In the fast-paced world of startups, where innovation and entrepreneurship reign supreme, trust is the currency that fuels success. Whether you’re an entrepreneur seeking investment, a customer evaluating a new product, or a partner considering collaboration, trust plays a pivotal role in building a thriving startup ecosystem.

Many early-stage teams get very consistent feedback from investors when they try to raise their first institutional investment — what does your customer think? Here’s what it takes to turn a minimum viable product into your most valuable player.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted pretty much everything in my day. Maybe the most significant change I have seen while working from home is that the usual cadence of the face-to-face meetings that made up my day has been replaced by video calls on platforms like Zoom, or plain old voice calls.

One of the great things about the west coast of the US is the incredible variety of beer available locally for beer enthusiasts. This is rooted in some legitimate local beer history — San Francisco is home to the Anchor Brewing company, which became one of the first modern US microbreweries after it was purchased by Fritz Maytag in 1965.

Since joining the Orbital Ventures team just over a month ago, there have been lots of new experiences that I have been getting used to — the transition from a corporate venture investment role at Qualcomm Ventures to a more traditional institutional venture capital gig has definitely been fun!