April 2013
1 post
The $350 Million Social Experiment
I had the opportunity to spend last week in Las Vegas, visiting the Downtown Project. Wow.
Tony Hsieh, founder and CEO of Zappos, had headquartered the company in Henderson, NV, because of convenience with logistics, and an ability to set up the world class customer service center they have built. Inspired, I have to assume, out of an effort to create a community in Las Vegas that supports...
February 2013
3 posts
On Science Fiction as Future Innovation.
I’ve always been a fan of Minority Report. The technology felt accessible but futuristic. It planted itself into my imagination, and that of many of my peers. When Spielberg wanted to create a cinematic but realistic 2054, he assembled a group of technology experts and futurists to help him design the interfaces on Minority Report. What came out of it were iconic images, indelible in my...
The Apple Store: Haute Matériel
Today I had the opportunity to go to the Apple Store in Palo Alto while waiting for a meeting. Given that I bought my last few Apple devices either online or from friends, I haven’t actually been in an Apple store in a while. It was kind of an eye-opening experience.
They have a half-dozen sections of non-Apple products, including cases from Incase, Speck and others, some branded by Marc...
On Venture Financing: Not All Seed Capital Is...
Many people think of seed funding just as “before Series A” — somewhere in between “back-of-the-napkin” and “company-with-employees-and-monthly-revenue”. And, technically, they are right. Under $2M, a company tends to raise debt, a Series Seed, or perhaps a Series AA. But in the context of seed, there is wide variation in both the size of the round, and the type of seed investors which an...
January 2013
8 posts
Online Education's Cheating Problem
Biometric keystroke analysis interprets the rhythm and styling of a user’s typing to identify who the user is. Coursera, the Palo Alto-based online education company, has begun offering this technology, coupled with photo verification, as an authentication tool for its users. This will enable the company to offer course certifications for sale through partner institutions. Earlier this...
Funding channels move upstream.
Speaking to an office full of YCombinator founders this week, I was struck by how they described what they imagine to be the future of YCombinator. As they noted about the most recent graduating class, many of the top performers in the class had months of recurring revenue, with double digit month over month growth and significant traction. YCombinator is getting more and more mature, and...
too long to tweet: DLD13 Keynote →
max-levchin:
This is the approximate text of the keynote I gave at DLD13 today in Munich. I felt my delivery of this (admittedly, relatively dense) material was not the best, but the content is crucially important. To that end, I am posting the notes here. They were edited for grammar beyond the basics, so…
This is a fresh and wonderful way of understanding the trend of mobile-driven...
What is a "scalable" product?
I want to re-define it. Chris Dixon points to this post, which defines “scaling” as:
dealing efficiently with events that occur with a predictable frequency.
This refers to the type of scale that is described in freshman economics classes. It unpacks the law of large numbers, and has important implications for the way computer scientists design systems. By that definition, a...
Why The World Bank Really Sucks. (IMF, too.)
I enjoyed this Foreign Policy Magazine piece offering a contrarian perspective on Africa’s growth over the last 10 decades. It describes TIME magazine and The Economist’s cover story articles about Africa’s precipitous rise. As author Rick Rowden says of these magazines,
They looked to Africa’s recent high GDP growth rates, rising per capita incomes, and the explosive...
I can't deal today.
Within 10 minutes of stepping onto the streets of SOMA, a young bearded man who couldn’t have been older than 35 started trailing me, screaming “you black fuck! Turn around. I’m talking to you, dirty nigger.” I turned to face him, and said, “I’d prefer you say that to my face, like a man,” at which point he did say it to my face like a man. If there...
Silicon Valley's Problem →
cbracy:
I posted something on Twitter the other day that got a bunch of attention, and I realized I wanted to clarify what I meant. Here’s what I wrote: “Silicon Valley’s problem in a nutshell: crazed about Instagram’s ToS, not a peep about FISA reauthorization.” I meant to capture something…
Thoughtful, if thin. I agree.
Working on the right problems.
I loved this New York Times article about the “busy” problem.
If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of...
December 2012
4 posts
On service.
As the year draws to a close, it’s time for resolutions and reflections. Mine has to do with service. These questions about service have been hanging over me a lot this year, and I would like to share some of my explorations on this forum.**
What does it mean to serve? “To help those in need.”
