Jorge Gomez Sancha

So far, I am not impressed with the early drafts of the post-open source license. It can put your business for 1% of revenue - which most major businesses try to avoid. And it doesn't even touch yet how they will split that 1% between contributors - which is not a problem we know how to solve fairly. Oh, and you cannot use it in your software products, SaaS, or shrink-wrapped - as that would put your customers into the same "give us 1% of your revenue" category. https://lnkd.in/gXvjAeYX

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Polls can be a cheat code for earned media, and a great way to build authority. But there are levels to this. Here's how one of the best I've seen - Capital One - does it. (And what I'd do differently to increase earned coverage). Led by Shena Ashley, PhD, Capital One's Insights Center is a masterclass in leveraging polls to create unique insights that would do incredibly well via earned syndication. Here’s what they do great: ✅ Content that sticks: Crucial issues > fleeting trends. Focusing on topics like financial stability, mobility, and entrepreneurship, it's easier to rationalize investment on topics with a longer shelf life. Their insights + stories can drive coverage for months to come. ✅ Visual storytelling: Data doesn’t have to be dry, and Capital One presents original insights through clear and eye-pleasing visuals that are easy to understand. Publishers like charts, they love colorful charts, and they LOVE colorful charts that are easy to understand. Check, check, check. ✅ Strong methodologies and extensive polling numbers: Capital One frequently involves 7k+ participants in their studies - they are not half a**ing it. Well explained methodologies are table stakes to get your polls covered, and Capital One does a great job outlining their data collection process, sample size, and research methodologies.   ✅ Easy to steal: Each report has multiple easy to take stories/soundbites, and are also written as full pieces of content, which can be taken as whole. Finally --- if I could change one thing... Add a byline. Brand publishing NEEDS a byline - no news outlet wants to cover a story that can't be credited back to a human. All in all, polls can be incredibly valuable for driving earned syndication - check out Capital One's Insights Center in comments for killer examples.

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I am remembering the mobile platform shift era when entire cohorts of startups kept trying to one-up each other with features until they were broadly displaced annually upon every WWDC as new OS-level native apps and capabilities were announced. News and weather apps, geo tracking tools, etc… (especially apps without network effects) My takeaway: the speed of displacement is a signal of two likely outcomes: Either a path to commoditization based on the sheer speed of innovation and displacement, or a platform-level innovation resulting in displacement. Perhaps we call this “the law of displacement speed:" When a platform shift enables apps or services to rapidly displace each other at a fast and regular cadence, the result is either commoditization (rapid displacement of each other) or a platform-level displacement. (you can expect some further exploration of this in the next edition of Implications.com - spoiler alert: I think the big platforms of every function in the enterprise, and the major platform OS's we use as consumers, are best positioned)

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When I was still at TechCrunch I would get asked quite often, ‘why do you write so many funding stories?’ Implicit (if not explicit) in their question was usually a criticism of the tech and business press’ seeming obsession with funding rounds. My view, especially at the early stage, was always that a startup raising funding was a market signal where very few other signals existed yet. Meanwhile, at the later stages when rounds are much larger and companies wield more market power, a fundraise as a signal is not only stronger but warrants greater examination. In the news business, a funding round also qualifies as “hard news" and offers a springboard to tell various broader stories - such as the founders’ story, delving into an interesting or novel problem space, the company’s progress to date, a new technology or consumer trend, societal implications, and so on. The point is, the funding announcement was the editorial “in". It was never just about the funding. Need help telling your funding story? Get in touch with myself and the team at O'Hear & Co. #Funding #Entrepreneurship #FundingNews

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A cautionary tale for any entrepreneur including warrants in their fundraising efforts. Techcrunch ran a story yesterday on the collapse of Newchip and how warrants flowed through the bankruptcy proceedings. I am guessing in this situation, there were NO clauses protecting the startups from the insolvency of Newchip. If true, my heart aches for these startups now fighting to protect their equity pool/CAP tables from unknown outside investors coming into their company at likely ridiculous valuations via bankruptcy actions. It's a cautionary reminder to get solid advice from legal counsel—or, failing the ability to afford outside counsel, seek advice from experienced entrepreneurs who know their way around term sheets and investment terms. Best of luck to those companies mentioned in this article. And for anyone reading this who is a startup founder or entrepreneur, worth a read! #startup #entrepreneur #fundraising https://lnkd.in/gsvzQ_wT

