M13 co-founder says communications is key to standing out in venture capital
Why it matters: In a world where "everything is commoditized," Reum said, differentiation depends not just on what you build, but how you explain it and bring stakeholders along.
What he's saying: "It's never been easier to start a company, but it's never been harder to be a successful company," Reum said.
He says their success comes from the commitment to take "a very hands-on approach and then we communicate it. In everything we do, we have to have that reason for being, that reason to win, and that has to be communicated effectively."
Between the lines: This also applies to the early-stage companies the venture capital firm invests in, he says.
"One of the things that I look for in founders today is the ability to inspire, and what I mean by that, and why that's so important is, when you're starting off, you have to inspire or persuade a customer to take a chance on you," he said.
"You have to persuade that key hire to come and leave their cushy job and come work for you. You have to inspire or persuade somebody like me to write you a $15 million check. And if you can do that every day, you have slightly better odds."
By the numbers: A plurality of Americans think founders and CEOs need a public persona, according to a recent Morning Consult.
Roughly 8 in 10 U.S. adults said a company's CEO affects their perception of that company, according to the survey.
Meanwhile, executive posts on LinkedIn have surged 23% since last year, according to LinkedIn data shared with Axios.
70% of Gen Z want to hear from CEOs across social media, while 55% say they'd listen to CEO interviews on podcasts
What to watch: Reum predicts AI will supercharge the way marketers and communicators work.
Because AI can expedite the creation of content, "experiential events [will] become more valuable," he said. "I think it's people like my wife, [Paris Hilton], who prided herself on authenticity, [who] become more relevant. Because a year from now, a third of the things you look at on Instagram will be AI."
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The Hill
27 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump stuns Wall Street, Washington with controversial BLS nominee
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'He is an extreme partisan and does not have any relevant experience.' Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, echoed Furman's words. 'He's utterly unqualified and as partisan as it gets,' he told the Washington Post. Who is EJ Antoni? Antoni has been the chief economist of the Heritage Foundation's center on the federal budget for the past four months. The Heritage Foundation is a right-wing think tank that produced the wide-ranging Project 2025 policy agenda. Project 2025 took aim at the 'permanent political class' in Washington, and many of its budget-cutting recommendations have been carried out by the Trump administration. He held two research fellowships at Heritage prior to his current position and two other fellowships at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group led by billionaire Steve Forbes. Antoni submitted his doctoral dissertation in 2020, in which he defends positions associated with 'supply-side economics,' a conservative policy doctrine that became popular in the 1980s. Besides stints as an adjunct at a community college and as an instructor at his alma mater of Northern Illinois University, he's held no other academic posts. By comparison, McEntarfer worked for 20 years as an economist with the Census Bureau. Her predecessor William Beach was the chief economist for the Senate Budget Committee, and his predecessor Erica Groshen spent 20 years as an economist at the New York Federal Reserve and referees for about a dozen academic journals. Antoni is a frequent guest on a number of conservative media outlets. While BLS makes it a point to produce — rather than interpret — economic data, Antoni has been hitting talking points on recent BLS releases in media appearances, a stark contrast with the agency's typical cut-and-dry communications. Discussing the dismal July jobs report, he emphasized job growth among native-born Americans on former Trump adviser Steven Bannon's internet podcast. 'There was some good news in the report, too, that we should definitely highlight,' he said. 'All of the net job growth over the last 12 months has gone to native-born Americans.' The Heritage Foundation did not respond to a request for an interview with Antoni. Backlash from economists Economists aren't mincing their words about Antoni's credentials. One economist at the University of Wisconsin refuted one of Antoni's recent papers, showing it contained basic statistical mistakes and finding that it wasn't possible to replicate its results — an academic kiss of death. Alan Cole, an economist with the conservative Tax Foundation think tank, described the errors in the paper as 'stunning.' 'Stunning errors in a tweet are bad, but worse to do it in long form, where there's more time and effort involved,' he wrote on social media. Conservative economists have also been blasting the firing of McEntarfer after the July jobs report showed that a meager 106,000 jobs have been added to the economy since May. Trump accused the agency — without any evidence — of producing 'rigged' data, which many economists have said is poppycock. 'The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer … sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau,' William Beach, a Trump appointee who preceded McEntarfer as head of the BLS, wrote online. Warnings to senators Antoni is expected to be easily confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate after he appears before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which will also need to approve his nomination. Antoni's critics are waging a long-shot effort to turn GOP members of the committee against the nominee ahead of his likely confirmation. 