This week's digest is more focused on startups than the average, with a mix of content, privacy, productivity, SaaS, diversity and strategy.
However, since I'm working remotely this week from Spain, this will also be one of my shortest reading lists ever; please bear with me.
As always, feel free to reach out if you'd like to suggest your (or any other) articles to Ben's List.
Strategy
The 7 Powers Known to Tesla, Pixar, Netflix, Apple & Twilio
"The universe of fundraising and vanity metrics may fool you into believing that your current performance is indicative of future success. But therein lies a logical fallacy: Performance is a trailing indicator. Power is a leading one."
You are hyped. What's next?
Made me think of Clubhouse that's launching its Android app now in May 2021... Is it already 6 months too late?
Diversity
VC Pitch Deck Bias Is Costing Diverse Startups Funding Dollars
"DocSend’s findings suggest bias is manifesting in unconscious ways...Investors spent more time scrutinizing the fundraising slides and slides that gave product information for White male firms than for all-female companies, which is likely to increase the odds of getting an investment, Heddleston said. For women, they spent more time on the business model and market tractions slides, which showed more uncertainty about the pitch, he said."
- bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-08/vc-pitch-deck-bias-is-costing-diverse-startups-funding-dollars :: Jeff Green
SaaS
Mind the Pipeline: Using Cohort Analysis To Forecast Bookings and Identify Gaps
"Cohort analysis can be used for a host of different populations — everything from people to pipeline opportunities — and can be cut across myriad time dimensions (weeks, months, quarters, etc.)."
- medium.com/thoughts-from-primary-venture-partners/mind-the-pipeline-using-cohort-analysis-to-forecast-bookings-and-identify-gaps-710a3d2fb747 :: Cassie Young
Productivity
The new wave of productivity
"One big area where we see still potential is help in prioritizing work and private events and time allocation. Especially in settings where “the office” and the home are the same place, and where work and leisure happen at the same time, the struggle of prioritizing tasks becomes omnipresent and is no longer tied to geographical locations or temporal boundaries."
Privacy
The Instagram ads Facebook won't show you
"The way most of the internet works today would be considered intolerable if translated into comprehensible real world analogs, but it endures because it is invisible."
Content
Who Will Amplify This? And Why?
"...this post is all about. Resonance. Understanding why people share, rather than just consume, and how networks and systems amplify."
