Chris Brown @almostcmb Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

Chris Brown

@almostcmb

7,936

Followers

2,533

Following

697

Media

6,072

Statuses

Seed & Series A @inspiredcap , investing in bits & atoms. BoD @qawolfhq @scytherobotics . Formerly @firstround .

NYC

https://t.co/WOeAXGjc9o

Joined January 2015

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

Pinned Tweet

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 months

Big news from @InspiredCap on our fifth birthday: announcing Inspired III, another $330m to back teams reimagining how the global economy should function. I'm endlessly grateful to the LPs and founders who put us in business. This is a fresh fund, but for us it's the same team,…

20

4

197

Last Seen Profiles

@PocztaPolska

@sarnorisaru

@JoXkOysUT446637

@YumewakanauR

@PastorVladimir

@whenInternetOfB

@ToastTab

@Independence416

@faeruumi

@SecretFlying

@vanboyosky

@diorxxher

@HEYimHeroic

@Ylacanta179641

@Newseum

@elian_samer1

@andrewflint44

@510yaya

@realjurgmeister

@duolinguer

@Edgertronic

@JuttSarwer

@misatokashiwagi

@HerrinGabriela

@freakyjackz

@realjurgmeister

@jsimonh98

@JelloDoes

@rip_krazy

@Talanov1

@SarahPhair

@IgorAndreiko

@nxcxsp_

@jeffemmett

@cruzozzan

@ArabFeminismMov

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

Of course that’s your contention, you’re a new VC coming off a two year product stint at a Series C business. You just got done readin’ the blogs, probably Fred and Elad, maybe High Growth Handbook. You’re gonna be convinced of that until next month when..

Tweet media one

119

405

5K

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Was a “Regards” guy for a little bit. Too formal for me. Shifted over to “Best” for a while but got bored. Now experimenting with “Cheers” but might be too European for a guy from Boston

312

63

2K

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

Family visiting NYC in January. Has never spent meaningful time here. Care a lot about food/drink. What am I missing?

Tweet media one

412

48

2K

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

I have a thesis that the majority of people who love Barry's/Crossfit/etc did not play competitive sports growing up There is no way you can be forced to do hang cleans and sprints for 20 years and then find yourself excited as an adult to pay $1000s to continue doing so

54

48

2K

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

Should have invested in Coinbase at the seed. What a miss. Simply would have had to turn down Avicii in my dorm room, kick friends out of the pre-game, make some money, develop a network, learn about bitcoin, then google what a seed round was. Tough miss to swallow.

19

36

1K

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

6 months

"Hey, let's post something that terrifies existing users and future customers from sharing their personal information with us"

Tweet media one

23

19

1K

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

You gonna plagiarize all of tech Twitter for us? You have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or, or is that your thing — come into the bird app, read some obscure investment heuristic and pawn it off as your own to impress some founding teams

44

10

1K

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

7 months

“See that run rate number on slide 3? Yeah, that’s GMV. Not net revenue.”

Tweet media one

10

59

691

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

1/ As they say, time for *some personal news* After ~4 yrs @firstround learning from the smartest folks I’ve ever met, I’m off on a new adventure. I'm super excited to team up with @alexavontobel and crew as an investor @InspiredCap , our new $200M early-stage venture fund.

56

8

581

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

**as a matter of fact I won’t because Thompson drastically under estimates…** …Thompson drastically underestimates the role that fine tuning models with proprietary data from vertically integrated workflows has on competitive moats? All-In Pod, E106. Yeah, heard that too.

2

8

573

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

…you listen to the 20 Min VC episode with Mauboussin. Then you’re gonna be talkin quantifiable moats. That’s gonna last til next month when you’ll be on here tweet storming Ben Thompson, talkin about how the application layer on top of foundational models has no defensibility..

1

9

512

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Yes yes I totally agree NYC is unsafe and should be fled for good. Especially if you have a 3b/2ba floor-through unit on Perry in West Village. Particularly dangerous set up over there. I am more than happy to do my part as a good samaritan and take over. Just DM.