That sounds good, right? It seems to encompass volunteering and economic development and political...
Is Consumer Software all Social Media?
I used to hear people talk about consumer software and social media interchangeably. I always used to think of these people as luddites or not in the loop somehow. I believed that this mistake was largely because social media is viral, is where people communicate, and is noisy. After all, consumer software is surely far more than new media. But lately I’ve been trying to understand what it...
Is Facebook a consumer company?
What defines a consumer company, anyway? My working definition was a company which had you and me, individuals, as their customers. Samsung is a consumer company. I buy phones, washing machines, flat screens. Unilever is a consumer company. I buy ice cream, shampoo, and tea. Microsoft is a consumer company. I buy word processing, operating systems, and video game consoles. These companies are made...
November 2012
7 posts
Crowdfunding Under The Best Investment Terms
The cheapest possible investment a company can get: customers paying more for the product than it cost to build the product. This throws off the cash to grow, keeps equity intact, and avoids accrual of interest. Happiness is positive cash flow. How do we apply that to equity crowdfunding, the new wave of private financing marketplaces. Today, people who are concerned about equity crowdfunding...
Glass, Cars, Fiber: Is Google a Generation Ahead? →
In response to “what’s the biggest misconception about Google in the tech community?” Google’s Peter Norvig told me, “That Larry [Page] is from the present. He isn’t. He is from the future.”
He proceeded to describe this article, which leads me to enthusiastically conclude ‘yes.” to the title question.
What We Can Learn from Airlines About...
The airline industry is a useful case study on product / market fit. There are infinite features airlines can provide, and there are as wide a range of plane travelers as one could imagine. Virgin America, Spirit Airlines, and Southwest are three good examples.
Virgin America has consistent WiFi, plays nightclub music and has sexy mood lighting. Anecdotally, the tech community reports...
WillWorkFor is a collaboration between IDEO and... →
collaborativefund:
Throughout our research as a fund, we’ve noticed a trend. The way people sustain themselves is shifting. As the middle class shrinks, one income stream is no longer enough to support a family. In fact, companies’ lifespans are shortening, and stable, full-time positions are in short supply. People today take jobs for 3-5 years before their positions change or become obsolete. ...
Financing the Ed-tech revolution
I met two companies this week who are working on solutions in a space that I had only considered in passing until I spoke to them. Per U.S. household, there is currently more student loan debt than credit card debt. We’re talking, ballpark, one trillion dollars. And that number doesn’t seem to be going down any time soon. The cost of college has risen 1,000% since they started keeping...
Monetizing Internet city-states
Taxation is the source of revenue for city-states. It happened in Roman times, it happened in Egyptian times, it happens today. Why, then, do so many online communities insist on letting outside institutions buy real estate on their local billboards as the main form of revenue? Facebook and Twitter didn’t have to be advertising companies. They had a critical mass of loyal citizens who...
October 2012
5 posts
On English: the word "pursuit"
Let’s take a moment with the word pursuit. Its most famous application will serve as an interesting case study for its use, and for our understanding of it.
The goal of government, so famously wrought by the framers of the United States in the Declaration of Independence, is to protect the “unalienable rights” of Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness. This trio of rights serves as the standard...
Optimizing for partner, optimizing for price.
Application infrastructure is making everything cheaper to build
Lately, application infrastructure has made it easier than ever to launch a prototype on the internet. Browser-based IDEs are in a race to develop tools that make programming fast, easy, and faster and easier. Guilds, to borrow Dave McClure’s term, of entrepreneurs are gathering in hubs like Techstars, YCombinator, and 500...
On English: the word "refrain"
Refrain is a fascinating word.
Taken as a noun, it is a technical musical term referring to that melody to which you always return. In literary terms, it is the familiar, sometimes nagging phrase from your lecturing dad, or needy spouse. It’s a return, something you come back to. Taken as a verb, however, to refrain is to keep from — to avoid. It carries the suggestion that you might...
On Education: "I don't drink beer."
I really enjoyed this University Ventures newsletter, which provided a fresh perspective to the conversation over the rise of online education. It analogizes beer drinkers to future post-secondary students, breaking them up into “Buds” and “Sams”. The former, according to this analogy, drink beer to get drunk. The cheaper the better, so long as it gets the job done. The...
