If I Ran It: 20 Startups for 2020

Ran through a bunch of companies that I think are interesting and building great businesses.

20 2020 Startups I Like: (ping me if you’d like an intro to any of these)

1/ @MSCHFXYZ: creators of the jesus shoe (https://pagesix.com/2019/11/08/drake-splashes-out-on-nike-jesus-shoes-filled-with-holy-water/ …) ecommerce startup for fun culturally relevant products, expressing opinions on pop culture, this team just gets how to make products that strike a nerve. Elements of sneaker drop culture, banksy, daniel arsham. Update: A NY Times article about MSCHF came out a few weeks after this post: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/style/MSCHF-sneakers-culture.html

2/ @joinupstream: structured community for gives & asks, this app makes it simple to track the “karma” of folks in a network supporting each other, encouraging good behaviour. Great communities can be more giving if tools like this one are adopted. Product is @ajt as an app

3/ @strongdatam : proxy for database and ssh access, helping you be gdpr compliant and stop data breaches.

Every developer team needs to be using this product.

4/ @omsom : meal kits for authentic asian food. Brands that speak to people of color and provide authentic experiences will win going forward and @kim617 has a product that makes creating dishes you love easy. Founders are brilliant, easy to root for.

5/ @drinksanzo: for the same reasons, i believe Sanzo has an ability to break through in the sparkling water category, already getting placements at Momofuku and with iris nova, with an authentic story of how they want to serve the asian community. Resilient founder as well.

6/ http://Seasons.nyc : rent the runway for streetwear, this product essentially lets me set a monthly budget on fashion & have me swap out a few interesting items to add to my rotation. @regy @luc are a prototypical designer/devloper pair who have a deep understanding of modern culture. Check them in the times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/style/men-rent-rental-clothing.html

This is also a team you would bet on for whatever they do, a rare combo of technically skilled but tapped in to modern culture of people of color.

7.1/ http://mywellbeing.com - kayak for therapists. Found a great therapist here who i still talk to, & i attribute those convos to a recent surge in creativity. Mental health is important to society progressing, so solutions that handle discovery of therapists is a major one

7.2/ TheDifference by @BeaArthurLMHC (https://thedifference.co/ ) - alexa powered therapy, a scalable way to get those who arent yet ready/need a full time therapist to have access to therapy from home. By a serial, formidable founder

8/ @truepill_rx: pharmacy api fueling the DTC healthcare startups that are the front end (think roman / hims). The importance of this kind of company is unimaginable, to help people get the right medications at the right time. Serial founder, sold previous com to LinkedIn and fellow @CarnegieMellon alum.

9/ @trialsAI better clinical trials, for the afformentioned reason, i think this area is super important and although i dont know much about this company, sometimes you just have a hunch. Some companies you just want to see succeed because of its potential impact

10/ GLOW - global league of women http://theglow.org/listen by @lisawang, Lisa is a powerhouse, an inspirational leader who more people will be inspired by and follow on the content side as her brand grows.

11/ @clearbit: well established but this is the cleanest api I have seen for company/people data, and this team is a case study on how to do product marketing. Building a moat by getting exclusive data via the forms product, even after raising 10mm, this one i see going 🚀

12/ @Taskade : project management software that combines chat and task focused design perspective, run by a serial founder that understands growth. Starting to use the product more consistently personally

13/ @withotis: fractional ownership of art, democratizing it for smaller investors. From the design to the overall ethos, this type of platform can speak to the millenial who loves art and wants to diversify their assets. @mikekarnj has good tweets also.

14/ https://muze.tv : voiceovers for popular content. Graduate of the snapchat accelerator, @dannyquick has built a product whose output you have likely seen before online but didnt know it was sourced by his app, which makes it easy to make fun voiceovers

15/ @surfcityhq: a cool take on internet video by @codybrown 🤐

16/ http://beautiful.ai presentation software with smart templates. I love this product and have evangelized it to at least 15 people already. It just works.

17/ @Badassery_HQ : speakers bureau for people of color, every conference or event series could use a pre-vetted list of speakers for their events (and no im not just saying this since theres a picture of my giant head on the home page)

18/ @smartsweets : diet friendly candy. Great product, found in GNC by young founder. Brand is beautiful. Have already invested $10s of dollars in this company

19/ @drinkhaus : by far one of the best brand executions i have ever seen, from the story to design of the bottle to the feel of the paper on the inserts. Hoping they enter the non-alch space and create a product there.

20/ @PachamaInc : carbon credits marketplace with drone verified reforestation. Incredible mission and product run by serial founder who is unrelenting @dsaezgil