FundersClub Weekly Newsletter - September 15, 2016
FundersClub Portfolio News
Shippo raised a $7M Series A led by Union Square Ventures for its fast-growing shipping for business platform. The round will enable Shippo to further develop its API and dashboard, onboard more carriers, improve functionality, and help customers ship smarter using data analytics and insights in "Shippo raises $7 million to further its goal of being Twilio for shipping."
Slack topped the first-ever “Cloud 100” listing published by Forbes in "Slack leads list of top 100 private cloud companies in new Forbes ranking."
Breathometer and Philips are partnering to deliver the startup’s breath analysis system, called Mint, alongside the company’s Sonicare oral health brand in a bundled product suite in "Breathometer teams up with Philips to take on bad breath."
Cleartax, which runs its own income tax submission portal in partnership with the government in India, has committed $5 million to develop the systems for the Goods and Services Tax in "Cleartax sets aside $5mn for developing tech platform for GST."
LeanData announces a partnership with Leadspace to provide lead routing, matching and predictive enrichment of both individual and company contact data in "Leadspace and LeanData Partner to Drive ABM with Unparalleled Combination of Predictive Analytics and Lead Management."
Simbi is an online network where people can offer their skills and services – professional or otherwise – in exchange for other users’ services in "Simbi Network Back to Barter Letting You Exchange Skills For Services."
Investor Thoughts
Scott Kupor of Andreessen Horowitz explains basic mechanics of how the VC industry works by defining some terms in "16 Definitions on the Economics of VC."
Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures addresses why he thinks investors should care about whom their LPs are in "How Do VCs Choose Their Investors (and should entrepreneurs care?)"
PitchBook analyzes the VC landscape by reporting changes in valuations across a multiplicity of sectors and trends in liquidation participation by series in "1H 2016 VC Valuations Report."
Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures discusses the strategic choice for growing startups to remain in the SMB segment and cross-sell or move up-market, or both in "The Pressure To Move Up Market Facing SMB SaaS Startups."
Elizabeth “Beezer” Clarkson and Nino Marakovic of Sapphire Ventureshighlight the three core principles that guide their work and influence how they best serve their venture fund managers (GPs) in "All In: Re-imagining Our Role As An LP In Venture."
David Beisel of NextView Ventures discusses the race between Apple and Amazon to make voice the primary input and output everywhere in "The Ubiquity of Voice and the Venture Opportunity."
Founder and Operator Thoughts
Joseph Walla of HelloSign shares the lessons he learned while scaling his startup from 10 to 20 people and explains how to keep an effective company structure in "Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people."
Brent Summers of Startup Grind shares an interview between Google’s Bridgette Beam and Youtube co-founder Steven Chen where he divulges new details about the early days of Youtube in "Steve Chen on YouTube’s Founding Story: Funded on Credit Card Debt, Acquired in a Denny’s."
Beth Steinberg addresses the four phases of a permanent layoff and outlines what to expect from a leader, terminated employees and the team that remains in "How to Lead and Rally a Company Through a Layoff."
Jon Westenberg shares his framework for getting places, accomplishing things and living in a way that makes him happy in "How To Invest In Yourself."
Alex Holderness of The Martec talks to Cameron Priest of TradeGeckoabout his career story of going from product founder to leading a team of nearly 100 in 3 years in "The ups and downs of growing quickly."
Cody Musser of FounderTherapy discusses how to navigate your competition in "How to Think About Your Competition & Crush it."
In Other News
Apple issues a statement that all iPhones will be in short supply for walk-in customers without a reservation, and their jet black iPhones and all iPhone 7 plus models in all colors have sold out completely in the initial online ordering period and that no inventory will be available in "Apple’s iPhone 7 will be super limited in stores and all jet black and Plus models are sold out."
A select group of Pittsburgh Uber users now have the option to ride in a self driving car for the first time in "Uber starts self-driving car pickups in Pittsburgh."
Bayer acquires Monsanto with a $66 billion deal, creating a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides and marking the largest all-cash deal on record in "Bayer clinches Monsanto with improved $66 billion bid."
Did You Know?
Did you know that wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times?