Jason Calacanis

Jason Calacanis

-73p

33 comments posted · 0 followers · following 1

13 years ago @ ben's blog - Why Andreessen Horowit... · 1 reply · +1 points

Well done!

Also, a very well thought out strategy in terms of stage agnostic. I think we'll see other firms follow this strategy and companies whip from angel around to exit/scale rounds in under five years (like Groupon, Facebook, Twitter and Zynga did).

13 years ago @ http://www.codusoperan... - Codus Operandi · 0 replies · +3 points

great post... adds a lot of great tips and moves the discussion forward.

thanks for writing it!

13 years ago @ http://www.codusoperan... - Codus Operandi · 0 replies · +1 points

Well, according to JRoberts excellent advice above, you're going to need to drop that commute because that's killing your productivity.

I'm going to agree 1,000% with the commute thing. I live four miles from Mahalo, and I also put chocolate power in my coffee to make a power man--but more importantly FAST man's--mocha! A second amazing tip from JRoberts: Starbucks is a real frackin waste of time AND money.

The bottom line is you're probably not going to win, or win big, trying to run a startup at night and on the weekends. That a fine way to start, but if you're in a good space you're going to get well-funded, full-time competitors, many of whom are going to be 20-somethings with NO KIDS.

That's the raw honest truth: people with kids/families are at a huge disadvantage in terms of hours/time/energy than folks without them in the startup game.

That being said, JRoberts and I both discuss getting more efficient over putting in raw hours. That now being said, there are some folks who are more efficient AND WHO PUT IN MORE RAW HOURS.

So, reality is you can get outhustled in the startup business. I've seen many family folks leave their startup at friday at 4pm and startup again at 9am monday and get their butts kicks by folks who are working over the weekend.

it's a really complex and deep issue... i think this piece adds a lot to the discussion. I might do my own "getting more efficient" post.

13 years ago @ Ryan Waggoner - People who destroy ent... · 0 replies · +6 points

What is the name of the firm!?!?!

13 years ago @ TechCrunch - Why I’m Craigslistin... · 0 replies · 0 points

The ipad runs the iphone's OS, has no keyboard and no usb port.

Everyone knew the ipad was not designed to run microsoft office. at best it's designed to view those documents.

13 years ago @ TechCrunch - Why I’m Craigslistin... · 3 replies · +12 points

OK, to save everyone some time here:

1. you bought multiple iPads knowing it was bad at Microsoft Office and didn't support a USB drive

2. you are now selling your iPads because you've confirmed that they are not as good as a laptop at running Microsoft Office documents and storing documents on a USB.

Let me ask you, is an iPhone 4 good at making phone calls? i was thinking of buying one since everyone says it isn't.

13 years ago @ Feld Thoughts - Take A Chance On Yourself · 0 replies · +1 points

epic

13 years ago @ TechCrunch - Wait, Me Too! I Am Als... · 1 reply · +5 points

... once again Mike Arrington jokes about national security. When will he wake up and realize this is no joking matter!

The only reason a business like TechCrunch can thrive is because it operates based on the freedoms afforded to it by the brave people at the CIA, who risk their *LIVES* catching RedFin agents who are secretly sending the FICO scores and FACEBOOK house-type "Likes" of liberal dotcom executives back home to mother Russia, where they are able to profile these executives to see which ones will attend TED, and subsequently who they will donate their Facebook and Zynga friends and family shares too... which obviously correlates with our Iran policy!

13 years ago @ TechCrunch - Wait, Me Too! I Am Als... · 0 replies · +2 points

Paul Carr.... clearly.

13 years ago @ Paul Kedrosky: Infecti... - [Updated] The Coming S... · 0 replies · +2 points

This is very consistent with what I'm seeing. There is not a massive competition for seed deals because the angels tend to drop out of the running when a person hits the 6m+ range... i.e. the Series A range.

Also, the startups seem to understand that if they want to get value-added angels involved, and most/many do, they need to offer a realistic chance of a 10-20x exit. A 2M valuation makes this possible, a $6-10M makes is much less possible. The average valuation at the Open Angel Forum is about $2m and the range is $1-3m typically.

One of the issue right now is that there are large VC firms that are calling themselves seed funds, or are actually adding seed funds to their mix, but they are not actually doing seed investments. As Sacca points out, sometimes they are buying an option on the A round with savvy entrepreneurs who don't want to take a large round they don't need.

The returns of angel investors are also very different than those of a VC fund. In fact, many of the angels I've spoken with and had at the Open Angel Forum seem to want to have fun, not lose a lot and maybe hit a home run once and a while. Essentially, do something more interesting and with a greater return than bonds.