Though lots of moving parts have to be corralled together in order to found, expand and manage a business as large as Audible.com, founder Donald Katz would argue that the key component to his company’s success is this: People love a good story and they love it even more when it’s delivered conversationally. Read More
Category: Column
Unpacking Lyft’s projected financials
Last Friday, Bloomberg reported a sheaf of Lyft’s financials that paint a reasonably-sharp picture of the ridesharing company’s past and expected business performance. The short version, as you certainly expected, is that Lyft is growing quickly and loses money. The company, as you certainly expected, also expects to keep expanding its revenue while slowing its losses,… Read More
How one of America’s most powerful policemen learned to love social media after Hurricane Harvey
It hasn’t been a great few weeks for social media companies like Facebook and Twitter. But in spite of all the undeniable problems associated with fake news, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the equally undeniable civic value of social media. Take, for example, the role of social media in the response in Houston to Hurricane Harvey. According to Art Acevedo,… Read More
These are the US startups that Russian investors are backing
A taxi-hailing app. A transplant device developer. An online mortgage provider. Those businesses may have little in common, but one shared thread is that U.S. startups in these sectors have all secured large funding rounds led by Russia-based investors. They’re not alone. Over the past seven years, Russia-based e investors have participated in more than 300 funding rounds for… Read More
Imagining Instagram: Stories-first
Time spent by people watching Instagram Stories — which is temporary sharing with private replies — could someday significantly surpass time spent in the Instagram Feed, which is the permanent stream of photos and videos with comments. Although numbers comparing sharing and time spent between Stories and Feed are not available, there’s more to be done. Read More
Online real estate startup ToLet acquires Jumia House Nigeria to create PropertyPro.Ng
African tech can produce surprises. One this week is a $1.2 million Series A startup buying part of a $1 billion company. That’s what Lagos based property startup ToLet.com.ng has done, purchasing Jumia House Nigeria for an undisclosed amount. Jumia House is a subsidiary of the continent’s lone tech unicorn — Pan-African e-commerce giant Jumia.com. ToLet and Jumia House… Read More
70 years of VC innovation
How old is venture capital? Probably as old as the first hunter/gatherer. Yet, until the mid-20th century, it was mostly practiced by wealthy individuals and families. Modern VC was initiated by French-born American Georges Doriot in 1946, who founded the world’s first publicly owned VC firm. Since then, VC has not stopped finding new ideas to provide an edge for success. Read More
Do cities still want a sharing economy?
Cities make the sharing economy work, and the urban environment is the critical differentiator for experimentation, change, and scale. In just a few years, the sharing economy has grown from a niche service only found in tech hubs to a larger share of the economic pie — and it has significantly impacted the local economies of cities. Read More
Where venture capitalists invest and why
Entrepreneurs looking to raise capital are often told that investors like to keep things close to home. Is that true? The question influences where people locate companies. After all, if investors are only willing to invest in their own backyard,…
View More Where venture capitalists invest and whyAre flying cars the future of transportation or an inflated expectation?
It’s clear that flying cars are transitioning from a fascinating concept to a quite-mature technology and promising investment thesis. But will we see flying cars out in the world? And how will the market environment evolve? Read More
What happens when you sell your startup?
This is the final installment in the series “A Startup Takes Flight.” We started by creating a company — the Internet of Wings, a provider of drone-delivered chicken sandwiches that pivoted into general food delivery — and examined some of the most common financing terms entrepreneurs and VC investors discuss. It’s time to get our investors a liquidity event… Read More
The merger between AT&T and Time Warner is a raw deal for the rest of us
Any day now, the Department of Justice will announce whether the AT&T-Time Warner mega-merger will be permitted. And anyone with a cell phone, a cable subscription, or an internet connection has a huge stake in this decision. Read More