How Pipedrive went from 0 to 10,000 paying customers in SaaS
There's a newer and updated post published 3 years later on a similar topic: How Pipedrive reached 50,000 paying customers Short answer: great product, some marketing and a bit of luck. These things got Pipedrive to pass the 10,000 paying customers milestone earlier in the year. The longer answer is below. This is the…
Black Swan Seed Rounds
I started seed investing in 2010 (and much more actively in 2012) before becoming a full-time YC partner. In this period, I invested in about 40 companies. So far, five of them are in the “really...
Trello, Inc
Hello? is this thing on? I’m not sure if I even know how to operate this “blog” device any more. It’s been a year since my last post. I’m retired from blogging, remember? Want to hear something fun…
Valuations
People have been saying that startup valuations are really high for about 3 years now. I myself feel that they are high, but I have no idea when they are likely to change. It’s mostly investors...
Are We Welcome Entrepreneurs or Unwanted Criminals?
Almost deported in First Class
Incubators are Bullshit
I am often asked what I think about incubators. Short Answer: Incubators are bullshit. Most incubators are like the McDonalds edition of starting a company.
Applying to YC
One of the most common misconceptions startups have about applying to Y Combinator is thinking that they are too early or too late. We have funded companies with only an idea; we’ve funded...
A cautionary tale about subscription services and how not to shut down a startup
As you think about holiday gifts this season, I’d like to warn you about the subscription service Whimseybox. This is also a cautionary…
Startups from 2010: Acquired, Pivoted or Still Going?
Editor's Note: This is one of the longest posts I've made - in length and duration. It's said that one year in the life of a startup is the equivalent of dog years when compared to more established co
My Startup, a Retrospective
Two years of OpenCNAM, my Caller ID API startup: the weekend MVP, the Django to Flask rewrite, the cold emails that won customers, and my mistakes.
Going Through Y Combinator (YC S13): Lessons Learned
Last year, I shared our story of applying, our application, and some advice on the YC application. Now that the Winter batch is in full swing and the application is open for the summer, I thought I...
Is My Startup Burn Rate Normal?
Self-examination for Seed and Series A startups
Full Stack Startups
programming, philosophy, history, internet, startups