When you're in a meeting, it's natural to focus your attention on the person that is speaking. But when you're pitching, watch who's listening
Our Head of Fundraising gave me that advice when I started taking LP meetings: spend less time watching your colleagues speak and more time watching LPs react
Those nonverbal cues tell you what gets folks excited, nervous, etc. which helps you steer the conversation accordingly
The same applies when founders pitch investors
Looking for a grocery delivery or pickup service in SF for fresh produce + local meats. Like Farm to People if folks are familiar with that service in NY.
I'd love to go to the Farmer's Market every week but it's not always realistic for me.
Please comment if you have suggestions!:)
one of the big differences i’ve noticed between sf and ny culture is that people in sf like to gloat about how young they are
i heard 26 year olds tonight refer to themselves as “ancient”
maybe it’s because they wanna seem like they’re ahead at a rlly early age? or have a rlly high slope?
experience is, to an extent, less valued
something i’ve grown weary about on pitch calls is when c suite execs speak over one another. it reads to me that people either do not know or respect each other’s lanes of genius. that is a precarious position to be in as a startup
tesla is a very masculine coded brand and they understand their audience really well
i watched this video with a group of men and women. the men were literally jaw dropped googoogagaing. the girls were like “oh that’s cool”
Been thinking a lot about branding lately. Two litmus tests for a strong brand:
1. Does it have a personality? The Row is chic, understated, and intelligent, but doesn’t need everyone to know it.
2. Would you recognize it on a coffee mug without a name or logo? Put “COFFEE” in quotation marks and you immediately think of Virgil’s Off-White.
Applies to tech too. Apple comes to mind. But a lot of tech companies have good positioning without much of a personality.
Today is my big brother's birthday. My mom would always tell me that as kids, we were so loving towards one another.
I would go with my mom to pick him up from kindergarten. I'd press up against the glass window peering into the classroom to see him, my sweaty hands leaving marks. And when the door would open, we'd run into each other's arms and he'd twirl me around. He can't really lift me like that anymore but I'm just as happy to see him.
Having a sibling is such a gift. They're able to empathize with your lived experience in a way that no one else really can, and understand what your childlike spirit was before adulthood coopted your inhibitions.
For those of you that know my big brother, you'll understand when I say this that he lives life fearlessly and inspires those around him to do the same. I remember in 2021 he was working full time in crypto and told me to fly into NY for NFT NYC. I was a broke college student at the time. I thought it was crazy, but he gave me the push I needed. That trip resulted in my first full-time job offer.
This year will be the first time in a while that we won't be celebrating his birthday together. In true Keiran spirit, he told me that he rented out a porsche to drive to dinner at Stissing House??? The dichotomy of this man.
Give your siblings a hug today. Happy birthday Keir <3
The commute on the N train in the morning in SF is equivalent to the communal hell of the G to L transfer on the way to Manhattan
I spent most of the Summer at home surrounded by my four younger siblings and their friends. It was fascinating to observe the social media behavior of <21 year olds.
A few observations:
- Lots of young people abandoning TikTok. No one feels good after using it. Turns out maybe social media needs to be social after all? And a 1:algo experience isn't actually a good one.
- The #1 most used app by far is Snapchat. People don't really post to stories (either public or private), but it's become their primary messaging platform. Individual texts, group chats, even calls!
- Instagram is ranked #2 behind Snapchat. I was told by a 15 year old that "I would ask a girl for her Insta first and then when things got deeper, we'd switch to Snap." Real.
- The way people are actually typing out texts is different. Lots of interesting text styles and animations. The AI messaging app Daze was early to this.
I was talking to a friend that recently became a mom and she was telling me about this app called Peanut. It's like bumble but for mom friends! Such a cool idea.
My new favorite podcast is The Cutting Room Floor by Recho Omondi. I re-downloaded Patreon just to listen to it.
1) I spend so much time thinking about tech + finance and having just moved to SF, I'm now mostly surrounded by people working across those two domains. As an investor, I think it's really important to keep an ear to the ground across other industries like fashion, which is what TCRF is all about.
2) She actually asks interesting questions. I've wrote about this before but my major qualm with the breakdown of institutional media and everyone going independent is that people don't ask hard questions anymore! They're more concerned with their guests liking them and wanting to continue to come back, rather than asking the questions everyone wants to know the answer to.