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"Stay Mobile, My Friends." A great tag at the end of a video, or great advice for life? Probably both, as evidenced by my most recent conversation. The latest episode of Building Value launched yesterday, with an interview with THE Mr. Mobile himself, Michael Fisher. In short: it was excellent, and you'll definitely enjoy it. We talked about a whole range of subjects, including: 🤯 The Importance of Innovation: We discuss the need for creativity in the saturated market of YouTube, and his co-founding of Clicks Technology. 🎭 Our Backgrounds in Theatre: We delve into how our theater skills have helped us in content creation, particularly in aspects like scriptwriting, on-camera confidence, and engaging storytelling. (Hat tip to Cindy Gold and Rives Collins for my own skills!) 🙅‍♂️ Ethical Considerations in Monetization and Transparency with Audiences: We discussed the importance of being upfront about sponsorships and endorsements, and how direct monetization has shifted over the last decade. 🤝 Long-term Trust: Michael describes the work of building real, meaningful relationships with an audience by sticking to ethical content creation practices, reflecting on how this has impacted his and others' growth over time. Want to watch or listen? Here's what you need: 🎥 https://lnkd.in/gV6dh5sV 🎧 https://lnkd.in/gZppM7PW PS. Shout out to Christopher Chapman for the naming scheme of this and future episodes. How did I not think of "The Value of..." as a titling concept? 🤦‍♂️

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👋 What better way to get to the AWS Summit NYC than on a boat 🚤 Looking forward to meeting developers, startup founders, and builders at the Summit TODAY! Catch me at the Dev Community Lounge, Startup Lounge, or on the floor of the Expo filming folks to learn what they're building! DM me in you want to meet up, be in one of my videos, or just grab a cup of coffee ☕ In the meantime, let me know where you are coming in from and what you are most excited for the AWS Summit 😁 #AWSSummit #AWS #startups

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Forget the Metaverse. Is the Future Phygital? (Eh.. that sounded better in my head). The tech world loves to talk about Ready Player One and the Metaverse, but here's my take: what if the future isn't purely virtual but a seamless blend of physical and digital - the Phygital world? In a recent episode of the All-in Podcast (the best tech podcast, BTW), they talked about Humane's AI Pin–cliff notes; it's got issues. BUT. Early reviews aside, AI-powered wearables and devices are "coming in hot." They will allow us to interface with technology in a way that makes us more cybernetic without staring at our phones. Imagine AI recording your entire day, then analyzing it, filtering it, and sending you a summary, including a task list for tomorrow–If it works for meetings, why not life? "Hey Andy, don't forget to contact Amy from the Midway Airport. Based on your 3-minute conversation, she fits your ideal customer profile. Her main concern was integrations, so be prepared to resolve that. I drafted a follow-up email for you. Look it over and hit send." "Hey Andy, I recognize your tone has shifted this afternoon. Let's take a quick walk and get some fresh air." Here's the question: Are we too focused on escaping reality when the real innovation lies in augmenting it? This isn't just about gimmicky gadgets. It's about human-centered technology that enhances, not replaces, our physical world. What are your thoughts? Are we missing the bigger picture? https://lnkd.in/ggPmnskc #phygital #futureoftech #innovation #disruptivestrategy

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Next week is marking 📣 Trying to finish a few major code changes tomorrow. After the initial bump from Product Hunt and Hacker News traffic has subsided. I was able to keep users and customers -- but I will need to re-engage with new users and brainstorm on new acquisitions. Two main things: 1. Viral loop - the sharing loop is in there. I'd like to try to see if I can activate it. 2. Reddit launch - I'd like to launch to a few more subreddits to get new users and figure out additional places to launch.

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Over the last 8+ years, I’ve helped grow multiple startups across different verticals - each with completely different performance review systems. Some are political and opaque, and others are * refreshingly * transparent. We’re building Seam to help rewrite the playbook for performance reviews. Here’s a quick breakdown of our strategy: 1) Simplifying performance management Seam does away with the old system in favor of real-time data and transparency. It’s a breath of fresh air for everyone. 2) Removing guessing games With Seam, managers can analyze employee progress (or areas of improvement) in real-time — no more guesswork when evaluating performance. 3) Improving transparency (for everyone) It’s not just managers who benefit. Employees get to see their performance metrics — fostering healthy competition and promoting productivity. Performance management today is broken - we’re building Seam to fix it ⚡ https://lnkd.in/grBNi7ee

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SaaS budgets are "bifurcating," says Jamin Ball from Altimeter. AI is the sword hanging over all our heads, ready to bifurcate our startups into obscurity... or propel them up/right. Every week in his must-read Substack "Clouded Judgement," Ball breaks down the market for public software stocks... which sheds a bright light on the overall SaaS landscape. See: https://lnkd.in/equeh4_2 His latest post diagnoses the existential dread wearing on the faces of many friends in SaaS this quarter. Definitely read Jamin's entire post, but here's my TL;DR recap, with some added commentary: 1. Enterprise/mid-market SaaS buyers feel immense pressure to "transform their business with AI." (70% wise, 30% lemming?) 2. Sorting the messy landscape for tools that actually move the AI needle is complicated and a time suck... and the tools you end up procuring are considerably more expensive, because compute is expensive. 3. Software budgets are "zero sum." 4. All software purchases now must meet the "Bifurcation test:" Does buying (or renewing) this software "push forward our AI agenda/capabilities, or not?" If yes= buy, renew, upgrade, expand If no= churn Jamin summarizes: "As a vendor you must prove that you help bring the company you’re selling to into the future paradigm, the AI paradigm. You need to be future proof, otherwise your internal champion risks losing their job in 2 years!" Key food for thought for my friends inside Pavilion and other SaaS sales leader communities: Will you internal champion get fired for buying your [AI not included] software?

