UC Wilson

[UC Wilson @iodowilson]

Algerians : "we are white damn it! hate those sub Saharan black people"

Argentinians, one of the most racist countries on the planet : "*inserts evil racist propaganda image* little black guy"

This platform has really become a klan rally. It's disgusting.

[lorem ipsum @altashanta]

QUÉ PASÓ NEGRITO??????

SE VE QUE ALLAH NO QUISO

[UC Wilson @iodowilson]

@oanaolt Alright, thank you

[Oana Olteanu @oanaolt]

Humanity over money
Proud of the Albanian people
Defending their land from Kushner and Ivanka

[Phil Trubey @PTrubey]

Vinod’s trigger happy impulse to can founders has dredged up what happened to me. I’ve never written about this before, so here goes.

1990s dot com boom. I had solely founded Websense, a profitable (from the get go) software Internet company in 1994. We didn’t need VC money, but everyone and their dog food company was getting VC money so I decided to get investment as a defensive measure in case one of our competitors also got a large pile of cash.

Very long story short, I ended up with Morgan Stanley Venture Capital out of New York leading our series A in late 1998, odd considering we were in San Diego. Anyway, post investment, the deal partner made it clear he wanted me out. Long series of maneuverings, but I got fired from my own company, and then had to battle against Morgan Stanley who was angling to do a cram down round to extract even more equity from me.

I found a white knight, ex-corporate lawyer, sharp business person. I gave him some of my equity to go to bat for me. Next telephonic Board meeting, before Morgan Stanley could propose their cram down, I resigned and put my white knight in my place on the Board. You could hear a pin drop. The credible threat was made, Morgan Stanley played it more or less straight from then on.

Yes, we were a young inexperienced team, but we had built the company profitably to $10M in yearly revenues. Their new management wasn’t magically better. They actually missed a bunch of strategic layups. At least they finally took the company public - one week before the NASDAQ freefall in late March 2000. Sigh. After I had sold all my stock, they continued doing nothing with the company so much that it got taken private by a PE firm. That’s a whole ’nother story.

I did fine financially. But there is no doubt had I gone with a founder friendly VC, we would have executed better, and had I not gone with any VC, but kept growing organically, I would be a far richer person today (and probably had a stress heart attack to go with it).

Yes, there are cases where a VC should replace the founder CEO, like if they lie to the Board, do major deals without Board approval, or are seriously going off the rails in their private life. But absent that, realize that a replacement CEO usually isn’t founder material themselves, else they would be running their own startup.

And spare me Vinod’s “I do what’s right for the company” BS. That’s a thin cover for “doing what’s right for my VC firm”. Never waste a crisis, and somehow deal makers always manage to extract an extra pound of flesh in any restructuring they’re involved in.

I’m not in the same league as other founders who got shitcanned like @PalmerLuckey, but needless to say, I can relate 100%.

Yes, your founder is young and inexperienced. But they ate the broken glass and built what you’re so wanting to invest in. Don’t fall for the “grass is greener” fallacy and think you can slot in a better CEO.

[Rajat Suri @rajatsuri]

Colin Angle (@colinangle) built iRobot for 33 years. Took it public, watched the Amazon acquisition get blocked by regulators, and then started over.

@immad and I got into all of it: how he funded iRobot for 8 years without VC, the sales tactic he used to get Fortune 500 CTOs to bankroll his R&D, why he thinks early capital would have killed the company, the $199 Roomba with a $42 BOM, what actually happened with Amazon and the FTC, and what he's building now at @FamiliarMxM, a robot priced to compete with the cost of owning a pet.

One of the more interesting founder journeys we've had on the show. Full episode below.

[Killa 🌺 @KillaKreww]

NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo tells the story of when Adidas tried to FINESSE him early in his career and not sign his brother even though they agreed to, which ultimately led to him signing with Nike 😳👀

He also shared GOLD advice for young athletes on managing their inner circle and major business decisions early on 🔥

“There’s two things that you can do. One, don’t ever let your lawyer, financial adviser, and agent know one another. They should never be boys and cool… because they keep one another accountable.”

[UC Wilson @iodowilson]

What is your business with Nigeria?

[Deedy @deedydas]

Crazy fact: there will be more people born in Nigeria (7.7M) this year than all of Europe (6.2M) despite having 3x fewer people.

[UC Wilson @iodowilson]

@devahaz @esthercrawford @BexelInitiative Mr deva, would you mind donating to my college fund to help me pay my way through graduate school and I would pay you back this donation and interest, or donate the pay and interest to a charity of your choice, when I graduate?

[UC Wilson @iodowilson]

@InuitKodiak where do we join?

[❂ Yübbîę Umoh ❂ @Yubbie007]

eartha kitt speaking on how she almost lost her career in the u.s. & was blackballed for being outspoken on the vietnam war at the women’s luncheon, making first lady, lady bird johnson cry, after dark, 1989. 🗣️

[UC Wilson @iodowilson]

I really like this woman, but she's older than me. Lmao. And she probably already has a boyfriend or fiance, giving her age. Oh, and she lives in another country, lmao. The odds are not looking good.
I'd like her from afar though. O,Ol

[Oana Olteanu @oanaolt]

Always happy to see the logo of my friends @sentry @zeeg

# never traveling alone in the Bay

[UC Wilson @iodowilson]

@nejatian Kaz I've been recently admitted to Johns Hopkins for graduate school. However, I have a bit of problem with the cost. If you don't mind, we could make a deal, if you or Opendoor offers me some fellowship to help with cost, I will payback and also join Opendoor when I graduate.

[Oloma Juice 🍋 @islemonjuice]

The First Nigerian female to ever be arrested for drug trafficking was
Iyabo Olorunkoya.

The first President to be an Ex-Drug Convict was a Yoruba man Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The first two Nigerian males to be publicly involved with drug trafficking were two military officers:
1. Benjamin Adekunle.
2. Foluso Sotomi.

First convicted kidnapper? You know already

[𝔏𝔢𝔫𝔞 🎀 @clusterbitch_]

you weren’t robbed. you chose it because you thought you could devastate millions of people’s lives without causing harm to your own. you fully deserved every bit of it.

[feriel @fatfouta73536]

#Boycottnetflix it's dan Reed again and his entourage who are behind the documentary of Netflix, this man is obsessed with incriminating Michael Jackson @tajjackson3 @tjjackson

[Balan Gratiana @BGratiana66588]

TOM SNEDDON SUBMITTED FALSE EVIDENCE in court(fake fingerprints evidence, phone evidence that they tried to create) and HE WAS CAUGHT. After being caught, TS tried to withdraw it but the judge said no.

[holly ~saw conan~ @hollymolly_2]

MICHAEL JACKSON IS INNOCENT - A THREAD OF PROOF.