This is the third post in my series of blog posts on economic moats. I have already written about Network Effects and Switching Costs. The remaining three sources of an economic moat are Cost Advantages, Efficient Scale, and Intangibles. ((Any errors in appropriately citing my sources are entirely mine. Let me know what you object […]
Investing
Notes On Strategy; What Can We Learn From Religious Leaders About Building Early-Stage Startup Culture?
Alternative Working Title: Notes On Strategy; Engineering Your Early Stage Startup’s Culture For Longevity What it’s like to work for Amazon http://t.co/7Nw93JDqz0 — The New York Times (@nytimes) August 19, 2015 Replace Just 2 Words in the Times Amazon Article and Something Amazing Happens @TKspeakshttp://t.co/bk3Y7ZCLCE — Inc. (@Inc) August 21, 2015 The topic of culture has […]
How Studying Bankruptcy And Working On Two Turnaround Assignments Prepared Me To Become An Early Stage Venture Capitalist
When I started business school at NYU Stern in the fall of 2005 my plan centered on taking every class in Bankruptcy & Reorganization, and Distressed Investing that I could. I took 3 elective classes in that area; Bankruptcy & Reorganization with Prof. Ed Altman, Case Studies in Bankruptcy & Reorganization with Prof. Max […]
Notes on Strategy; Where Does Disruption Come From?
Marc Andreessen’s brilliant explanation of @claychristensen‘s disruptive innovation theory in 15 tweets: pic.twitter.com/3ic1teQbRW — Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) June 24, 2015 Introduction You can imagine my surprise when I was browsing my Twitter feed one night last month and came across one of Marc Andreessen’s tweetstorms. This time he was tweeting about Clayton Christensen’s Theory of […]
Recap: My 3 Days at #PowerMoves.NOLA 2015
I rarely like to travel; I hate having to go through security. I hate going to conferences. Most of the time I come away feeling I did not accomplish what I set out to accomplish. On Wednesday morning I left NYC on a JetBlue flight. I was heading to New Orleans for the 2nd annual […]
6 Things I Have Learned About Building High-Performing Teams
I spend a lot of time thinking about teamwork; how teams function, how they operate, how they fail or succeed, and how the most successful teams make their success repeatable in the face of changing conditions. This post is my attempt to synthesize what I have learned so far. ((Let me know if you feel […]