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A Glimpse of the Future of Product Placement   Showrooms and malls have been in decline as the share of retail spending via e-commerce steadily grows year-after-year – a trend that the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated. The opportunities for consumers to sample products in showrooms and stores are becoming scarce and brands need new ways to place products in front of consumers for sampling, feedback, and impressions. Origin Ventures is ...

The campus at the University of California at Berkeley includes an oversized bulletin board, where students and organizations can post a variety of announcements – ride sharing, concerts, stand-up comedy nights, and kitesurfing lessons are just a few examples. Known as the “blueboard,” it has become a vital source of entertainment news and information for students. The original “Blueboard” on the campus of the University of California (Berkeley) In 2015, ...

The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout drastically changed Americans’ attitudes and behavior at home and at work. Business and consumer practices have shifted substantially under COVID-19 as people and businesses adapt to a socially-distanced world. Origin Ventures attempted to gauge the impact of the pandemic and economic fallout on businesses and consumers and see which changes were likely to persist, and which would fall back to “business as usual.” ...

The past months have changed the way we live, work, and play. Companies of all sizes, including those in Origin Ventures’ portfolio, are re-assessing their internal processes. The focus on capital efficiency shifts the focus from rapid sales growth to sustainable sales. Now is a good time to redesign go-to-market strategy in the increasingly competitive SaaS market. Shake up the sales team, focus on customer personas, redefine territories, or build ...

COVID-19 has created widespread impact for startups. Perhaps no functional area has been disrupted more than the sales organization for B2B software companies. Origin Ventures recently facilitated a sales leadership discussion with our B2B SaaS portfolio companies to discuss and share strategic and tactical shifts in their sales processes. The questions we used to frame the discussion included: For benchmarking purposes… what’s your Q1 and Q2 updated forecast vs. your ...

Startups are adjusting “burn,” or the net amount of spending in a given month, as they stare down the COVID-19 crisis, and they may want to reflect on what the marginal spending they are now cutting was achieving. A high-growth, strong LTV:CAC, fast payback startup can mask lots of inefficient spend. This crisis is exposing some of that existing bloat as companies are adjusting burn in real-time. “Wait, we didn’t ...

We are pleased to announce our investment in Everee. Origin Ventures is co-leading a $10M Series A financing for this Salt Lake City-based software company. The round was co-led by Signal Peak Ventures. Changing Paydays for a Changing Workforce Since 2008, the ‘gig economy’ has allowed individuals to create an income from a variety of on-demand jobs. In addition to flexibility, one of the primary benefits of freelance work is ...

Entrepreneurs face substantial challenges raising capital, and waiting on feedback from venture funds makes it worse. While decision-making within venture capital funds is vitally important to the venture-founder relationship, there is little published on how venture firms make decisions. Because Origin Ventures has scaled, we recently re-evaluated our decision-making process, and are revealing some of our research and conclusions. The venture decision-making process is a black box to many founders, ...

There are many things that bind us together at Origin. One of our values – and a daily refrain – is that we believe it's a privilege to work with entrepreneurs. Working with startups is not all glory and fame. While we are not taking nearly the risk of entrepreneurs performing high wire acts with no nets, we ride through the ups and downs of companies' fortunes alongside founders. The ...

Transport accidents are the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and they continue to climb. In 2019, there were 43,024 U.S. road fatalities – 11.5% of which involved trucks. The number of people who died in large truck crashes rose 27 percent from 2009 to 2013. Driving a car is one of the most dangerous activities Americans do regularly, and trucks are a large part of the ...