank made it through to the next step, and we love his story.
Sarah A. Downey of Accomplice acknowledges that most VC are generalist, and she is looking to profile people who have deep domain expertise in Everyday Exceptional: seeking people who are awesome at something specific
From the Operators
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures has an interesting take on Raising A SAFE Or Convertible Note In Between Rounds. Fred talks about how this is a potential long term problem. Danielle and I talked about this, and she pointed out that VCs are using this as a stealth tactic to come in as a “white knight” and lock in companies.
OpenView Venture Partners reminds us why the NPS methodology has been widely discredited in Can’t We Do Better Than NPS?.
This week Ryan Hoover of Weekend Fund chronicles The Rise of “No Code”. I’ve believed for a long time that learning to be a web developer is way too complex relative to the days of Visual Basic dominating line of business applications, and the market is ripe for someone to retake this market. Disclosure: we’re proud investors in Retool.
Chip Hazard of X Factor Ventures takes a pulse on Female founders: Digging into the 2018 investment numbers. Danielle is a partner at X Factor, and actively fields pitches from female founded companies. If you’re working on one, reach out to her by replying to this email.
Morgan Housel of Collaborative Fund goes back to the moment early chemists figured out how to make bronze from copper and tin, both are relatively soft but suddently together they’re like magic. In my research for Buried Read’s , I keep coming across founders who needed a Steve Wozniak like personality to make it all come together. When you get cofounder alchemy right, it’s magic.
One last note, we are active on Twitter under @BuriedReads. We share posts beyond what we share here. Like Tomasz Tunguz’s post about Top 10 Learnings from the Redpoint Free Trial Survey.