When Liz and I first started Aprizi, it was very different in concept from where we eventually ended up. I had become fascinated with Mint and Gist, and people’s willingness to share rich data in exchange for the right value proposition. I started thinking about other places where valuable data existed, but was relatively hard to get to. This led …
When you can’t get that A round
The startup ecosystem is currently at the “thousand flowers blooming” stage. The number of large second-stage angel or VC-led A rounds will not be able to keep up with the number of new companies. Consequently, there are going to be a lot of frustrated and disappointed entrepreneurs out there. But just because you struggle to raise money does not mean …
Is there a quality chasm in fashion startups?
There are a number of startups in the broader “fashion” category getting funded with versions of a subscription model. At first glance, these things seem pretty cool — pay an affordable, regular amount and you get sent something nice each month, ideally somewhat personalized to your tastes. Send it back if you hate it! A consistent trend is also to …
Scott Francis on financing a young services business
Scott Francis, a fellow Trilogy alumn who has a business process consulting business in Austin, recently wrote his thoughts on Mark Suster’s excellent post “What Should You Do With Your Crappy Little Services Business?” — you can see Scott’s post here. Scott touches on a few good ways services firms can benefit from building products. But I wanted to particularly …