Best quotes by Andrew Chen

Magic metrics indicating a startup probably has product/market fit: 1) cohort retention curves that flatten (stickiness) 2) actives/reg > 25% (validates TAM) 3) power user curve showing a smile -- with a big concentration of engaged users (you grow out from this strong core)

Growth tips/tricks are like "Get rich fast" schemes- they promise instant results, but they don't work The real answer is painstaking iteration to get p/m fit, nailing a single growth channel, layering on over time, hiring teams and building repeatable systems Get rich slow

The new battleground for startups targeting creators: "Link in bio" It's now some of the most valuable real estate in the digital world Whoever controls the link controls the business model for the new economy that's being built

“Business to Influencer to Consumer.” B2I2C is the new B2B2C There’s so many new products that are targeting social media influencers, streamers, and the long tail of creatives/makers as their primary growth strategy Especially if your product/service is visual.

Future of retail: Experiential, self-serve, or on-demand... and not much else.

You might think consumer startups are "hits-driven" with binary outcomes, but I think that's all going to change in this gen of startups. Historically, consumer startups have been binary in the past is bc of the biz model: online ads. But few startups are pursuing this now.

autonomous vehicles = car-less future ubiquitous on-demand food = kitchen-less future

The narrative of "The Bay Area is over for tech" is provocative but too simplistic. So is "Work will go to the cloud, people will work from anywhere" Prediction: Things will redistribute to 3-5 new cities, but SF will stay as the top ecosystem because of network effects

Prediction: The proliferation of scout investors, solo GP funds, angels, etc - means large venture capital funds will become more diverse across all dimensions. Folks with non-standard backgrounds will prove themselves in the field and then get drafted up into GPs at top funds.

In-person is much better than video conf for high trust, high stakes decisions: - picking an investor/board member for the next ten years - hiring an exec and putting a big % of the team under them - convincing a big partner/customer - talking team/customers out of quitting!

observation: Startups are embracing celebs/influencers/streamers in a big way. As biz partners, investors, and more. Why? - ad spend on FB/G is too damn expensive! Social media is key, where celebs reign supreme - signal for quality, differentiation for talent/partners/VCs

the only place on the internet you'll find more popups, promotions, auto-playing videos, email capture forms than ecommerce sites are newspaper article pages.

It's easy to get obsessed about defensibility and moats -- but one of my key lessons in the past year is that they can be overrated too. And cause you to overlook big opportunities. Startups in real estate/housing, micromobility, dark kitchens, etc. have this at their core.

Sometimes, growth just has to be brute forced. For network effects-driven products, a segment of users is often the bottleneck. For marketplaces, it's the supply-side. For b2b, it can be the team leader / decisionmaker. For consumer, it might be content creators / influencers

The “front door” versus the “side door.” It’s commonplace to design your UX by starting with a new user finding your homepage, or the opening screen of an app — those are the front doors. But rarely does that model reality in practice...

Pro tip: Turns out having a dedicated writing device is the best way to force yourself to ignore social media, email, and all that delicious, amazing, addictive stuff.

Some thoughts on the “wedge” that makes VR take off: VR demos are *amazing* - everyone’s always impressed. It’s a wow experience However, comparisons to mobile as “the next big platform” and “the metaverse” do it a disservice.