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Antoni has already floated some massive changes to BLS data releases, including canceling regular monthly reports in favor of quarterly releases — a change that would alter the entire cadence of economic data output and affect nearly every private and public sector model of the U.S. economy. He told Fox News before his nomination that 'the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly jobs reports, but keep publishing more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data,' since BLS data is often subject to revision. Former BLS chiefs told The Hill they're keeping an eye on a regulatory standard known as OMB Directive No. 3, which governs the rules of BLS releases, for any sign that agency data could become politicized. 'Violations of that would be very unusual, and therefore indicative of something unusual underneath it,' Groshen said. Antoni has delivered some conflicting remarks on BLS data revisions, attributing them to 'incompetent' leadership under McEntarfer during his appearance on Bannon's podcast and then noting later that the problems pre-dated her time as agency commissioner. 'I think that's part of the reason why we continue to have all of these different data problems,' he said before adding that 'this is not a problem unique to the Trump administration.' Real problems with BLS data In fact, the downward revisions in the July jobs report that prompted Trump's firing of McEntarfer were due to the late reporting of educational employment figures by state and local governments, along with the more pronounced seasonal effects in that sector since teachers don't work in the summer. That's fairly typical for the agency, current and former employees of the BLS told The Hill. 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Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gen Z was growing obsessed with luxury watches. New tariffs on Switzerland could cool the expensive hobby
Gen Z has become one of the largest consumer bases for luxury Swiss-made watches. Now the Trump administration's 39% tariff on Switzerland may change price-sensitive consumer behavior. But experts tell Fortune top watchmakers like Rolex and Patek Philippe may not see much of a demand shift as young luxury watch buyers crave the social currency that comes with the brands. Gen Z's fascination with luxury watches has been one of the more surprising consumer trends of the last few years. But a steep tariff hike on Switzerland could threaten its market: American youth. Gen Z—alongside younger millennials—have embraced luxury timepieces as status symbols, posting them on TikTok and Instagram and helping reshape an industry long dominated by older collectors. A recent BCG survey found 54% of Gen Z respondents had increased their spending on luxury watches since 2021, and Sotheby's estimated nearly a third of its watch sales in 2023 went to buyers 30 and under. But a new 39% U.S. tariff on Switzerland could make this hobby more expensive, and potentially less attainable for first-time buyers. The duty, imposed during President Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs, hits the world's most important market for Swiss watch exports. From January to June, the U.S. overtook Japan and China as the top destination, with $3.17 billion ( 2.56 billion Swiss Francs) worth shipped, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. 'Companies cannot realistically absorb the tariff, which means retail prices in the U.S. will rise sharply,' Marcus Altenburg, managing partner at Swiss law firm Goldblum & Partners, told Fortune. For American buyers, especially younger ones, the math is straightforward: prices are going up, Anish Bhatt, a millennial 'watchfluencer' with 1.6 million followers on Instagram told Fortune. While the 39% levy applies to an importer's cost, not full retail, industry analysts predict a 12%-14% increase in store prices if brands pass on the cost to consumers. 'For many American collectors, the 39% tariff instantly turned new releases from Swiss brands into a luxury few can justify,' Joshua Ganjei, CEO of European Watch Company in Boston, told Fortune. 'The pre‑owned market is now the best option for value and immediate availability—no import headaches and no sticker shock.' That shift to secondhand is already underway, since availability in the primary market is so limited, Bhatt said. Still, a 2024 report by Watchfinder & Co. found 41% of Gen Z aged 16 to 26 came into possession of a luxury watch the previous year—and individuals in this age bracket who are ready to buy a luxury timepiece said $10,870 would be the starting point for their next purchase. The same report found that Gen Z watch enthusiasts acquired an average of 2.4 first-hand watches and 1.43 pre-owned in 2023, with over half buying for themselves. Altenburg expects Gen Z and millennial buyers, who tend to be more price‑sensitive than older collectors, to gravitate to domestic pre‑owned and grey‑market sellers to sidestep tariffs. Ganjei said his company has 'seen a dramatic increase in purchasing volume over the past few months as U.S. buyers shy away from international sellers.' On the other hand, watchfluencer Bhatt said younger consumers still crave the 'social currency' that comes with a Rolex, Patek Philippe, or Audemars Piguet, even if they pay more to get it. 'They also understand the status that it gives them,' Bhatt said. The social cachet of a Swiss-made watch plays out daily on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and influencer channels, boosting aspirational demand, he said. Bhatt doesn't expect demand for the most coveted brands to vanish, but says mid‑tier Swiss names without top brand prestige could see sales slow. The added cost may also push Americans to buy while traveling in Europe—where they can sometimes reclaim value added tax (VAT)—and bring pieces back themselves, potentially avoiding tariffs altogether, Bhatt said. 'It could be that allocation of pieces is shifted toward other territories over time,' he added, 'because they see demand increase in Europe or the Middle East and diminish a bit in the U.S.' For the Swiss industry, the stakes go beyond sticker prices. Altenburg warned that sustained U.S. weakness could pressure employment and supply chains in watchmaking regions, while forcing brands to rethink distribution, pricing, and even corporate structures to blunt the tariff's impact. Bhatt thinks marketing to younger generations will also matter more in a cooling market. 