Entrepreneur, Philosopher
In the wake of the “assault” on the US Capitol (in quotation marks, because if you look at the video footage, it really seems a lot more like LARPing than an actual attempt at insurrection), everyone was all abuzz about how the social-media giants were handling Trump’s accounts (Twitter gave him a “permanent suspension” (I … Continue reading “What to make of the Parler shutdown”
Over the last several months there’s been a lot of meaningful news on China from both an economic and political front, but it’s also worth paying attention to them on the technological front. While they may be best known for different values around intellectual property than we’re used to in the West, the reality is, … Continue reading “Keep your eye on Chinese tech”
I’ve never been a fan of Evernote. I’ve probably tried it a dozen times, and I never end up using it for more than a day or two. But 250 million people disagree with me, and the reason I’ve tried more than once or twice is that a lot of people in my circle display religious fervor … Continue reading “The new Evernote is here! (?!)”
Back at the beginning of the year, AngelList launched “rolling funds”. While several funds have launched in the intervening 7 months, last week Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia launched one, which got them all over the VC-twitter universe. Rolling funds are an interesting alternative for small LPs and new GPs looking to start something. The way … Continue reading “Rolling funds are all the rage”
The WSJ wrote an article this week, pointing out that Amsterdam is the leading EU-exchange for tech stocks. This may seem surprising, but actually makes sense. London’s AIM and Germany’s Deutsche Börse are notoriously low-liquidity for tech stocks. There are very few scenarios one can imagine where listing on either of those larger exchanges is … Continue reading “EU Tech Stocks and markets — or, will there be a Euroean Silicon Valley?”
There was an interesting Quora question recently, about why companies sometimes buy other companies, only to “shut them down”. Zoom just acquired Keybase (a startup, launched in 2014, to create a directory for public encryption keys). They performed such acquisition in order to solve their end-to-end encryption problem. These sound like different things. In fact, … Continue reading “Zoom acquires Keybase (or, why companies buy companies)”
Speaking of privacy, if you’re a U.S. citizen, call your Senator and Representative, and urge them to kill the “EARN IT” bill. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is what allows most of your favorite things about the Internet to exist — it’s the clause that says that companies who build tools are not … Continue reading “The government is trying to destroy privacy, yet again — and you can help!”
Last month, recreational marijuana use became legal in the Australian Capital Territory (akin to Washington, D.C.). Medicinal marijuana was already legal both at the Australian State and Federal levels. Globally, there are currently four countries, and 11 U.S. states and districts, in addition to ACT, where recreational use is now legal, and another 23 countries … Continue reading “The marijuana startup space”
Let’s face it, if you’re running a business, you’re busy. And if it’s a small business, you’re probably really busy. The best advice for any business, anywhere, anytime, of any size, is to focus on your core competencies. What this really means is stop spending time on things that aren’t directly key to your business. … Continue reading “The First 3 Things You Should Outsource”
Each year the World Economic Forum releases their Global Risks Report. Let’s take a look at the Top 10 Risks for 2014. Since 2006, the Global Risks report has been calling attention to global risks that can be systemic in nature, causing breakdowns of entire systems and not only their component parts … to provide … Continue reading “Top 10 Global Risks”
Recently on a LinkedIn group, someone started a conversation on whether or not print advertizing is dead.
Back at the beginning of Summer, I put together a back-to-the-basics reading list. But as I’ve progressed through this particular summer, I’ve had more time to think about personal and collective motivation. How do you get your employees goals aligned with your goals? And I thought back to one book that has shaped my thinking … Continue reading “The Great Game of Business”
