Wayne Sutton

Community-led ecosystem partnerships are a big part of my work at Glide. But what *is* a community-led ecosystem partnership? 🤔 Here's how I break it down: -- A community is a persistent, connected group of people with something in common. Our Glide community includes Glide Experts (no-code agencies & freelancers), business customers, and indiehackers/makers. -- Each of these groups have their own ecosystems, and within those ecosystems there are recurring names of influential people and frequently used products. (How do we know? Because we listen to our community members talk about 'em! 😅) -- Starting from there, we do our research: Who are our members talking about? How do we complement them? Where do we intersect? Can we do something together? What would a Minimum Viable Partnership look like? This is the same approach I took when leading local user groups. We'd pay close attention to what our members needed/wanted, and then we'd do the legwork to bring the right people or companies in. It's even better when a potential partner has their own community and we have members in common (something that platforms like Crossbeam and Reveal can help us uncover). Bottom line? We're putting our community *first* and extrapolating from there. So instead of approaching a potential partner with a generic pitch about mutual success, etc etc... we approach it from the mindset of serving our members. #communitymanagement #communitymanager #communityled #partnerships #ecosystem #b2bsaas

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To celebrate Cal.com, Inc.'s newest launch on @ProductHunt today, I sat with Peer Richelsen to discuss how building Platform and Atoms is a full-circle moment + more 🚀 In this ep, we covered:  ✊🏻 Open vs. Closed and why OSS will win 💡 The importance of IP in a post-AI world 🔥 How premium products can be built using OSS 🤑 How to approach enterprise sales as a 1x founder 🙏🏼 The impact of Y Combinator on Peer as a founder PS: I'm a tiny investor in Cal.com and a big believer in Peer and the team! If you are into OSS, support the launch here: https://lnkd.in/e_CaE_KQ Links to the ep 👇🏼 🔗 Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eBUv5E9q 🔗 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/epngcvFU ❤️ Sponsor Corner ❤️ Big shoutout to acquire.com for making this episode happen! Acquire is the best online marketplace (I can vouch for this) to buy/sell startups, and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://lnkd.in/gM5VZBFC Andrew Gazdecki and the team are always on the hunt to find ways to help more founders through Acquire 🫡 Lastly, if you are a listener and have been enjoying the episodes, please take a minute to drop your rating on the podcast: https://lnkd.in/eaaw-tJk I appreciate you for giving your attention and time 🙏🏼

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💜 Hue. has been awarded a $150K equity-free grant from the Google for Startups Founders Fund! 🎉 Funding Black founders is crucial, here’s why ⬇ I recently spoke with a founder—let’s call him David—who needed fundraising advice. David’s startup is gaining traction, and he’s been advised to raise a #friendsandfamilyround to boost product development. Sadly, he feels discouraged. David is the first in his family to graduate college, and at 21, he earned more than anyone else in his family in his entry-level job. Now in their late twenties, him and his friends are still in their growth era and don’t have extra cash to invest. David feels stuck. 🚫 His network can’t fund his venture, and he has too little traction to raise a formal round. This is a common experience for many underrepresented founders—Black, Latino, low-income, women, and more. ✨ Grant programs like the Google for Startups Founders Fund provide essential capital to level the playing field. ✨ The Hue team is incredibly grateful for Google’s support for underrepresented founders and its commitment to uplifting startups pushing boundaries in AI. ❓ Does David’s experience resonate with you? Have you raised a friends and family round? What advice would you give other founders? ❓ Comment below ⬇ Check out to the other Black & Latino founders in my Google for Founders cohort! Sherisse Hawkins Nana Wilberforce Ph.D Seke Ballard Megan Nunes Manny S. Kene Anoliefo Tiffany Ricks George Holmes, PhD Rocio Frej Vitalle Rocio Frej Vitalle Florian Pestoni Darren Riley Eitan Winer Darryl Keeton Constanza Gomez Sergio Suarez Jr. Gerald Kierce Iturrioz #GoogleForStartups #FoundersFund #poweredbyhue #beautymarketing #huecommunity #hiring #fundraising

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Join us tomorrow to hear Lisa Orr talk about navigating your next career move as a senior product manager, and me talking about the "mirage" of AI hallucinations. When artificial intelligence (AI) outputs don’t match our shared reality, people have been saying it’s "hallucinating." But hallucination makes it sound like AI is conscious and distracts from the part we humans play in generating synthetic meaning. Do words matter? Learn why we should all change how we talk about AI to promote better understanding in a future world with the ✨sparkling intelligence✨ of AI.

