Muhammad Lila

Building @Goodable | Warzone Correspondent | 2x Emmy noms | alum @JoinODF @fdotinc @CNN @ABC | 🇨🇦 | RT's, Likes ≠ endorsements

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

In an unprecedented move, Web Summit Lisbon has cancelled its entire day of programming tomorrow due to a major storm.

Thousands of startups, speakers, and visitors will be affected.

The city is expecting winds up to 150km/h, and major sections are at risk of flooding.

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

True story: In our early days, we hosted Twitter Spaces just because. I told my team we should try it a few times just to see what happens.

One day, a famous investor joined our space, DM'd us, and signed a term sheet 48 hours later.

[Andrew Yeung @andruyeung]

Things that feel cringe (until they start working):

- Posting on LinkedIn (until a stranger DMs you with a life changing opportunity)
- Cold DMs (until one turns into your biggest client)
- Filming yourself in public (until the video gets a million views)
- Hosting your first event (until 100 people show up)
- Speaking on stage (until someone tells you your talk changed their mind)
- Starting a newsletter (until it pays your rent)
- Introducing yourself to strangers (until one becomes your cofounder)
- Asking for referrals (until half your business comes from them)
- Pitching your friends on your startup (until one of them invests)
- Asking for a raise (until you get it)

Cringe is the entry price (most people never pay it)

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

@raphaelschaad @sridharfyi This is the answer. When I asked our investors, every one of them said the same thing. Pay yourself enough that you can fully focus on your startup and take the necessary risks. It will vary based on each founders stage in life, city, etc.

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

@zkassam I used to remember saving up my Eid money to buy Transformers from there

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

Today I realized that Amazon is basically just Consumers Distributing with free shipping and no in-store pickup.

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

@StephNass Not really. Good founders use custom URLs with each investor getting their own unique link. So it's easy to track which firm used a fake address and lower their rank accordingly.

In my experience, very few investors use fake address, and they're usually new or low-tier.

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

I wish more VCs would do this. All you hear about is their wins — they almost never disclose the ones that got away.

[Elizabeth Yin 💛 @dunkhippo33]

DoorDash is buying Instacart for about $17B. At my last firm, my boss asked me whether we should invest at a $10M post-money. I recommended we pass because the valuation seemed high and the business seemed capital intensive. Obviously that was the wrong call. Read on >>

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

@travisk Markets change but it's amazing to see how the fundamentals of raising have remained the same for decades.

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

@scottastevenson The hardest lesson for a first time founder to learn is the importance of saying no.

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

Why we built Goodable.

[mads campbell @martyrdison]

every morning i wake up and my entire timeline is doom and despair

we are going to get in a nuclear war, we are all going to die, slop about how women abuse men in relationships, here’s a plane crashing and how quickly they died, teachers alert that students reading ability is diminished, etc

there is no hope alive. that’s what really needs to be discussed. where is the hope for the future? for love and for peace?

this sucks

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

I appreciate this take, Lucy. There's another aspect to consider: How does this contribute to building a healthy — dare I say, thriving — early-stage ecosystem in Canada? Late stage cheques don't build ecosystems. Partnerships do.

I hope Cohere succeeds. As Canadians, we should want that. But writing a large cheque that Cohere could have easily gotten elsewhere doesn't solve the systemic problems in our ecosystem: Risk-aversion, access to early capital, overcomplicated procurement, barriers for Canadian companies to work together.

I would have loved to see the Cohere investment attached to a requirement that the company would have to spend a fixed amount inside Canada. Without that, how does it help Canada if it will just be spent outside of Canada anyways?

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

@paulburns Any major investment like this should mandate that the recipient commits to working with other Canadian companies wherever possible.

Money doesn't build ecosystems. Partnerships do. Why give a company billions when the money will be spent outside of Canada?

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

"Take us out, Number One"

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

"Engage"

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

"Make it so."

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

😥

[Merriam-Webster @MerriamWebster]

💔💔💔
https://t.co/ijxIeRaRTo

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life."

- RIP to a legend

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

@robertwrighter Scary

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to do precisely this. We did the same with social media in the name of being "connected." Didn't quite turn out how everyone had expected.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

We're about to enter a period where not reading or writing becomes as ubiquitous as smoking once was. We can hope people will eventually realize this is bad for them, as they did with smoking. But this is far from certain; the cost may not be as obvious.

[Muhammad Lila @MuhammadLila]

Rest of World filled an important void in international news coverage. I hope they find another home.

[Ben Mullin @BenMullin]

News: Rest of World, the nonprofit newsroom focused on the impact of technology outside the West founded by Sophie Schmidt, tells donors in an email it will “cease publishing as a standalone entity” at the end of January.