8 Mile
w.202 | Company Culture, YC of Real Estate, S&P Equal Weight, EdTech Funding
Dear Friends,
I can’t believe it is June already, but I’m here for it. The debt ceiling drama has passed, and much of the news seems to be ho-hum of much of the same.
Austin continues to crush. I attended three Nick Gray or NICK-style events in one evening, including visiting a roller skating rink and a Saturday morning ritual called Board Talks. Something is in the water here.
Today's Contents:
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Song of the Week: 8 Mile
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
80% of Your Culture is Your Founder from the First Round Review. Good classic startup building article.
YCombinator for Real Estate: ReSeed and the Accelerator Model. Thesis Driven is a newsletter that dives deep into emerging themes and real estate operating models by featuring a handful of operators. I met Rhett Bennett, one of the GPs of ReSeed, at Capital Camp last week and had a tremendous, wide-ranging conversation.
They cover how ReSeed is blending human intelligence with data-driven underwriting at scale and why incentivizing long-term thinking is important for tax optimization.
A Handful of Tech Stocks Drive Diverging Measures of S&P 500 Performance. An equal weight version of the index slips into negative territory even though benchmark is up 9.5% this year; it is interesting to see this in chart form.
EdTech VC Funding Has Slowed to a Crawl. (PDF’d from Insider). The number of deals done so far this year has dropped >50% year-over-year.
I was quoted in this article. My view is that there is nothing sensational in the PitchBook data, particularly because:
The absolute decline in dollars invested is concentrated in late mega-rounds.
PitchBook data lags by at least two quarters. Most pre-seeds aren't announced. Example? I haven’t uploaded any Avalanche Fund II deals into PitchBook, so that’s a year delayed.
All the data is likely reverting to a mean trend line.
EdTech tracks the broader industry. It all moves together, except AI.
Great startups succeed in all funding climates, so it’s the same as ever.
Song of the Week: 8 Mile
Video on YouTube.
I’m sharing the throwback classic movie/album from Eminem about growing up around Detroit since that’s where I spent Memorial Day weekend. It’s a great movie with an excellent soundtrack and relatable lyrics.
“8 Mile” by Eminem
I'm a man, I'ma make a new plan
Time for me to just stand up and travel new land
Time for me to just take matters into my own hands
Once I'm over these tracks, man, I'ma never look back
(8 Mile Road) And I'm gone, I know right where I'm goin'
Sorry, Momma, I'm grown, I must travel alone
Ain't gon' follow no footsteps, I'm makin' my own
Only way that I know how to escape from this 8 Mile RoadSelfie of the Week
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn