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Month: November 2020

Thanksgiving in the Tech World…and what better time to flip Big Tech the bird…

Thanksgiving in the Tech World…and what better time to flip Big Tech the bird…

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It’s Thanksgiving this week here in America. We know that there are lockdowns in some states, but some of us will be able to enjoy the holiday with friends or family and more likely, both, since we will be joined by friends who are unable to gather with their families due to the lockdowns, and for the records, there is no difference in the number of reported ‘cases’ in states with lockdowns and those without them. But it’s Thanksgiving – one of our favorite holidays – so let’s talk turkey.

This past week, we watched a movie from the late 80s. There were computers in the film or rather, terminals, but not the sort that were social media or surveillance enabled. People who gathered in pairs or groups had conversations with each other. No one pulled out one of those dang disruptive cellphones. And wonder of wonders, people still managed to get sh*t done.

As the industry promised, tech was disruptive, but on many levels and in many instances, is that a good thing (Alexa ruins Christmas by blurting out girl’s gift)? Read More...

Where Founder Pitches Go Wrong

Where Founder Pitches Go Wrong

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Heads up! This is a great time to start a company. According to NPR, there’s an Unexpected Boom In Startups. “Most of these new businesses are seizing opportunities created by the weird coronavirus economy — an economy where people don’t really want to do stuff face-to-face anymore… Economists have a term for this…”creative destruction.”… Harvard University economist Joseph Schumpeter… described it as a process of “industrial mutation … that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.” He placed it at the center of capitalism, arguing that it was a force that made capitalism much more innovative than socialism.”

We know that many of you are working on newcos. We hear this from you all the time and our online investor breakfasts are certainly proof of it: everyone briefly pitches and everyone has a newco. We receive your decks and executive summaries and, since we do investor breakfasts semi-monthly, we must know all of the investors (we do know literally hundreds of them), so we’re often asked can we please send out your enclosed deck to the investors for whom we feel it might be appropriate? Happy to! But we get paid for our time. Read More...

Technology’s Latest Overreach

Technology’s Latest Overreach

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In late October, MailChimp updated their terms of service. Fair enough, and its Acceptable Use is pretty standard: “Please don’t use Mailchimp to distribute anything offensive, to promote anything illegal, or to harass anyone.” All well and good. They spell out a few other businesses that offer services, products, or content that may be considered questionable, and the list is there, although it’s pretty much the usual offending suspects. Again, fair enough and we certain fall far outside of any of those categories and practices, so all good.

But wait! There’s more! Read More...

The Broken VC Model: Suggestions for a Hollywood Ending

The Broken VC Model: Suggestions for a Hollywood Ending

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Image by skeeze from Pixabay

This just in: Twitter Co-Founder Ev Williams Believes All Startup Advice Is Wrong (Yet it is valuable anyway).

“Why is it wrong?…Deep down we know we can’t possibly apply everything we read and often even if we could, we shouldn’t.”

Ditto to investors. We often hear that investors look for newcos focused on big markets (fair enough – everyone wants a unicorn/substantial ROI); were founded by successful serial entrepreneurs (again, fair enough: less handholding; potentially lower risk/known entity). Still, again, they can’t possibly apply everything they hear or read and even if they could, they shouldn’t. Which may contribute to why the VC model is broken. Read More...