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The best businesses don't revolve around one person. Of course, we have Bezos, Iger, Jobs, etc. But I'd say they don't think the business revolved around them exclusively. Plenty of founders may not want to create businesses that functionally rely on them for the business to operate. But that's how many of them have set it up. And I get it. Every founder wants to build the product they believe will take off. Inviting others into strategic development can and will distract them or get in the way. I once heard a wise scholar say, "For years, I would get so frustrated when someone would interrupt me from my work, until I realized that those distractions were my work." Herein lies a hard-to-see gift of community. Healthy, vibrant communities won't be full of yes man and thought-disciples. The best communities will push back, ask tough questions, and challenge you to become a better founder. You'll be grateful for it too. Instead of only looking to your board or to investors for advice, a community can tell you something you need to hear. At a fraction of the cost. Communities can be distracting for busy founders. But sometimes, those distractions will indicate the best path forward ― but only if you care to listen. ― Over the past couple months, I've started writing about community building for founders. If you'd like to read more, you can stay in the loop here: https://lnkd.in/dCSBzSvZ

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🎙️🎉 **New Episode Alert**: The Pair Program Ep. 44 - "Overcoming the Valley of Death: Startup Solutions in Government Tech" is now live! 🚀   Join us for an insightful exploration into the intricate landscape of government technology modernization, as we delve into the daunting valley of death faced by startups in the defense sector.   Our guests, Warren Katz and Col Aneel Alvares, bring unparalleled expertise and firsthand experience in overcoming the regulatory, bureaucratic, and scalability hurdles that often impede innovation in government operations.   Here are some episode highlights: 1. 🎯 **Federal Acquisition System's Complexity**: Aneel Alvarez criticizes the federal acquisition system's complexity, advocating for 'Other Transactions' as a streamlined, risk-adjusted alternative to cumbersome traditional procurement processes. 2. 💵 **SBIR Program and its Impact**: Warren Katz praises the SBIR program for acting like seed-stage venture capital, providing non-dilutive grants to foster significant technological innovations without early equity loss. 3. ⚖️ **Challenges with Transitioning Innovations**: Both speakers highlight the 'valley of death' in transitioning SBIR-funded innovations to scalable government solutions, hindered by bureaucratic challenges and systemic inertia. 4. 🛠️ **Need for Legislative and Procedural Reform**: Warren Katz discusses ongoing legislative efforts aimed at streamlining the transition from technology prototypes to full-scale government production and integration. 5. 🔍 **Strategic Approaches to Innovation and Procurement**: The speakers suggest strategic reform in government procurement, like the 'Swiss cheese model,' to expedite and enhance the process by aligning procurement officers' incentives with efficient acquisition outcomes.   Feeling inspired? Dive into this important discussion to discover how startups can bridge the gap and foster significant change in government tech. 🔗 [Full Links to the podcast in the comments 👇]

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Let’s talk about it

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“You can’t solve climate with SaaS.” 🌎 Going from science project to profitable business model is hard for most deep tech startups. It’s the valley of death. But some—like the ones that need hundreds of millions in capex to prove their tech at scale—have it harder. Here’s to the climate tech startups that are literally saving the world for us when there are much easier ways to make money. And shout out to the investors large and small who have the patience and vision to back them. Founders, you can do it! You’ll need more focus than most, and your capital stack will be different. But we’re running out of time to get this right, and we need you to succeed. Lisbeth Kaufman Stephen Blalock Shaima Sharif Jason C. Alex Anderson Khaled Al Huraimel Fares Almazrooei Laura Bowen #climatetech #deeptech

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I'm seeing the tech ecosystem anew in this new post-startup life. I have less to prove so I can digest realities that I didn't want to see before. One of them is the taboo truth that some founders have more generational wealth to fall back on than others. Don't get me wrong: there is NOTHING wrong with having money. Generational wealth is not a bad thing. What I'm saying is that founders' risk calculations differ. It's riskier for a founder who does't have a backup plan to go with sub-$50K salary for 3 years than for founders who have a rough calculation of what money they might inherit. It's important to point out the vast difference in finances because the narrative says that anyone who isn't a white man has the same starting line. That's simply not true. I know white men who don't stand to inherit anything. And I know atypical founders who have mortgages paid by a family member. The starting line is different. And sometimes that starting line has an impact on the finish line (including very many other factors).

