James Green

🚀 Helping experienced professionals launch startups without leaving their job. Talks about startups, innovation, investing, and doing what you love.

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

At least two of my business partners, past and present, are self-made multi-millionaires. I've also invested in and worked with dozens of hugely wealthy, successful people. Here are 42 pieces of advice for my children that I've learned along the way.🧵

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

@schwarzenegger

#terminator

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

If you work with British people, this guide might come in handy...

#british

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

Is there one factor that influences a founder's success above all else? Maybe it's this:

𝘈 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 - 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦 - 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯.

#flowers #Thanks

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

Think about tracking 3 categories of KPI:

#1. 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡: in which direction are total customer no's and revenue tracking?

#2. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: how is each customer performing?

#3. 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲: are you reducing the cost of your growth?

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

Can't believe it's already September. Happy Friday!

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

According to the founder of Match, the best VCs may be looking for these 8 startup traits. Have you considered them?

#startups #howtoraisemoney #seriesA

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

Do you REALLY want VC funding? https://t.co/MI01z5FtqJ

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

VCs are great for people building world-changing companies, but what about people building successful SMEs? That's what we're focusing on at DQventures.

#funding #venturecapital #SME

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

What's more valuable to thee than this?

#time

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

20. Most companies don't die because they run out of money

21. Be nice! Or at least don’t be a jerk

22. Get sleep and exercise - take care of yourself

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

Since 2005, @ycombinator has invested in over 4,000 companies that have a combined valuation of over $600B.

Here's what they consider their most important, most transformative advice for startups...

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

16. Startups can only solve one problem well at any given time

17. Founder relationships matter more than you think

18. Sometimes you need to fire your customers (they might be killing you)

19. Ignore your competitors, you will more likely die of suicide than murder

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

04. 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬 to share their proprietary outcomes data with you by offering preferential rates and/or by providing them with access to outcomes data from other users.

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

Some of my favourite insight on building a moat came from Jake Saper from Emergence Capital (I'm paraphrasing):

[James Green @JamesDQventures]

03. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 for obtaining proprietary data is to have a lot of people using your product. Pick a pricing strategy that encourages usage, like value-based pricing as opposed to charging per seat, which can actually deter usage.