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Author: Bonnie

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...

The Thing that’s Truly Driving Tech

The Thing that’s Truly Driving Tech

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Silicon Valley is on the ballot this year – in its home state, no less.

California’s Proposition 22 is up for a vote November 3, where AB (Assembly Bill) 5, the state’s gig worker law that, among other things, forced Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as employees, passed in September of 2019. Prop 22 aims to exempt ridesharing and food-delivery firms from AB5.

Said The New York Times, “Prop 22 would exempt the companies from complying with (AB5), while offering limited benefits to drivers. The law is intended to force them to treat gig workers as employees, but Uber and its peers have resisted, fearing that the cost of benefits like unemployment insurance and health care could tip them into a downward financial spiral. Read More...

Net Non-Neutrality in the Age of Social

Net Non-Neutrality in the Age of Social

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Image by mpmd2009 from Pixabay

Esther Dyson used to hold a high level, invitation-only conference each year in Scottsdale, AZ called PC Forum. The dates were always carved in stone on our calendar. The conference was acquired, but one of the last ones under Dyson’s auspices was at the dawn of the Age of Social, and the theme was Users in Charge. That was over a decade ago, and truth be told, Dyson is and always has been something of an optimist.

This past week, both Twitter and Facebook came under fire for censoring a NY Post article that they (baselessly) claimed was based on ‘hacked material.’

Once again, Senate to Subpoena Twitter CEO Over Blocking of Disputed Biden Articles, the Wall Street Journal (et al) reported. Read More...

Buh-Bye Safe Spaces: On Sheltering in the Connected Home

Buh-Bye Safe Spaces: On Sheltering in the Connected Home

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Image by jeferrb from Pixabay

Since we’re all spending so much time at home as a result of offices having been slow to re-open in many places, or people have opted not to return, we felt that it’s a good time to check in on the progress of the Internet of Things (IoT). Good place to start: this TED 2018 presentation on What your smart devices know (and share) about you. We’ve come a long way since then, baby – or at least technology has. Many of us are more or less stuck in our homes – and time to look at the data they’re collecting.

“There are smart lights, smart locks, smart toilets, smart toys, smart sex toys. Being smart means the device can connect to the internet, it can gather data, and it can talk to its owner.

“But once your appliances can talk to you, who else are they going to be talking to? I wanted to find out, so I went all-in and turned my one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco into a smart home. I even connected our bed to the internet. As far as I know, it was just measuring our sleeping habits. I can now tell you that the only thing worse than getting a terrible night’s sleep is to have your smart bed tell you the next day that you “missed your goal and got a low sleep score,” said Kashmir Hill, one of the two presenters, and a journalist who covers privacy and security for Gizmodo. Read More...

Everything You Need to Know About the Investor Dog Whistle

Everything You Need to Know About the Investor Dog Whistle

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Basic to every startup/newco is having a pitch deck. An executive summaries as well, and while you know this, we wonder if we have pitch decks all wrong. Or if you believe that there’s a set order of slides to which you must strictly adhere.

Wrong.

Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures’ somewhat unofficial mantra is ‘Always Be Selling’ and truth be told, no matter what your official title is in your startup/newco, you’re doing sales. Especially in a lean company: unless you’re in a completely non-public facing role, you’re a salesperson for your company, which brings us to your investor presentation, your deck and everything in between. Read More...