7

21

490

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Maybe I am exhibiting boomer tendencies, but I struggle to see a valid rationale for being pre-PMF and flying across the country to party in Miami for a week

43

7

465

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

@jack24dd30 I'm not joking I heard a version of this last week and the MD's first job out of college was a general manager at a nut factory in Bolivia

2

1

443

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Some goodness for your feed -- this weekend I married my best friend in our backyard surrounded by our immediate family and four dogs. (Pups not featured here: Tess, Tuck, and Chopper). We had steaks on the grill, coolers full of beers, and a fire pit. It was awesome.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

63

2

393

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

@krug_spencer Unfortunately I know the movie well enough to do this in under 10 minutes while waiting for a meeting to show up

6

3

378

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

Had dinner with a hedgie friend last night. He hadn't heard of YC so I explained the concept. Apply with idea, work on idea, turn around and raise $$. He had a visceral reaction and almost lost his chicken parm when he heard these co's get priced at $30 - $50m

24

3

357

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

Send me your Calendly links all day every day, even if you request the meeting. I have never once understand the allergy some folks have to it If you have a visceral negative reaction to receiving Calendly links, you might need to go touch some grass or take a humility pill

37

17

328

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

Had a dream last night that a group of friends went to perfectly crowded Corner Bistro and managed to get the corner bar seat just as a snowstorm was beginning. How nice would that be.

Tweet media one

21

5

329

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

5 years

Still can't believe there isn't a program that sits kids down after graduation and teaches them about 401k/IRAs/HSA/FSA/insur/taxes etc. The aggregate missed opportunity/financial loss from just not knowing must be massive I'd love to talk with anyone thinking about this

37

17

321

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

This 2016 one by @maggiesmithpoet hits different these days

Tweet media one

1

66

319

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

So, I did the math and it’s cheaper to get two tickets per week for street parking outside my building in NYC than it is to pay for a monthly garage spot nearby. Should I just…let them build up and pay them off monthly?

31

3

309

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

Just bought $35 worth of groceries for $11 on Jokr. Feel like I largely missed out on the first era of venture subsidized consumer behavior. Glad I get to partake in this one (at least on one side of the equation)

8

3

267

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

At this point I'd pay $25/mo for "iMessage Pro" with features like marking read/unread, scheduled sending, better search, unknown number lookup, etc.

18

5

254

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

5 years

*The last 60 seconds of every meeting in Nov/Dec* Brain: Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Don't say it Mouth: "So, any big holiday plans?"

8

26

229

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Sometimes I wonder if we will look back on this era and realize that our industry's obsession with side hustles, podcasts, newsletters, etc got out of control and likely resulted in a net loss in productivity and output

14

12

206

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

Very afraid that everyone I've said "Lets grab a drink once we're vaccinated and back in the city" to is going to actually take me up on it

4

5

205

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

I am extremely surprised that there is sustained interest in red eye flights between NYC and SF from professionals who largely control their own schedule

35

4

200

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Person A (who is "building in web3"): One superpower I developed at Bridgewater is the ability to receive feedback unemotionally Person B: Cool. I don't really get what your product does and why it needs to be on the blockchain? Person A: YEA YOU WOULDN'T. WATCH YOUR F*N MOUTH

6

6

192

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

6 months

@TheCinesthetic Glenn in Walking Dead

5

0

192

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

1st week quarantine dinner: 7pm 2nd week quarantine dinner: 6pm 3rd week quarantine dinner: 3:45pm

11

11

189

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

1/x Some news that feels great to type out…we @InspiredCap have raised a $281m Fund II to continue backing early stage teams at Seed & Series A

Tweet card media

Two years after launching, Inspired Capital has closed its second fund with $281 million | TechCr...

