A year later, where are they now?
*This post was originally written as an email for a group of my friends on 5–16–2018. I wanted to look back on my job search process to see how all of the companies I had identified as potentially good picks performed.
Hi folks,
It’s been a while! I received a ton of positive feedback on the series of four emails that I sent to this group a little over a year ago as I was hunting for my next gig… so I’ve been meaning to do a look back for a little while now to evaluate how that process went.
I think the most straightforward way to do that is to look at all of the startups that I was seriously considering or would have recommended to a friend in Feb 2018 when I decided join Honor.
You may remember that I sent an email with my favorite companies, and to make it fun, I handed out some awards. Don’t believe me? Go search your email for 2/21/2018 for an email from me titled “Deep Dive on My Favorite Startups.” Better yet, I’ve copied it into this doc and summarized the companies in this sheet.
There were 14 companies on that list. In the past 15 months, 12 have raised additional funding. None have gone out of business. I rated how all 14 companies are “trending” based on their new funding and any conversations I’ve had with people who work with these companies. I found that…
- 4 are legit skyrockets. Any investor or employee involved with the company over a year ago is insanely happy about that decision financially.
- 8 more are trending up. Any investor or employee involved with the company over a year ago is still very, very happy about that decision financially.
- 2 are flat. They’re still in business. Investors and employees with these companies may still be very excited about the opportunity, but their trajectory isn’t in the same class as the other 12 right now.
From Feb 2018 to May 2019, the market has continued to be good, especially for startups. In other words, it was easier to pick well during this time than during a recession, for example. With that said, I think it’s fair to say that any VC would have been extremely pleased holding this portfolio over the past 15 months.
Ok, that’s probably a bit of an understatement. I felt good about all of these companies at the time, but wow, even I’m surprised by just how well this 14 company “portfolio” performed over the past 15 months. They all have a long way to go. None are super close to IPO’ing yet, but I’m looking forward to getting a few more years of data :)
So at this point you’re probably wondering… what the fuck Craig!? I knew you did your homework, but how on Earth is it possible to guess this well?
And that will be the subject of my next email. How to pick startups and the unfair advantage employees have over venture capitalists.
Enjoy,
Craig