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I posted some half-baked thoughts on “narrative shifts” yesterday on twitter, and figured I’d share here as well. Over my 15 years in startups, I’ve seen three distinct umbrella narratives for the tech ecosystem. The first started around 2007 or 2008, with the launch the iPhone and App Store. This was an era where founders were underdogs, and tech was a force for good. The industry had finished licking its wounds from the dot-com crash, and was the first to rebound from the Great Recession. The combined platform shifts of cloud and mobile were transformative for consumers and businesses alike, and startups painted themselves as “democratizing” forces. Even the bigger players were seen as challengers—Steve Jobs is probably the best figurehead for the optimism of this era. With the 2016 election came an era of reckoning. There was widespread soul searching in the aftermath of Trump’s victory—had tech, and Facebook specifically, undermined democracy? The Me Too movement swept the industry in 2017. Travis Kalanick, a pioneer in the prior narrative, was ousted from his company by his own investors. Meanwhile, valuations kept going up, and the SPAC frenzy began. The pandemic initially looked like it might put an end to the party, but no—venture funding skyrocketed while companies grappled with demands for more equitable practices in the wake of BLM. Coinbase was a poster company for this tension: a phenomenal IPO, and unrest within its ranks. Sam Bankman-Fried tried to meet the moment with a carefully crafted do-gooder image, but became our perfect villain instead. I think our third era started last year…I’ll call this the anti-hero narrative. The bottoming out of the startup ecosystem gave founders “permission” to do what needed to be done: mostly, layoffs. The tone became unapologetic. Elon led the way, slashing Twitter’s workforce, espousing free speech (the more shocking, the better). The spirit feels gleefully combative: anti-media, anti-woke, anti-DEI. The ethos of e/acc captures this moment: technological progress is inevitable and we should run after it at all costs. Zuckerberg is back, rehabilitated from the prior era with his chain necklace. Jensen Huang wasn’t toppled from his throne for signing a woman’s chest; it made him shinier. Progress is what matters, how we get there matters less. It’s too early to declare this most recent narrative baked, but the vibes have shifted! And of course, no era describes any one company, and no era is all good or all bad. Why does all this matter? The stories we tell about ourselves, about our industry, shape our reality. They influence what kinds of ideas and founders are backed. Where talent flocks. Where we’re willing to suspend disbelief. This is an especially interesting and challenging phase we’re entering: the newly combative spirit of the tech industry, paired with an AI platform shift that’s going to transform every sector, disrupt labor markets, and touch the lives of consumers. 