Inspired Capital, the New York-based early-stage venture firm that was founded in 2019 by entrepreneurs Alexa von Tobel and Penny Pritzker, is today

17

5

181

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

VC #1 : So what do you think of evermore? VC #2 : Shit, haven't seen it. How much are they raising? Term sheets in hand?

6

5

171

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

@AlexReibman Most FAANG engineers to startups

2

0

171

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

I like vertical software because the category can yield beautiful biz models. But my sense is we're entering an era where you can't just build a basic booking/CRM tool for red categories & call it a system of record 1) You're likely dealing with unwilling/bad customers 2) As…

Tweet media one

11

8

170

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

There are now apartments on StreetEasy offering 5 months free on a 12 month lease in NYC!

7

2

164

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

“Hey can you actually [insert favor ask]?” Boomer friend: “Sure.” Millennial friend: “Sure!” Gen Z friend: “sure lmao”

9

4

157

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 months

Starting to see some VC funds throw up billboards in SF. Which is funny because billboard marketing is typically a strategy for commodity products playing a CAC game...

19

17

154

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Yesterday while walking to lunch I embarrassingly said “I am sad I haven’t really engaged with that deli” and @hayleybay politely reminded me not to be the loser that uses VC jargon in everyday life I am forward leaning on good friends like this

19

2

153

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

This is perhaps an obvious comment at this point but the degree to which financial markets have been interwoven with mainstream culture is crazy - Robinhood/Coinbase number 1 and 2 in app store - Elon Musk hosting SNL tomorrow night

Tweet media one

14

22

146

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

One very unique aspect of NYC at the moment is that it's become the best across multiple categories. Fintech, web3/crypto, consumer, healthcare. The fact that you can be in the top place for YOUR thing but also get to watch others who are the best at THEIR thing is special.

11

9

146

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

I think the most frequent piece of info missing from seed decks is a slide on the incentives governing an industry "Here is how money traditionally flows through this industry, here's an observable paradigm shift, and here's why that shift favors a startup"

8

11

140

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

5 years

What an unbelievable weekend. @camjamb27 said yes! We’re off to the races!

Tweet media one

18

0

138

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

5 years

Just getting absolutely roasted by my younger sister for asking for an email versus text introduction. Gen Z has no mercy.

Tweet media one

8

2

134

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

(1/x) I am genuinely proud of (and super excited by) the @firstround alumni/mafia that continues to grow. Just a few additions from the past 24 - 36 months...

3

8

132

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

The CDC recommends a 10 year quarantine for anyone who won’t split the group dinner evenly because “they only had the chardonnay and the chicken”

2

1

130

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

I've never lived walking distance from any job but WFH is showing me that it might be worth it. Getting 1 hr+ back every day by not commuting is incredible. Unexpected and oxymoronic COVID-19 impact -- wanting to move back into Manhattan.

9

1

128

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Real contrarians ASK for someone's Calendly link

9

1

122

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

When my parents ask what I do as a VC

@nocontextroyco

no context succession

@nocontextroyco

4 years

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

6

137

1K

4

3

120

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

10 months

En route to Monday partner meeting with my summer analyst

Tweet media one

6

0

114

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Hypothetical: if one were to postpone their wedding to 2021, does that mean it is acceptable to do a second bachelor party?

17

1

114

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

I love JG Melon. Might be my favorite spot in the city for a quick meal with friends. On Thursdays we are going to start doing a casual ~6-8 seat burger night for tech/venture/fintwit folks. First one will be 9/9. DM me if you'd like to join. Will be a new crew each week.

