Welcome to Taking Stock. I’m Laura and I’m a Partner at Canaan, an early stage venture capital firm, where I lead Consumer Tech (and some Enterprise) investments - spanning commerce, gaming, media, social, and future of work.

‘Taking Stock’ is intended to be a place for reflection on emerging consumer trends, category defining businesses, and many of the lessons learned from pioneering founders. It is also meant to be a tactical resource for entrepreneurs. I consider it a tremendous privilege to have the opportunity to ‘take stock’ in early stage companies as a VC, and so I hope this Substack can be a small contribution in my efforts to serve the community of hardworking founders and operators in tech.

I’ll also share highlights from my Clubhouse show, Hot Deal Time Machine. In these weekly conversations, I travel back in time with the founders and investors from some of today’s hottest deals to hear the original pitch and thesis… and the story of how things actually played out. I’ve found these origin stories and lessons shared by founders who have been through the ringer to be equal parts tactical, humbling, and inspiring.

Outside of investing, you can find me in NYC rediscovering my love for piano and putting my Marie Kondo training to good use, or out surfing when I can find warm waters.

I always appreciate feedback, so please let me know what else you’d like to hear from me. Thank you for being here.

- Laura Chau (@laurachau)

You can find more from me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, and Clubhouse.

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Hi, I'm Laura Chau. In this newsletter I share various resources and reflections on early stage tech for founders, operators, and investors - including highlights from my Clubhouse Show, "Hot Deal Time Machine."

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General Partner @ Canaan Early Stage Consumer Tech Investor Stanford University and Stanford GSB Alum