Through the ScOp Playbook, we’ve refined our strategy for identifying, building, and investing in successful companies. For us, business success hinges on creating value by solving problems, increasing productivity, and assessing how every decision we make either creates or destroys value. This principle guides both our professional and personal decisions.
I too often see marketing plans “focused” on everything: podcasts, site redesign, name change, conferences, awards, etc. When you focus on everything, you are clueless; you will fail at everything and spend all your money. FOCUS. Get one thing working, then move on to the next high-conviction item.
Below is a very brief overview of the three pillars of marketing.
I’m often asked for career advice. People think linearly: I get my degree, work for two years, return and get my MBA, etc. I like to challenge people to think non-linearly if they want to be massively successful. Here are the four career tips I give people:
Guava, one of our investments, is a free app aggregating ALL your healthcare data in one place. They pull data from your consumer, commercial devices, and over 50,000 healthcare providers (physicians, hospitals, blood labs, etc.). You can have a comprehensive view of all of your health data. They added a cool feature called "Insights" that looks for correlations between factors, like how the number of steps impacts sleep.
Jason and I go back to the early days of the Internet. Back in 1996, Jason started “The Silicon Alley Reporter” while we were building DoubleClick. We finally got to catch up on Jason’s “This Week in Startups” podcast. Enjoy.
Jason and I go back to the early days of the Internet. Back in 1996, Jason started “The Silicon Alley Reporter” while we were building DoubleClick. We finally got to catch up on Jason’s “This Week in Startups” podcast. Enjoy.
As someone who has had the opportunity to manage teams of 100 or more individuals, as well as being managed, I have gained some experience and knowledge that I hope can be useful to others. Through trial and error, and a willingness to learn from my mistakes, I have developed a few mental models that have helped me to navigate the challenges of leadership. In this post, I would like to share ten insights with you in the hopes that they may prove helpful in your own professional journey.
As a startup founder, it's important to keep an eye on paradigm shifts in technology because they present opportunities for disruption and the emergence of new winners. In the past, we've seen software displace machines, the internet create software as a service, and mobile-first products overtake the consumer market. Now, we're in the midst of another paradigm shift, and that's the rise of AI.
In the startup world, many conversations stall while discussing compensation. This is unsurprising, given that the upside is composed of cash, stock options, growth prospects, and possibly a bespoke role. As an investor, I find myself stepping in as the matchmaker to overcome this final hurdle and get to a mutually agreed offer. To make this process more repeatable, I have come up with a simple framework to facilitate compensation discussions.
Venture capital investment has slowed a bit since 2021. ScOp analyzed PitchBook data to see which cities lead the country in VC investing.
When we invest in a new company, I spend the first few weeks getting to know the team to understand their current challenges to help where I can. A common topic is that of the product lifecycle, everything from defining a north star, to developing a written roadmap, to executing and delivering a successful product. Last month, I wrote down some of the key points that emerged during those discussions. In particular, I wanted to highlight some of the most salient points of tension that emerged during these discussions.
