Read Like A [VC]

Or, How Five URLs Can Turn You Into Marc Andreessen ;)

Welcome to the first post in a series called Read Like A […]. The idea behind this series is simple:

• Everyone has at least five websites that provide them with the inside scoop on their area of interest or expertise

Instead of reading your five favourites and then looking to Buzzfeed or Facebook, I'm going to help you tap into the five best sites that experts from other walks of life rely on for their daily read.

We want you to have the best reading resources in the world so go ahead, mix up your reading routine!

To my valued readers, if you are a VC or, if you’re someone who is deep in the startup world, this post isn't intended for you — you already know these five sites!

With all that in mind, here’s how to Read Like A [VC]:

(1) TechCrunch

This is it. It’s the tech-bible. It’s ticker tape to a stock trader — in the 1950s. CNN to a lobbyist. The Globe and Mail to your mom. You read it every day — at 9:00 am, then again before you leave work and again on the train home. Why? Because every fundraise and every new product announcement, by every hot tech company, breaks here. Because the new new new thing is here before it’s anywhere else. Don’t ask questions, just add it to your Favourites, follow it on Twitter and enjoy the Crunch.

(2) Hacker News

If you’re a software developer, skip this paragraph — you already know everything I'm going to say in the next 50 words. If you’re not a software developer, you need this site more than you know. The geeks shall inherit the earth and Hacker News is what they read. It’s a rank ordering of the best articles on the Internet — like the glory days of Digg, but better, it’s For Developers, By Developers.

(3) Business Insider

It’s a startup. It just got acquired for $422M. Its founder was the most bullish sell side tech analyst in the 2000 bubble. After being barred from the securities industry by the SEC, he started a blog called Alley Outsider (here is the history as told by The New Yorker). Read Business Insider because it combines the best of Gawker’s attitude, the Wall Street Journal’s breadth of business coverage and TechCrunch’s obsessive focus on the new thing. Business Insider — the East Coast TechCrunch, sort of.

(4) The Wall Street Journal

If you only read tech and startups you can’t talk with regular folk (i.e., people who don’t care much about tech)… Read this newspaper, and read it daily.

(5) AVC

Fred. When your colleagues & peers refer to you by your first name, you’re a brand. And when you’ve been blogging for the better part of a decade, daily, about a subject as secretive as venture capital — you’re a brand people love. Annnnd … when you and your team led the earliest investments in the most iconic companies like Twitter, like Zynga, like Etsy, like Tumblr — you’re a respected brand. Fred’s blog is where VC’s go to learn from a peer, a peer who embodies the characteristics and track record we all strive for.

There you have it, five URLs that let you Read Like A [VC]. It goes without saying that this list is just a starting point, a way to dip ones’ toes into the water. If anyone wants to take a look at more of my Favourites/Bookmarks, scroll to the bottom of this post or, feel free to reach out and we can trade URLs.

In the coming weeks I'm planning to publish a number of new Read Like A […] posts from fascinating people: startup founders, early employees at top companies, private and public market investors, and others.

Please send any comments to me on Twitter (@RussSamuels) or email me directly (russell(at)whitecapvp(.)com).

Snapshot of My Tech Bookmarks/Favourites

Or, learn more about our venture fund at WhitecapVP.com