why aren't all 9 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public
record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable
ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't;
assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card:
▮▮▮▮▮ certainty ·
▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Opinion
Vassallo: Most VC firms superficially view design as 'drapes and drop shadows'
“I think the vast majority of firms do not understand design fundamentally. I think most folks in the venture industry still think about design as sort of a, you know, as sort of the drapes and the drop shadows, as it were, as sort of styling exercises.”
Insight
Vassallo: Startup ecosystem's major failure mode is shipping overly lightweight MVPs
“This notion of minimum viable product, I think, is in some senses cute to talk about. It's certainly something that I think for folks who are used to building, Cathedrals for prototypes. I think it's something that would help them in many regards, but I think …”
Insight
Vassallo: Joining mediocre small startups is where resumes go to die
“The middle point, in other words, going and joining a small startup where your friends are working because you know somebody there or because it, you know, sort of sounds like an interesting category, but you're not really sure because you haven't spent enough…”
Insight
Vassallo: Product-market fit is liquid, not a static destination
“Product market fit is a liquid, not a solid.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Vassallo: VC ecosystem lacks practical resources for designer-founders
“When I looked at the venture industry that I was now part of, most of the observations were pretty high level. So there were lots of stats out there on numbers of billion dollar design founded companies or stats on LinkedIn job openings for user experience des…”
Insight
Vassallo: Designer-founders must approach business models like user experience
“And so I think most designers really need to begin to kind of step back from their sort of super strength in product design and understand that, Hey, like I also need to think about my business model in this with the same intentionality and the same focus that…”
Insight
Vassallo: Young workers over-optimize for initial salary over long-term mentorship
“The most common failure mode that I see for young people designers and engineers, business folks coming into the workforce is that they over optimize around title and or around salary, or around sort of very much the, sort of call them the transactional compon…”
Insight
Vassallo: Educational systems and early jobs strip away natural entrepreneurial instincts
“I believe we're all natural-born entrepreneurs. Oftentimes, it gets designed out of us by our educational systems or by the very narrow nature of our first jobs or second jobs”
Disclosure
Steve Vassallo Refuses to Share Pitch Decks With His VC Spouse
“When we're asked you know, can you send the deck or the diligence materials to your wife? I will outright say absolutely no. So we keep a Chinese wall between us.”