Charlie Cuddy

The #allinsummit in LA was absolutely a next level event — unlike any conference I’ve ever attended! So blown away by what @Jason, @friedberg, @chamath, & @DavidSacks put on, the guests that spoke, & people I met! Still processing the content & looking forward to next year!

An inside look in how Parker (and dozens of GMs) build custom analytics models with Dropback👇

🚀 Introducing LA36, the newest cohort in the LAUNCH Accelerator! 8 startups. 14 weeks. 1 mission: grow fast & raise capital. Here’s who’s in 👇

This is why fundraising is so freakin' frustrating.

Founders, know your numbers inside and out. Be ready to answer detailed questions about your financials. Confidence in your data builds investor trust and shows you have a firm grasp on your business’s metrics.

Travis Kalanick (founder of Uber) on learning from investor rejection

We are overstimulated and we don't even notice. Netflix while eating. Reels in the bathroom. Music while cooking. Podcasts on walks. We consume by default, not by intention. You keep filling every gap, then wonder why you feel foggy and unmotivated. Boredom and silence are the real growth drivers. They give you space to think and create. That's when solutions show up for problems that have been stuck for months. Leave some room.

Launching this week: another big step toward enabling college teams to build-their-own, NFL-style Front Office Database 🤫⏳

Looked at about ~400 deals via email in the past three days and here are the things I see that can be easily fixed in a lot of pitches: 1. way too long. 2. don't hit you up front with what they're doing. 3. really doing something that someone else has done before. 4. don't give you really any information.

Friendly reminder: only 4% of startups make it to $1 million in revenue. If you get here you are absolutely crushing it.

It’s an under appreciated fact that the tallest office building outside NYC currently under construction in the US is in Omaha, NE

The VC fund of the future: a small number of highly experienced, high-agency people with deep trust, who are exceptional at evaluating founders and building real relationships with them. Surrounded by tons of agents.

Bill Gurley on work-life balance “There’s this great dichotomy because we’ve all gotten so excited about the notion of work-life balance… When we study great athletes or musicians or chess players or painters, like if a ballet dancer works 80 hours per week on her craft, we all think that’s glorious. Michael Jordan practices more than anyone else. But when you apply it to the work environment, all of a sudden it’s heretical and you don’t believe in work-life balance.” Bill believes that if you want to do truly great work, you have to be just as dedicated as a great athlete. “If you want to be at the top of your game, you have to decide whether you want to make that tradeoff or not. You don’t have to. There are plenty of jobs on this planet where you can work 9-to-5. And you may care way more about your family life or personal life, and that’s fine too. But to think you’re going to excel and not grind? Good luck.” Video source: @UTexasMcCombs (2025)

The biggest unlock of my 20s: Ask for things. The raise. The introduction. The favor. Most people never ask because they fear rejection. But your silence guarantees it. If you've done the work, ask for the crazy thing. The world rewards those who ask. Closed mouths don't get fed.

@heidibraun 👀 🫡

We’re back!

When I came into the industry in the 90s, I couldn't afford the $2,000 to $5,000 it cost to attend an industry event … and the DEMO conference was charging tens of thousands of dollars to let you on stage to show you the product — I couldn't afford the $20,000 for that either So I created TechCrunch50 and then rebranded it LAUNCH FESTIVAL and featured free tickets for founders … and made it free and merit based to be on stage. … and I gave a $25,000 prize to the best start-up Today, I'm bringing LAUNCH Festival back as a way to pay it forward to founders starting their careers

I think this is where it's at in CFB for the moment. And while the rules could shift again, it's worth asking: Why doesn't Nebraska give Rhule the $40 million roster? Is it the lack of a billionaire willing to make it happen? Booster fatigue from being asked to fund the new ops building and pay off one fired coach after another? That old Midwestern thriftiness kicking in? Would buying up empty seats to guarantee the sellout streak be a better investment? My column: omaha.com/sports/huskers…

@Trace_Cohen - MOVE Venture Capital [@movevc] - Fund II - Omaha, NE - Industry Agnostic but focused on founders building between the coasts - ~$100k - Partners: @CharlieCuddy, @JMGrange

I need an emerging manager only list! Sub <$100M funds only. Comment below: Fund Name, fund number, location, sectors, check size. This is not for solicitation, I just want to make sure people can find smaller funds more easily and connect founders to them. Win Win

I had coffee with a founder who sends every churned customer a $50 Amex gift card and a handwritten note. The note says: "Thanks for giving us a shot. Would you be willing to spend 15 minutes telling us what we got wrong?" 68% of churned customers take the call (they get the gift card whether they take the call or not) More than 2/3 of the customers who left his product voluntarily get on the phone to explain why... pretty crazy when you think about it. He records every call (with permission) and tags the reasons into a database. After two years, the he used that data to completely change the business and reduce his churn by 20%. The top reason for churn wasn't what he expected either. It was "we couldn't get our team to use it." An adoption problem, not a product problem. So he rebuilt onboarding from scratch. Added a mandatory training session. Built an adoption dashboard that flags accounts where usage drops below a threshold within the first 60 days. Churn dropped by 40%! The $50 gift card costs him ~$6,600/year but the are worth exponentially more to him long term. Most companies survey churned customers with an automated email that gets a 4% response rate and congratulate themselves like they did a good job. This founder treats every lost customer like a consulting engagement. The difference in data quality is unbelievable.

@haleymbryant @jamesoliverjr 🎯

@jamesoliverjr And somehow, it’s the people with the least time or resources that are impacted the most…!

angel groups putting pre-seed founders through a series a diligence process for a $100k check 🙃