View from Seed

MAY 3, 2016

Today’s guest, Jesse Middleton, is a co-founder of WeWork Labs, the company’s global startup incubator, and currently the head of WeWork X, which includes Labs and also the new WeWork investing and M&A activities. Jesse was also among the first to join the co-founders of WeWork when it started.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Cofounder Incubator Global 120

View from Seed

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Quilt (a NextView portfolio company incubated in our Boston office) recently launched a fully digital life insurance product that approves policies in just 15 minutes. If you’re a founder redesigning how we think about work and money, we welcome the opportunity to talk with you more.

Finance 185

Finance Distribution Seed Stage Germany 185

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

As a founder on Day One, you are at zero. Perhaps because New York’s startup world is relatively young and condensed and the city itself is a breakneck backdrop for a founder, the camaraderie, honesty, and welcome attitudes that the majority of participants display is profound.

New York City 120

New York City New York Entrepreneur Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

As a founder on Day One, you are at zero. Perhaps because New York’s startup world is relatively young and condensed and the city itself is a breakneck backdrop for a founder, the camaraderie, honesty, and welcome attitudes that the majority of participants display is profound.

New York City 120

New York City New York Entrepreneur Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Though, this article is not a reflection on the fundamentals of unicorns—rather, I am using them as a proxy for situations in which founders have executed on big ideas. 38 unicorns, or 1 in 4 (24%), have at least one MBA founder. 63 MBA founders are represented among the 157 unicorns. Key Insights. Shazam (GSB, Haas).

Programming 120

Programming St. Louis Cofounder India 120

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MARCH 15, 2017

Founders’ employ intuition and rapid reaction to their market(s) to pivot and evolve their model. In this section of the memo, the challenge is in not layering our own opinions into a summary what the actual model is and where the founders want to take it. Any seed stage company’s strategy is a constant work-in-progress.

Due Diligence 265

Due Diligence Seed Stage Portfolio Metrics 265

View from Seed

DECEMBER 23, 2015

We like to joke that VCs often advise founders to focus on being great at one thing but rarely heed that advice when it comes to their own seed investing. Also on the investment team side, we were pleased that the last three checks we wrote in 2015 were all to companies based in Boston and New York led by female founders.

Boston 120

Boston New York Incubator Early Stage 120