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eriktorenberg's profile
Erik Torenberg
Erik Torenberg
Erik Torenberg
Verified account
@eriktorenberg

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Erik TorenbergVerified account

@eriktorenberg

Co-founder @Villageglobal & @beondeck & @tokendaily. Positive Sum. Thinking aloud/allowed. Looking to start or join your next company? http://beondeck.com . @cosign

SF /  ✈️
villageglobal.vc/network-cataly…
Joined June 2013

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    Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
    • Report Tweet

    People look at high valuations in early-stage venture and conclude there’s too much capital. Another explanation for high valuations is we’re suffering a scarcity of (great) founders. A thread on why we’re suffering from a founder scarcity and some ideas on how to solve it.👇

    11:03 AM - 15 Jan 2020
    • 144 Retweets
    • 1,007 Likes
    • Dr. Cameron Sepah 🤴🏻 🧝🏻‍♂️ 🧙🏻‍♂️ 🤵🏻 Nilay Doshi The Growth Investor Ronan O'Brien let me know how i can be helpful Evan Schoenbach Abhishek Patri Friedman Kunal Gupta
    68 replies 144 retweets 1,007 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        First off: Why can high prices be partially explained by a scarcity of great founders? Typically high prices signifies a scarcity of something. When oil prices are high that means there’s a scarcity for oil.

        3 replies 7 retweets 64 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        There’s a saying in commodities that the cure for high prices is…high prices. Usually, when you raise prices, you get more demand. Pay engineers more, and you’ll get more engineers. But with founders that’s not the case. Higher valuations doesn’t mean more founders. Why?

        6 replies 9 retweets 78 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        It's too risky! The average founder does well, but the median founder flounders. Which is partially (among other reasons) why so many people take exec jobs or want to be VCs: Exec jobs will be there. Your startup might not. VCs have a portfolio, and founders don't.

        3 replies 14 retweets 132 likes
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      5. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        Indeed: There are lots of VCs who could make great founders, who would actually prefer to build a business than do a financial services job, but they just prefer the economic calculus of venture capital. Others, to be sure, are unwilling or incapable of building a great biz.

        2 replies 7 retweets 95 likes
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      6. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        The average founder may have a good outcome, but we need to make the median under have a better outcome. How? Diversification VC firms can give upside in portfolio, or VC founders can become scouts, or they should engage in founder pooling activities. (Employees too, ideally)

        5 replies 5 retweets 92 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        Erik Torenberg Retweeted Erik Torenberg

        To be sure, there are many bottlenecks besides risk—perceived career risk, fear of failure, mental health, to name a few—and even within economic risk, founder pooling is just one solution. Visas, health insurance, cheap housing, child care are others.https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg/status/1209013576347709440?s=20 …

        Erik Torenberg added,

        Erik TorenbergVerified account @eriktorenberg
        How could we remove bottlenecks holding ppl back from starting companies? IMO: - Visa issues, safety net (health/child care) - Enabling founder diversification (founder pooling/scouting) - ISAs - Communities that help ppl navigate ideas & co-founders (http://beondeck.com ) https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg/status/1208942662054604801 …
        3 replies 5 retweets 84 likes
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      8. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        I think we should be doing everything possible we can to unlock more great founders. How many people are out there who, if they started a company (or a few companies), could create the next $1b company? 100s? 1000s? VCs far smarter than I disagree here on several grounds

        3 replies 9 retweets 89 likes
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      9. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        #1 They'd prefer some barriers They think that "security" is inversely correlated w/ success. There is some truth to this (which is why we don't give big founder salaries) There is probably a Laffer-esque Curve for security & likelihood of success, but we're not close to it IMO

        4 replies 3 retweets 53 likes
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      10. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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        Erik Torenberg Retweeted Erik Torenberg

        They think founder diversification will mean less "all-in" from the founders This thread best demonstrates the sentiment https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg/status/1123331923466522624?s=20 … I'm sympathetic to it, but don't think we're close to the point on this Laffer Curve—we can allow some diversification w/o sacrifice

        Erik Torenberg added,

        Erik TorenbergVerified account @eriktorenberg
        Big misalignment between founders & VCs: VCs take dozens and dozens of shots on goal, founders only take one. Founders should band together & share upside. VCs should facilitate this.
        Show this thread
        1 reply 3 retweets 51 likes
        Show this thread
      11. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        #2 They don't buy that they're are great founders out there held back. If they need the support/encouragement to start, how will they scale? I'd equate it to Military: Many great soldiers "stumbled" into war & made it their mission once they got there, but they needed the push

        3 replies 3 retweets 51 likes
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      12. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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        In terms of there incentives, wouldn't you think VCs want more founders? Maybe not. They’ll only invest in a handful of cos a year, and those cos will hire 1000s of ppl — they want great talent to join them. Their advice is often “join a break out series A or Series B company”

        2 replies 3 retweets 41 likes
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      13. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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        #3 Founder Pooling has never worked. Why would it work now? Fair enough! I'd suggest it hasn't really been tried. Maybe it won't, but there are other ways to diversify. E.g. Angel/Scout investing hasn't seemed to hurt founders chances of success (cc @villageglobal)

        3 replies 2 retweets 34 likes
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      14. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        In conclusion, IMO: - We're suffering from founder scarcity, partially evidenced by rising valuations - We should systematically remove bottlenecks to starting cos - We can incentivize more founders by making median founder outcome closer to avg & by removing economic friction

        6 replies 9 retweets 85 likes
        Show this thread
      15. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        We also should decrease cultural friction to starting companies: - celebrate starting cos as a thing for ambitious ppl to do globally - see startup failures on resumes as badges of honor instead of blemishes - create communities to find co-founders & founder support(@beondeck)

        12 replies 15 retweets 139 likes
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      16. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
        • Report Tweet

        Would love to hear thoughts & feedback. h/t @BurakYngn and @david__booth for conversations on the topic.

        26 replies 1 retweet 26 likes
        Show this thread
      17. End of conversation

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