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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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    1. 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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    2. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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      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
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    3. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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      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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    4. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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      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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    5. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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      #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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    6. 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
    7. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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      #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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    8. 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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    9. 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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    10. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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      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
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      Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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      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)

      11:03 AM - 15 Jan 2020
      • 15 Retweets
      • 139 Likes
      • The Growth Investor Michael DeMaria Trey Shelton Prukalpa Sarah thisisabcd Ben Laures Robert Kowal ~ ₿ Sienna Rothery
      12 replies 15 retweets 139 likes
        1. Erik Torenberg‏Verified account @eriktorenberg Jan 15
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          Would love to hear thoughts & feedback. h/t @BurakYngn and @david__booth for conversations on the topic.

          26 replies 1 retweet 26 likes
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        2. Julie Fredrickson‏ @AlmostMedia Jan 15
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          Replying to @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          IMO biggest major expense I struggled with early in my founder career was health insurance and it being tied to employment. I went without for years (to my detriment) in order to be a serial founder

          2 replies 1 retweet 11 likes
        3. Sachit Gupta‏ @sachitgupta Jan 15
          • Report Tweet
          Replying to @AlmostMedia @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          @julianweisser @david__booth Agree! Worse was being 24 and told I shouldn't even apply because of a pre-existing condition (shoulder dislocation). Then dislocating shoulder 2x in 1 year. It ended up being cheaper for me to fly to India to get surgery than get treated in the US

          0 replies 1 retweet 4 likes
        4. End of conversation
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        2. Usman Shabbir‏ @usshabb Jan 15
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          Replying to @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          I think another barrier is just switching cost from being an employee to being a founder. Many projects stay in passion projects phase and then die off because potential founders don’t see a practical path in terms of income + benefits (specifically ones with no safety net)

          1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
        3. Usman Shabbir‏ @usshabb Jan 15
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          Replying to @usshabb @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          One approach would be for VC firms to start EIR sort of programs that pays opportunity/switching cost, which can later be recouped. Currently such programs are few and only focused on second, third time founders

          0 replies 1 retweet 2 likes
        4. End of conversation
        1. Dougal Adamson‏ @DougalAdamson Jan 15
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          Replying to @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          A lot of this aligns with what @join_ef is trying to do. Particularly the point on ambitious ppl. See @matthewclifford podcast this week on Invest like the Best

          0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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        1. JG  🦁‏ @lionslogistics Jan 15
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          Replying to @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          These are great thoughts! I think the tl;dr would be: “We should systematically start removing bottlenecks to starting companies.” I believe any shortage of talent to be directly correlated to either: A) process friction B) process ignorance

          0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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        1. Adam Paigge‏ @AdamPaigge Jan 16
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          Replying to @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          Strong. Lots of things here I wish had been available to me starting my first business. Would start again if I had a reasonable wage and some safety net to bail out if both parties agreed it was time.

          0 replies 1 retweet 1 like
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        2. Patt-tom McDonnell‏ @pthm_ Jan 15
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          Replying to @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          startup failure will always be a badge of honour in my book, actually failure of any kind that’s noteworthy enough to get put on the resume is

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        3. Ingrid Green‏ @Ingridium Jan 16
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          Replying to @pthm_ @eriktorenberg @beondeck

          Intriguing notion. Most immigrants and overlooked founders disagree.

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation

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