The European Union launched an Antitrust Complaint against Google over Android. It is a shame that we keep coming back to using antitrust legislation to try to deal with issues of concentration and market power in information industries. We need alternative regulatory tools that are more in line with how computation works and why the properties of information tend to lead to concentration. We want networks and network effects to exist because of their positive externalities. Imagine as a coun...

The European Union launched an Antitrust Complaint against Google over Android. It is a shame that we keep coming back to using antitrust legislation to try to deal with issues of concentration and market power in information industries. We need alternative regulatory tools that are more in line with how computation works and why the properties of information tend to lead to concentration. We want networks and network effects to exist because of their positive externalities. Imagine as a coun...

When we invested in Onename in 2014 it was with the conviction that decentralized applications will require human readable identity systems for some applications. Take the DAO for example. As of writing this post it has raised nearly $110 million dollars including some from me. The allocation of this capital will be decided through voting. Now imagine the difference between voting on a proposal made by 0x8f585e5578a9695151fe51ac92f560c8a9cc9a14 (my DAO address) versus one made by albertwenger...

When we invested in Onename in 2014 it was with the conviction that decentralized applications will require human readable identity systems for some applications. Take the DAO for example. As of writing this post it has raised nearly $110 million dollars including some from me. The allocation of this capital will be decided through voting. Now imagine the difference between voting on a proposal made by 0x8f585e5578a9695151fe51ac92f560c8a9cc9a14 (my DAO address) versus one made by albertwenger...

When I talk or write about basic income, people have many questions on issues such as affordability and impact on the work market. But one question is bigger than all of those:What would you do if your (basic) income was taken care of?Because basic income is a new concept for many they have not thought about this question before in this form. But most people have thought about it in a different form: am I happy with my job? And many surveys show that a lot of people are unhappy with their wor...

When I talk or write about basic income, people have many questions on issues such as affordability and impact on the work market. But one question is bigger than all of those:What would you do if your (basic) income was taken care of?Because basic income is a new concept for many they have not thought about this question before in this form. But most people have thought about it in a different form: am I happy with my job? And many surveys show that a lot of people are unhappy with their wor...

One of the questions that I get asked a fair bit is what characteristics help a founder to be successful. I have often answered “being stubborn but not too stubborn.” I then elaborate stubborn as sticking to a vision even as others say it can’t be done and the inevitable setbacks occur, and not too stubborn as being able to take some input from others. It is a delicate balance. To this characteristic, I want to add a learnable skill: being a great communicator. Yesterday we held our annual “i...

One of the questions that I get asked a fair bit is what characteristics help a founder to be successful. I have often answered “being stubborn but not too stubborn.” I then elaborate stubborn as sticking to a vision even as others say it can’t be done and the inevitable setbacks occur, and not too stubborn as being able to take some input from others. It is a delicate balance. To this characteristic, I want to add a learnable skill: being a great communicator. Yesterday we held our annual “i...

One of the big problems most modern insurance companies face is fraud. Why is it that some customers feel they can overstate a claim or make a false claim altogether? At least partially it is because they feel they are ripping of a big corporation which is an abstract entity instead of cheating on say their group of friends or individuals they interact with frequently. Insurance companies in return respond by making the filing of claims more difficult, in the process often denying legitimate ...

One of the big problems most modern insurance companies face is fraud. Why is it that some customers feel they can overstate a claim or make a false claim altogether? At least partially it is because they feel they are ripping of a big corporation which is an abstract entity instead of cheating on say their group of friends or individuals they interact with frequently. Insurance companies in return respond by making the filing of claims more difficult, in the process often denying legitimate ...

Living in Manhattan and having experienced the storm tide during Hurricane Sandy, I have been reading up on the what climate change is doing to the sea level. Sea levels in the 20th century rose faster than in the 27 (!) centuries before that. A new paper is now suggesting that the rise in the 21st century could wind up being 3 feet. That would be enough to put water on a our doorstep during every high tide and of course devastating for many low lying islands around the world. Sadly, the latt...

Living in Manhattan and having experienced the storm tide during Hurricane Sandy, I have been reading up on the what climate change is doing to the sea level. Sea levels in the 20th century rose faster than in the 27 (!) centuries before that. A new paper is now suggesting that the rise in the 21st century could wind up being 3 feet. That would be enough to put water on a our doorstep during every high tide and of course devastating for many low lying islands around the world. Sadly, the latt...

Saturday was the second Video Hackday, once again organized by Susan and Oliver from Ziggeo. What I like a lot about the format is that it is a single day without an overnight. While that may seem like very little time it does make it much less daunting and Video Hackday attracted a very diverse group of participants (including many first timers) as a result. All the engineers there from sponsors including Clarifai, Twilio, Embed.ly and JW Player were super friendly and helpful. I gave a brie...

Saturday was the second Video Hackday, once again organized by Susan and Oliver from Ziggeo. What I like a lot about the format is that it is a single day without an overnight. While that may seem like very little time it does make it much less daunting and Video Hackday attracted a very diverse group of participants (including many first timers) as a result. All the engineers there from sponsors including Clarifai, Twilio, Embed.ly and JW Player were super friendly and helpful. I gave a brie...

Today is our annual get together for USV portfolio company CEOs. A few years back, when we first started building out the USV network, we switched to an un-conference format. Gary Chou who first started to bring portfolio companies in the network pioneered this. Gary’s insight was to create an opportunity to talk about issues in small groups of peers and start a dialog which can then continue throughout the year. Having been a CEO myself, the hard thing is the feeling of being alone. It is ea...

Today is our annual get together for USV portfolio company CEOs. A few years back, when we first started building out the USV network, we switched to an un-conference format. Gary Chou who first started to bring portfolio companies in the network pioneered this. Gary’s insight was to create an opportunity to talk about issues in small groups of peers and start a dialog which can then continue throughout the year. Having been a CEO myself, the hard thing is the feeling of being alone. It is ea...

Susan, Oliver and the team at Ziggeo are organizing the second annual Video Hackday. You will learn the latest about video APIs from companies including Twilio, JW Player and of course Ziggeo. The first video hackday was a blast. I gave a talk on No Stack Startups and even managed to write a small hack myself. This year I will again be one of the judges for the hackathon. So if you are at all interested in video (and who isn’t?) you should definitely sign up and attend.

Susan, Oliver and the team at Ziggeo are organizing the second annual Video Hackday. You will learn the latest about video APIs from companies including Twilio, JW Player and of course Ziggeo. The first video hackday was a blast. I gave a talk on No Stack Startups and even managed to write a small hack myself. This year I will again be one of the judges for the hackathon. So if you are at all interested in video (and who isn’t?) you should definitely sign up and attend.

At USV we have talked about and invested in the power of networks. We have also been applying this network thesis to our portfolio companies, building out the USV network. One area where I am particularly happy with how we have “walked the walk” is in recruiting for the analyst position. Instead of relying on more traditional channels or criteria (e.g. past job titles or degrees) we have been using a completely open application process. This means we can leverage the network at large. So if y...

At USV we have talked about and invested in the power of networks. We have also been applying this network thesis to our portfolio companies, building out the USV network. One area where I am particularly happy with how we have “walked the walk” is in recruiting for the analyst position. Instead of relying on more traditional channels or criteria (e.g. past job titles or degrees) we have been using a completely open application process. This means we can leverage the network at large. So if y...