Josh Kopelman
@joshk
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Father. Husband. VC. INTJ. Dad Joke Lover. Partner @FirstRound .
Philly
Joined May 2006
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1/ On Tuesday the
@PhillyInquirer
chose to publish an offensive political cartoon portraying Israel as an aggressor against a “meek” Hamas. And I cannot sit in silence.
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Just found this old receipt from 1999. Best $35 I've ever spent...
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Hard to take this statement at face value -- given all the tweets
@paddycosgrave
has been liking over the last few days. I saved several of them on the attached google doc (so we have a record when the
@WebSummit
PR team asks him to delete them).
We are devastated to see the terrible killings and the level of innocent civilian casualties in Israel and Gaza. We condemn the attacks by Hamas and extend our deepest sympathies to everyone who has lost loved ones. We hope for peaceful reconciliation.
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One of the hardest startup problems for startup founders to diagnose is a PMF problem masquerading as a GTM problem.
I've seen so many founders waste months tearing apart their sales/marketing/pricing/positioning…when they should have been tearing apart their product.
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I’ve seen more term sheets pulled in the last month than in the last decade.
Just sayin.
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One of my favorite pastimes when spending time with other VC's is to try to decide which phase of the VC lifecycle they are currently in...
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Motorcycles are common (2018: Honda sold 18M motorcycles)
Jet planes are rare (2018: 806 Boeing planes)
VCs sell jet fuel, which doesn't work in motorcycles
Bad stuff happens if VCs push jet fuel on a bike owner. Or if a bike owner thinks they can fly.
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Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm - Winston Churchill
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I know it is hard for founders to focus on reducing customer churn when your stomach is churning from watching the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. It is hard to focus on growth while you're watching so much destruction. It is hard to focus on optimizing lifetime value when…
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This story is deeply disturbing. As is the fact that the only people in my feed whom I've seen sharing it are female
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OH: Most entrepreneurs-turned-VCs never operated a profitable business...until they started a venture fund.
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After seeing my Twitter feed full of Ray Charles singing “Georgia on my mind”, I just want to proactively state that after Philadelphia delivers the election for Biden, we would prefer Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” to Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia”.
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Just found
@LeadEdgeCapital
's "Hierarchy of Information Disclosure." Companies choose which data to present -- ranging from "cash profits" to "being voted the best place to work in our city."
So true!
(Shared with permission)
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We all can use a reminder:
While LinkedIn makes it easy to find someone's pedigree (where they worked, where they went to school, who they know), it does NOT reveal someone's character (their values, kindness, courage, integrity, grit, loyalty, sense of humor, etc.).
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Typical VC: How can we help?
@Firstround
: Let us connect you with 10-20 potential customers to test your hypotheses, bolster conviction & move your startup into its next phase. Its the customer discovery sprint we think every founder should do. Oh, and we do it pre-investment.
1/ Introducing Discovery Assist: a new way for early-stage founders to get in front of potential customers, faster.
We’ll make the intros, you focus on the conversations. Request invite below:
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3/ Hamas is evil.
Their stated purpose is the annihilation of the State of Israel and the genocidal murder of Jewish
people.
They are terrorists. Their brutality and barbarism is comparable to (or worse than) ISIS.
Their attack on October 7th killed more Jews than on any…
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A seed-stage investor who highlights his/her Series A markup-multiple is like a marathon runner bragging about the time of the second mile in the race. It's great to get off to a good start...but it's a long race.
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After 200+ redeye flights here's my feature request. Let passengers board 2-3 hours early. They'll watch the safety video via app (to prove they saw it) & fall asleep before takeoff. Turns a 4 hour horrible sleep into a 7 hour sleep. kk - get on that
@united
and
@AmericanAir
.
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We raise our kids on a conveyor belt of conformity. It is really hard (and lonely) for someone to step off. But those who have the courage to do so are those who will create the change we need.
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So
@JeffBezos
’s true acquisition cost of the
@washingtonpost
was actually $10.25B not $250M.
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5/ While the Inquirer’s public apology does not unring the bell, it is an important first step to recognizing the danger of printing content that reinforces antisemitic tropes. I’ve spent the last two days thinking deeply about whether I should resign my position -- and have…
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In uncertain times, we believe that founders shouldn’t have to guess how (and whether) their existing investors will support them in the next round. That's why
@FirstRound
is announcing our Second Round Guarantee. When we lead your fist round, we're there for you in your second.
When asked about our investment process, we always point folks to the detailed FAQs on our website. As founders face a future that’s more cloudy than clear, we’ve recently added a new answer.
