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PerspectivePortfolio
This week, Shawn Carolan explains the single element that unites all great consumer technology companies.
PerspectiveHow To
Better Ingredients, Better Companies
As better ingredient technologies arrive on the scene, they open the door for new, iconic companies that meet our needs in fundamentally better ways.
PerspectiveHow To
Marketing for Max Exposure: 10 Takeaways from Menlo’s Growth Event
I attended a growth hacking event hosted by UpCounsel investor Menlo Ventures on August 10. Speakers included Uber’s VP of growth, Stance’s CEO, and…
Perspective
David vs. Goliath: How E-Commerce Companies Can Win Against Amazon
Physical retail is dying—a trend which has been ongoing for years and is now accelerating.
PortfolioFunding
Our First Opportunity Fund Investment: eero
We first invested in eero’s seed round two years ago, and we’re now delighted to lead this most recent $50 million financing to help…
FirmPortfolio
Uber Wins Crunchie for Best Overall Startup—2nd Year in a Row!
Menlo hosted its annual reception celebrating the best in tech, gathering its startup ecosystem for a night of lively conversation.
Perspective
Instant Gratification and the Power of Right Now
In this post, we will explain why on-demand marketplaces have a distinct advantage in terms of avoiding disintermediation, maintaining pricing power, and boosting acquisition…
PerspectivePortfolioHow To
Supply-Side Economics
At Menlo, we encourage our companies not to neglect the supply side, as supplier retention is directly correlated to overall platform quality and NPS.
Perspective
Let’s Get Vertical
Within a broad horizontal marketplace, it becomes more difficult to achieve sufficient liquidity, whereas a vertical marketplace immediately brings together buyers and sellers seeking…
Perspective
All About the Rake
It’s simply inevitable that high-flying businesses’ growth rates will moderate over time, as the universe of unaddressed consumers becomes smaller, and each incremental sale…
PerspectivePortfolio
The Only Metric That Truly Matters for a Marketplace Is the Shadow Market
If a marketplace expands into the “shadow market” (or a class of buyers that was previously unavailable to a supplier), then it has the…
How ToPortfolioPerspective
10 Laws of Successful Marketplaces
It has many names: the Sharing Economy, Collaborative Consumption, the On-Demand Economy, and even most recently called by Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Gig Economy.