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Want a front-row seat to the frontier of tech? We’ve got the role (or two) for you! We’re expanding our frontier-tech team at Blackbird by hiring a Frontier Tech Investments Associate and Foundry Fellows! Got questions? We've got answers... 1️⃣ What are the roles? 🧪 Associate = a full-time VC investment gig in our Blackbird Investments team, working directly with me. We’re looking for someone with a science and/or engineering background and more curiosity than they can handle. You’ll grow your own investment brand and practice, support our portfolio founders, and will help build Foundry, our early-stage frontier-tech accelerator. ✨ Foundry Fellow = a casual/contract gig in our Blackbird Investments team, ~15h per week for 3 months. The Fellowship is ideal for PhD students and ECRs who want to learn more about startups and VC. You’ll go deep on emerging areas relevant to your expertise (or curiosity!), get a front-row seat to groundbreaking companies in those areas, build out your non-academic network, and develop a solid writing practice. 2️⃣ Why are you hiring? We love frontier tech, and we’re ready to grow our team. 3️⃣ Wow, it’s so great that you’re starting to look at deep tech! Look, we get it: we don’t make a lot of noise about our frontier tech investing. Buuuut we’ve been deep-tech investors since we backed Tim Kentley-Klay to found Zoox back in 2014—we’ve been on incredible journeys with PsiQuantum (building the world's first utility-scale quantum computer right here in Australia!), Inventia Life Science (transforming drug discovery with high-fidelity cell models), Remedy Robotics (surgical robots for remote endovascular procedures), Opto Biosystems (minimally-invasive neural implants to treat cancer), and more. We believe that frontier technologies, and great frontier-tech investing, will be part of the solutions to the greatest problems humanity faces today. 4️⃣ When do applications close? May 31st at 11:59pm AEST. 5️⃣ I have more questions! I’m sure you do! Clare Birch and I are hosting an AMA to answer any and all questions about these roles. Want to know what a week in the life of our team looks like? What’s keeping us up at night? What our ideal candidate looks like? Come along and find out - registration link in the comments 👇 Apply for these roles: Associate - https://lnkd.in/gCfj4EUJ Foundry Fellowships - https://lnkd.in/gj6ATZVZ If you know anyone that we should meet, send me their details! Cameron Elise Ben Andrew Robin Joseph Adelaide James Olivia Lucinda Raghav Jesse Christie Mohamed Tom Amee Pablo Haya Loong Hon Joshua Benjamin Megan Harry Denzil Matthew Diana Daniel Tom Deanna Justin Amar Lilly Stone Thomas

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Friends, next Wednesday i'll be sharing some tangible ways to leverage a designer's mindset while building a startup or doing your job. Though design has come under some heavy scrutiny the last few years for being perceived as "too abstract" or "too far away from the business," I remain bullish on design's ability to fuel innovation. I'll be sharing practical examples of how we leveraged a designer's mindset at VMHA to: 1️⃣ Prototype our market positioning 2️⃣ Create a culture to foster the free flow of ideas 3️⃣ Establish our managerial controls and business processes 🚨 Spoiler Alert 🚨 The designer's mindset allowed us to listen to our customer and learn quickly through prototyping and iterating! I'm always excited to share space with ambitious veterans and their supporters and am looking forward to the discussion! #designersmindset #prototype #iterate #learn #listen #adapt #culture #innovation https://lnkd.in/g6-UFnn7

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Should we prioritize people, or tech innovation in our large-scale development projects? The strategy's slowly shifting to people. And that’s exactly how California Forever CEO Jan Sramek wins over skeptics like Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. Not bad. “There’s a lot of baggage that tech has created in building new cities that, unfortunately, we are at the receiving end of”, explains Sramek. So smart cities and tech libertarian network states aren't the focus here. Quite the contrary. He calls the project (in this context) “really, really boring.” The focus: ∙ More housing ∙ Walkable cities ∙ Affordable by design* ∙ Improving the country for residents *(housing prices to start at $400k) I recently covered California Forever, dubbing it a future ‘Tech Utopia’ given its massive Silicon Valley backing. So it’s exciting to see Sramek's positioning and skillful handling of the grilling. Is the era of the smart city over due to its 'baggage'? Time will tell. More on California Forever and other visionaries designing new cities from scratch here: https://lnkd.in/e9-i386q Full interview: https://lnkd.in/eMnT8QhU #futureofcities #urbandevelopment

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Ever wondered where the perfect balance between tranquility and innovation lies? For me, it’s Seattle. Unlike the Bay, Seattle has a more serene environment that’s perfect for focusing on building products and businesses. The city’s vibe encourages deep work and creative thinking, free from the overwhelming hustle. But let’s be honest, Seattle’s founder and investor communities aren’t as vibrant as those in SF. Yet, this city holds a special place in my heart – a blend of my love for startups and the charm of Seattle. I believe in Seattle’s potential and I’m on a mission to help ignite its startup community. From connecting with fellow founders to engaging investors, let’s come together to build something extraordinary here. Seattle has all the ingredients to be a startup hub – talent, innovation, and a supportive ecosystem. What it needs is a spark. Let’s be that spark.

