Fred Wilson

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Community value

  “But like every great web service out there, it's the community at Hacker News that makes it so great.”

  Our noteFred discusses why Hacker News is a successful and high-quality platform.

• Judging online character

  “I have rarely sized someone up incorrectly who I consider a friend online. It's amazing how you can get to know someone without ever meeting face to face.”

  Our noteFred discusses the accuracy of judging people's character through digital interactions.

• User Needs and Independence

  “What I need is a player that is not owned by a company that intends to execute its business model on me with it.”

  Our noteFred discusses his frustration with proprietary software like iTunes and his desire for open alternatives.

• The J-curve pattern

  “The venture business is subject to early losses and long term gains. This pattern is known as J-curve and its well documented.”

  Our noteExplaining the typical lifecycle of returns in venture capital investing.

• Crowdsourced content curation

  “The result is I have a playlist that has songs I like but is changing all the time. It's being programmed by people out on the Internet that I don't even know.”

  Our noteFred describes his excitement about a podcast playlist curated by strangers via social tagging.

• Market demand gaps

  “There is a market out there for out of print music and someone is going to fill it if the labels don't.”

  Our noteHe explains why secondary markets emerge when primary vendors fail to provide products.

• Small business participation

  “get the millions of small businesses to participate in your actions and you have the greatest single real-time micro market ever built.”

  Our noteFred explains the potential of connecting local businesses with user actions.

• Simplifying existing behaviors

  “I'm bullish on FS, in that it's something that people already do with Twitter and Facebook, and FS just makes it damn easy, by pulling in meta-data of locations, and making it fun.”

  Our noteFred explains why he believes in Foursquare's product market fit.

• Transaction timing risks

  “Sale transactions are very distracting for the senior team and often for the entire team. A long protracted sale transaction can be very harmful to the business and its stakeholders.”

  Our noteFred warns about the dangers of a slow sale process.

• Subconscious product usage

  “I wonder if there are people who will get an iPhone and only use it for music and browsing. I could be one of them.”

  Our noteFred reflects on how he might personally use the new device despite his skepticism.

• The Participatory Era

  “We've moved into a new phase of society. One that emphasizes participation in culture and society and and technology and politics. If it weren't such a mouthful, I'd suggest we call it participatism.”

  Our noteFred discusses the shift from passive consumption to active participation in the digital age.

• Regret in communication

  “Damn. I knew I'd regret leaving stuff out”

  Our noteFred realizes he omitted the story of TheStreet.com from his keynote presentation.

• Investing in familiar products

  “Meetup is a perfect investment for our firm because it's a company we know well and a service we use all the time.”

  Our noteExplaining why Meetup was a natural fit for their portfolio.

• Incremental investing

  “We often start our investments off with 10% or less and build our ownerships over time.”

  Our noteFred describes Union Square Ventures' strategy of scaling ownership alongside the entrepreneur's needs.

• Value of brevity

  “The best part of six slides is that you will get through them in time to have a real substantive conversation face to face about your business.”

  Our noteFred discusses how short decks leave more room for meaningful dialogue during meetings.

• Effective slide design

  “killer slides are not slides with a dozen bullets each. They are six powerful points that combine to tell the meat of the story.”

  Our noteFred defines what makes a pitch deck truly impactful.

• Product reliability issues

  “I've tried everything to make these things work reliably. And I can't get them to pair reliably and stay paired.”

  Our noteFred Wilson describes his frustration with early Bluetooth technology failing to work as promised.

• Poor user experience

  “I feel like an idiot with a bluetooth headphone in one ear and my phone held up to the other ear and it happens to me all the time.”

  Our noteHe explains the embarrassing reality of using a product that fails to deliver its core value proposition.

• Immigrant entrepreneurship

  “immigrants are rarely "fat and happy" so they work hard, start businesses, hire employees, and build companies.”

  Our noteFred discusses the drive and risk-taking nature of immigrant founders.

• Purpose over money

  “money only goes so far. a sense of purpose goes much further.”

  Our noteFred Wilson explains why mission-driven work is better for long-term loyalty than high salaries.

• Market bubble

  “I believe that there is too much money chasing too few ideas in the Startup Universe”

  Our noteFred warns about the signs of an overheating startup market and talent war.

• High Gross Margins

  “I prefer to invest in high gross margin businesses because they have a lot of money left after making a sale to pay for the other costs of the business”

  Our noteDiscussing why gross margin is a critical metric for business sustainability and growth.

• Early culture definition

  “These cultures get defined very early in the development of the companies, when they are venture stage companies.”

  Our noteFred Wilson discusses when a company's core culture is actually established.

• Spam impact on business

  “Both companies help legitimate commercial emailers who have permission to send emails do just that. But they are not growing as fast as they should because their customers are reluctant to spend more money on a channel - email - where four out of every five messages is garbage.”

  Our noteFred explains how spam devalues the email marketing channel for legitimate businesses.

• Digital Business Models

  “This approach can be mimicked by anything that is made of bits not atoms. It can be applied to writing.”

  Our noteFred explains that the free-to-paid support model works for all digital content.

• Business Plan Reality

  “I've never seen a business plan executed exactly like it was drawn up on paper.”

  Our noteHe emphasizes that plans always change once they meet reality.

• Steady product stream

  “The idea is to be an ongoing artist. With a steady stream of product. So people don't get over you.”

  Our noteHe quotes Bob Lefsetz on the importance of maintaining a constant connection with the audience.

• Power of old habits

  “Because Mick Jagger hasn't done anything good since Some Girls in 1979, 25 years ago, the year I graduated from high school. But old habits die hard.”

  Our noteFred reflects on why he bought a record despite knowing the artist's recent work was poor.

• People Centric Internet

  “What's really happening, to steal a phrase from my partner Brad Burnham, is that the Internet is being reconstructed around people instead of pages/content.”

  Our noteHe explains the fundamental shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.

• Social software utility

  “Since reading that, I can barely use software that doesn't have other people in it. I want profiles and faces and connections.”

  Our noteFred explains how his perspective on software changed after realizing it should be social.