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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...

The Technology Company Sniff Test

The Technology Company Sniff Test

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Tech has long operated under the mistaken belief that you can barrel ahead, damn all laws and regulations, what to speak of the basic rules of business, ask forgiveness instead of permission and it would all work out in the end. That one might have flown – for a time – when tech was a nascent industry attempting to elbow its way to a seat at the table: the problem is that the waiter always comes around with the check.

There have been a spate of IPOs and non-starters, and IPOs that more or less turned out to be non-starters: Uber and Lyft have not exactly been great rides for investors; stationery so-called connected exercycle Peloton has been spinning its proverbial wheels. The We Company pulled its IPO because it turned out to be not about We after all, but rather I, I, me, me. Read More...

Unicorn, Shmoonicorn. Is It a Fantasy?

Unicorn, Shmoonicorn. Is It a Fantasy?

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Image by Julieta Mascarella from Pixabay

If we noticed anything this week, it was that it may be time to rethink unicorns and hockey stick growth. We know what investors look for: TAM (Total Addressable Market) and it had better be big, as it’s all about ROI.

WeWork is planning their IPO, and after years of expansion and so-called hockey stick growth, the cracks are showing. Business Insider laid out The history of WeWork’s meteoric valuation rise — and fall, including “the coworking startup’s governance, real estate holdings, succession plan, employee retention, and questionable patent purchases have spooked potential investors. WeWork has amended its SEC filings twice already to address several of those concerns, but it might not be enough.

“According to a Reuters report, WeWork will target a $10 billion valuation for its IPO, drastically lower than the $47 billion valuation it last fetched in private markets. A $10 billion public valuation would be only slightly above the total amount of funding WeWork has taken in as a private company: about $8.39 billion since 2011, according to Pitchbook data.” Read More...