➡️ More on what we’re calling the Second Round Guarantee here:
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4/ Yet on Tuesday the Philadelphia Inquirer chose to print a syndicated political cartoon casting Israel as a jack-booted aggressor (in a manner remarkably consistent with how old cartoonists portrayed the Nazis). And it portrayed Hamas as a teeny-tiny victim of Israel’s…
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Just helped my 16-yr old daughter with her first tweetstorm. She found that
@realDonaldTrump
's grandfather lied on his naturalization form!
1/ Yesterday
@TheJusticeDepart
argued to
#SCOTUS
that lying on naturalization form can result in loss of citizenship
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"Ski Week" isn't a thing in Philadelphia. If you're a founder raising seed-stage capital -- drop me a line. I'm working this week 😁🏂⏳
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"Principles are only principles if you’d hold them even when they are costly."
Great quote from
@reidhoffman
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Just started watching
#TigerKing
. It’s so nuts I can’t stop watching.
It’s definitely going to cost me time away from my budding careers in epidemiology, medical research and macro-economic prognostication.
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We are looking to add a new partner to the
@firstround
team. Learn more about the role and our hiring process here. If you’re open to a new adventure or are just curious to learn more, we’d love to hear from you. Please share to help us spread the word! 🙏
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My daily routine:
1) Get an email from a VC I know asking me to intro them w/
@ivanhzhao
&
@NotionHQ
2) Forward it to Ivan asking if I can make intro
3) Ivan says he's "not focusing on VC at the moment. Please politely decline for us"
4) Wait until tomorrow & repeat w/ new VC
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“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
Peter F. Drucker - 1909-2005 - Management Consultant - Educator - Author
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This Reddit pump of GameStop is fascinating — and explains a lot. Can someone point me to the subreddit that must be doing the same thing to seed stage companies?
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I find it far more productive to try to identify people who know how to ask the right question — than to try to identify people who have all the answers.
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We’ve received many great applications for
@firstround
Angel Track — but too few are from women/underrepresented minorities. We’d love your help empowering a diverse next generation of early investors. Know someone who should apply? Tell them to apply at
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25 years ago on this day, my first company (Infonautics) went public. We sold $30M of stock in the offering -- at a $130M valuation.
Today that is a strong Series A round...
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2/ I joined the Board of the Philadelphia Inquirer because I believe in the importance of independent, local journalism. And seven years ago I became the Board Chair, understanding that the only way a paper is truly independent is if it has a newsroom free of external influence…
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Are you a creative and unconventional thinker, yet also highly analytical and logical? Come be my next Chief of Staff! This Philadelphia-based position will work alongside me in all areas of venture capital…from investment review through exit. Apply here:
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Ten American Flags.
Ten empty seats.
In honor of the Ten Americans being held hostage by Hamas.
Thank you
@Giants
for this poignant message.
#BringThemHomeNow
Today, we are flying flags in 10 empty seats in MetLife Stadium to honor the Americans currently being held hostage.
These hostages were just 10 of the 200 kidnapped during the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7.
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@paddycosgrave
Hard to take this statement at face value -- given all the tweets
@paddycosgrave
has been liking over the last few days. I saved several of them on the attached google doc (so we have a record when the
@WebSummit
PR team asks him to delete them).
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We just published
@firstround
's 4th annual State of Startups report. Here are the Top 10 highlights:
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Very cool to see that
@flatironhealth
is now New York's largest VC-backed exit! (And proud that
@Firstround
has funded three of the four largest exits in NYC).
#NYCtech
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Philadelphia is battling two crisis at the same time.
In the last 14 day period, more people in Philly have been shot by guns (107) then have died of Covid (76). I'm glad
@MayorKenney
issued an emergency order for Covid -- but where is the emergency action for gun violence?
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Dear
#LizMagill
I edited your letter to the
@Penn
community based on your Congressional testimony. This appears to more accurately represent your perspective. If you can update the letter posted on the website to reflect this, I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Josh
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My week: I’ve installed 7 virtual backgrounds for Zoom calls so I can change them based on my mood.
@BillGates
’s week: I’m building 7 factories to produce vaccines.
Bill wins.
Bill Gates is setting up factories to manufacture 7 leading vaccine candidates before we know which is best & safest; we can test the vaccines in parallel, and then throw away all but the factory for the best vaccine. May save many months.
Just extraordinary.
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Better written than most "deal memos" at VC firms...
Written 4 months ago:
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One of the hardest things in VC (& life) is the ability to continually rethink your prior assumptions to see if they still are accurate.
An exercise: "What is a belief you hold (about a company, market, etc) that, if proven wrong, would cause a big change in your decisioning?"
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When I was 13 years old, my parents bought me an Apple ][+. I didn’t know it at the time, but that one gift changed the course of my life in unimaginable ways.
What gift changed your life the most?