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I'm honestly sick. For way too long, I've been saying that black founders are getting less than 2% of VC dollars, which is crazy enough...it's actually less than .5%....If you're an investor of any kind that should make you sick. Technology/Companies/Products are built with the values of their creator embedded into the fabric of them, and it's obvious we're only valuing one set of values. This shouldn't be left to specific 'diversity funds'. Do better. #blackbuilders #blackentrepreneurs #venturecapital https://lnkd.in/gevtp6sT

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I’m so excited to announce the new name of the vetted community for startup founders I'm building: Village Lane Village Lane connects ambitious early-stage startup founders, both in-person and online, who have at least $100k in ARR or $250k in funding. The name Village Lane is deeply personal to me... It's the street I lived on after business school, in an apartment with my friend Andrew - the kindest, most welcoming, supportive person I’ve ever met, who sadly passed away suddenly a few weeks ago at only 31 years old. It’s also the place where I went full-time on Just Go Grind for the first time when it was a daily podcast and then joined VITALIZE Venture Capital. It was a special time and place and where I took a giant leap in my career. I envision Village Lane (the community) being similar - a special place filled with kind, supportive members looking to take a giant step forward with their businesses. Several experiences have led to the creation of Village Lane: - A transformative MBA experience at USC - Working at VITALIZE Venture Capital for 2.5 years - Growing my social media audience to 40,000+ followers - Building this newsletter to 21,000+ subscribers - Hosting 400+ podcast interviews with founders & investors - Creating an angel investing community with hundreds of members Now I'm focused on helping founders connect, build their personal brand, and create more successful businesses. Village Lane's in-person events will include things like: - Co-working - Social activities - AMAs - Retreats The online component of Village Lane will include: - A member directory - Slack group - Vendor suggestions - Tech stacks - An investor database - Media exposure and amplification - Personal branding assistance We'll also phase in monthly digital peer groups as membership grows. This will all be built around our members and their needs. I’ll share more details as this evolves. Interested in joining? Learn more and apply below.

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My “Top-of-Mind” Climate People on Linkedin 👇 Follow them! It’ll tweak your Linkedin feed so you see the interesting things first. Daniel Hill → OpenDoorClimate | Access to Leaders | Networking Eugene Kirpichov → Work on Climate founder | Job Seeker Stats | Community Builder Nick Martin → Impact jobs | Networking Threads | Great Content Gabriel Scheer (Elemental Excelerator) → Climate Investor | Transportation Expert | Connector Amy Westervelt → Investigative journalist | “Holy cow” Climate News Yoann Berno → Inspirational content | Podcast host | Nature focus Carlos Terol → UK/Euro Connector | Community Builder | Climate action info Silas Mähner 🔍🌎 → Climate Tech recruiter | Launched his own company | Podcast Host There are way more amazing people out there. This is literally who first came to my mind on Monday morning. So help me out 🙏 👉 Who did I forget? 👉Who shares great climate content on Linkedin? (comment and I will share the full list with everyone) It takes a village to make big things happen. Let’s help make each other successful 🙌 — PS. If you want to help me move more talent into climate, consider commenting on this post and following me here (Marco Morawec) and the Climate Drift company page 🙏 PPS. In case you’re wondering ❓Why trust my advice❓ Maybe this helps (slightly blushing as I write this 😳) → I taught 100s of students at the best universities (Harvard, etc.) → Personally helped 1,000s of people transition careers. → Built a 6-, 7-, and 8-figure education business. → 15 years of launching education programs.

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Fundraising for early stage companies can be difficult, especially for minority and women founders. Reg CF has potential to have a lot of impact the more people know about it. So I wrote a blog post about it! TL;DR: Regulation CF (Regulation Crowdfunding) is a relatively new method of fundraising that democratizes early-stage investing by allowing startups to raise capital from the general public, bypassing the traditional early stage venture capital system. This opens up opportunities for diverse and geographically dispersed entrepreneurs and investors, promoting a more equitable and inclusive startup ecosystem. It also gives an early stage investing opportunity to smaller investors that aren’t typically able to see these opportunities. https://lnkd.in/etEk9wtT

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