One of the things I missed about the time I started blogging is the naiveness and casualness of it. Writing a post was more like writing a tweet. With time, perhaps due my own inhibitions, doing a post was more like writing a memo. I felt like it needed to be robust and well researched to be ‘good enough’ to publish. Well, today I’m taking a step back towards casual, in the hopes that I means I can start writing more often again. I normally share 3 links in my weekly Firgun newsletter, so thought I’d try it here for the first time.
Tabs to open on your browser this weekend
1. The memo to YC startups advising startups to plan for the worst. There’s a lot of commentary and advice for start-ups to survive the downturn. I collated some of my favourite pieces of advice in my post ‘advice for startups in a downturn‘.
I also recommend you watch this video podcast: “your startup is dying and this is how you save it“
2. The incredible generative visual AI creations by Dall-e 2. I wrote in the past about the improvements in creative automation, including AI that can generate creative images based on text input. The results a few months post-launch are stunning. See for yourself.
3. The updated retail tech Israel 2022 report by Deloitte with very interesting nuggets on the sector. The landscape was added to my 2022 Israeli startup landscape collection (a few great ones in there!)
- $2.4 billion in investments into Israeli RetailTech during 2021 (180% more than in 2020)
- 46% of investment rounds were early stage, Pre-seed through A (Significant rebound from 39% in 2020)
- Shelf maintenance, store-associates management and cashierless payment represent 29% of investments
4. The 56 slide deck by A16Z on the state of crypto. Despite the huge declines in crypto, crypto funds keep
raising money. Is this the top or the bottom? On a related note, the ‘meme of the week’ by The Milk Road (an excellent newsletter, if I may add) captures the mood.
5. I bought a “new” book this week: The five dysfunctions of a team by Patrick Lencioni – I loved his first book because he uses storytelling, a fable, to communicate business lessons. I posted my takeaways on VC Cafe: The Five Temptations of a CEO.
Bonus link: I always say that startups should avoid paying people for VC introductions at all costs. VCs should aim to be reachable. But founders sometimes don’t know how to best approach. To help break the ice, Open VC offered 14 email templates to cold email VCs. Use them! info@remagineventures.com
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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