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For the past few months I’ve been doing nearly daily “Snapstorms” or short videos with startup advice released on Snapchat. Among the most comical things to me in the past few years is just how much it annoys some people that I use Snapchat. I remember the same disdain from people when I started blogging or using Twitter.
I’ve been online for nearly 30 years (yes, there was CompuServe and Prodigy before the www), blogging for 10 and using social media tools since the earliest days. As somebody who invested his time heavily in writing and wanting to share his thoughts through a blog I learned that I had to Tweet a post 3 times to get it read: 5am, 8am and 10pm.
It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” I wrote about this in a blog post last year titled “ It’s Morning in VC ” but I never made the full deck available until now.
Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” We did know about Snapchat as early as anybody. Mostly I wanted the journalist to know: We love Snapchat.
In 2008 I started VC blogging. I had blogged when I was an entrepreneur. I went to an industry event where people actually called me self-centered for writing publicly. In 2016 I finally cracked SnapChat with the launch of Discovery. Frankly, it took me 2 years to get my head around SnapChat.
I know it may feel this way since I’m writing this tongue in cheek. By the way, I don’t spell check my blog posts either. The person writing things he or she is doing me a favor. They had to physically write a letter, address it, put a stamp on it (pay) and then put it in the mailbox. Your kids are getting huge!).
While many tech startups do this intuitively (say, SnapChat thinking it would be much better if our photos out partying disappeared) it still happens. When I first started blogging Digg was still at its peak. You might write a piece now and then that catches fire but there is nothing repeatable that would be useful for a business.
The news blogs will cover the what, how and how much but I want to focus on the “why” and try to be instructive of what I think makes for a great A-round startup. As leaders we intuitively know that while basic skills in math, science, reading & writing are necessary — they are not sufficient. So Why Imbellus?
When I started blogging it was because I was inspired by Brad Feld. Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free! I always wanted to work with Brad for this reason so I started blogging because I figured if transparency worked for Brad I would try the same approach.
As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but think how excited I am about our future. A new social pipeline, the quick blogging style, the similarity to texting: all these things were great for Twitter. Dear Twitter, I have always loved you and I always will. Everyone is saying #RIPTwitter , but I still believe in you.
In more than a decade of writing about the Internet and tech-enabled businesses I’ve learned that mobs don’t do nuance well. Our social graphs are locked in Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. The reality is that cryptocurrencies can be both and can be liberating and corrupting at the same time.
Thus begins Snapchat and why you don’t get it. Snapchat will be used for both like the Internet (and TV) are. I just need to break you of the idea that Snapchat is for one thing – it is not. But since Snapchat uses the frequency above your hearing range it’s nearly impossible to “get” without help.
Starting back in 2015 and throughout much of 2016 people started commenting that my blog had become a lot more political. My blog has always been a mixture of what was on my mind and a blend of venture, startup life, tech views and current society events that related to my interests: Venture, startup & tech.
As of this morning Clinton still holds a lead in the popular vote but even that as I write is only by 0.2% yes, I get those) … There is an unfollow button on Twitter and Facebook and Snapchat and this blog on Medium. This isn’t my work blog or my company blog or a venture capital blog. This is MY blog.
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