I have been thinking about the value implications of embracing knowledge. Maybe I am being overly reductionist here but there are three values that seem to me to be intimately connected with the knowledge loop of learning, creating and sharing. Put differently I don’t see how a society based on knowledge would work well or be sustained if any one of these is removed. Now other than the first one you may not recognize these as values and it is not even that easy to define what “values” are in ...

I have been thinking about the value implications of embracing knowledge. Maybe I am being overly reductionist here but there are three values that seem to me to be intimately connected with the knowledge loop of learning, creating and sharing. Put differently I don’t see how a society based on knowledge would work well or be sustained if any one of these is removed. Now other than the first one you may not recognize these as values and it is not even that easy to define what “values” are in ...

About once a week I meet someone who is looking for advice on what to do next. This ranges from recent college graduates (and even the occasional high school graduate) to experienced entrepreneurs thinking about their next startup. Often people come with relatively tactical questions, like how to best get a job at a startup or how to transition into a new field. I used to engage on just that level but now I start by asking people about their purpose. “What is your purpose?” tends to throw off...

About once a week I meet someone who is looking for advice on what to do next. This ranges from recent college graduates (and even the occasional high school graduate) to experienced entrepreneurs thinking about their next startup. Often people come with relatively tactical questions, like how to best get a job at a startup or how to transition into a new field. I used to engage on just that level but now I start by asking people about their purpose. “What is your purpose?” tends to throw off...

Just last week I wrote that there are legitimate concerns about Uber. Using congestion as the reason to limit the company’s expansion while ordering a study seems wrong and exactly the kind of political move that smacks of corruption. Given that Bill de Blasio received significant support from taxi fleet owners during his campaign it is hard not to believe this. Certainly taking one year to do a study seems like an undue delay. Still congestion is a real issue and adding nearly 20,000 commerc...

Just last week I wrote that there are legitimate concerns about Uber. Using congestion as the reason to limit the company’s expansion while ordering a study seems wrong and exactly the kind of political move that smacks of corruption. Given that Bill de Blasio received significant support from taxi fleet owners during his campaign it is hard not to believe this. Certainly taking one year to do a study seems like an undue delay. Still congestion is a real issue and adding nearly 20,000 commerc...

The progress with solar technology has been impressive and is well summarized in the following chart which shows the dramatic decline in the price per wattWhenever someone shows a chart like this there will quickly be people who decry subsidies for solar. The answer of course is that at this point instead of subsidizing solar we should be taxing carbon, which would make solar instantly the preferred technology for homes everywhere. In my personal portfolio (outside of USV) I am very long sola...

The progress with solar technology has been impressive and is well summarized in the following chart which shows the dramatic decline in the price per wattWhenever someone shows a chart like this there will quickly be people who decry subsidies for solar. The answer of course is that at this point instead of subsidizing solar we should be taxing carbon, which would make solar instantly the preferred technology for homes everywhere. In my personal portfolio (outside of USV) I am very long sola...

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...

There were two tweets about Uber recently that I found myself disagreeing with somewhat. Paul Graham tweetedUber is so obviously a good thing that you can measure how corrupt cities are by how hard they try to suppress it.And on the same day Chris Sacca (who is an investor in Uber) tweetedBefore Uber came along, I never understood how deeply corrupt so many American cities and politicians are.What do I not like about them? Equating Uber with the much larger idea of using technology to efficie...

There were two tweets about Uber recently that I found myself disagreeing with somewhat. Paul Graham tweetedUber is so obviously a good thing that you can measure how corrupt cities are by how hard they try to suppress it.And on the same day Chris Sacca (who is an investor in Uber) tweetedBefore Uber came along, I never understood how deeply corrupt so many American cities and politicians are.What do I not like about them? Equating Uber with the much larger idea of using technology to efficie...

Too many people seem to be having a moment of Schadenfreude in the wake of the Ashley Madison hack – what were “those” people thinking of having an affair (estimates for the overall percentage of married adults having affairs range from 30-60%) or at least of being so “dumb” as to use a service to arrange their affair. But this is just the latest instance of information being disclosed that people thought would be private. Just shortly before it was disclosed that 4.5 million medical records ...

Too many people seem to be having a moment of Schadenfreude in the wake of the Ashley Madison hack – what were “those” people thinking of having an affair (estimates for the overall percentage of married adults having affairs range from 30-60%) or at least of being so “dumb” as to use a service to arrange their affair. But this is just the latest instance of information being disclosed that people thought would be private. Just shortly before it was disclosed that 4.5 million medical records ...

I remember well debating the concept a single European currency with my Dad when I was growing up in Germany long before the Euro was actually introduced. As a teenager I was fervently in favor and he was deeply skeptical. I am now watching with fascination how the very concerns my Dad had at the time are playing themselves out in Greece. A monetary union is not sustainable if it is not accompanied by a deep fiscal and political union. I had, naively, assumed that the political and fiscal par...

I remember well debating the concept a single European currency with my Dad when I was growing up in Germany long before the Euro was actually introduced. As a teenager I was fervently in favor and he was deeply skeptical. I am now watching with fascination how the very concerns my Dad had at the time are playing themselves out in Greece. A monetary union is not sustainable if it is not accompanied by a deep fiscal and political union. I had, naively, assumed that the political and fiscal par...

Yesterday Hilary Clinton mentioned the “gig economy” in a speech. She said Meanwhile, many Americans are making extra money renting out a small room, designing websites, selling products they design themselves at home, or even driving their own car. This on-demand, or so-called gig economy is creating exciting economies and unleashing innovation. But it is also raising hard questions about work-place protections and what a good job will look like in the future.This is of course a topic I have...

Yesterday Hilary Clinton mentioned the “gig economy” in a speech. She said Meanwhile, many Americans are making extra money renting out a small room, designing websites, selling products they design themselves at home, or even driving their own car. This on-demand, or so-called gig economy is creating exciting economies and unleashing innovation. But it is also raising hard questions about work-place protections and what a good job will look like in the future.This is of course a topic I have...

Last week I had the opportunity to cross something off my bucket list: sailing faster than the wind. Now at first this sounds like a preposterous idea – if the wind is pushing you, then how could you go faster than it? It seems the equivalent of the Baron Munchausen pulling himself from a swamp by his own hair. Or powering a sailboat by blowing into the sails (maybe with a huge fan?). Before providing an explanation, here is a brief video I filmed on the Lending Club 2 in the San Francisco ba...

Last week I had the opportunity to cross something off my bucket list: sailing faster than the wind. Now at first this sounds like a preposterous idea – if the wind is pushing you, then how could you go faster than it? It seems the equivalent of the Baron Munchausen pulling himself from a swamp by his own hair. Or powering a sailboat by blowing into the sails (maybe with a huge fan?). Before providing an explanation, here is a brief video I filmed on the Lending Club 2 in the San Francisco ba...