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Josh Elman

@joshelman

Product builder, was a VC

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29.04.2023
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Latest posts by Josh Elman @joshelman

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It happened on Medium in 2024 A roundup of the stories and milestones our readers and staff found most meaningful in 2024

Love seeing all that is happening on @Medium and that my daughter’s post was included in their year end wrap up!

blog.medium.com/it-happened-...

28.12.2024 15:42 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

(4) shepherding the investment and company and helping in any way you can to get the best return. Again operating experience really helps here. But sure, it isn’t the only way.

26.11.2024 16:23 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

To win deals without existing experience you need to bring other skills to the table like a sales network, great recruiting, unique marketing skills, access to more capital, etc. But you will have to beat out others with strong operating experience.

26.11.2024 16:23 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

(3) winning deals to be chosen as a lead investor. This does not require operating experience but it helps. A lot.

Founders often want people involved who have been on the journey of similar companies and can offer real advice in critical situations, and won’t panic.

26.11.2024 16:23 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

(2) Picking the right deals and knowing which to try to invest in. This is all about being a smart analyst with good instincts, not about operating experience. While operating experience can help you see possibilities, it can also hinder your decision-making.

26.11.2024 16:23 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

(1) having a great network to make sure you can see the important and relevant deals. This does not require operating experience, though good experiences can help establish your network.

26.11.2024 16:23 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I was recently asked if operating experience is crucial to becoming a venture capitalist.

I answered no. But it can definitely help.

Here’s how:

There are four parts to being a great venture capitalist:

26.11.2024 16:23 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Jason Citron, Co-Founder/CEO @Discord: The Untold Story Behind Scaling to 200M Users | E1230
Jason Citron, Co-Founder/CEO @Discord: The Untold Story Behind Scaling to 200M Users | E1230 YouTube video by 20VC with Harry Stebbings

A must watch on the growth and scaling of Discord

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRcD...

25.11.2024 18:20 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Honored to be quoted in the Acquired podcast talking about the early Facebook app ecosystem I got to help build many years ago (quote from a book published 5 years ago)

23.11.2024 11:29 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Seal Adventures | Coastside State Parks Association

One of my favorite annual events. It is a rare chance to spend time amongst the giant elephant seals colonies at Ano Nuevo on your own without a guided tour

Next February 2/1 and 2/2

www.coastsidestateparks.org/seal-adventu...

17.11.2024 15:04 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Twitter defended a corner forever despite our own shortcomings but now the perfect conditions exist for capitulation of the core use cases because of a scale of incompetence heretofore unimaginable.

04.07.2023 01:38 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Sure - but with Reddit and twitter you know enough about the person and what content they are seeing, you can add basic ads. The platform may not be able to charge the full amount but doesn’t need perfect metrics

12.06.2023 19:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This is what I wanted Twitter it do β€” keep the ads in the timeline regardless of what app you use to view your timeline. Similar-ish to how you can embed youtube videos but the ads flow through

11.06.2023 22:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

To me they should just run the ads out through other platforms, not share any revenue, and cut off any apps that don’t render the ads perfectly and precisely. The apps can find other ways to monetize.

11.06.2023 22:23 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Bluesky has good energy like the early days of Twitter when everyone was figuring out how to talk to each other.

A few jerks can spoil the mood but I hope we can all avoid and ignore them and not let the bullies win

01.05.2023 03:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Crab

29.04.2023 15:12 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Looking at bluesky is therapy

29.04.2023 14:15 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Flying high in the sky

29.04.2023 14:04 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0