Bottoms Up Investing – Instead of creating a thesis based on what the future will be, focus on the present and finding companies that have achieved ‘Liquidity Quality’
Genesis Usage – A user using a product as the starting point to any workflow similar to how Sketch is the starting point for any designer
Product->Business Model Advantage – Dell’s customization offering that turned into an inventory efficiency advantage is an example where product offering advantage turned into business model advantage as well. More here.
Brett Bivens writes a great post around “The Merits of Bottoms Up Investing”. that led me to think a lot about the various mental models around investing, product strategy and even life in general. This triggered me to start collecting all of these mental models I come across in here so I can go back to reference it.
What I found interesting about Bottoms Up Investing is its contrarian approach to being thesis driven, and the slight nuance between predicting the future and seeing the present very clearly. So much of a VCs job is understanding the potential of a startup and seeing how big it in can get 5-10 years from the time they invest. Yet taking a bottoms up approach makes you think a lot more about what is currently happening today and why this startup can succeed today and whether or not that startup can get to Liquidity Quality today.
“I’ve come up with this phrase I use internally that I made up ā so I one day, I’ll have to write a definition of it ā called Liquidity Quality. And I tell entrepreneurs, I care way more about Liquidity Quality than I do how broad you are. We can use venture dollars and growth playbooks to go broad if the fire’s burning bright. So how do you get this liquidity quality high? Jeremy (Stoppelman from Yelp) doing things that don’t scale at those nightclubs in San Francisco, and people being super passionate in their reviews, frequency being high, the quality of the experience, even though is in a very small area? And so I very frequently run into entrepreneurs who think they need to expand to 10 cities really quickly to raise their A or B or whatever. And I’m like, no. If you have like incredible unit economics and growth metrics in a single city, where it’s obvious that your playbook is working and things are spinning and things are getting better, you basically have network effects. That’s way more interesting.”
The other part of this article by Brett that got me thinking was the Benchmark x Sketch post written by Sar around why Benchmark invested on Sketch really struck a chord — it immediately got me into a train of thoughts around the wedge that various startups start with and the centrality of a Saas product within an organization and the challenge Saas startups have today with gaining the attention of their users.
What’s most important in what he says is just a one word ie. genesis. If I were to bet on what got Benchmark interested in Sketch and what makes Sketch really differentiated per them, it’s that Sketch is where the design process starts. I am no designer but I have seen most of my designer friends start their work in Sketch and import their Sketch files into other tools.
My key takeaway? As important as it is to come up with our thesis of what the future could look like, understanding the present circumstances and what the driving forces of today are are just as important. And leading indicators that allow us to understand that a product is ready for today can be seen from how much centrality and density a product can gather even in a more controlled environment initially.
2017 brought about a lot of new experiences and lessons in various aspects of my life. 2017 was by far one of the years where I felt like a rookie again in a lot of ways, which was really exciting.
Iām thankful for all the people I got the chance to work with this 2017. Iām extremely thankful for the YouthHack Philadelphia family, Dorm Room Fund team, Twine Mafia, True Ventures Fellows, and all the other communities I got the chance to be part of and individuals I got the chance to meet this past year. You all truly made this year one of the best.
No doubt, 2017 was a year that reminded me of how much I enjoy working towards a vision starting from nothing and the intense roller coaster that it is. More importantly, it reminded me of how much I love working with people who really care about what they do and inspire me along the way! From Twine winning the Wharton Startup Challenge to all the adventures with the True Ventures fellows to getting YouthHack Philadelphia recognized by the Wharton Council, it has been an incredible year.
With our YouthHack Philadelphia team before our pitch to the Wharton Council
Below is a list of some of the biggest lessons I took away from the various experiences, side projects, internships, ventures, classes, readings, speakers, and mentors this past year. Iāve decided to bucket these lessons to a few big buckets in my life including: Startups, Career, Learning, People, Technology, and Life. Iām sharing this for two reasons: 1. I want to be able to look back a year from now and a few years from now on what my 2017 was like; 2. Maybe youāll be able to take a way a lesson or two from this.
On Startups
2017 was the year I decided to take what Iāve learned from my previous startup projects and dive right back into trying to build something from scratch, which transformed into SkillStackers, the easiest way to outsource common business tasks to a vetted workforce. Weāre only getting started but these last 6 months working on the venture has taught me a lot already.
