Introducing: Blindspots. You have them. I have them. Entrepreneurs have them. VCs have them. Groups of people with a lot of money and power have them - it’s the dark side of groupthink. And the more heterogeneous the group, the more they share the same blindspots. I think we should talk about what those blindspots are.
Hey Leslie, I have heard your name come up several times with founders (M.H. most recently) and investor groups I have met in the Seattle area. Thank you for now creating this wonderful space. I appreciate it both as a first-time, female startup founder and as a mom with three boys. While many VCs think that the odds are stacked against me I am grateful for the resilience my background brings to me and I'm also grateful for other moms like you leading the way.
Great to hear some principled entrepreneurs only want to pitch VCs that supported Harris, we need this to be a groundswell. Doing a startup is incredibly hard enough. Things will go wrong and you’ll need your investors judgements and advice. So you don’t want people on your cap table who don’t share your values.
Awesome food for thought, thanks Leslie. Reminds me of the Johari Window model.
These days I can't help but feel that the all-consuming commodification-of-everything movement is on a crash course with the reality of a hollowed out middle class. What happens when average people can no longer afford all the STUFF (and thus all the ad money dries up)? Will AI-based job displacement be a catalyst to this end?
And do we as a society still collectively believe in the utopic idea that technological innovation will one day relieve humans from labor and toil? Or are we beginning to see more clearly that greed and the impetus to consolidate wealth are too great? Are we fools for ever thinking that the "owner class" would freely give use of these means in favor of using them to extract every drop of blood before the stone runs dry?
Anyway, glad to see there are other contrarian minds out there, and looking forward to your next post.
Hey Leslie, I have heard your name come up several times with founders (M.H. most recently) and investor groups I have met in the Seattle area. Thank you for now creating this wonderful space. I appreciate it both as a first-time, female startup founder and as a mom with three boys. While many VCs think that the odds are stacked against me I am grateful for the resilience my background brings to me and I'm also grateful for other moms like you leading the way.
3 boys AND a startup! You're a superhero.
Great to hear some principled entrepreneurs only want to pitch VCs that supported Harris, we need this to be a groundswell. Doing a startup is incredibly hard enough. Things will go wrong and you’ll need your investors judgements and advice. So you don’t want people on your cap table who don’t share your values.
Welcome to Substack!! So excited to participate in what you’re building! 🫶🏻
Awesome! Looking forward to reading!
excited for this!
You're the best. Thank you!!
Eyyyy welcome to the Substack universe! Substack-iverse?
Paynter is really cool and a sign of cool things to come
Awesome food for thought, thanks Leslie. Reminds me of the Johari Window model.
These days I can't help but feel that the all-consuming commodification-of-everything movement is on a crash course with the reality of a hollowed out middle class. What happens when average people can no longer afford all the STUFF (and thus all the ad money dries up)? Will AI-based job displacement be a catalyst to this end?
And do we as a society still collectively believe in the utopic idea that technological innovation will one day relieve humans from labor and toil? Or are we beginning to see more clearly that greed and the impetus to consolidate wealth are too great? Are we fools for ever thinking that the "owner class" would freely give use of these means in favor of using them to extract every drop of blood before the stone runs dry?
Anyway, glad to see there are other contrarian minds out there, and looking forward to your next post.