1/ As a 1st cheque investor, there are some characteristics i'm seeing from this new breed of 2020 #Startups . TL;DR

Engineering co-founders are hot
Fresh HR Playbooks
Media not Marketing
Sustainability and Profitability
Community is king

2/ More 'Bedroom' than 'Dormroom', but on the back of @pmarca's 'ITS TIME TO BUILD!' call, i'm seeing a surge in engineer x product only co-founding teams. Niche online communities/networks are stronger than ever, collaborating online to build the next wave of products

3/ 2020 startups have an edge when it comes to talent acquisition - Hire through to are being executed remotely, leveraging software, enabling new HR playbooks from day and (finally) thinking . A chance to rethink talent acquisition strategies w/o legacy HR processes

4/ Media strategies, not just marketing, are being built to make brands . It is crucial to leverage brand ambassadors for early distribution / customer acquisition. Podcasts, video content, virtual events, blogs keep them engaged and part of the product evolution

5/ rates are lower than ever. @awscloud was the catalyst, but fixed costs beyond salaries are a thing of the past. Dial up / down cost base using proprietary data, software infrastructure and smart distribution. Stay lean until your inflection moment. Strive for profit!

6/ Unbundling Reddit / Linkedin - lots of communities with products and experiences at their heart. Communities need to be with likeminded people and suites of relevant products to keep them there. The unbundling has begun