Eric's Newsletter -- December 2022

2022 was, to put it mildly and succinctly, a roller coaster of highs and lows for the startup world. As it comes to a close, I hope all of you have gotten through it in one piece and are looking forward to what comes next. I join you in hoping that 2023 is better, or at least no worse, than the last twelve months have been.

Meanwhile, here's a round up of some of the links I sent around this past year that were most clicked on. If you've read them already perhaps this is a chance to revisit a few. If not, here's hoping you find something new and engaging to read in the final days of the year. I'm also including some recent reads and a few pieces of writing about my own work, along with a few work opportunities.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year.

[The Best of 2022]"What does stakeholder capitalism mean for investors?"

"A growing body of opinion asserts that the current model of capitalism has failed because of an excessive focus on shareholder interests without sufficient regard to other stakeholders. Its proponents advocate an alternative form of capitalism – stakeholder capitalism...investors are privileged to occupy a position of significant influence on corporate priorities. At a time of huge economic and social change, it is essential that this influence is used wisely and with legitimacy."Adapting to EndureSequoia Capital's advice for a downturn.Why Agatha Christie could afford a maid and a nanny but not a car"It’s one of the most important economic mysteries of the modern world. While the material things in life are cheaper than ever, labor-intensive services are getting more and more expensive. Middle-class Americans today have little trouble affording a car, but they struggle to afford a spot in day care. Only the rich have nannies."What is corporate civic responsibility?"Corporate social responsibility more broadly focuses on a company’s social impact on the world...However, these programs have one gap: they don’t directly address a company’s civic point of view. Today, the concept of “civics” is mostly thought of in the context of the individual, the citizen. This idea of understanding a company’s civic duty and responsibility is extremely nascent.Ideal governance (for companies, countries and more)"One way of thinking about the 'ideal governance' question is: what kinds of designs could exist that aren't common today? And how should a new organization/country/etc. think about what design is going to be best for its purposes, beyond 'doing what's usually done?"

 Save your startup during an economic downturnYCombinator's open letter to founders, Youtube video included.[Hiring]

Flexpa, which builds developer tools for launching digital health platforms, including onboarding and health plan access, is looking for a software developer.

LTSE has a number of open roles including a Senior Software Engineer position at LTSE Exchange and a Product Growth Lead at LTSE Equity.

[Conversations and Coverage]19 Books to Read: 5 Founders Share Their Favorite Business Books7 Steps to Product Market FitA ‘Minimal’ Approach to Creating Supply Chain SoftwareFive Best Books for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business[Readings]Voting Rights in Corporate Governance: History and Political Economy"Political voting rights have become the subject of sharp legal wrangling in American elections, and the focus of headlines and popular debate. Less attention has focused on American corporate elections, where something similar has been happening: the last two decades have witnessed significant unsettling of basic shareholder voting rights, including laws and practices that were mostly stable throughout the twentieth century. Today, shareholder voting rights are in flux and, increasingly, in controversy."How Sexism Influenced Corporate Governance"Sexism was blatant for decades. When in 1953 a female shareholder of Standard Oil of New Jersey asked why the company had no female directors, even though it reported having more women than men as shareholders, the chairman, Frank Abrams, said the company hadn’t found a woman 'who can contribute to the problems we have to face.' He added, 'I was going to say that first they would start with our interior decorating.'"Pay Attention to Deviations from Mainstream Incentives"You can do one other thing once you’ve grokked the incentives for a particular industry — you can look for aberrations in typical behaviour, and then treat those aberrations as signals to dig into the incentives that motivated these companies to do as they do.Occasionally, what you’ll find at the other end of that variant behaviour is a money laundering operation. Other times you’ll get a wonderfully designed set of interlocking incentives. But in just about every case I’ve seen, you’re guaranteed to find a very interesting organisation indeed."