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The discussion with Jason Fried, Co-Founder and CEO of 37signals, during a recent ProducTea with Leah episode (#42) was great. A particular one-minute segment (~14:20) really stuck with me. When asked about failures, Jason states: 🗣 “I don’t really think about failure. How does evolution work? Evolution is not sitting there using energy thinking about the wing shape that didn’t work. The wings that worked let’s make them even better...What’s working? Let’s do more of that. Let’s evolve.” This aligns perfectly with the concept of “slightly better problems” from The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. It’s a never-ending upward spiral. The key takeaway? Don’t ignore failures, but don’t dwell on them either. Focus on what works, refine it, and evolve. This approach ensures continuous improvement without getting bogged down by setbacks. #ProductManagement #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement

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What do startup founders wish they'd done sooner? Some lessons from 8 great CEOs: 🔹 Prioritize external communication 🔹 Focus on product quality 🔹 Invest in better infrastructure 🔹 Hire leaders 🔹 Bring in a VP of Finance (at ~100 headcount) 🔹 Deeply understand your ICP 🔹 Focus on getting PMF More gold here:

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Other than excessive maleness and paleness*, April 2024 was an excellent month for the podcast, packed with outstanding guests. ICYMI, today's episode highlights the most fascinating moments of my convos with them. Specifically, conversation highlights include: 1. Iconic open-source developer Dr. Hadley Wickham putting the "R vs Python" argument to bed. 2. Aleksa Gordić, creator of a digital A.I.-learning community of 160k+ people, on the movement from formal to self-directed education. 3. World-leading futurist Bernard Marr on how we can work with A.I. as opposed to it lording over of us. 4. Educator of millions of data scientists, Kirill Eremenko, on why gradient boosting is so powerful for making informed business decisions. 5. Prof. Barrett Thomas on how drones could transform same-day delivery. *Remedied in May! Check out today's episode (#782) to hear all these eye-opening conversations. The Super Data Science Podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms and a video version is on YouTube. #superdatascience #datascience #machinelearning #ai #podcast

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Sharing for those who did not know, are entrepreneurs, founders, leaders, curious and / or good humans. Episode 301, season 4 now live --> https://lnkd.in/gEwPn4vu This is an on-going #podcast series I started a couple years ago. My approach centers on learning by 'doing' rather than being told. Through these podcasts, I share insights and feelings, primarily as a personal gut check. Yet, I've discovered that people appreciate listening to genuine human experiences. This podcast embodies that authenticity. #franchise #leadership

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Congrats Irvin Zhan for getting the #1 spot on ProductHunt today with Subframe * The team has been working on subframe for ~2 years * Irvin was an engineering manager at Airkit.ai and has been an early employee at several startups * Subframe is pre-seed * Browse hundreds of beautiful, designer-approved templates to kickstart your designs * Refine your designs by drag-and-dropping in Subframe’s visual editor using real components, not mockups * Export your designs to high-quality React/Tailwind code by copy and pasting Subframe is unlike existing tools out there in that: * We help you build your actual product, not just marketing pages. You can create screens like dashboards, settings pages, chat bots, and more. * Our editor is easy and intuitive for non-designers. We are an alternative to Figma that gives you guardrails like choosing colors, which takes the guesswork of “making things look good”. * We work within your codebase. After you build something on Subframe, the UI code you copy/paste is all yours. You can hook it up to your custom business logic, without any lock-in. Hard work pays off! View it on producthunt: https://lnkd.in/dndJGaud

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Impactful Biz, Ops & Investment Roles at Early Startups & VCs: • Chief of Staff to Ex. Head of Product at Google • Founding GTM at the most YC product used by other YC companies in the past four years • Chief of Staff to a Partner at a Top-Tier VC Fund • Head of Platform of a NY State Backed Accelerator • Investment Associate at a Seed Stage Fund Investing in Category-Defining Companies • Partner at a Defense-Focused VC Fund • Chief Revenue Officer of a New Space Company in El Segundo • Venture Capital Analyst at a fund investing in overlooked geographies • Investment Associate at a Spirit-Focused Fund • Strategy & Ops Lead at a Company Focused on Helping Improve Autism • Senior Product Manager at a Company Focused on Building Shopify for Content Creators • Program Manager for a Space Security Company • Open-ended Investment Position at a Top-Tier Accelerator • Biz & Ops Lead for One of the Most Loved Digital Consumer Products 💸 All companies are well-funded and backed by top-tier investors. ⬇ You can find links to the roles above, plus many more, in the comments.

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Secondaries are becoming a super attractive asset class. Just this month, StepStone announced a new $3B+ fund dedicated to secondaries. Late-stage private companies are still trading at a discount relative to their 2021-2022 highs. But the venture capital advisor exemption requires firms to keep their secondary positions less than 20% of total investments. I think this will encourage fund managers to get creative with registration/legal structures in order to unlock greater exposure to secondaries as attractive deals come through. https://lnkd.in/e_3_xitM

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