Top 7 Things I Learned at C100 48 Hrs in the Valley

Paul Teshima, Co-founder and CEO of Nudge, shares the top 7 things he learned at C100’s 48 Hours in the Valley 2016

5. Venture Capital is Still Funding Great Startups But…

In a great panel with Arif Janmohamed, Lightspeed Ventures, Jon Quick, AIEST Capital, Katherine Barr, Wildcat Venture Partners, and Neal Sadaranganey, DoCoMo Capital there was some frothy discussion about the state of venture capital. “Series A Crunch”, “Valuation Crunch” were terms that were bounced around and discussed.  But it was Katherine Barr who said that “it’s now much more of a balance between growth and business fundamentals, and in some ways Canadians are better at that vs. just growth.”

3. Mentorship is Underrated and Underused

I think many first time entrepreneurs think that mentorship is not a valuable activity. To be truthful, in my first startup, I didn’t have a mentor in the entire 13 years I was there, I thought I knew it all and didn’t need the help. However as I have gotten older and wiser I realize how valuable having a mentor can be. So when I found out that the C100 program includes a mentor, I was thrilled. We (Steve and I) got assigned Elizabeth Patterson, Chief Talent Officer at both Mohr Davidow Ventures and Wildcat Venture Partners. As soon as we started our first call I could tell this was going to be very valuable. She was full of energy, ideas and a passionate networker herself. Immediately she set up connections to some key contacts she knew would be valuable to us, and also gave us insight into key organization and role changes she is seeing in successful startups. Thank you Elizabeth!

Read the rest of his list here.