Starting vs joining, mimetic theory, more on homeschooling
Hello from the Upper East side of NYC. It’s a beautiful fall morning. I love this time of year. 🍂
Personal Updates
The last few weeks have been hectic and exciting. Last weekend, I had the joy of spending time with many of my On Deck teammates at an offsite on a beautiful lake in Pennsylvania.
So much of life comes down to the people you spend it with. I’m truly blessed to work around many talented, ambitious, thoughtful, and kind people. There have been many great things about working at On Deck, but the people on our team and in our community are the best part.
On the investing front, my partner and I just closed what is the biggest angel investment of our career’s to date. We had to fight to pull this deal off, which makes reaching the finish line that much more rewarding. The best part has been watching these founders win. What they’re building has generational potential.
Yesterday, I caught up with one of my oldest, closest friends. We reflected on where we started, how far we’ve come, and how much potential the road ahead holds. Who knows how it will all unfold but sharing the journey, the ups and the downs with those you truly care about is an unparalleled connection. Life causes us to lose many people along the way, but there are certain people you should hang on to. Never get too busy that you let those relationships wane.
Today, I’ve got a wide-ranging group of links, thoughts, updates, and books to share. Let’s explore.
Reads & Links 🔗
On Joining vs Starting a Startup
The startup world abounds with contradictory advice about whether you should join or start a company early in your career. Personally, I think it’s highly situational.
Starting a company early can makes sense if you have enough of the right variables in place (risk tolerance, energy, reasonably good idea, etc).
If you don’t have the right variables in place, there’s something to be said for working at the right startup; accumulating career capital through skills, knowledge, relationships, reputation, etc; then using that career capital to start a company.
Also, doing hard and interesting shit exposes you to new problems leading to new and higher quality ideas.
Both paths can work. Know yourself. Assess your own situation. Make decisions accordingly.
Belief Capital > Friends & Family
Thought-provoking tweet by Erik Torenberg on rebranding friends & family funding to belief capital.
Savvy investors will be more intrigued to see your old co-founder, previous co-workers/managers, or early customers as investors than your parents. This demonstrates belief by people with high signal context on you, your idea, your product, etc.
IMO:
More founders should ask these “believers” to invest.
More founders should display these early believers/investors as signal in their fundraising process.
American Homeschooling Goes Boom
Over the last 2 years, the number of homeschooled children in the United States has doubled from 2.5M to 5M. Today, more than 11% of K-12 students are homeschooled. That’s a seismic shift in the market.
Bari Weiss does a great job summarizing the history of homeschooling in America, diving into the trends driving its recent growth, and painting the picture of how the future of K-12 education could evolve.
This new data is illustrative of why I and others believe that homeschooling could be having it’s why now moment as an industry.
H/T to Matthew Tower for sharing the article with me.
Last weekend I stumbled into the most realistic take I’ve ever read on how to kill Bitcoin by Joe Kelly.
Here’s a quick high level summary of how it would work: ⬇️
Form a joint partnership with other nation states
Ban Bitcoin
Seize control of the major mining operations giving you collective control of 80% of Bitcoin’s hash rate.
Contract Lockheed Martin to “coordinate a global mining operation capable of producing up to $100M per day worth of proof-of-work”
“Whenever a rebel miner announces a valid block, orphan it (override it) by announcing a longer chain with more cumulative proof-of-work — i.e. announce 1–2 of your blocks”
Result = Bitcoin transactions are no longer being processed
Rinse & repeat until the “rebels” quit trying
While I’m still overall bullish on crypto, some of my core beliefs were challenged by this argument. Regardless of your feelings on crypto or bitcoin, I recommend giving the entire series of articles a read.
Deals, Funding Rounds, & Market Moves 💰
The Rise of the Solo Capitalists Continues…
Previous readers know that I’m bullish on solo capitalists. That viewpoint has strengthened with these 2 solo GPs announcing new funds. ⬇️
Elad Gil’s fund is especially monumental. As far as I can tell, $625M is the most ever raised by a solo GP.
