Brex layoffs
Our co-founder and co-CEO sent an email to the Brex team today to share a difficult message.
Why Founders Fail: The Product CEO Paradox (2013)
Ben Horowitz is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The
The Unauthorized Story of Andreessen Horowitz
Why media whisperer Margit Wennmachers is going direct.
Backblaze online backup almost acquired
Get all of the latest cloud storage news and insights from Backblaze - the leading independent cloud storage provider.
Lessons from building and growing an open source SaaS
Here are some lessons learned from building and growing an open source SaaS startup in the highly competitive web analytics market.
From idea to revenue in 5 working days, thanks to HN
I needed to ship something. I was stuck in the midst of several larger projects, both for clients and myself, with no end in sight, and to keep going I needed the confidence boost that only shipping code can provide. So I spent part of my weekend, shifted some priorities around, and got to work on Kismet .
What to do if a bubble is starting
Maybe now we’re actually in the early stages of a startup bubble. Valuations are trending up again. And no one is talking about a bubble anymore, so it could be happening. Many companies still...
Sequoia Capital memo to their portfolio founders on Coronavirus
Here is a note that we sent to Sequoia founders and CEOs today to provide guidance on how to ensure the health of their business while…
Your Minimum Viable Product is Processing Credit Cards
If you’re building any sort of web service or mobile app and you can’t yet receive money from people – stop. Right now. Stop. For all that is right in the world – stop. If you can’t process credit cards right now – you don’t have a product and you barely have a business. Your … Continue reading "Your Minimum Viable…
The 37signals Effect
Super-fantastic-caveat : Despite the title, this post isn’t really about 37signals, in particular. I’ve used them as an example, only. I probably could have called it the “Joel on Software” effect, too. This post is about all of us who aren’t 37signals, or Joel, and the dangers we face when trying to incorporate…
Later Stage Advice for Startups
Read more on Y Combinator's blog.
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…
SaaS Needs a Single Point of Purchase
The unassailable advantage that big cloud providers like AWS and Azure have over the rest of the SaaS industry isn’t their quality or pace of innovation; it’s that they’re a single point of purchase for a variety of services. If there was a single vendor that large corporations could contract with and pay for SaaS…
Uber's Failure in Japan
Uber’s disastrous failure in Japan was not caused by local competition, but by a uniquely American strategy that simply could not work in Japan. You see, Uber represents a new kind of startup. The very thing that makes them so successful in America dooms them to failure in Japan.
The Truth About Starting a Startup
(I wrote this for YC’s Future Founders Conference for Women. I’ll add the recording when it becomes available. The actual talk I gave on November 18th should include bonus streams of unconscious...
Building a business, not just an app
This past week has not been the first outbreak of independent developer angst over the app store, but it feels like it has been one of the more intense. The pump was primed by the news that Kim Kar…
Lies, Damned Lies, and Stock-Based Compensation
Why many "profitable" public technology companies actually aren't
Last minute tips for YC Interviewees
Essays, investment announcements and news from the Initialized team and the founders we back.