Conversations about technology, culture, and the future.
Investing & Startups
Venture capital, USV thesis, portfolio companies, and startup strategy
- The magic of making hard things easyDec 12, 2014
I wrote earlier this week about how life is, generally, hard. There’s no question about that. One of my favorite things about the Internet, and probably the most exciting thing about working in venture capital, is being around people who are working to re-architect the world to make hard things eas...
- Crowdsourcing patent examinationsDec 3, 2014
Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon at a US Patent & Trademark Office roundtable discussion on using crowdsourcing to improve the patent examination process. Thanks to Chris Wong for looping me in and helping to organize the event. If you’re interested, you can watch the whole video here. I wa...
- Half, not half-assedNov 22, 2014
My favorite book on product development and startups is Getting Real, published in 2006 by the folks at 37signals (now Basecamp). If you haven’t read it (it’s freely available online), it’s essentially a precursor to The Lean Startup (2011). Back when I was leading a team and running product and Op...
- The open internet and the freedom to innovateJul 16, 2014
I spent the last two days in meetings with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and his staff, discussing their proposed Open Internet rules (aka net neutrality). Monday’s meeting was with a group of NYC VCs, and Tuesday’s meeting was with group of NYC startup CEOs and GCs. Coming out of these meetings, and af...
- FCC’s response to the VC open internet letterMay 12, 2014
Over the weekend, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler sent a response to the letter that over 100 VCs and angel investors submitted last week. In the letter, we stressed the importance of an open internet as a foundation for the stunning levels of investment and innovation we’ve seen in the internet applicati...