Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh, human-first take on this week's startup news and trends. Among the many entrepreneur catchphrases out there, the one that annoys me the most is: "It's not what you know, it's who you know." The phrase may be meant to make people with imposter syndrome remember the importance of a simple cold emails, but it often comes off as a rebranded way to remind people that exclusive networks rule the world. Which is why I'm hoping this is the year that a back-channeling, social media platform actually takes off. At its best, back channeling can help someone without a Stanford stamp of approval get vouched for, and subsequently bet on. The process can also help stop predatory investors from winning deals.The process's impact is clear, but the incentives for all parties to participate are slightly misaligned. Some investors still scoff at the idea that their portfolio companies may be asked to review what it's like to work with them; similarly, founders are surprised when stories, not Cultureamp surveys, are where honest feedback truly lives. Why? In a world where due diligence is evolving to be somewhat flippant in the early stage, back channeling is simultaneously going from a deep conversation about strengths and weaknesses to a thumbs up or thumbs down affair. Plus, beyond the surface level banter, some of the most powerful people in tech today have their eggs in many, many baskets – meaning that those who want to or could speak critically of them can either be financially (or emotionally) restricted in saying this. My pitch? We finally get a trustworthy platform in which back channeling can occur in an accessible and fair way. An anonymous, private subreddit for founders already exists in so many different forms, but I'd love to see an app that widens access so that anyone can vet a proposed value add. For more of my take, check out this TechCrunch+ column that I did with my Equity co-hosts Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo: 3 views on how due diligence will change in 2022. We also recorded a podcast if you prefer the newsletter for your ears route, instead. In the rest of this newsletter, we'll talk about Wordle, future revenues as a business model and why I think Y Combinator is reading my text messages. As always, you can follow my thoughts on Twitter @nmasc_. |
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