The Mattermark Daily is a hand-curated newsletter compiled daily to bring you first-person accounts of entrepreneurship, investment and insights from the startup ecosystem. If you enjoy what you read here, please consider forwarding it to spread the word. Not getting the daily regularly? Click here to subscribe!

From the Operators

Sam Jadallah of Otto shares the successes in product development, perceived product market fit, and failed acquisition that led to the shuttering of the firm in "So Close."

Dawid Bałut of Egnyte reminds of the difficulty in rebuilding a relationship and urges practicing emotional intelligence, especially for those who may find social situations difficult in "Leave Your Ego At The Door And Study Empathetic Leadership"

Can Olcer of Humbot emphasizes the value in a highly productive, standard length workday, and offers a suggestion to take time for introspection to truly determine what's worthwhile and what isn't in "As a founder, more work doesn’t equal more success"

Steli Efti of Close.io shares the benefits of producing a thoughtful, well assembled meetup of your product's customers in "How to run customer meetups (and why they matter)"

From the Investors

Hunter Walk of Homebrew reminds everyone, especially professionals early in their careers, that one question can help answer how important a decision is in "In 2018, Focus on Quality of Decision Over Quality of Outcome"

Tomasz Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures cites several books read towards the end of the year when reminding that every startup is a unique combination of factors, none of which guarantee success, in "Jettisoning the Assumptions of Last Year"

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures has a set of concrete tactics and suggestions when it comes to checking references, including a strategy of having multiple individuals check the same references in "Some Thoughts On Checking References"

David Skok of Matrix Partners shares the two primary reasons for churn in a SaaS business, essentially distilling down to a failure to onboard and loss of the purchasing champion in "Top Two Reasons for Churn"

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