AngelList Weekly - COVID-19 is making it harder to ship

The Impact of COVID-19 on DTC brands

We first talked about the Direct-To-Consumer revolution in 2018, introducing Warby Parker, Casper, and Dollar Shave Club as the next household brands.

And they've done well. There are a lot more of them now.

For these brands, COVID-19 has been a double edged sword.

Traffic is up

Jean-Michel Lemieux, CTO of Shopify, recently tweeted that they are handling Black Friday level traffic every day. Facebook and Google both announced strong Q1 results. The internet has been winning.

Supply chains are hurt

But these DTC startups are in a squeeze. Consumers are shopping online more than ever, but it's also harder than ever to get a package to a customer's door.

That's because DTC startups still sell physical "stuff".

They make that stuff in factories, and those factories are usually in China. And COVID-19 has shut down factories and shipping routes, causing all sorts of production delays. Amazon, which relies on a business model centered around making a box appear at your home in less than 2 days, has wait times that are as long as a month.

So, for now, unfortunately, you'll have to wait a month for your bespoke bed linens.

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Remote software developers earn 22% more than non-remote developers

Nnamdi Iregbulem

Working remotely pays. A recent analysis by Nnamdi Iregbulem showed that fully-remote software developers earn 22% more than developers who never or rarely work remote.

Even working only a few days each month yielded a pay advantage of 15% on average, and 5% controlling for observable factors (including age, experience, hours worked, size of employer and programming languages).

How to run your startup in a recession

ANGELLIST

Superhuman founder and CEO Rahul Vohra shares his guide on running a startup during a recession:

Choose how much runway you want to maintain (e.g., 24, 36, 48 months).
Every year, adjust your net burn such that your runway is always at this level.
You can reduce net burn through revenue growth and cost reduction; conversely, you can increase net burn through faster hiring and more marketing.

Why startups that survive are "Learning Organizations"

NFX

A startup's ability to learn and evolve quickly is fundamental to its long term success. Learning needs to be embedded in the culture and organization from the early days. Gigi Levy of NFX breaks down the 3 critical components:

Establish a learning culture through company-wide retros and rules.
Make transparency an organizational imperative.
Scrutinize your wins as much as your losses.

Are we investing in things that really matter?

ANGELLIST

Julia Lipton, the founder of Awesome People Ventures, makes the case for world-positive investing. She argues that it's a human obligation to fund a better future now more than ever.

How to get a job at a startup

BREAKOUT CAREERS

The emotional rollercoaster of working at a startup is far preferable than the existential toil of big companies. Abi Tyas Tungal enumerates the advantages of a career in startups vs. big companies, and shares his advice for how to approach a startup job search.

Why remote work matters

ALEXGARELLA

Alex Garella shares why remote is the future of work thanks to the many benefits that it brings:

Freedom of location
Freedom of time
Freedom of work environment
Freedom of lifestyle
Reduced fixed costs
Increased robustness
Global hiring

Hot startups hiring now 🔥

Fabrica - The easiest way to close real estate transactions. Hiring a senior frontend engineer.

decidehq - Actionable business intelligence. Explore 3 jobs.

Mosaix - Language AI for emerging markets. Hiring engineers.

Vigilant - Platform for public data search and monitoring. Explore 4 jobs.

Builder.io - Create and edit code visually. Hiring senior full-stack engineers.

Funding and Acquisitions

Expedia is raising $3.2 billion in new capital as the coronavirus pandemic has stalled travel around the world. Funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake will provide the equity investment and will each get a spot on the company’s board. Expedia said it expects the new funds to strengthen its financial flexibility and liquidity position.

Security data and analytics solutions provider Rapid7 announced its intent to acquire DivvyCloud, a cloud security and governance startup, for $145 million in cash and stock. The acquisition comes at a time when enterprises are experiencing a spike in malware campaigns using coronavirus misinformation.

Confluent, a cloud infrastructure platform for Apache Kafka, closed a $250 million Series E funding round at a $4.5 billion valuation. Confluent’s business rests on the idea that the daily cycle of “batch-processed data” isn’t enough to keep up with the speed and personalization that people want.

Blue Prism has raised $124 million in equity financing at a valuation of around $1.2 billion. Blue Prism specializes in robotic process automation, and the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global lockdowns have tempted firms to invest in the area.

Online collaborative whiteboard startup Miro has raised $50 million in new funding to expand its platform. Remote collaboration tools like Miro are experiencing a surge in usage.

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AngelList Weekly - COVID-19 is making it harder to ship

The Impact of COVID-19 on DTC brands

More from last week

Hot startups hiring now 🔥

Funding and Acquisitions

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