Insight
Nadel: Founders investing VC money must pay the minimum possible wage
“When you're investing your own money, do the right thing. When you're investing my money, pay the minimum you can pay.”
Insight
Phil Nadel argues third-party retail is not a viable standalone business
“Third party retail is not a business.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Nadel: Subscription flight models will inevitably suffer adverse selection from super-users
“Ultimately, people who are traveling one or two times a month are going to say, eh, this isn't worth it. I think that this kind of pricing model lends itself to the super users over time. That's who's going to gravitate towards it, and the ones who aren't usin…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Nadel: Tampax or o.b. can crush Aunt Flow on price
“I think that that's a better way to go, but then I'm worried about the competition, because a company like Tampax, or if they want the eco-solution OB, can crush her in terms of price.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Phil Nadel predicts broad shift to onshoring manufacturing for products
“There's going to be a whole move to onshoring lots of different products.”
Opinion
Nadel: Who's Your Landlord is a sponsorship business, not a SaaS company
“So you referred to your business as a SaaS business, but you're not a SaaS business. You're in the sponsorship business. You, you're generating a thousand dollars a month in recurring revenue from the SaaS business, but you've generated 200,000 dollars in two …”
Insight
Nadel: Keeping two-sided platforms free accelerates scale and enables sponsorship revenue
“You know, both sides, if both sides are free, you'll get to scale more quickly, and that'll enable you to generate the leads, and to generate more sponsorship revenue, and those kinds of things. But you need scale.”
Opinion
Nadel: Who's Your Landlord cannot build a SaaS business charging $1/unit
“He can also make a business, I believe, out of a SaaS company, but not charging a dollar a unit a month.”
Opinion
Nadel: A $10M cap is way too high for $25K monthly revenue
“Based on my experience and all the companies that we look at and invest in, that's not market. That's just not competitive with the deals that we see. A company doing 25,000 a month in revenue, you know, everything else being equal, a ten million cap is just w…”
Opinion
Phil Nadel: WeDo is just a task management app for college kids
“I just think it's a task management app for college kids, and that's all it is right now today.”
Disclosure
Nadel: Offers $250K to Hykso at a $3M valuation cap
“Three million. I'll do two 50.”
Opinion
Phil Nadel believes Samaritan operates too much like a non-profit to scale
“I don't mind investing in public benefit companies, but this just seems to be too much like a non-profit. I just, I, you know, I'm just having trouble with how this really scales to be a big company.”
Opinion
Nadel: First-Mover Advantage Is DogSpot's Only Moat
“I know, but that's the only mode she can have is first movement advantage.”
Opinion
Nadel: Prop bet fantasy formats are easily replicated by competitors
“I feel the opposite way from Charles in that I don't feel that the format is enough of a differentiator, and I don't think it's that difficult for another company to either replicate it or to pivot themselves.”
Opinion
Nadel: Walmart Is the Wrong Channel for Building a High-End Coffee Brand
“You know, Walmart is mainstream America, that's not the brand you want to build for this. I think you want to go after that high-end coffee drinker, and Walmart's not the right channel.”
Opinion
Nadel: Amazon's delivery network threatens Shipsi's business
“They're building their own delivery network, which has significantly bad implications for Shipsy in my view.”
Disclosure
Nadel: Officially passes on investing in Shipsi post-show
“So so for all these reasons, I'm going to have to pass.”
Opinion
Nadel: $10M valuation cap is uncompetitive for $25K in monthly revenue
“Based on my experience and all the companies that we look at and invest in, that's not market. That's just not competitive with the deals that we see. A company doing 25,000 a month in revenue, you know, everything else being equal, a ten million cap is just w…”
Insight
Nadel: Early-stage consumer beverage brands should launch exclusively direct-to-consumer
“I'd rather her build the brand organically, just DDC, just online, selling it direct, and work with influencers online to build the brand and to get traction and get like a real core following of people who are buying a direct consumer where you have really hi…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Nadel: Big tech platforms will replicate 1 Second Everyday and crush it
“He'll get some more traction, and then they'll introduce it, and they'll crush him.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Phil Nadel predicts unGlue will exit at a scale too small for VCs
“I think you're going to have a successful business, and maybe a successful exit, but I think the scale of that will be relatively small from our perspectives, but maybe a great result for you.”
Insight
Nadel: Per-App Telecom Models Inevitably Attract Margin-Eroding Power Users
“Over time, this kind of model tends to gravitate towards more power users, right? It's a great service and power users will gravitate towards it. And so the use case becomes more power users.”
Opinion
Nadel: Lunar Wireless Phones Will Mostly Serve as Spare Drawer Phones
“What concerns me is, is usage, because I see this as a phone that people will buy, put it in the drawer, and keep it in case they need it for a spare phone. Not have to worry about paying for it each month, which is great, but have it if they need it.”
Insight
Phil Nadel: VCs are much better if they were entrepreneurs first
“I just think that venture capitalists are so much better At their job if they've been entrepreneurs themselves.”