September 2012
2 posts
Why Scheduling Is Still Broken.
I want to make a quick comment about a problem which has been hounding me for the last two or three years, reaching a breaking point this year. This problem is that of scheduling. We all have to do it, we all hate it, and we’re all patiently waiting for someone to fix it. For those of us who cannot afford for someone to do it for us, scheduling tends to go something like this: Me: Let’s get...
Entrepreneurs: Stop Lying To Each Other →
swaaanson:
Nick O’Neill recently wrote a post titled Silicon Valley Is Filled With Liars that detailed the ways that entrepreneurs and VCs stretch the truth: using vanity metrics that distract from more fundamental business drivers, touting acquihires as successful exits, pretending that a CEO transition…
Jonathan Swanson tellin truth. Been on both sides of this, admittedly.
August 2012
3 posts
Collaborative Fund: Social web is changing how we... →
collaborativefund:
If I wanted to raise $1,000,000 for a start-up fifteen — even ten — years ago, I might do something like this:
1. I would prepare a powerpoint presentation 30 slides long, with an appendix and financials.
2. My team would rent a car, and drive down to Sand Hill Road. We would meet with…
July 2012
2 posts
Thank you, Mr. Romney.
I am a South African, by birth and citizenship. I’ve been in the United States nearly three decades, but my language, culture, and family are all South African. I am an immigrant working in high-technology entrepreneurship. I have created a dozen jobs, and intend to create as many more as possible in the coming months and years. My maternal grandmother, Rosyln Peteni, is a nonagenarian: she is in...
June 2012
2 posts
Collaborative Fund: b.school, d.school, old... →
collaborativefund:
I was eager to read “Forget B-School, D-School Is Hot” in the Wall Street Journal, as I am a business person who studied at the d.school, and not the b-school. There is nothing like satisfying some mid-week confirmation bias. But after reading (thanks to Tomas Tunguz’s great…
May 2012
1 post
April 2012
4 posts
Summer Heat + Collabfund Internship! →
collaborativefund:
We’re looking for an intern to support Collaborative Fund’s content efforts for 8 weeks in the summer. You’ll get in-depth exposure to the startup, investment and technology space. Added bonus: we’ll encourage and help you execute on a project you are passionate about. Ideally this is…
Why I donated to the Obama campaign →
bijan:
I voted for our President.
I had high expectations and I’m pleased to say I’m happy with many of his accomplishments.
But when it comes to privacy and foreign policy matters, well, let’s just say I’m very disappointed and I think a number of promises were broken.
I also am troubled that he…
Education In the Era of High Technology →
collaborativefund:
Entrepreneur in residence at Collabfund, Kanyi Maqubela, recently wrote an article exploring the benefits of online education. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say:
“The demand for higher education has skyrocketed, and our system has proven insufficient to meet that demand productively —…
Kickstarting the Hip-Hop Business Model →
collaborativefund:
Image courtesy of Guy de Cointet
Rapper-actor-producer, David Banner has turned to a Kickstarter-esque model to help build awareness and raise money for his new album. Fans can donate any amount of money via his website and when he reaches his goal of 2 million donation he’ll release…
March 2012
11 posts
Skillshare Tech Semester Comes to San Francisco →
skillshare:
San Francisco/Bay Area: We have a rocking Tech & Collaborative Consumption Semestercoming your way - and couldn’t be more excited. Check out the amazing classes we’ve got lined up for you this March at Citizen Space & Hub Soma!
Investing in the Collaborative Consumption…
Sahil's Dead-Simple Design Philosophy →
collaborativefund:
“Designers, designers, designers” has become the new “developers, developers, developers.” Witness the ever-growing list of job postings for product designers, UI designers, user research designers, UX designers. They’re posted faster than I can read them. Someone needs a “senior design…
NYT @ SXSW: Getting a decent data connection at... →
nytsxsw:
Getting a decent data connection at SXSW can be a challenge, given that it attracts what may be the most data-hungry crowd in the world. With a project called Homeless Hotspots, a marketing company is helping out with this, while helping the homeless and promoting itself. Homeless people have…
Muy mal.
