User acquisition does *not* equal growth.
Remember Viddy, the app heralded as the “Instagram for video”?
It was adding +500k new users/day, grew to +50MM users, & was used by celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg.
What happened?
3 lessons that'll make your company avoid the grave:
Strong parents treat their kids with dignity and honor their humanity.
Rather than trying to change who their kids are,
They smile and express their delight in it.
They are driven by a profound conviction:
When you're parenting, you're shaping a life, not a resume.
There's a book titled:
"How Children Raise Parents."
Nothing could be more true.
Parenting continually invites you to grow as a person.
Strong parents accept that invitation.
You can't afford to forget -
Who you are becoming is just as important as who your kids become.
In order to finance climate change, we need to think from a first principles perspective. Traditional VC will not be the main way. VCs need to put more effort on this.
According to @BillGates, to avoid climate disaster we must:
1. Get to 0 emissions
2. Accelerate deployment of solar and wind faster and smarter
3. Create and rollout breakthrough technologies
@WireWatt is doing all three in LatAm.
Exciting times ahead!!
Clean energy financing platform @Wirewatt has raised a $4 million investment from @mgminnovagroup to fund solar projects in Mexico and Latin America.
https://t.co/A0cm3WkioO
Some ideas that have changed my view on business and life in 2020
1)Kelly criterion and diversification as a startup founder
- Some startups have huge upside, but as a founder giving your 100% on 1 venture is too much risk
- Be open to multiple life paths and income sources
..
Bitcoin is an exit from the Fed.
DeFi is an exit from Wall Street.
Social media is an exit from mass media.
Homeschooling is an exit from industrial education.
Remote work is an exit from 9-5.
Creator economy is an exit from employment.
Individuals are leaving institutions.
Excited to be part of @beondeck no-code fellowship! Really looking forward to meeting the group and building together! Thanks for the invite @thisiskp_ ! #ODNC
Created a small securitization of $350k and closed it with a group of Dutch angel investors (some who had also invested in our company)
+ and - things:
-- complicated structure
-- expensive -> initial equity investment
-- lucky me, my wife @soniaparedess is a lawyer < legal fees
My first climate infrastructure project finance checks were the hardest. There is a funding gap for early stage PF that had us fundraising around the world. Mexican Co. with first PF round from Dutch angels and second from Japanese lenders.
A thread on learnings// 👇