Tippets by Taps - Issue #117
This week we look at Softbank breaking unwritten rules of the Valley, Casper going public, Carlos Ghosn’s mad escape, I share my next chapter and more. Enjoy!
My Next Chapter
2019 was a year of new adventures. I transitioned into an advisory role at Poynt, where I had spent the past five years helping over 100,000 businesses get access to technology to supercharge their business growth. I navigated the early days of learning how to be “Dad” after welcoming my son into the world in late 2018. I had the opportunity to work with some incredible early-stage founders as an angel investor. Now, as a new decade begins so does my next chapter: Legion.
SoftBank shafts startups
This week it was reported that SoftBank’s Vision Fund has been repeatedly violating an unwritten rule of the Valley - it’s pulling term sheets. Apparently the fund has been bailing on deals, pulling term sheets after agreeing to invest thus leaving companies in the lurch. This is the investment equivalent of leaving someone standing at the altar, only someone is a company that likely has hundreds of employees and, instead of calling off a wedding and leaving people eating catered food and wondering if they can still have some cake, you’re putting the company (and their employees’ livelihoods) at risk.
Mattress company Casper wants to create ‘sprays’ and ‘medical machines’ in IPO filing
The online mattress (or, if you want to believe them, platform for the Sleep Economy) company filed for IPO this week. Now, understandably, the DTC mattress company is trying to position itself less as a pure play mattress business and more of a tech company. Tech companies, in this market anyway, are allowed to take on major losses in order to acquire customers with the promise of high gross margins at scale. Whether or not Casper is able to make this same argument to prospective investors remains to be seen (I personally doubt it). That said, the fact the company has been able to get to a size and scale that merits them going public is a milestone in itself and deserves recognition.
For more takes, this read of the S-1 by Yoni Rechtman is solid.
Casper S-1 just dropped. Will read and dish takes as I go. First and foremost, I'm shocked they're going public at all at this point. 1/n https://t.co/rsb0YzysHe
10:47 AM - 10 Jan 2020
Admit It: You Have a Box of Cords You’ll Never, Ever Use Again
The infamous ‘box’. The place where random chargers, cables, and connectors go to to die. You know the box. The one that is full of good intentions, where you put things knowing you’ll need them later. The box that moves from house to house and, eventually, gets purged after you open it for the first time in 2 years only to realize you have no idea what each cord is for. My wife and I moved last week and we found our box of cords. This WSJ piece resonated hard!
Side note: if you or someone you know is looking to rent a fantastic 2br/2ba condo in San Francisco with spectacular views of the bay in a full service building with a gym, let me know!
The Intriguing Story Of How Carlos Ghosn Went From A Top CEO To An International Fugitive
For those of you who haven’t been following the Carlos Ghosn story since we talked about it in December of 2018, let’s recap. Carlos Ghosn was universally heralded as a highly respected CEO and titan of the auto industry who was then arrested in Japan on charges that included theft and improper use of company funds. After being held for over 100 days before being allowed to post a $9m bail. He was then on house arrest in Japan for almost a year before, this past December “Ghosn allegedly orchestrated a daring breakout.”
He held an event, while under house arrest, in his Tokyo residence. It was reported that—with the help of his wife and others—Ghosn hired a band of mercenaries to act as musicians. Instead of a concert, they smuggled Ghosn out of the country inside of a large instrument case. Ghosn, who stands about 5 foot 6, was easily fit into “one of the boxes intended for the transfer of musical instruments,’’ a 6-foot-tall double-base case. Ghosn was flown in a private jet to Istanbul, Turkey then rerouted to his home country of Lebanon. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, which enables Ghosn to avoid standing trial in Japan. He is viewed by many in Lebanon, where he grew up, as a folk hero for all of his successes.
Are you kidding me!
Quote I’m thinking about: “People are made of stories. Our memories are not the impartial accumulation of every second we’ve lived; they’re the narrative that we assembled out of selected moments.” - Ted Chiang