#382: Alex Konrad on The Best Stories In Tech

— Alex Konrad's background in tech journalism: grew up in New York, studied archaeology and history at Harvard, pivoted to storytelling, and joined Forbes in 2012 where he covers venture capital, cloud, and enterprise software.

— The Midas List process: data-driven ranking of VCs by individual returns over the previous five years, focused on exits and highly valued companies to avoid rewarding hype over genuine success.

— Dustin Moskovitz and Asana: built a successful work-management company with deliberate guardrails on growth (no more than doubling headcount annually, no Wednesday meetings, weekly reflection periods) that contrasts with typical startup culture.

— Canva's global success: despite being based in Australia and targeting small businesses, the company achieved multi-billion-dollar valuation by prioritizing user onboarding speed, freemium model, and visual design trends on social media.

— Masayoshi Son and SoftBank's Vision Fund: met the founder in March 2020 just before COVID lockdowns; Son believes in winner-take-all markets and long-term strategy (30-year plans), remaining unperturbed by criticism despite WeWork and Uber portfolio setbacks.

— Chris Sacca as legendary angel investor: built wealth by concentrating positions in early-stage companies (Uber, Twitter), buying out co-investors, and leveraging his network from Google and South by Southwest events.

— Identify contrarian founders who can articulate their critics' arguments better than the critics themselves—this signals genuine understanding and intellectual rigor rather than blind conviction.

— Build small, personal networks in emerging communities (South by Southwest, Telegram groups, virtual events) because future breakout founders often cluster around accessible meetup points before they blow up.

— Focus on products that solve real friction for end users first (as Canva did with fast onboarding and freemium models) rather than targeting enterprise or venture capital approval early.