Each week I meet new investors actively spinning up their own first-time funds or syndicates. If you have the network and hustle, it’s never been easier to curate capital and make your own investments. The barriers have never been lower. Take advantage.
Syndicate DAO Raises $20M Series A to Scale Community-Driven Investing Platform
High level, Syndicate DAO is building infrastructure to decentralize investing. This infrastructure includes investing & social protocols, legal tech solutions, and a social networking/community platform.
I’ve been noodling on the intersection of venture capital and crypto a bit. DAOs are an especially interesting structure for investing. If you look at DAOs like FWB that have emerged to purchase NFTs or even non-crypto communities like wall street bets, it becomes clear that on some scale decentralized investing can work.
Not sure where this goes but worth following.
💡Startup Ideas - Homeschool Marketplace Update 🏠
Since early-August, I’ve been pulling on the thread on a startup idea in the homeschooling industry.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve met with founders, operators, investors, educators, political activists, & families in or adjacent to homeschooling. My original thesis was that the industry needed a marketplace, a one-stop shop for all things home education.
As I’ve learned more, I’ve come to believe that “marketplace” isn’t specific enough. My updated thesis is that you need to build a managed marketplace.
This is because education is nuanced and complex, homeschooling especially. There are many stakeholders, jobs-to-be done, and pain points. There isn’t just one problem to solve, there are many. You don’t just need to make the market more efficient, you also need to curate the market, build tools, enable services, foster community, etc. You don’t just need to build for parents, you also need to build for children and educators.
Furthermore, the existing homeschooling market is nascent in some ways and outdated in others. It’s existing curriculum, product, and service providers are fragmented. Most of the products don’t cater to modern consumers, especially the new waves of families opting out of public K-12.
The difficult thing is figuring out where to start. What’s the initial market wedge? I have several hypotheses but am still working on validating them out.
Overall, I’m excited. As mentioned above, I believe now could finally be the right time for meaningful innovation in homeschooling and alternative K-12 more broadly.
I have more in the works on this idea, but nothing I’m ready to share just yet. In the meantime, if you’re thinking about or interested in this problem space, shoot me a note.
Books I'm Reading 📚
Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
I’ve recently been down the rabbit hole of Rene Girard and mimetic theory. The theory’s basic argument is that all human desire is a function of copying the desires of others. That our desires are all mimetic to varying degrees.
Mimetic theory is the ultimately red pill. Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it. You start to see it everywhere, especially in yourself.
Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups
This book has been getting a lot of buzz in the startup/venture world recently. The author compiled and analyzed one of the most robust datasets on the founders of successful startups in existence today. Some of his findings challenge existing Silicon Valley truisms about the makeup of great startup founders and their ideas. Worth reading especially if you invest in startups.
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
People love to hate on the corruption and “evil” practices of today’s modern corporations, but the East India company’s rise makes today’s big tech companies and mega-corps pale in comparison. Great read for the history nerds.
Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness
Written by Tim Grover, current coach and former personal trainer to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, this book is a psychological deep dive into the pursuit of winning.
I’ve spent considerable time reflecting on what it takes to win, to be great, to chase something more. The last 10 years of my life have been dedicated to my own pursuit of winning. While still early in my journey, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to relate to many people. They often don’t understand the sacrifices you make, prices you pay, or the drive that makes you do it all in the first place.
This book made me feel seen. If you’re chasing winning in your own life, perhaps it will do the same for you.
Intellectual Rabbit Holes 🐇
Content from me 👋
Nomadic Adventures ✈️🚗
Still no good photos at the moment as my camera is broken and I’ve been too lazy to buy a new phone.
I am however hosting an IRL meetup with my friend Erik in October. An official sign up page will be shared soon. If you’re in NYC, would love to see you there.
See you on the internet.
Be well friends,
Andrew