Community First Fund: Fill & Download for Free

Mostly because we look a helluva a lot different than anything else on the market.Let us count the ways:1) We invest in hundreds of companies -- our portfolio size is easily 5-10X anyone else (even larger than YC). Our first fund was ~265 companies, our second fund was ~325 companies, and when we finish investing our 3rd fund will be over 500 companies. Most LPs can't understand how we can possibly manage such a large portfolio, except that we have already been doing it for the past 5 years. We believe a large & diversified portfolio is critical to finding outsize returns (aka unicorns), and also delivers lower risk & more predictable outcomes.also see:"99 VC Problems But A Batch Ain't One"https://medium.com/500-hats/99-vc-problems-but-a-batch-ain-t-one-why-portfolio-size-matters-for-returns-16cf556d4af02) We invest all over the world -- so far in over 50 countries, many with no substantial track record of notable exits. Most LPs can't understand how we can possibly cover such a huge geography, even though 1/3 of our team lives in ~18 countries, and collectively we speak over 20 languages. We believe most of the growth in the world is happening outside the U.S. In emerging markets like Asia, Latin America, The Middle East, and Africa. By definition, these emerging markets have an unclear track record and lots of volatility and unpredictability.3) We take small positions in our companies (typically only 1-5% equity for 500, compared to 10-30% for others), and we generally don't take board seats. Most LPs want to know that fund managers have controlling positions in most of their investments, because this is the only strategy they have seen work (except that the 60-80% of most firms that fail or underperform also employ this strategy as well). We are very comfortable with our approach, and our returns speak for themselves.4) We are still very young for a VC firm, having only been in business for just over 5 years. Although our IRR performance is good -- all 3 global funds are running at >20% Net IRR -- we have yet to reach carry in our first fund, and probably will need another 2-4 years before we reach 1X distribution of investor capital. Most funds that are 5 years old are still operating their 2nd fund, while we are almost done with our 3rd and already raising our 4th. Most LPs think we are moving too quickly. we think we are a startup, and we don't give a damn what they think.5) We are more than just a VC firm -- we also run accelerator programs, customer acquisition consulting, conferences and events, travel programs, community networking, investor education, and have many other services businesses planned for the future. Most investors think we are doing "too many things" and aren't focused. However, similar platform approaches by A16Z, First Round Capital, and Google Ventures have been applauded as forward-thinking. we like what those folks are doing, although we actually started doing it before most of them did, and we plan to do a lot more in the years ahead.6) We operate multiple regional and vertical micro-funds at the same time, and we co-invest out of our main fund and these other funds together. We believe having multiple geographically-focused and category-specific funds enables us to scale our business faster and better, find promising deals earlier than other VCs, and provides great incentives to our team to start their own funds under our brand using our back office. Most LPs are confused by our multi-fund strategy, and don't know why we bother. However, we have some of the brightest young fund managers in the world working for us, and we attract more of them every day.7) We aren't apologetic about any of the above, and we intend to press the pedal to the fucking floor as hard and fast as possible. We are confident our strategy and our returns are working, and we believe our approach is VERY scaleable, and we intend to be the largest VC firm in the world (we are already one of the largest, at almost 90 people).Anyway, in a few more years it will be impossible to ignore our results and our returns, and I imagine at that point fundraising will get a lot easier. Even now, it's much easier than when we started.It's just a matter of time.We Are Relentless. We Are #500STRONG.

I think the environment has become more demanding of companies, and the companies, in turn, are passing the demands on to their employees.30 years ago, a company grew slowly at first, funded by its founder and its initial product revenue. Eventually it got big enough to be stable, make some money, and eventually go public. The company’s business model emphasized making profit all the time, directly from selling stuff.Modern companies can’t bear to grow slowly. They need to take an idea and turn it into a market-dominating product right away. They do this by luring billions in investment dollars, operating at a significant loss while rapidly gaining market share. The very best and most successful ideas can only afford to operate in this way for a couple of years; the less great ideas, not even that long. These companies rely on network effects to support their sales. It’s not just the price per widget, but the community of widget users, and the fact that you already sell 90% of the widgets, so it’s hard for competition to break in.These companies have ideas that only work if they’re the only providers. There are not enough rooms in the city if there are 100 competing AirBnB clones. There aren’t enough passengers if there are 50 Uber clones. So the pressure to grow is incredible. You win or lose in a year or two, so you gotta work 80 hours a week that year.The traditional kinds of company are still out there. But the venture capital is all chasing the red-hot startups, because if they win, they win in a year and cash out the VCs. The entrepreneurs are all chasing red-hot-growth businesses, because they are all 26 year old MBAs with ADHD. They live fast and die hard, and then try to do the same thing over, but this time maybe with success.With the gold-rush mentality of the managers, it’s no wonder they whip their staffs to make progress.

Sure. As for me I took part in RED LANTERNS ICO to do that.You have taken part in RL ICO, and now you are the holder of REDL tokens. What are your benefits from being the part of RL community?First of all, you will be able to control your RL assets at your own discretion using the RL wallet. After the introduction of the Ethereum blockchain into the RL Service, the REDL tokens will be used as a means of mutual settlement. REDL tokens can function within the RL service as a unit of payment for Expert services, or you are able to send them to the wallets of other RL users. Everyone who has a REDL token is not a co-owner of the product and cannot claim ownership or property of the RL Service in one form or another. However, you can participate in the voting that determines the development of the RL service.REDL tokens can be sent to exchanges or exchange offices for trade-exchange operations or withdrawal of funds into fiat currency at commercial rates, respectively. After the sixth month of operation of the RL service, the turnover will exceed the number of REDL tokens available in the system, as a result of which the REDL token will start to split up, gain value and become suitable for exchange trade. The RL service will offer exchange office services for converting REDL tokens into fiat money at the market rate, minus 15% for conversion services.