21

1

110

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

5 years

Turned 29 today so naturally my mom called me with unsolicited advice. Her two "secrets to 29" were: - Lemon is and always will be the best seafood seasoning - Sleep w/ pillows between legs for lumbar support I feel like I'm ready rock n' roll now

11

0

114

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

5 years

A depressing reality of 2019: M-Th at dinner time almost every Sweetgreen in NYC is filled with people eating alone with AirPods in

14

3

111

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Booking a trip to SF for first time since pre-pandemic. Went to my roster of folks I usually like to spend time with while there. Every single one has moved to NYC. Such a surprising/pleasant realization

21

0

111

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

"Great what works for you?" aka "I am too lazy to look at my calendar right now and I think you should do the legwork to coordinate a time and place and I will confirm or deny your suggestion"

5

8

107

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

Was catching up with @dhaber this AM and was stumped by a question If 2005 - 2009 saw best undergrad talent go to banks/FIs, and 2010 - 2020 saw best undergrad talent go to some version of tech, where do 2023 - 2030 grads go?

80

3

108

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

@WillManidis to be fair, i've had great success with the "thanks for having us to your TED talk" insult when someone goes on a verbal tangent

1

3

102

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

This is horrifying

Tweet media one

9

2

106

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

Apparently one downside of having lasers in your eyes is that it makes it hard to tell the difference between monetary policy and fiscal policy

@APompliano

Pomp 🌪

3 years

Biden passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package a few weeks ago. He has already said he wants to pass a $3 trillion infrastructure package. Now he wants another COVID stimulus package in April. We should be fearful when politicians run our monetary policy.

438

1K

9K

5

0

104

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Last night convinced me to go long $TWTR. Hard to imagine a world (or a modern democratic process...) without it. I also just spend too much time on this website not to own the stock.

1

6

104

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

I think it is going to be funny to watch the lifelong SF techies dropped into NYC en masse. Get ready to be freezing and grumpy and walk faster. Also, lose all the functional/tactical clothing and buy a real pair of jeans. And don’t wear running sneakers with them when you go out

9

2

103

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

In SF this week and decided to mix things up by staying in Sausalito on a house boat. Highly recommend if looking for a fun alternative to the downtown hotel scene

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

7

0

102

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

some personal news

Tweet media one

4

0

101

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

The aggressiveness of this Miami hoopla is starting to feel embarrassing for the venture and startup community

5

1

99

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

6 months

@pitdesi I hold my mattress to a firmer versus softer standard

1

1

97

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

From a personal finance perspective, what do you wish you had been told as you were graduating from college?

42

5

97

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

"Hey, looking forward to having you guys down to NYC for the weekend. How does 1:15am sound for a dinner reservation on Friday? We can snag the outdoor terrace"

Tweet media one

10

0

96

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

So who is not going to Money2020 and would like to do a nice early dinner in NYC before a high quality night's sleep in our own homes?

11

0

93

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

18 days

Turns out the answer was yes

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Sometimes I wonder if we will look back on this era and realize that our industry's obsession with side hustles, podcasts, newsletters, etc got out of control and likely resulted in a net loss in productivity and output

14

12

206

6

3

93

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

10 months

Tesla owning the largest global charging network (~45k) as the world rushes towards EVs has to be one of the strongest competitive/strategic positions of all time

@MercedesBenz

Mercedes-Benz

10 months

We are pleased to announce that Mercedes-Benz drivers will soon have access to more than 12,000 @Tesla Superchargers in North America, starting in 2024. #MercedesBenz

Tweet media one

196

661

6K

14

5

91

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

I have it on good authority that Bobby Axelrod actually sent Dollar Bill Stearn undercover into r/WSB to incite the squeeze because a Melvin Cap PM stole his parking spot in Montauk this summer. This thing is hedgie v hedgie!

3

4

92

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

When your storage unit has more natural light than your apartment

Tweet media one

1

1

89

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

Since about 2018 I have used a short list of questions to write out/clarify my thinking in the 10-15 minutes following each initial pitch (This list has changed over time, mostly via tweaks after false negatives🤦‍♂️) Most recent:

Tweet media one

4

9

91

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

@AliBHamed Well the good thing is that the asset is 100% liquid

1

0

88

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

Going all in on @RoamResearch for three months to see if it works for me. Have only ever been a pen and paper or, at best, an Apple Notes guy. What should I watch and who should I speak with to get up the learning curve?

