D’Arcy Coolican

@DCoolican

Harebrained schemes. Building. Prev: Investor @a16z. Founder @FrankTrusts Forever: Tortured fan @MapleLeafs

San Francisco, CA

darcycoolican.com

Joined September 2011

Pinned
D’Arcy Coolican
@DCoolican
Jul 13, 2018
1/ If you’re a founder you’ve probably heard someone say “oh, I’ve seen this idea before - it didn’t work” or “isn’t this just like that other thing that person/company X tried?”
D’Arcy Coolican
@DCoolican
Aug 27
Request for content: seminal piece on network effects in AI
D’Arcy Coolican
@DCoolican
Aug 20
knowing how to do a reference call is such a hidden superpower darcy.substack.com/p/how-to-do-a-…
Dev Ittycheria
@dittycheria
Aug 20
Yesterday, the founder of a well-known, successful company called me to reference check two people he was considering for a senior role. He wasn’t looking for reassurance. He was genuinely trying to understand them, including anything that might cause him to reconsider either
D’Arcy Coolican
@DCoolican
Aug 19
unpopular opinion: the generational companies will come from these "slow growth" / "small tam" startups - building from first principles of networks and defensability, not chasing low retention growth - niche TAM's will be 100x bigger than expected. VCs always get TAM wrong.
Vinay Iyengar
@VinIyengar
Aug 18
2 interesting arbs right now in VC: “Slow” growth - everyone is obsessed with funding the companies going 1 to 10m+ in ARR, lots of overlooked businesses going 1 to 3m. “Small” TAMs - everyone is obsessed with funding the next trillion-dollar companies. Lots of great outcomes
D’Arcy Coolican
@DCoolican
Jul 9
unpopular opinion: the solution is networks not verticalization. network effects have changed dramatically with AI but they are still the best (only?) form of defensability from both the AI labs and the inevitable competition
NFX
@NFX
Jul 9
Article
Horizontal to Vertical: A New Strategy Shift at Early-Stage
By @peteflint Verticalization is no longer a growth-stage company’s game. Seed-stage startups are pitching us comprehensive, vertically integrated visions. Versions of the same business plans that...