Joakim Achren

At the end of each year, I’ve reflected on the past 12 months, what have gone well, what hasn’t gone well and what things I look to improve. The format has been evolving pretty much every year. Here are my previous reviews from 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.I’ve always used templates to examine my year in review. These are Sahil Bloom's annual review and Steve Schlafman's Ultimate Annual Review. Also I’ve used the ones from James Clear and Chris Guillebeau.Let’s get into the learnings from this year.What went well this year?After much reflection, browsing my journals from 2024, these are the things that went well this year on all fronts.Personal Life Developments2023 has been a transformative year on the personal front. My kids have grown a lot. They're doing great in school and developing amazing personalities. We moved into a […]

The hardest things about helping founders as an investor: - Making the founder feel they're not alone. It's "against the odds" difficult to make a startup successful- To not work from the position where the founder feels they need to interact like a subordinate- Finding the balance between being supportive while maintaining necessary objectivity- Knowing when to be hands-on vs when to step back and let founders find their own path- Building genuine trust that enables founders to share real problems, what keeps them up at night- Accepting that sometimes the best help is simply listening, not trying to solve everything- Resisting the urge to pattern match too quickly based on past experiences- Understanding that each founder's journey is unique, even if challenges seem familiar

What are the main differences between VCs and angel investors: - Angels invest their own money, VCs invest other people's money (LPs)- Angels can decide instantly, VCs need internal discussions and often weeks of due diligence- Angels can invest in whatever interests them, VCs must follow their fund's thesis- Angels typically write smaller checks ($25k-250k), VCs often need to deploy big checks per deal- VCs need companies to be huge ($1B+) to return their fund, angels can win with smaller exits- Angels often invest based on gut feel and relationships, VCs need data and proof points- VCs have pressure to deploy capital within 3-4 years, angels can invest at their own pace- Angels are usually happy with 3-5x returns, VCs need 10x+ to make their model work- Angels have often been founders themselves, VCs might have a big team and […]

Investors asking founders to have longer vesting and cliffs (like 5-year vesting with 2-year cliff) is often seen as hostile by founders. Here's why this misconception happens:Founders don't realize how the VC path works: in early-stage startups, there's always another round where new investors will scrutinize the company. The vesting is designed to safeguard the company and its cap table.Think about it: Would you feel comfortable if a founder could leave the company in a year or two and take 20% of the company with them?What does a new investor think about that 20%? Most likely that this company has 20% of its cap table not contributing to its success.

When I was a first-time founder, here's the VC jargon I kept hearing but didn't understand: - "We have X hundred million under management" - This means how much money their fund has to invest and has invested. Sometimes it was a billion dollars.- "We want you to find a lead" - Translation: they won't invest first, they want another VC to set the terms.- "We want founders to vest their shares." - Means you earn your ownership over time to ensure you stick around.- "What's your burn rate?" - They're asking how much cash you spend monthly.- "We need to see more traction" - Usually means "your progress or metrics aren't good enough."- "Let's keep in touch" - The polite way of saying no.- "What's your cap table look like?" - Who owns what percentage of your company.- "Give […]

Why is mobile gaming so hard right for startups?- Incumbents have massive network effects and consumer data to acquire and retain users- Incumbents can afford 500 people working on a game- Incumbents can take their time (5+ years) to make the new game So where are the opportunities?- Avoid categories where incumbents dominate (puzzle, midcore, social casino)- Build for a niche and then expand (think about all the Habby games)- Innovate on distribution, try to get off the ground without paid UA

I often get puzzled about high valuations. Sure, the market sets the price. If the founder is in a hot market with many investors wanting to lead the deal, founders often lean towards the fund that can give the biggest valuation. Here's an example I witnessed myself: A founder had a term sheet for 2M at 10M from one of the best VCs in their sector, but then they got a 2.5M at 15M offer from a bigger fund, and the founders went with this offer. They could have raised 2.5M at 10.5M and gotten the industry favorite VC, but they optimized for lower dilution. As a founder myself for almost two decades and now as a startup investor for over five years, I feel that founders don't appreciate all the issues that come from raising their first institutional investor […]

My partner at F4 Fund, David Kaye, wrote about the future of AI earlier this year in his piece, "How will we touch the robots?"I want to share my thoughts on investing in AI companion, tutor, mentor, etc. companies. Here’s a list of challenges and opportunities to go beyond the initial “wow” factor, which current products excel at but often fail to sustain.Challenge: ChatGPT already a mentor and companionHere's my prediction: The LLMs keep maturing and advancing, probably to the point where an OpenAI product can do many of the things that a consumer AI app would do right now. Eventually, the companionship that LLMs provide will become commoditized to the point where your virtual buddy on your mobile screen is just a flashy interface.Another challenge: Flashy interface and long term user retentionYou could argue that a flashy interface has […]