SignalFire

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last week I posted about bringing together cool consumer growth profiles in SF and I got 180 requests… crazy Had to select a handful to be able to really connect & meet everyone 1 on 1 20 of us showed up last night to this very impromptu meetup at this crazy house (thanks for hosting @adamdotnew @zachdive @aaronli) we got great food (thanks @JoshConstine) and drinks (thanks @composio) this is just the beginning of our consumer growth mafia takeover comment if you’d like to be part of the next one 🙏🏻 @nooriefyi @CocoBuildsStuff @metamaxxmoon @ShahRathin @plsoulie @regalstreak @thatguybg @flooburrito @rishivanga_

I built a startup incubator at Stanford in 2015 - all of this is absolutely true (and it gets crazier each year!) VCs are ever-present, and the coolest thing you can do is drop out to start a company. Raising money is (IMO) easier than at any other school - no investor wants to miss the next Snap or IG. That being said...I don't think anyone is getting hurt here! For student founders - Stanford makes it very easy to come back and complete your degree. And, you don't get "punished" if your startup doesn't work. Being an ex-founder makes you more attractive as an employee...and as a founder for company #2. Investors spend time at Stanford because it has produced by far the most unicorn founders. If/when Stanford is producing more noise than signal, investors will adjust and spend more time on other campuses (as they have increasingly done over the last ~5 years). It is a fairly efficient system in the long term, even though the lag between investment -> returns means there can be some short-term cycles that look like "bubbles".