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Zach Holman

What Zach Holman thinks about investing

@zach-holman · 10 positions · 0 changes of mind

Web developer and writer; an early GitHub employee, author of speaking.io and of widely read essays on startups and product.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Zach Holman did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

2 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Zach Holman has said — not written or endorsed by them.

2 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.

  1. Our readingAsking a referring investor whether they personally invested puts the startup being referred at a disadvantage.

    startups

    Their wordsIt immediately puts your company at a disadvantage because they're already getting other signals from other investors (that they ostensibly trust) that your company wasn't a good fit for them.

    ↗Probably Won’t Pass You on to Another Investorzachholman.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  3. Our readingAn investor who passes on a pitch they find truly novel will often still refer it to another investor, to get credit for having found it.

    Their wordsMost investors will side with doing that if they think the pitch is truly novel: even if they don't participate, they still want the aura of referring it to another investor who might.

    ↗Probably Won’t Pass You on to Another Investorzachholman.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

How recent

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