Why you need to understand Investor herd dynamics?
Most founders don't succeed in fundraising because they don't understand the investor herd dynamics. Investors are social animals; they feel more comfortable being part of a group than being the lone wolf.
What I learned about entrepreneurship from selling guavas in my barrio in Santo Domingo
My first entrepreneurial calling involved street-vending the extra guavas that grew from two trees in our backyard. I’d set up a stand in front of our house along a moderately busy road with mostly motorbike taxis (motoconchos) and other traffic.
5 surprising things I've learned from 5 billionaires
There are 2000 billionaires in the world. I've had the great opportunity of working with 5, whom I met when each of them invested in my last startup.
Losing my virginity by Richard Branson
Founder lessons I learned from losing my virginity…
No, not that virginity; “Losing My Virginity” was an autobiography by Richard Branson. He wrote this book, his very first one, at 42. My age now.
99% of startup advice on the internet will kill your startup, here’s why
1 - Most startup advice is written by spectators (i.e., academics, journalists, even VCs) of the startup sport, rather than the athletes (founders) of that sport,
High Output Management by Andrew Grove
I stole this book on management, and I'm not giving it back…
Well, I didn't really ‘steal it’. I borrowed it from a colleague at my last company; he left, and I forgot to give it back.
Looking for a startup idea? Stop doing market research, do this instead
Figure out what problems you’ve had a lot of experience with, professionally or personally, and try to fix that.
Getting more by Stuart Diamond
As a founder, I did 100+ deals. I learned the most about negotiations from this one book…
I read ‘Getting More’ by Stuart Diamond while taking his class at The Wharton School.
How to sell your company for hundreds of millions, in 4 easy steps
STEP 1: Have a great team. At an early stage, investors are taking a chance on how great the team is, not the market, not the product, or even your traction
I wrote a screenplay, that no one read, but it helped me in fundraising
When I was at Wharton, I took a screenwriting class and wrote a screenplay. It wasn't great, no one read it ☹️ but I learned lots of things that I later applied to VC fundraising. Here it is…