Dave Pell
Writer of NextDraft & Angel Investor
Discussion
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Dave Pell
@davepell · Nextdraft and What Hurts
I’m Dave Pell. Each morning I open about a 100 news tabs and then begin my process of finding and sharing the day’s most fascinating news in the NextDraft Newsletter and App. I’ve also been investing in internet startups for a couple decades. Some people have a face for radio. I have a face for tech. Fire away!
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Harry Stebbings
@harrystebbings · Podcast Host @ The Twenty Minute VC
Hi Dave, thanks so much for joining us and a big fan of your newsletter. I would love to hear what have been the most successful methods you have used to grow your email newsletter? What have been the major transition points?
@harrystebbings To be totally honest (I won't limit other answers to that standard), I really suck at promoting my newsletter even though it's the most important part of my creative life and I try to pimp it as much as I can. But my major transition point came when I stopped trying to be exhaustive in what I covered, and instead stuck to what I was interested in. More personality, less curation. That's when sign-ups started flowing.
Andrea Marcovici
@andrea_marcovici
@harrystebbings I write a weekly blog, that seems/actually takes hours to compose. I can't imagine writing daily. Dave, I was wondering if your style has changed since you started writing. My editor has asked me to throw all of those English class rules out the window. Incomplete sentences, colloquial phrases, first person narrative...all are allowed. I actually found my readership has increased the more I talk about myself, especially in the introduction and conclusion paragraphs. What have you discovered about writing style over the years?
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What are your favourite questions to ask founders?
@bentossell Great question. I mostly like to ask them about their product and their background to see if we get along (which is a key factor for me). I generally invest with a very smart colleague who always asks about their Shazam moment - when did they first realize this was the right product. If the person pitching makes it seem like the greatest deal ever, I usually ask: "So why come to me?" Mostly I'm looking for red flags. Biggest lesson in 20 years of investing: Red Flags never disappear. They only get worse. 100%.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
If you had a billion dollars what would you do with it?
Charles Jo
@charlesjo · Creator, Startup Study Group (SSG)
What is your investment thesis?
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
I think you're one of the most underrated tech tweeters (twitterer? tweeple?)... How do you feel about the future of Twitter?
@andrewett Andrew, goddammit I could not agree more. I should have a billion followers. Twitter's future as a product is great. They need to figure out how to please the market. They also need to learn from Slack. Their users are telling them what they want from the product. Also, they need to focus on their search results pages which are amazing and better than "Moments" which are too editorial for a product where users are supposed to be in charge.
Jonny Miller
@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia
Next Draft is hands down the best thing to appear in my inbox... thanks for doing what you do! My question is: what's the best startup idea you haven't yet been pitched with?
@jonnym1ller That's a tough one. And I don't want to give away my multiple zillion dollar ideas. But someone should build a universal browser so we can drop all these apps on our phones and TVs. The world is more complicated now, not less. Remember teaching your mom to operate a VCR. Try to teach her how to watch one show on Amazon and then another on HBO Now (But not HBO Go). It's absurd.
Dennis Howlett
@dennis_howlett · co-founder, diginomica
@davepell @jonnym1ller HBO Go is pants IMO
Sarah Cooper
@sarahcpr · Comedian & Writer, TheCooperReview.com
Hi Dave! I love the design of your newsletter. How did you get to it? How much testing did you do before you got your email newsletter design, subject line, etc. right? Do you continue to do any testing now?
@sarahcpr Because I write everyday, everyday is sort of a test. I've been incredibly lucky to work with world class designers and engineers who treat NextDraft like it's a big deal. Brian Moco did my superhero logo, Bryan Bell handles site and app design, and Andrew Norcross built me a WordPress publishing system that allows me to push my stuff to two apps, email inboxes, the web and Apple News with one click.
Craig Halverson
@craig_halverson
How do you stay disciplined and energized and having fun looking at a hundred tabs a day?
Jake Crump
@jakecrump · Community Team with Product Hunt
What's something you've changed your mind about in the last year?
@jakecrump When Trump first started his stand-up comedy slash presidential bid, I thought the fact that he was shaking up the status quo could do something to make political debates, etc, a little more real. His success and the support he's received have made me realize everything about him is dangerous. And pretty depressing.