16

0

88

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

After Mar/Apr I'm starting to believe that my ideal work situation is 3 days at office / 2 at home. There's undeniable value to being in person for some meetings. But my productivity in other areas once I invested in the right setup has been off the charts.

5

1

89

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

One thing that's been fun as we build @InspiredCap is the chance to reimagine the day to day ops of VC (voting, memos, process, calendars, etc) Would it be interesting to share where we land on all of this as we go? Anything specific folks would be curious to trade notes on?

11

1

88

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

A Discord but for everyone who just found out they are celebrating Xmas from isolation in their NYC apartment instead of going home next week

5

2

84

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

The new Penn Station has given me an entirely new appreciation for public space design Mood = infinitely better than prior trips trudging through the old Penn Station rats nest Multiply this feeling x600k people daily and you’ve got a happier city

Tweet media one

7

4

85

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

8am meetings kid free versus 8am meetings with a six month old

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

3

2

85

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Someone last week told me GIFs are for boomers and I have felt self-conscious ever since

24

19

82

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

This is by far and away the coolest company I have discovered this week. (I'm not an investor, I just think its beautifully niche and probably a 100x experience improvement).

Tweet card media

Capitalize - 401(k) Rollovers Made Easy

Capitalize manage the entire 401k rollover, 401k to IRA rollover- for free. As part of our mission, we will complete the entire 401(k) rollover process for you

www.hicapitalize.com

11

0

82

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

I think NYC VC associates could source an entire funnel by walking around Flatiron looking at lobby sign in sheets

1

2

80

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Negroni hour, now featuring a new special guest

Tweet media one

9

0

80

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

5/ Lastly, founders! If you are working on something new, I would love to chat. chris AT inspiredcapital DOT com. My DMs are also open! You can read more about our @InspiredCap team here👇

Tweet card media

Inspired Capital, founded by Alexa von Tobel and Penny Pritzker, just closed its debut fund with...

Exactly 10 years ago, onstage at a TechCrunch event, Alexa von Tobel launched her startup, LearnVest, an online financial planning company that aimed to

9

6

80

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 years

Walks into favorite park with the pup ready for a nice stroll on a spring evening in NYC. A mini escape. Guy walking alongside us yelling into his phone: “YEAH, BUT LIKE I SAID, THAT IS GMV NOT REVENUE”

6

6

78

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

The fact that venture capital can simultaneously be about making non-consensus bets and getting access really is a bit of a paradox

3

1

76

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

40 feels like 70, first run in months, snow is melting, not too long before we are awash in vaccines...things looking up folks!

Tweet media one

5

0

75

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

One decent investment thesis over the next 5 years might just be "there is too much SaaS in the world"

13

4

77

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

5 years

Went to my first Soul Cycle class in about a year. $34. Another $7 for shoes/water = $41. Two Jacksons out the door before I even get to work. Sometimes it's wild to think that this has become the norm in cities If you did Soul every work day it would = $10K annual expense

17

1

74

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

2 months

Remote work is not as compelling when you spend your days here

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

11

0

75

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

4 years

Everything is fintech

Tweet media one

2

4

72

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

@shaunyou This scene is very doable in the current market environment

2

0

72

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

No alcohol and coffee for the month of March to reset. Let’s see how this goes

15

0

70

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

3 years

hmmm should i go spend my evening hunting for status hanging out with the tech crowd on clubhouse after working for 12 hours or watch the first Bruins game in like a year, hang out with my family, cook dinner, and play with my dog tough call

6

1

71

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

Just straight up ridiculous. Might as well be hieroglyphs

Tweet media one

10

0

70

@almostcmb

Chris Brown

1 year

There is something dark/bizarre about Huberman/Goggins etc being the icons of the day. “Look into the sun” and “harden up and run 50 miles” sound bites earning tens of millions of followers is representative of…something

30

2

70