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1/ I guest lectured twice this week at @StanfordGSB in Prof. Mohammad Akbarpour's course on marketplace strategy. He pitched live marketplace ideas in real time, and the class evaluated them together.
A few things I kept coming back to: 🧵
Alex Taussig
25.5K posts
Alex Taussig
@ataussig
Board Member & Investor. Independent Director: $URI, $MBGL (after 7/1). Board Partner at @LightspeedVP: @Faire_Wholesale @Keychain_AI @Vinted @Whatnot @Zola.
- Grad student: “So, what’s your thesis on?” Katie Bouman: “I am writing an algorithm that will construct the first ever image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, directly confirming 100 years of physics theory.” Grad student: “Oh.” 🤯3 years ago MIT grad student Katie Bouman led the creation of a new algorithm to produce the first-ever image of a black hole. Today, that image was released. More info: bit.ly/BHoleGuardian 2016 story: bit.ly/BlackHoleCSAIL #EHTblackhole #EventHorizonTelescope
- One observation after reviewing 10,000+ pitch decks over 10+ years: If your numbers are awesome, you lead with them. Usually in the first 3 slides. 📈
- Replying to @omooretweetsOrdered the plushie Duo for my kids, and the note says “Now I know where you live.”
- It’s 2019, and the tools to run your own personal p&l, balance sheet, and cash flow statement are still utter 💩. Who is solving this problem? Please don’t say Mint.
- I learned this trick at @McKinsey. You should be able to read just the titles and understand the whole story without even looking at the slides.Replying to @harris and @jmelaskyriaziMy fav deck making cheat code is: "first draft is just the slide titles, nothing else. Don't proceed until that tells the story."
- Replying to @amywumartin and @amytongwuHave they tried telling them it’s a 737max9?
- For those who think we'll have the virus under control in the near term, consider that those who have *much* more information at their fingertips are making moves like this.Zuckerberg: "we're canceling any large physical events we had planned with 50 or more people through June 2021" 2021!
- At @lightspeedvp, we've been fortunate to partner with e-comm leaders like @Bonobos @DlyHarvest @Goop @Stitchfix @Zola. Getting financials right early on is tough. We want to help. So, we built a financial model to get your e-comm startup from 0 to 1. 📈
- Lisbon = 50% cost of living of SF, but same quality of life. 👏
- Buying a car is still the worst commerce experience of all time. 🤬
- ~10 years ago, I cold called a GP at a top firm to get advice on breaking into VC. I ran into him this week for the 1st time in person & thanked him for taking time. He told me he did the same thing back in 1995! Amazing how Silicon Valley pays it forward across generations.
- TikTok is also rumored to have spent $1b in the US advertising on the other platforms, and its parent acquired Musically. So not all this growth is “organic” like the others.
- 1/ Today @Faire_Wholesale is announcing a $260M Series F at a $7B valuation. The round is led by our friends at @sequoia with strong participation from us at @LightspeedVP, as well as @ForerunnerVC, @FoundersFund, @KhoslaVentures, @YCombinator, and more.