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1/. One person's view on the private markets.
When an investor backs a company, they are actually making two bets:
1) Execution Bet - Can the company find PMF, grow revenue, scale over the next 7+ years?
2) Valuation Bet - If they execute, will the company be highly valued?
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Loved this "Investor Update Oath" from a repeat
@Firstround
founder. Focusing on transparency, brevity and frequency.
#IWishEveryFounderDidThis
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1/ Some thoughts on how companies get valued.
When it comes to exit valuations, "Where" you build often matters more than "What" you build.
An (imperfect) analogy below...
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The first time I rang a bell in public - it was when Infonautics went public in 1996.
Today I was more nervous ;-)
#BucketList
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My basic rule of thumb for COVID-19 safety: If your safety measures are not embarrassing to your teenage kids, you are not behaving safe enough.
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From Barbara Bush’s Commencement Address at the all-female Wellesley College, 1990:
“And who knows? Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the President's spouse - and I wish him well.”
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1/ The vast majority of founders have not led a company during a downturn -- and as a result the last 12 years have conditioned founders that they can "ignore the macro" market.
That is no longer the case…
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Question that few founders ask themselves: If my company could "own" the first result of any Google search, what would that query be?
Question that few VCs ask themselves: Would I rather back a company that answers a popular search today -- or a question that isn't yet asked?
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I first met
@ivanhzhao
11 years ago -- and his pitch for
@NotionHQ
was unlike anything I had ever experienced.
We did not discuss technology products like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Instead, we spent an hour discussing the openness and form factor of paper. Ivan marveled…
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Is Twitter down? Is the feed not updating posts? It's been hours since $SNOW went public, and I haven't seen one
@bgurley
tweet talking about direct listings and the highlighting the money that the bankers crazy mispricing took from the company and gave to the bank's clients...
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Some sage advice I was given last week:
Hell is living in heaven and complaining about it.
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FACT: Founders who sit during
@Firstround
partner meetings do better than those who stand & present. It is a conversation not a presentation
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Love this poster. Anyone know who makes it or where I can buy one? "Orville Wright Did Not Have A Pilot's License"
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Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do. Love!
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If you were to create a "personal cap table" of your relationships, who would be your biggest shareholders?
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Good story by
@AlexKonrad
on current VC mkt. I'm quoted but thought it might help to share my entire email to Alex.
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Thank you
@Eagles
for shining a spotlight on the 10 American hostages being held by Hamas.
#BringThemHomeNow
Today at Lincoln Financial Field, we’re flying 10 American flags in 10 empty seats to honor the Americans currently being held hostage.
These hostages were just 10 of the 200 kidnapped during the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7.
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We often get asked about
@Firstround
's investment process, decision making & how we work. So we put together a FAQ.
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1/ I first met
@chrisfralic
22 years ago and it’s turned out to be one of the most important partnerships of my life. After 12 years at
@firstround
he’s transitioning to a board partner role.
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1/After helping
@Firstround
companies raise over 1,000 follow-on rounds, our Pitch Assist team shares best practices
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1/ I believe that venture is far more “art” than “science”. It is a very humbling business, filled with a lot of “false precision”
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So many investing teams spend a LOT of time making each investment decision -- but so little time thinking about the frameworks/rubrics/systems that they use to guide their decision making process.
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I wish that more mobile app companies would hire UI designers over 40 years old - so I wouldn't need to wear reading glasses to use an app.
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What mobile analytics reports are saying about the average SF phone usage today:
9 AM to Noon PST - checking Bitcoin price.
Noon to 12:05 - playing HQ
12:05 to 6:00 PM - checking Bitcoin price.
6:00 to 6:05 - playing HQ
6:05 to bedtime - checking Bitcoin price.
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1/ We met
@hayleybay
7 years ago as Co-founder of
@birchbox
. Today, she joins
@firstround
as General Partner!
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To put this in context: In the five MONTHS of 2021, there were 187 NEW unicorns created.
That is more unicorns than were created in five YEARS (from 2014-2018) -- with 175 unicorns created then.
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All right Twitter. It’s my birthday weekend. And after a month of socially isolating at home with my family, I’m kind of out of dad jokes. So help me out with a birthday present by sharing your best dad jokes here ⬇️
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Best description of Chanukah for kids I've heard: Imagine you only had 10% battery on your iPhone...and it lasted for eight days!
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Firstround: We celebrated the last 10 years by making a holiday video
Me:
Don't Say It
Don't Say It
Don't Say It
Don't Say It
Don't Say It
Firstround: But all good things come to an end; and there's no video this year. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, & joyous holiday season!
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TBT to when I bought the domain for $2K. (And I’m loving the AOL and Hotmail email addresses)...
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