'When the market's high, they rely just on brand value and brand name,' he said. 'When the market is low, they need people to understand the rarity and complexity and difficulty in producing these rare watches.' All said, the tariff probably won't kill Gen Z's fascination with luxury watches—but it could redraw the roadmap for how and where they buy them. The social media posts of vintage Daytonas and Nautiluses are unlikely to disappear. What may change is that, for many young Americans, the product may increasingly be secondhand, and possibly stamped by a boutique in Paris or Milan. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Gen Z was growing obsessed with luxury watches. New tariffs on Switzerland could cool the expensive hobby
Gen Z has become one of the largest consumer bases for luxury Swiss-made watches. Now the Trump administration's 39% tariff on Switzerland may change price-sensitive consumer behavior. But experts tell Fortune top watchmakers like Rolex and Patek Philippe may not see much of a demand shift as young luxury watch buyers crave the social currency that comes with the brands. Gen Z's fascination with luxury watches has been one of the more surprising consumer trends of the last few years. But a steep tariff hike on Switzerland could threaten its market: American youth. Gen Z—alongside younger millennials—have embraced luxury timepieces as status symbols, posting them on TikTok and Instagram and helping reshape an industry long dominated by older collectors. A recent BCG survey found 54% of Gen Z respondents had increased their spending on luxury watches since 2021, and Sotheby's estimated nearly a third of its watch sales in 2023 went to buyers 30 and under. But a new 39% U.S. tariff on Switzerland could make this hobby more expensive, and potentially less attainable for first-time buyers. The duty, imposed during President Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs, hits the world's most important market for Swiss watch exports. From January to June, the U.S. overtook Japan and China as the top destination, with $3.17 billion ( 2.56 billion Swiss Francs) worth shipped, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. 'Companies cannot realistically absorb the tariff, which means retail prices in the U.S. will rise sharply,' Marcus Altenburg, managing partner at Swiss law firm Goldblum & Partners, told Fortune. For American buyers, especially younger ones, the math is straightforward: prices are going up, Anish Bhatt, a millennial 'watchfluencer' with 1.6 million followers on Instagram told Fortune. While the 39% levy applies to an importer's cost, not full retail, industry analysts predict a 12%-14% increase in store prices if brands pass on the cost to consumers. 'For many American collectors, the 39% tariff instantly turned new releases from Swiss brands into a luxury few can justify,' Joshua Ganjei, CEO of European Watch Company in Boston, told Fortune. 'The pre‑owned market is now the best option for value and immediate availability—no import headaches and no sticker shock.' That shift to secondhand is already underway, since availability in the primary market is so limited, Bhatt said. Still, a 2024 report by Watchfinder & Co. found 41% of Gen Z aged 16 to 26 came into possession of a luxury watch the previous year—and individuals in this age bracket who are ready to buy a luxury timepiece said $10,870 would be the starting point for their next purchase. The same report found that Gen Z watch enthusiasts acquired an average of 2.4 first-hand watches and 1.43 pre-owned in 2023, with over half buying for themselves. Altenburg expects Gen Z and millennial buyers, who tend to be more price‑sensitive than older collectors, to gravitate to domestic pre‑owned and grey‑market sellers to sidestep tariffs. Ganjei said his company has 'seen a dramatic increase in purchasing volume over the past few months as U.S. buyers shy away from international sellers.' On the other hand, watchfluencer Bhatt said younger consumers still crave the 'social currency' that comes with a Rolex, Patek Philippe, or Audemars Piguet, even if they pay more to get it. 'They also understand the status that it gives them,' Bhatt said. The social cachet of a Swiss-made watch plays out daily on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and influencer channels, boosting aspirational demand, he said. Bhatt doesn't expect demand for the most coveted brands to vanish, but says mid‑tier Swiss names without top brand prestige could see sales slow. The added cost may also push Americans to buy while traveling in Europe—where they can sometimes reclaim value added tax (VAT)—and bring pieces back themselves, potentially avoiding tariffs altogether, Bhatt said. 'It could be that allocation of pieces is shifted toward other territories over time,' he added, 'because they see demand increase in Europe or the Middle East and diminish a bit in the U.S.' For the Swiss industry, the stakes go beyond sticker prices. Altenburg warned that sustained U.S. weakness could pressure employment and supply chains in watchmaking regions, while forcing brands to rethink distribution, pricing, and even corporate structures to blunt the tariff's impact. Bhatt thinks marketing to younger generations will also matter more in a cooling market. 'When the market's high, they rely just on brand value and brand name,' he said. 'When the market is low, they need people to understand the rarity and complexity and difficulty in producing these rare watches.' All said, the tariff probably won't kill Gen Z's fascination with luxury watches—but it could redraw the roadmap for how and where they buy them. The social media posts of vintage Daytonas and Nautiluses are unlikely to disappear. What may change is that, for many young Americans, the product may increasingly be secondhand, and possibly stamped by a boutique in Paris or Milan. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
