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Tag: #JeffBezos

Unicorns Rethought

Unicorns Rethought

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Image by Classically Printed from Pixabay

Heads up! Yet another tech billionaire now owns a media empire, and a notable one at that.

“Austin Russell became the youngest self-made billionaire in 2021; now he owns Forbes,” TechCrunch reported.

The problem is, no matter that tech wunderkinds might have made a fortune in their chosen fields and become vaunted in the media: that doesn’t translate into the ability to run a media property being in one’s wheelhouse.  It’s terra incognita and always a good idea to stay in one’s lane, from what we can tell as a result of tech billionaire devouring media stalwarts so far. Read More...

Holiday List for Founders: The Laws that Drive Success in Technology

Holiday List for Founders: The Laws that Drive Success in Technology

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Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay

Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season and while tech never rests, those people on the money side of the table, be they potential investors, partners, or clients, do tend to slow down/take longer to make a decision or even take meetings.

As we well know, there’s little rest for the startup side of the equation, but here’s some not-necessarily-light holiday reading, the list courtesy of CBInsights, who asks, “What separates success from failure? These 11 laws contain some of the most influential ideas that the biggest tech companies use to run their operations, design business models, and build products.

Some, like Moore’s Law, have been extremely prescient. Others, like Conway’s Law, provide counterintuitive insights — such as why Microsoft sells Xbox consoles at a loss, or how Facebook became one of the most valuable companies in the world by offering a free service.” Read More...

The Heat of Summer: Cue Up the Global Warming Warnings

The Heat of Summer: Cue Up the Global Warming Warnings

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Photo by unsplashed

Since we’re in the heat of summer in most parts of the world, it’s a good opportunity to address climate change. For the record, according to Weather.com, last “July (was) on track to be the coolest in the U.S. since 2015, according to Todd Crawford, Director of Meteorology at Atmospheric G2.” Although not many of us were around to experience those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, to quote Nat King Cole, re last summer, how quickly we forget.

 

CNN has been all over ‘climate change’ and recently hosted the founder (whom CNN misidentified as the co-founder) of the Weather Channel, climatologist John Coleman. Read More...

Is Mark Zuckerberg About to Say ‘Zuck It’?

Is Mark Zuckerberg About to Say ‘Zuck It’?

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pic by giampieroruggieri @pixabay & we do recall when Zuck wore sandals with socks

Short and sweet due to President’s Day Weekend and speaking of the men in charge, think about this:

Jeff Bezos stepped back from the daily grind at Amazon (he’s still Executive Chairman and very much involved, trust us);

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin retreated from the spotlight at Alphabet/Google long ago. Read More...

Don’t Look Now, But the Tech Surveillance State Just Upped the Ante

Don’t Look Now, But the Tech Surveillance State Just Upped the Ante

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We know that the lockdowns with the Covid flu went far in enriching the coffers of the tech cartel at an (even more) accelerated rate than usual (World’s Richest People Smashed Wealth Records This Week). At some point, it’s no longer about money: it’s about what that largesse can bring and in case you missed it, NSA Chief Who Oversaw Sweeping Domestic Phone Surveillance Joins Amazon Board As Director. “This is the very NSA chief (Keith B. Alexander) who was the face of the agency’s mass sweeping up of Americans’ communications exposed by Edward Snowden’s leaks. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit earlier this month ruled the invasive NSA program was “illegal” and that US officials lied about it… For those keeping score, not only does Amazon own the The Washington Post and oversees the CIA’s Commercial Cloud Enterprise, it now has on its powerful board of directors the most visible figure from the NSA who illegally spied on Americans for the better part of a decade.” ZeroHedge reported, and it’s a must-read, and note to self: “Crucially his tenure as Director of the National Security Agency went for nearly a decade, from August 2005 to March 2014. From there he founded a cybersecurity technology company in 2014, of which he’s still leads as Co-CEO and president, called IronNet Cybersecurity, Inc.”

The hire came “Just days after Amazon published a scathing letter (in the Washington Post, which, like Amazon, is also owned by Jeff Bezos) slamming President Trump for not allowing the American multinational tech company to get the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, which instead was awarded to Microsoft.”

Never mind that Amazon Web Services is now authorized to host the US Department of Defense’s most sensitive data, including top secret Pentagon and NSA information (as of 2017) and also has “a monopoly on many services on the internet,” as Esha (@eshaLegal) noted, and “Even without an ex-spy chief with a less-than-stellar reputation in terms of privacy protection on its board, Amazon has faced growing pushback over its intrusive high-tech devices. Its virtual assistant Alexa was caught red-handed passively recording intimate conversations of unsuspecting family members, while its new fitness tracker ‘Halo’ promises to scan users’ bodies and track emotions in their voice,” RT reported, Read More...

The NYC Tech Inferiority Complex

The NYC Tech Inferiority Complex

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The New York Post recently reported that Amazon is eyeing a return to New York City. This came on the heels of the Amazon/NYC as second headquarters debacle when Amazon abruptly pulled out of the deal thanks to protests orchestrated by a certain Queens member of Congress.

But that’s not what this is about. As we’ve been hard at work on our StartupOneStop app, which will not be limited to NYC information, West Coast readers, et al, two things occur to us: Read More...

Pay Attention to the Insights of Co-Founders

Pay Attention to the Insights of Co-Founders

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If you’ve ever applied to an accelerator or approached (many) investors for funding, one of the most important points they check, especially in the case of investors, is team.

Above all, they want to know about the co-founders, and truth be told, most investors shy away from a startup with a solitary founder, the stated reason most often being that you should be able to find at least one person who shares your vision or passion and is willing to throw in with you. It’s also difficult to operate in a vacuum: much easier if you have that other person off whom to bounce ideas, and to keep you in check, if need be. Read More...

Amazon to NYC: Drop Dead!

Amazon to NYC: Drop Dead!

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What happens when business and politics meet

The big announcement recently was that Amazon is pulling out of its deal to have New York City become HQ2. A huge loss to the city, in terms of job creation and the benefits that come with a tech giant coming in with its huge and high profile footprint. Of course, NY offered some $3B in incentives to the behemoth. The downside of Amazon’s withdrawal is that New York will lose the taxes that Amazon would eventually pay, and for those of us who have been following the math, Amazon Will Pay a Whopping $0 in Federal Taxes on $11.2 Billion Profits, according to Yahoo Finance. Read More...