shanika abeysinghe

thinking about startups, tech, geopolitics and films

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

you've always got time! i firmly believe that.

[Elizabeth Yin 💛 @dunkhippo33]

Controversial opinion: lots of people say you should start a company in your 20s when you have a ton of time and horsepower. But there's a lot of time. You can go out and get life experience, which will give you a unique perspective and start your business later.

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

It requires independent thinking, not echo chamber consensus. It means potentially looking stupid when everyone else passed. It means you can't just justify your decision with "it looks like the Uber of X."

I miss the days when VC had contrarian takes. 5/5 #VentureCapital

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

A thread no one needed:

I created this account after a 2 year break to see all the VC Twitter hype and it was just that - lots of hype and it's an echo chamber!

1/5

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

If you're truly looking for category creators and outlier returns, you need to get comfortable with things that don't match patterns.

#VentureCapital

4/5

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

Read more about why I think they will outpace their competition here:

https://t.co/uOsZQihgkm

#Wildfires

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

SenseNet just closed a $14M round. I flagged them in April for their multimodal detection stack (gas sensors + vision AI + satellite), Rogers 5G partnership, and regulatory tailwinds making wildfire detection mandatory infrastructure.

Pattern recognition ✅

#VC

[gabe @allgarbled]

When one of the homies moves to New York

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Good cofounder > no cofounder > bad cofounder.

This may seem obvious but a lot of people don't seem to grasp it.

[Nicole DeTommaso 🪄 @nic_detommaso]

VC hack: You can operate like a General Partner without a VC fund.

And you only need $1K to start.

That’s where angel syndicates come in, the easiest on-ramp into venture investing.

Here’s the simple version:

A lead investor finds a startup.
They open the deal to others.
Everyone invests smaller checks (as little as $1K).
All the money is pooled into an SPV, a single entity that shows up as one investor on the startup’s cap table.

It’s basically a crowdfunded VC deal.

And syndicates have changed the game for both investors and founders.

For investors →

You pick deals individually.
You don’t need to be ultra-wealthy.
You can start building a track record before ever raising a fund.

For founders →

Faster rounds.
Cleaner cap tables.
Access to operator angels who truly get your space.

In my latest newsletter, I break down:

1) Exactly how syndicates work behind the scenes

2) The platforms to join to start angel investing

3) The platforms to use to start your own syndicate

4) What it takes to lead one

If you’ve ever wanted to invest in startups - this is the playbook.

Full guide in comments.

Quick useful links:

1) Lead your own angel syndicate (for those who have good deal flow and want to invest in them): https://t.co/DsiqKxSVcx

2) Invest in syndicates (for those who don't have deal flow but want to invest in startups): https://t.co/tum8jpWgZM

♻️ Reshare to help democratize startup investing for all.

Image source: VC Stack.

[Jeff Morris Jr. @jmj]

Everyone talks about AI slop.
No one talks about PE (private equity) slop.

- restaurants that lost their soul
- medical practices that feel like assembly lines
- apartment buildings designed by an Excel formula

The algorithm didn’t kill culture. The margin model did.

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

very interesting to see it trending on VC twitter 💀 like come on y'all, you're smart enough to remember the difference between causation and correlation.

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

The “Great Feminization” article is built on weak logic: false cause (women = wokeness), essentialist stereotypes, cherry-picked data, sweeping generalizations, double standards, speculation as fact, and fear-mongering. Correlation ≠ causation.

[Helen Andrews @herandrews]

How I came to see the “Great Feminization” as the most significant event of our century—and a potential threat to civilization. https://t.co/6R9wwGvUVh

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

@NWischoff Clumsy DEI mandates are real and frustrating. But blaming "feminization" is a distraction. Women taking leadership is not the problem. Bad incentives and bad execution are. Institutions have always been engineered to favour someone.

[Nichole Wischoff @NWischoff]

Actively looking to make an investment on the construction material sourcing and/or financing front. Tons of opportunity, super complex. Rebates are interesting play, cobranded card, etc. Let me know if you’re building something interesting here.

[Raghu Raghuram @RaghuRaghuram]

Personal Update: Excited to join a16z. I will be working with the infrastructure investing team and growth investing team to help amazing founders build the next generation of great companies.

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

One year in the US and the thing that surprises me most: how disconnected American VCs are from what's happening in Canada outside the obvious hubs.

You're missing founders solving global problems who can't find capital at home.

That's your entry point.

[shanika abeysinghe @shanabeysinghe]

Back on here after a couple years away.

Planning to share thoughts on startups, geopolitics, tech, and VC - specifically how they're all colliding in ways that actually matter.

Lots has changed. Let's talk about it.