I find it difficult to think of another time with as much macro risk as the present at least since the financial crisis and likely much longer than that. There is a shooting war in Europe with no clear endgame. China might make a move on Taiwan at any moment. We have an ongoing pandemic that could still produce a dangerous variant. US democratic institutions appear incapable of mounting a coherent response to pretty much anything and are under attack from within. The broader stock market has ...

I find it difficult to think of another time with as much macro risk as the present at least since the financial crisis and likely much longer than that. There is a shooting war in Europe with no clear endgame. China might make a move on Taiwan at any moment. We have an ongoing pandemic that could still produce a dangerous variant. US democratic institutions appear incapable of mounting a coherent response to pretty much anything and are under attack from within. The broader stock market has ...

The other day I was pointed to an essay about how people are overreacting to Trump. That we should all adopt a wait and see attitude instead. In thinking about how to reply it occurred to me that this is exactly how big companies lose against startups. They wait around to see what the startup will do, and by the time they have figured out that it’s important it is too late to catch up. This is why Andy Grove’s motto at Intel was “Only the paranoid survive.” So working with startups has taught...

The other day I was pointed to an essay about how people are overreacting to Trump. That we should all adopt a wait and see attitude instead. In thinking about how to reply it occurred to me that this is exactly how big companies lose against startups. They wait around to see what the startup will do, and by the time they have figured out that it’s important it is too late to catch up. This is why Andy Grove’s motto at Intel was “Only the paranoid survive.” So working with startups has taught...

Fred had a great post yesterday about why investors in private companies experience more anxiety than those in public ones (can’t sell) together with some spot on recommendations for entrepreneurs on how to deal with anxious investors. I have been an occasionally anxious investor myself. Based on that here are some recommendation for the other side: how to be less anxious as an investor. 1. Remind yourself that you have a portfolio whereas the entrepreneur has just his or her company. 2. Reme...

Fred had a great post yesterday about why investors in private companies experience more anxiety than those in public ones (can’t sell) together with some spot on recommendations for entrepreneurs on how to deal with anxious investors. I have been an occasionally anxious investor myself. Based on that here are some recommendation for the other side: how to be less anxious as an investor. 1. Remind yourself that you have a portfolio whereas the entrepreneur has just his or her company. 2. Reme...

Since I am still a bit typing challenged (but thankfully much improved), today here are two links to posts worth reading. The first is Vinod Khosla’s “The ‘Unhyped’ New Areas in Internet and Mobile.” While I may not agree with each of the twelve areas they all seem directionally interesting and Khosla does a great job distinguishing them from the more generic mobile and cloud which he characterizes as enabling technologies. The second is Jerry Colonna’s guest post over at AVC on “The Crucible...

Since I am still a bit typing challenged (but thankfully much improved), today here are two links to posts worth reading. The first is Vinod Khosla’s “The ‘Unhyped’ New Areas in Internet and Mobile.” While I may not agree with each of the twelve areas they all seem directionally interesting and Khosla does a great job distinguishing them from the more generic mobile and cloud which he characterizes as enabling technologies. The second is Jerry Colonna’s guest post over at AVC on “The Crucible...

Had a great discussion at dinner last night about the future of publishing and the role of authors and agents. My believe is that agents have to start providing content capital. The idea behind content capital is pretty much the same as that behind venture capital. Content capital puts up the money, the author creates the work(s) and all proceeds are shared. These would be what the music world has started calling “360 deals,” where many different revenue streams are generated. In publishing, ...

Had a great discussion at dinner last night about the future of publishing and the role of authors and agents. My believe is that agents have to start providing content capital. The idea behind content capital is pretty much the same as that behind venture capital. Content capital puts up the money, the author creates the work(s) and all proceeds are shared. These would be what the music world has started calling “360 deals,” where many different revenue streams are generated. In publishing, ...

Our portfolio company Covestor today rolled out a tremendous overhaul of their web presence. The goal was to dramatically simplify Covestor’s message to make it easier for that message to spread and to improve conversion. The team has done an amazing job with a process that used extensive quantitative and qualitative research into consumer reactions to inform the redesign. While it’s too soon to tell how well they will hit their numeric goals, my immediate reaction to the new site is: wow! I ...

Our portfolio company Covestor today rolled out a tremendous overhaul of their web presence. The goal was to dramatically simplify Covestor’s message to make it easier for that message to spread and to improve conversion. The team has done an amazing job with a process that used extensive quantitative and qualitative research into consumer reactions to inform the redesign. While it’s too soon to tell how well they will hit their numeric goals, my immediate reaction to the new site is: wow! I ...

There has been some interesting discussion about term sheets recently, based on Chris Dixon’s post and Fred’s post, which some people correctly inferred related to foursquare. One aspect that was not covered in Fred’s post was how we like to present term sheets. At Union Square Ventures, we like to send term sheets without a no shop and without a “sign by 5pm on ___”. We also send them as Word documents and without a signature. All of these are expressions of how we approach the relationship ...

There has been some interesting discussion about term sheets recently, based on Chris Dixon’s post and Fred’s post, which some people correctly inferred related to foursquare. One aspect that was not covered in Fred’s post was how we like to present term sheets. At Union Square Ventures, we like to send term sheets without a no shop and without a “sign by 5pm on ___”. We also send them as Word documents and without a signature. All of these are expressions of how we approach the relationship ...

Many years ago I was debating whether or not to finish my PhD dissertation. One of the people I talked to about this decision was Prof. Thomas Malone, whose office was next to the oversized closet that I shared with one other graduate student. I brought up the sunk cost fallacy and Tom looked deeply at me before saying something to the following effect: “When evaluating life choices don’t treat them on the basis of financial principles. Your time and effort are something deeply personal and n...

Many years ago I was debating whether or not to finish my PhD dissertation. One of the people I talked to about this decision was Prof. Thomas Malone, whose office was next to the oversized closet that I shared with one other graduate student. I brought up the sunk cost fallacy and Tom looked deeply at me before saying something to the following effect: “When evaluating life choices don’t treat them on the basis of financial principles. Your time and effort are something deeply personal and n...

So I am late to this party (because I don’t blog on weekends), but James Altucher’s column “The Internet Is Dead (As An Investment)” is just too tempting an invitation for rebuttal. Fred already provided his take here, stating our (at USV) belief in the transformative nature of the Internet and taking on Altucher’s comments about business models. My own point of departure is this quote from the column:The days of infinite margins, 1,000% productivity gains, and growth of market throughout the...

So I am late to this party (because I don’t blog on weekends), but James Altucher’s column “The Internet Is Dead (As An Investment)” is just too tempting an invitation for rebuttal. Fred already provided his take here, stating our (at USV) belief in the transformative nature of the Internet and taking on Altucher’s comments about business models. My own point of departure is this quote from the column:The days of infinite margins, 1,000% productivity gains, and growth of market throughout the...