Last night at dinner while waiting for the food we played the “Google autocomplete game.” Here is how it goes. You go to Google and type the beginning of a search query. Then you tell the others the possible completions and they have to guess which is the most popular (you can even try to guess the whole order – this is loosely based on Family Feud and if you want a more elaborate version check out Google Feud). So when it was Susan’s turn she typed “VCs are” and got this, which is pretty fun...

Last night at dinner while waiting for the food we played the “Google autocomplete game.” Here is how it goes. You go to Google and type the beginning of a search query. Then you tell the others the possible completions and they have to guess which is the most popular (you can even try to guess the whole order – this is loosely based on Family Feud and if you want a more elaborate version check out Google Feud). So when it was Susan’s turn she typed “VCs are” and got this, which is pretty fun...

Over vacation I read “How Much is Enough?” by Robert and Edward Skidelsky. I highly recommend the book as it goes after a central question that we should all be asking both individually and collectively. The book starts with an excellent chapter on Keynes’s now frequently cited essay on “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren.” Their basic diagnosis of where Keynes went wrong is that he assumed a separation of needs and wants, expecting our economy to grow rapidly enough to provide for ...

Over vacation I read “How Much is Enough?” by Robert and Edward Skidelsky. I highly recommend the book as it goes after a central question that we should all be asking both individually and collectively. The book starts with an excellent chapter on Keynes’s now frequently cited essay on “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren.” Their basic diagnosis of where Keynes went wrong is that he assumed a separation of needs and wants, expecting our economy to grow rapidly enough to provide for ...

The FCC just ruled to ban fast lanes for internet access. Consumers have already paid with their bills for bandwidth and they understood that cable companies were trying to double dip by also charging content originators for the same bandwidth. Such paid fast lanes would have deeply engrained existing incumbents and made competition and innovation in content and services much more difficult. Huge kudos to all the organizations that worked so diligently to inform individuals and policy makers ...

The FCC just ruled to ban fast lanes for internet access. Consumers have already paid with their bills for bandwidth and they understood that cable companies were trying to double dip by also charging content originators for the same bandwidth. Such paid fast lanes would have deeply engrained existing incumbents and made competition and innovation in content and services much more difficult. Huge kudos to all the organizations that worked so diligently to inform individuals and policy makers ...

In the current valuation environment many entrepreneurs seem to believe that only two numbers matter in a financing: the amount of the raise and the dilution. This leads them to buy into the idea that more money for the same dilution is always strictly better. Combined with a lot of money being available from investors this is resulting in Series A rounds of $10 million and more. What could possibly go wrong? The number everyone seems to be forgetting about is the post-money valuation. It is ...

In the current valuation environment many entrepreneurs seem to believe that only two numbers matter in a financing: the amount of the raise and the dilution. This leads them to buy into the idea that more money for the same dilution is always strictly better. Combined with a lot of money being available from investors this is resulting in Series A rounds of $10 million and more. What could possibly go wrong? The number everyone seems to be forgetting about is the post-money valuation. It is ...

Apologies to my regular blog readers but I have been battling a nasty cold. So instead of getting up in the morning and writing a blog post I have been sleeping in a bit longer. I probably should have taken a couple of days off when I first got this cold a couple of weeks ago but have been kind of swamped at work and have ignored my own advice. Lots going on that I would like to write about though in particular I have been intrigued by the debate around Hilary Clinton using her own email acco...

Apologies to my regular blog readers but I have been battling a nasty cold. So instead of getting up in the morning and writing a blog post I have been sleeping in a bit longer. I probably should have taken a couple of days off when I first got this cold a couple of weeks ago but have been kind of swamped at work and have ignored my own advice. Lots going on that I would like to write about though in particular I have been intrigued by the debate around Hilary Clinton using her own email acco...

With the NASDAQ going above 5,000 for the first time since the year 2000 valuations in tech are once again on everyone’s mind, mine included. It has been a long period writing here on Continuations that I have thought valuations were too high and they have only gone higher since. All the arguments I provided back in 2012 are still true and in particular the line that “rates of return available on many other investments are at historic lows” – this is especially true for interest rates. Very l...

With the NASDAQ going above 5,000 for the first time since the year 2000 valuations in tech are once again on everyone’s mind, mine included. It has been a long period writing here on Continuations that I have thought valuations were too high and they have only gone higher since. All the arguments I provided back in 2012 are still true and in particular the line that “rates of return available on many other investments are at historic lows” – this is especially true for interest rates. Very l...

As our son reminded me the other day, the classical definition of knowledge, going as far back as Plato, are statements that are justified, true and believed. Each of those criteria though is problematic and lacks a clear meaning, despite the best efforts in epistemology. I have become enamored with a completely different approach that considers knowledge as the subset of information that is reproduced by humans over time. This interpretation is my reading of David Deutsch’s views on knowledg...

As our son reminded me the other day, the classical definition of knowledge, going as far back as Plato, are statements that are justified, true and believed. Each of those criteria though is problematic and lacks a clear meaning, despite the best efforts in epistemology. I have become enamored with a completely different approach that considers knowledge as the subset of information that is reproduced by humans over time. This interpretation is my reading of David Deutsch’s views on knowledg...

It is now six years ago that we at USV held our one day mini conference on “Hacking Education.” A lot has happened since then. We have made investments in Codecademy, Duolingo, Edmodo and Skillshare. MOOCs really took off with classes that have been taken by tens of thousands of students. Susan and I started homeschooling for our children. And yet when I think about what is possible in theory it still feels like we are early on. One of the things that I envision is an interactive learning env...

It is now six years ago that we at USV held our one day mini conference on “Hacking Education.” A lot has happened since then. We have made investments in Codecademy, Duolingo, Edmodo and Skillshare. MOOCs really took off with classes that have been taken by tens of thousands of students. Susan and I started homeschooling for our children. And yet when I think about what is possible in theory it still feels like we are early on. One of the things that I envision is an interactive learning env...

This weekend I attended parts of the North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress (agenda and speakers). What follows are some observations. Please take these with a grain of salt as I only attended some sessions Friday evening and Saturday morning. I was hoping to spend more time there but came down with a bad cold. You can find much more detailed coverage on the Basic Income Subreddit courtesy of Scott Santens. 1. Before attending I had imagined the “Congress” as a large affair with hundr...

This weekend I attended parts of the North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress (agenda and speakers). What follows are some observations. Please take these with a grain of salt as I only attended some sessions Friday evening and Saturday morning. I was hoping to spend more time there but came down with a bad cold. You can find much more detailed coverage on the Basic Income Subreddit courtesy of Scott Santens. 1. Before attending I had imagined the “Congress” as a large affair with hundr...

Yesterday I saw a funny cartoon about self driving cars by Scott Adams from the perspective of a robot with an attitude:When I discuss the impact of automation on the labor market I sometimes run into the argument that self driving cars are still years away and that there are a lot of edge cases to solve before they will replace human drivers. That argument makes it appear as if there was some distinct moment in the future where we finally say “hurrah, the self driving car is completely finis...

Yesterday I saw a funny cartoon about self driving cars by Scott Adams from the perspective of a robot with an attitude:When I discuss the impact of automation on the labor market I sometimes run into the argument that self driving cars are still years away and that there are a lot of edge cases to solve before they will replace human drivers. That argument makes it appear as if there was some distinct moment in the future where we finally say “hurrah, the self driving car is completely finis...