The Shortlist Newsletter
Each issue takes one finding from The Shortlist's pattern algorithm, unpacks it with real examples from a16z, Sequoia, Redpoint, and the named failures of the last decade, and translates it into something a founder can actually use.
Issue 04 · 2026-06-18
The four largest cash raises in our dataset all ended in failure: WeWork, Magic Leap, Quibi, and Jawbone, roughly $18B combined. The metric that catches it while a company is still private is the burn multiple, and the failures ran it five to ten times higher than the winners at the same stage.
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Issue 03 · 2026-05-19
Every public SaaS winner in our anchor dataset disclosed a customer retention metric in their S-1. The two venture-backed failures that filed publicly chose not to. What companies omit from their prospectus is itself a signal.
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Issue 02 · 2026-05-14
73% of failures bet on marketing. 18% of winners did. The single biggest gap in the dataset.
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Issue 01 · 2026-05-05
Every failure claimed one moat. Every winner claimed two or more. The data is binary.
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The Newsletter
Each Thursday, one pattern from fifty real venture outcomes. Drawn from a16z, Sequoia, Redpoint, and the named failures other newsletters won't touch.