1/ I'm seeing a LOT of "exogenous anxiety" paralysing people or creeping into their work and home. Some basic advice:

1/ If you're trying to get a simple macro-view of the current downturn, few people are as articulate as Howard Marks of Oaktree -- I've summarised his key insights below:

We're proud to see the Dutch Ecosystem rank #3 in Eu & #12 in 🌎 in the Startup Genome Ranking against 300 others. Rising again for the 3rd year running! Now is the time to invest in our future by investing in tech. Download the report buff.ly/3dBc2cW

Late to the party and not a lot of new information but “in your face” you realize (again) the thread for democracy and society is huge youtu.be/uaaC57tcci0

“A16Z is a media company that monetizes through VC.” newcomer.co/p/the-unauthor…

A fantastic interview in The Grocer with Preyash Thakrar, chief strategy officer at Asda - discussing the launch of Veelicious and how the impact of the vegan butcher is helping shape further growth and opportunity of plant-based food within the company! thegrocer.co.uk/store-design/h…

Execution pays your salary. Innovation pays your pension.

A short video on how VCs approach market sizing, with apologies to PlayPlay Balderton Capital

Actual data on successful founders. Nothing matters except the hustle; not whether you're solo, well educated, young, non-technical etc. "Failed founders were 1.6x and those with even a small exit ($10m) were 3.3x more likely to build a unicorn. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Here is another example of a scale-up (run by a Dutch CEO) being fueled with more funding amp-ft-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.ft.com…

I’m still trying to figure anything that Bitcoin makes better or what the problem is that it solves. Aside from getting extortion payments.

It all started 10 years ago 🎂 in a tiny little cubicle office with Thibaud Elziere & Quentin Nickmans . Little did we know that fast forward a decade, we'd have launched 30 companies, reached a portfolio valuation of $2 billion, and generated 1500 jobs 👇 blog.efounders.co/efounders-turn…

Customers don’t care about your product or service unless it addresses one of their jobs, pains, or gains!!! Great reminder from steve blank: Your product is not someone’s problem. steveblank.com/2021/06/01/you…

Cheap money and power-law profits are killing venture funds and birthing venture firms. drorpoleg.com/pulling-a-bezo…

Venture capital is poised to move away from the software space and into revolutionary technologies to improve human lives fastcompany.com/90696233/break…

The paradoxes of modern life. Here's my mini-essay.

Venture capital is by far the most interesting form of capital — and, along with tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists are the most interesting sort of capitalists bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

Nice read; real value creation takes time and persistence nfx.com/post/durabilit…

I asked 25 of the smartest investors I know what they consider GOOD and GREAT growth rates by company stage. Here’s what I learned 🧵👇

This speech is as good, and could be as impactful, as Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement speech. open.substack.com/pub/interconne…