David Tisch
Managing Partner at Boxgroup. I've invested in over 250 early stage tech startups and love chatting tech.
Discussion
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
Hi - I'm David Tisch, managing parter of BoxGroup, co-founder of Spring and Head of the Startup Studio at Cornell Tech. I've invested in over 250 early stage tech startups, started a mobile shopping company, and run the program at Cornell Tech that helps students create companies, love chatting startups and I'm excited to be here-- ask me anything!
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Avery
@averyalchek · Business Operations, Mashable
@davetisch What do you look for in founders (besides passion)?
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@averyalchek Hey - I replied to this to @cobbyamoah
Cobby Amoah
@cobbyamoah · CEO, Obaa
@davetisch @averyalchek Here is his answer. - this answer applies to @averyalchek too - #1 is leadership, it is totally overlooked early on with a 2-3 person team, but the CEO and founder needs to scale into a great leader. #2 – long term vision. #3 – hiring and inspiring.
Kate
@katesegrin · Community @ Product Hunt
Dave, what do you think is one of the most difficult products to buy online, and what would you do to help solve that problem?
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@katesegrin Anything that involved comfort to me is hard to buy online, a couch, a chair, some articles of clothing. Anything you need to feel to fall in love with. Offline helps here a bit, but not scaleable.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Thanks so much for joining us today! During your career to date, what is the best piece of advice you've ever been given? Flip side - what's the worst?
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@ems_hodge Hey @ems_hodge – I’ll start with the worst “focus on improving your weaknesses.” I think its BS. People should double down on their strengths, find the things you are better than others at and focus your career around those things, not on filling in gaps. If it takes you a bit to find the right type of role to apply your strengths, that’s ok, its worth the journey because when you find that place, you will strive quickly and naturally.
The best, probably from my grandfather was the way he approached his business career, it’s pretty simple – “ok, let’s go.” The first line “ok” can follow anything, a problem, a statement, a data set, a win, a loss, someone pitching, whatever it is – “ok.” Then, ”let’s go” - time to do it. Enough talk, just do it. It’s pretty applicable to anything, and I try and bring that into my approach in my work life.
Kingsong Chen
@kingsongchen · Founder at Lace, Marketplace for GovTech
Hi David, what are some important problems in the world that need to be solved?
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@kingsongchen Thanks for the question. Such a broad question, so many possible directions. At a global level, giving everyone the ability to provide safety, health opportunity and happiness to their family is what matters most.
Phil Nguyen
@p_ngu · The Daily Water Cooler + Vettery
Hey @davetisch! Thanks for making the time, as well as for all your efforts with growing the NYC tech ecosystem.
My question has to do ecommerce, specifically the differences you encountered when making a platform based on mobile instead of websites. In particular, I'm curious if you made any design/functionality/etc. decisions in Spring because that's just how ecommerce on the web was done, but only later did you realize through user behavior that the feature was outdated or wrong for a mobile audience?
(e.g., I remember reading somewhere that early cars used a tiller to steer because that's how boats were directed, but only later did people realize a steering wheel was much more effective)
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@p_ngu Hey Phil, appreciate that. We definitely designed Spring specifically for mobile. One of the major decisions we made early on was to streamline the most painful part of the shopping experience, the checkout. By eliminating the shopping cart we were able to do Swipe to Pay, which allowed a customer to pay without ever seeing a keyboard after your first purchase. The shopping cart to me was an antiquated solution that also creates on of the biggest problem for ecommerce, the abandoned shopping cart. The best way to eliminate shopping cart abandonment is to eliminate the shopping cart.
Junius
@juniusfree
Hi @davetisch
How will you spend your time if you've got one hour to solve a user problem/need?
Thanks!
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@juniusfree Hey @juniusfree – thanks for the question. If I understand right, my approach would be to spend 45 minutes understanding the problem and 15 minutes to solve it. The more nuanced your understanding the user/problem and the context, the easier it will be to come up with a solution.
Harry Stebbings
@harrystebbings · Podcast Host @ The Twenty Minute VC
@davetisch thanks so much for coming on @producthunt would love to hear how important you feel VC branding is and what strategies you use to make sure Box is considered the smart seed money in NYC? Cant wait to have you on @twentyminutevc in Jan!!
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@harrystebbings Hey Harry – VC branding. I mean, on many levels, super important, especially as an early stage VC. You need to get the best founders to come to you, or if you find them, to want to work with you. So being able to be found, and making sure people know you are out there and investing is vital. On the other hand, a big brand doesn’t always mean a great reputation. I think reputation is much more important, and that comes from the founders you work with. So we spend a lot of time at BoxGroup just trying to do the right thing, and work with our portfolio in a way such that they would recommend us to others. Smart money, I don’t know, just trying to focus on not being Bad money, that is the worst kind of money.
Avery
@averyalchek · Business Operations, Mashable
@davetisch What drives you? Are you competitive?
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@averyalchek I think curiosity. I used to be competitive, less so now, cause I don’t think the game I’m playing is an all sum game. I’d like to not lose more than I care to win. Generally, I’m fascinated by the future and predicting and seeing things play out, and I’d prefer if I am right I guess.
Cobby Amoah
@cobbyamoah · CEO, Obaa
@davetisch Thanks for taking the time, Dave. From investing in several companies, what are some of the common and important traits you see in successful founders?
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David Tisch
@davetisch · Partner, BoxGroup
@cobbyamoah thanks for the question - this answer applies to @averyalchek too - #1 is leadership, it is totally overlooked early on with a 2-3 person team, but the CEO and founder needs to scale into a great leader. #2 – long term vision. #3 – hiring and inspiring.