Dear Reader,
Hello and welcome to the 11th edition of the Good Reads newsletter by Malpani Ventures.
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Radical Candor — The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss
https://review.firstround.com/radical-candor-the-surprising-secret-to-being-a-good-boss
“It sounds so simple to say that bosses need to tell employees when they're screwing up. But it very rarely happens.” And in a world of startups moving at neck breaking speeds, if you cant course correct at the first sign of a screw up, there maybe no U-turn available later on. Founders need to inculcate the habit of being radically candid, and encourage their team to adopt the same.
The Gross Margin Problem: Lessons for Tech-Enabled Startups
We had an interesting conversation with a portfolio company where we mentioned ‘growth solves all problems’. But does it? If your gross margin is broken, will growth solve it or amplify it? We believe its the latter.
Building a platform + ecosystem company. A 3-part series
Some of the greatest companies today have a platform + ecosystem play. Think about Atlassian, Salesforce, Shopify → all of them have APIs, Platform as a service (PaaS), Developer-led GTM, and Independent Software Vendor (ISV) channels. The outcome, positive virtuous cycle to propel them in their growth trajectory. This 3-part series by Tidemark dives into why should you build a platform + ecosystem company, what does it entail, and how to scale it.
Thread of the week
Until next time!