Everyone will be killing it from the outside ā Indeed, when we were first starting out brainstorming potential ideas and paths to pursue with SkillStackers, we came across so many different competitors and so many different players in the space, and all of them seemed to be killing it from the outside but you quickly realize that this doesnāt reflect the true condition of the startup because there are so many things that go on behind the scenes and what you should really be focusing on is your customers and making them happy.
Consistency is key ā The biggest challenge about starting up especially in college is really putting in enough time to make progress on the startup and to do the little things day in and day out to push the needle forward. But at the end of the day, success doesnāt happen overnight and itās really about being consistent and putting in the work every single day, even on days when you feel like not doing work.
Startups really do take a long time to succeed ā Building a startup and turning it into a company is a marathon and a sprint at the same time. You have to be in it for the long run, a reality I have learned to accept. While sometimes, it doesnāt seem like youāre making progress day to day, as long as you stick to it, good things eventually happen.
The hardest part about startups is managing your psychology ā There will be a lot of ups and downs. There will be days that completely suck and days where it seems like the startup will never work but you just have to keep at it. Donāt give up. Startups donāt die because of murder, they die because of suicide.
On Career
As a senior in college about to enter the workforce, career has been something Iāve thought a lot about this past few months. While I was initially stressed by the need to know what my short term plan would be and the need to feel a bit more secure, after talking to mentors and thinking about the long game, Iām now a lot more ready for this next phase of life.
Optimize for people ā Again and again, the biggest piece of advice Iāve gotten whether through my internships, interviews Iāve done with relatively successful people in tech and the speakers we had at True Ventures, was to surround yourself with people you respect, people with integrity and people you admire. Indeed, 2017 was about finding these people and intentionally hanging out with them, taking every opportunity to work with amazing people, and finding mentors that inspire me.
Build for the long game ā After talking to various entrepreneurs and reading books about successful entrepreneurs, 2017 solidified my desire to build for the long game. Itās easy to read about the quick successes and short term gains but 2017 made me realize that itās important to be thinking about the long game whether thatās in company building, in the relationships we invest in, in the friends that we make and how we spend our time.
Keep learning, keep pushing yourself ā One thing Iāve tried to do in 2017 was to push myself out of my comfort zone, to take on tasks that were hard, to learn new things that were hard. A lot of days I would feel completely exhausted and ready to give up, but then the adversity muscle would kick in and I would keep going on whether that was through doing part time internships, working on a startup while doing a fulltime internship or taking 3 computer science classes, I tried to constantly push myself out of my comfort zone and I donāt regret it one bit.
Working with the Twine team in my spring semester was definitely a highlight
On Learning
While Iāve admittedly never been a big fan of classes, Iāve always enjoyed learning and 2017, Mark Twainās quote, āDonāt let your schooling interfere with your educationā was something I really took to heart.
Bookstores are a good way to restart ā Toward the second part of this past semester at Penn, I started to get burned out with the mix of classes and running a startup. It seemed like I was just grinding every single day without any motivation or purpose. Then I took a detour one day to the bookstore and suddenly I had renewed energy after reading a few pages of a few books. Suddenly, I felt like the world was so much bigger once more. Since that moment, Iāve made it a point to visit the bookstore every now and then, and I pulled out my Kindle and started reading again.
Learning from experts is the best way to learn ā The best way to get up to speed with a topic is to find experts who know these topics a lot more than you do then ask a lot of questions then dive in from there.
Just dive in, youāll make mistakes and thatās okay ā A lot of times the hardest part is getting started but once you dive in and get started, the learning is infinite. This was the case when it came to computer science and taking 3 classes this semester. This was the case with crypto investing and putting my summer savings to get some skin on the game and to start learning.
On People
Life is too short to spend time with people you donāt care about. 2017 was a year where I was more intentional with how I spent my time with people and tried my best to show up more and to be there for people I care about.
Double down on the relationships that you care about ā While Iāve always enjoyed meeting new people and networking, this past year, I learned how to double down on relationships I cared about and prioritize the people that really matter to me. You know who you are.
The little things do make a difference ā One of the most impactful videos I watched this year was the commencement speech of FirstRound Capital Founder Josh Kopelman to the Wharton Executive MBAs where he talked about taking out 3 sheets of paper at the start of each week and writing thank you notes to people who have impacted his life. Since then Iāve made it a point to take time every so often to just sit down and write notes to people I havenāt spoken with but have impacted my life in a positive way.
