Disqus - Latest Comments for robchogo

Re: Get meetings scheduled in a snap with Calendly for Chrome

robchogo — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 14:28:19 -0000

Great! Is there a streamlined way to use this on mobile? Maybe through a keyboard application or something similar like what Outlook has?

Re: Get meetings scheduled in a snap with Calendly for Chrome

robchogo — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 14:14:53 -0000

Good product. Is there a risk of double-booking or of offering a time that doesn't end up being available? For example, if I offer the same time to two different people, and the first person selects that time, will the second person still be able to book it? Will that person just get a dead link? Or will it somehow disappear from their options?

Re: The Great Retail Reinvention: How the Internet Is Reshaping the Way We Buy Clothing

robchogo — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 16:09:40 -0000

Yep. It's a post-Amazon world in the mind of consumers

Re: The Great Retail Reinvention: How the Internet Is Reshaping the Way We Buy Clothing

robchogo — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 16:08:22 -0000

Thanks, I'll check it out

Re: Home Is Where the Innovation Is

robchogo — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:40:43 -0000

These have been slow to change I think because of the physical nature of those types of categories. But that seems to be changing

Re: Home Is Where the Innovation Is

robchogo — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:40:03 -0000

Interesting, this seems quite related to Frank's comment above. I'd be interested in learning more about this. We've looked at some software and device companies targeted as supporting the lifestyle of seniors, but actually haven't thought of it in the home category. Definitely interesting food for thought.

Re: Home Is Where the Innovation Is

robchogo — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:38:39 -0000

Thanks! We think of home as including certain categories of household spending, like furniture, home furnishings, and certain categories of CPG. Incidentally, that's apparently also where the BLS categorizes CPG spending.

Re: Home Is Where the Innovation Is

robchogo — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:34:32 -0000

This is a great point and seems like a really important area for founders (and investors) to focus! Thank you.

Re: Does VC Fund Differentiation Matter?

robchogo — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 12:28:45 -0000

Isn't the problem that differentiation is a second-order question? The first order question is 1. why do founders get referred to you? 2. why do founders pick you? 3. Do you have a strategy that will work if you do 1 & 2 well?

Re: Should Your Have A Lifecycle VC In Your Seed Round?

robchogo — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 09:37:42 -0000

I'd still rather take a single high-conviction investor any day of the week :)

Re: Should Your Have A Lifecycle VC In Your Seed Round?

robchogo — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 09:30:01 -0000

True, but I've seen this scenario end very badly as well. With only 1 lifecycle VC, it's probably more signalling risk, but you have more options if you can explain away their non-participation. With multiple, you can play them off each other, but if you don't raise from that group, you are pretty much toast.

Re: Traction vs. Product

robchogo — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 08:53:31 -0000

Thanks for the comment. Not sure this is always true. Nearly all of the companies we invest in are well below this, and quite a few companies we invest in are also below this when they raise their series A. I do agree that it's the minority of cases overall though.

Re: The VC Death Trap

robchogo — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 15:10:41 -0000

Some warning signs are growing pains, but some are fundamental issues that are magnified by too much capital and unrealistic expectations too quickly. It's ends up being tough to say no, but firms can dial up or dial down in these situations.

Re: Non Recurring Revenue Businesses

robchogo — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 21:36:17 -0000

Like: Tesla, Paintzen and Renoviso (in our portfolio), Opendoor.
Dislike: I'd rather not say personally - I don't love bashing other companies

Multiples: They are lower. But top line revenue gets bigger faster because the value is realized up front.

There probably is some variability on CAC. Again, it's tough to do an apples to apples comparison unless you are talki gabout two very similar products or services that are sold in different ways. I think in software, it has been shown that the economics of SaaS are better than one-time enterprise sales because it's easier to get customers to try a product and sign up for a lower end subscription and upsell them over time. The downside is that this approach in the short term consumes more cash to grow since you are investing ahead of future cash flows because you have confidence abotu that revenue stream over time. Larger contracts might yield less economic value over time, but can drive profitable growth faster.

Re: The VC Death Trap

robchogo — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 10:33:34 -0000

Thanks Matt! Great thoughts. We actually do this analysis - I credit my partner Dave for instilling this discipline.

Re: Startup Shootaround: Making Sense of Voice Technology

robchogo — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 08:32:46 -0000

Good thoughts. I actually think the brilliance of Echo is that is does a few things well, and is designed in a way that users are more forgiving about its errors. It's kind of a toy, but I tolerate it beause it does work for a subset of use cases that I do rely on it for. I do notice that even if it fails to respond to more complicated requests, it does interpret my request more and more accurately. When I look at the Alexa app, it has a list of my requests, and it's interesting to see how accurately it listens to me, even if it doesn't yet have the AI to do know how to respond. Siri is the opposite. Because it has a screen, it has a lot more flexibility in how it responds and can give me a decent answer even for a tough question. But I end up making much fewer queries because of the awkwardness of the user experience. Interesting times!

Re: What Are Pre-Seed Rounds and Why Do They Exist?

robchogo — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 09:53:28 -0000

I do think there is inherent risk in increasing losses to fuel growth, which is what VC capital often does. There is a lot of risk along the way as a company goes from being a small scale working business to one with an enormous terminal value. I also think that I'm seeing more VC's moving downstream now as the late stage market has cooled off, realizing that the risk they take early at a lower valuation is getting more attractive relative to investing later at super high prices with a pretty tough exit environment.

Re: USV Thesis 2.0

robchogo — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 23:27:56 -0000

This is a great overview of the thinking of the firm over time. My observation is that I think that USV's evolving focus from application to enabling tech to infrastructure has been occurring while many in the industry have moved in the opposite direction. Very interesting.

Re: Market Size

robchogo — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 14:25:33 -0000

Yeah, start narrow, but it needs to be reasonable why winning a narrow segment will allow you to win other eCommerce segments

Re: Market Size

robchogo — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 09:39:45 -0000

thanks!

Re: “So, You Want To Raise Your Series A?”

robchogo — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 22:44:59 -0000

I love #7. So true. I wonder if this is the first time that there has been so much disparity in what works for seed fundraising vs. series A.

Re: Announcing Our Investment in Scratch

robchogo — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 14:20:51 -0000

Dude, who do you not know? :)

Re: Voice

robchogo — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 16:01:31 -0000

thanks. very interesting and makes a lot of sense. I've tried using my keyboard for chinese characters, and it takes a long time

Re: Diligence

robchogo — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 22:07:39 -0000

I think it's about thinking about the critical skills needed for the company and then seeing how the capabilities of the founders match up against those skills.

Re: Diligence

robchogo — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 10:23:40 -0000

Thanks!