At present there are three common exit options for venture backed and bootstrapped startups: trade sale (most common), IPO (increasingly rare) and sale to a PE firm (growing). We need innovation here both in the existing options and by creating new ones that are a better fit for companies that have a vision/mission that is important to them above and beyond financial return. Such vision/mission doesn’t necessarily need to be of the obvious social good variety, but could also include “settling...

Now that I have, ahem, explained my take on explanations, Uncertainty Wednesday can move on to examine what limits them. Again, as a reminder, the whole point here is that limits to explanations and to observations are what results in uncertainty (we will soon also talk about whether there is anything such as inherent randomness in underlying reality). The fundamental limit on explanations is the same thing that gives them power in the first place: they are abstractions, meaning they are more...

At present there are three common exit options for venture backed and bootstrapped startups: trade sale (most common), IPO (increasingly rare) and sale to a PE firm (growing). We need innovation here both in the existing options and by creating new ones that are a better fit for companies that have a vision/mission that is important to them above and beyond financial return. Such vision/mission doesn’t necessarily need to be of the obvious social good variety, but could also include “settling...

Now that I have, ahem, explained my take on explanations, Uncertainty Wednesday can move on to examine what limits them. Again, as a reminder, the whole point here is that limits to explanations and to observations are what results in uncertainty (we will soon also talk about whether there is anything such as inherent randomness in underlying reality). The fundamental limit on explanations is the same thing that gives them power in the first place: they are abstractions, meaning they are more...

Today our portfolio company Clarifai has announced its $30 million Series B financing led by Menlo Ventures. It constitutes an important milestone in the history of the New York City startup ecosystem: generous early backing for an ambitious technology vision. I have been around the NY technology and startup world since the late 90s. There were a lot of justified knocks against the efforts here. It was difficult to find engineers for startups. Well, Google helped solve that by locating a majo...

Today our portfolio company Clarifai has announced its $30 million Series B financing led by Menlo Ventures. It constitutes an important milestone in the history of the New York City startup ecosystem: generous early backing for an ambitious technology vision. I have been around the NY technology and startup world since the late 90s. There were a lot of justified knocks against the efforts here. It was difficult to find engineers for startups. Well, Google helped solve that by locating a majo...

Watching Tesla’s video of a door-to-door self driving car offers an amazing glimpse into an autonomous and robotic future But there was also a disturbing footnote to the announcement: you are not allowed to let your self-driving Tesla operate as part of Uber or Lyft, only as part of some forthcoming Tesla network. Now you might ask, is such a restriction legal? Haven’t I, as the purchaser, paid for the car? And normally, once I have paid for a car, doesn’t the manufacturer have no further say...

Watching Tesla’s video of a door-to-door self driving car offers an amazing glimpse into an autonomous and robotic future But there was also a disturbing footnote to the announcement: you are not allowed to let your self-driving Tesla operate as part of Uber or Lyft, only as part of some forthcoming Tesla network. Now you might ask, is such a restriction legal? Haven’t I, as the purchaser, paid for the car? And normally, once I have paid for a car, doesn’t the manufacturer have no further say...

Now that Uncertainty Wednesday has covered the various ways in which our ability to observe reality are limited, we will look at limitations on explanations. Again for those readers just starting this series, the basic framework has uncertainty resulting from limits on observations and explanations of reality. Now today’s post isn’t titled “Limits on Explanations” but just “Explanations.” The reason for that is that I think I need to first explain what an explanation is (in retrospect I shoul...

Now that Uncertainty Wednesday has covered the various ways in which our ability to observe reality are limited, we will look at limitations on explanations. Again for those readers just starting this series, the basic framework has uncertainty resulting from limits on observations and explanations of reality. Now today’s post isn’t titled “Limits on Explanations” but just “Explanations.” The reason for that is that I think I need to first explain what an explanation is (in retrospect I shoul...

I recently finished reading “Birth of a Theorem” by the French mathematician Cedric Villani. It is a terrific book even if you understand only a fraction of the math in it (I certainly did not understand most of it). Villani does a great job bringing the reader along on his quest to prove a theorem that would qualify him for the coveted Fields medal. The Fields medal is the highest reward in mathematics and among its qualification requirement are that the recipient must be 40 years or younger...

I recently finished reading “Birth of a Theorem” by the French mathematician Cedric Villani. It is a terrific book even if you understand only a fraction of the math in it (I certainly did not understand most of it). Villani does a great job bringing the reader along on his quest to prove a theorem that would qualify him for the coveted Fields medal. The Fields medal is the highest reward in mathematics and among its qualification requirement are that the recipient must be 40 years or younger...

As part of my thinking about a possible World After Capital, I have been looking into human needs. A framework that is frequently mentioned in that context is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is a great example of something that remains a popular reference point despite being largely a conjecture and having been superseded by subsequent research (which tends to be much less well known). There are two psychological needs though that appear to be quite robust across different studies: purpose an...

As part of my thinking about a possible World After Capital, I have been looking into human needs. A framework that is frequently mentioned in that context is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is a great example of something that remains a popular reference point despite being largely a conjecture and having been superseded by subsequent research (which tends to be much less well known). There are two psychological needs though that appear to be quite robust across different studies: purpose an...

Today in Uncertainty Wednesday we are coming to the last limit on observations: their impact on reality. As a quick refresher at the beginning of the series I introduced the framework in which uncertainty is the result of limits on our ability to observe and explain reality. Since then we have been working through various limits on observations, starting with a foundational limit, the resolution of observations, measurement error and cost of observation (which following a reader comment I wil...

Today in Uncertainty Wednesday we are coming to the last limit on observations: their impact on reality. As a quick refresher at the beginning of the series I introduced the framework in which uncertainty is the result of limits on our ability to observe and explain reality. Since then we have been working through various limits on observations, starting with a foundational limit, the resolution of observations, measurement error and cost of observation (which following a reader comment I wil...

Yesterday I woke up to the news that Bengt Holmström was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics along with Oliver Hart. I have had the good fortune to have had Bengt as one of my PhD thesis advisors at MIT, together with my thesis chair, Erik Brynjolfsson and Birger Wernerfelt. All three of them were incredibly generous with their time, which is even more remarkable given that it became increasingly clear that I was not going to pursue an academic career. Bengt’s work on incentives is hugely im...

Yesterday I woke up to the news that Bengt Holmström was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics along with Oliver Hart. I have had the good fortune to have had Bengt as one of my PhD thesis advisors at MIT, together with my thesis chair, Erik Brynjolfsson and Birger Wernerfelt. All three of them were incredibly generous with their time, which is even more remarkable given that it became increasingly clear that I was not going to pursue an academic career. Bengt’s work on incentives is hugely im...

Today’s post is over at USV announcing our investment in New York City based Code Climate. I have known Bryan for years and admired what he, Noah and the rest of the team have built with very little outside money. Code quality will become ever more important and putting quality first is the key to also achieving speed to market and low cost. Read more about it also on the Code Climate blog.

Today’s post is over at USV announcing our investment in New York City based Code Climate. I have known Bryan for years and admired what he, Noah and the rest of the team have built with very little outside money. Code quality will become ever more important and putting quality first is the key to also achieving speed to market and low cost. Read more about it also on the Code Climate blog.