Itās easier to change yourself than to change others ā Everyone has their own working style, preferences, motivation and attitude that while certain times I wanted people to change to accommodate my style of work, Iāve learned to play to the strengths of others and to control what I can control which is more often than not myself.
I’ve gotten to meet some really inspiring individuals through Dorm Room Fund this year!
On Technology
āWhat a time to be aliveā is the phrase Iāve used a lot with my friends when discussing todayās world and all the advancements when it comes to technology.Ā
Blockchain/Crypto ā I was initially skeptical about this technology and like everyone else thought that bitcoin and crypto was a bubble but after spending time learning more about the history and listening to talks by thought leaders, I do believe that weāre only just getting started and thereās a lot more to come in this space. HODL.
Future of Work ā I spent a lot of time this year looking into the future of work and how it has changed in the last few years and the problems within the industry and Iām excited to be working in this space and do believe that weāre going to see more and more distributed/remote workforces in the upcoming years!
Artificial IntelligenceĀ ā This summer I got the chance to talk to a lot of AI companies and am very excited by the progress weāre seeing in fields like self-driving cars but I do think that weāre still a bit far away from completely eliminating humans in the loop when it comes to AI.
On Life
One of the books I read this year was Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss and one of the interviews was on AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant and he his words really drove home the fact that we will all die one day and so we shouldnāt worry too much about the small stuff because they will all be inconsequential one day.
No matter how bad today may be, tomorrow will be better
We will all somebody die so have fun; Donāt sweat the small stuff
Life is short so donāt waste it doing things you donāt enjoy doing
The world has a crazy way of giving you what your heart truly desires so trust in the process and know that things will work out
Thanks for reading! 2017 was awesome and I canāt wait for 2018 to be even better! If youāre interested in collaborating/working together this 2018, feel free to reach out!
I started blogging back in 2013 towards the end of my junior year when I felt like high school was passing by too quickly without me appreciating the little moments that were happening. Blogging then turned into my outlet and passion after I tore my ACL the summer before my senior year in high school and I couldnāt really go anywhere for two weeks. Since then Iāve taken on a variety of content, blogging and journalism roles whether it was writing for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Technically Philly, Huffington Post or Inc. Magazine or telling the story of the nonprofit organization I founded in Youthhack or the various other organizations Iāve been part of like Dorm Room Fund.
I still remember the days when I used to write almost one article/blogpost a week whether it was documenting a startup event I attended or telling the story of an entrepreneur I interviewed. Then I hit a roadblock in 2016āwhether to continue writing at that level or to start building my skills in other fields like computer science. I didnāt want to be known just as the ābloggerā so I made the decision to write less and focus more on other skills and projects I wanted to explore.
Throughout the last year, I would still receive emails from various PR firms pitching stories of different entrepreneurs and founders, and I would get messages from random friends linking to an article I wrote in the Huffington Post asking me what story I was working on next. Each time, I would reply, āsorry Iām too busy working on other projects right now so Iām not actively blogging anymoreā.
However, as I ended my summer in San Francisco and got back to Philadelphia for my final year at Penn, it hit me how fast these last 3 years have flown by and how there are so many lessons, moments and things I wish I could recall, share and documentārealizations very similar to my senior year in high school. Thereās something weird about these artificial and societal time constraints that make you act differently.
As I enter my senior year at Penn, I realized that blogging is something I miss whether it’s the idea of being able to look back at past memories and thoughts or having a platform to tell stories of inspiring individuals, I truly miss blogging. Hence, while I wonāt jump right back into my hardcore blogging/borderline-journalist days where I would churn out one article after the next, Iāve decided to revamp my personal blog and start writing again. While my old content and blogposts can still be found at doitchoco.wordpress.comĀ and my series of startup stories can still be found on the Huffington Post, I hope to start anew with this blog and write about big themes and lessons Iāve learned in the last few years and to document striking moments and thoughts that I have this last year of mine.
Iāve spent the last few days just thinking about how I want to spend my final year at college, and while itās honestly quite scary that this is my last year in college, Iām excited to make the most out of it. Somehow I feel like a freshman again, ready to explore what Penn has to offer!
Indeed, the days are long but the years are short–can’t wait to see what this year has to offer š
One last time at Penn’s campus š (Photo taken from VisitPhilly.com)
