#179 | Backing Digital Franchises, Zombie Company Management, & more
#179 | Backing Digital Franchises, Zombie Company Management, & more
May 6–May 12th | Insights from Slow, Madrona, Matrix, Daybreak, USV, and others
SandHill.io aggregates and shares the latest investment themes, market insights, and best practices for operating and investing from 700+ VCs, analysts, and operators.
This newsletter curates a selection of posts featured on the website each week.
Investment Themes, Theses, & Industry Analyses
When and How to Back Franchise or Biz-In-A Box Concepts (Yoni Rechtman, Principal @ Slow)
Evaluating risk in hard tech (Julien Lepleux, Principal @ Bleu Capital)
Data Labeling in the Era of AI (Vivek Ramaswami & Sabrina Wu, Madrona)
Language models don't have to reason to be useful (Kojo Osei, VC @ Matrix)
Where Does AI Go From Here? (Rex Woodbury, MP @ Daybreak)
The Fastest Growing Category of Venture Investment in 2024 (Tomasz Tunguz, MD @ Theory)
The AI Product Conundrum: Realities and Remedies in AI Application Development (Alexander Kremer, Partner @ Picus)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
What should VCs do with zombie companies? (David Teten, Partner @ Versatile VC)
7 Ways AI-Native Companies Can Improve Retention (Bryan Kim, VC @ A16Z)
The art of the pivot, part 1: The definitive list of successful pivots (Lenny Rachitsky)
How to find and select your first 10 customers (Amy Saper, Partner @ Uncork)
Stop ignoring this growth problem (Kyle Poyar, Partner @ OpenView)
Additional Reads
Startups and Timing (Tanay Jaipuria, Partner @ Wing VC)
Scale is All You Need? (Albert Wenger, GP @ USV)
SaaS IPO’s take 11 years (Sammy Abdullah, GP @ Blossom Street VC)
The Best Way to Build an Authentic Relationship (Abhishek Maran, VC @ Rampersand)
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