Venture Capital
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Silicon Valley Bank bears responsibility for its demise, but it symbolizes a Silicon Valley reality that is very different from the myth — and the ultimate cause is tech itself.
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Uber represents something new: a company that is different than incumbents because of technology, yet not itself a tech company — just like the Venture Fund is not a VC.
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Venture Capital has been transformed by a surprising source: Amazon. Ultimately, no industry is safe from the impact of the Internet.
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Aggregation and Antitrust, BuzzFeed Makes News, BuzzFeed’s Valuation in Perspective
The differing approaches to antitrust in the U.S. and Europe could mean completely different outcomes in the long run for aggregation companies. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed has raised a new round and seems to be doing better than ever, which is great news for journalism. Plus, how to think about startup valuations.
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China’s Yuan Depreciation, The Yuan’s Effect on Apple, The Yuan and Unicorns
The most important story of the week has been China’s ongoing depreciation of the Yuan. Clearly, the company that will be impacted the most is Apple, but there is a a potential impact on Unicorns as well.
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WeWork and Bubble Talk, Uber’s Losses, Microsoft Exits Consumer Space
A bit of follow-up from yesterday’s post on WeWork, and a broader discussion about the ongoing bubble talk and the squeeze on VC. Then a discussion on Uber’s losses and why no one should be surprised, and finally the end of Microsoft’s consumer business.
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WeWork Worth $10 Billion, Three WeWork Comps
WeWork has shocked almost everyone by raising money at a $10 billion valuation, just months after raising at $5 billion. How on earth does this make sense? The answer might be found by making comparisons between WeWork and three seemingly unrelated companies. In the end, though, absent real numbers we can only look at the investors.
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Unicorns Follow-up; Uber, Contractors, and Employees; Microsoft and the End of the Ballmer Era
This Daily Update follows up on my Unicorns article by pointing out how the behavior of most late-stage investors is totally rational. Then, a discussion about a recent decision by the California Labor Commission that one Uber driver is an employee, not a contractor, and a translation of Microsoft’s latest reorganization.
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Unicorns
There are a lot of unicorns, but not all unicorns are created equally: even if some die the value of them in aggregate is significant.
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Evernote Seeking New CEO, E3 and the End of Exclusives, Playstation Vue’s “A La Carte” Offering
In a shocking — but perhaps not surprising — announcement Evernote CEO Phil Libin said the company would be seeking a new CEO. How well is Evernote doing, and will they ever become a private company? E3 Day Zero was also yesterday, and while Sony in particular had some compelling announcements for an old guy like…
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Uber in China, Didi Kuaidi Raising $1.5 Billion, China Scale and Apple Maps
It seems that Uber is doing far better in China than expected. How is the company succeeding where other western companies have failed, and is their success sustainable? Plus fundraising news from Uber’s biggest competitor, and some amazing numbers about China’s scale.
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Google’s BeyondCorp, Reddit’s Anti-Harassment Policy, Speech and Abuse on the Internet
Today’s update discusses Google’s new corporate security approach as well as Reddit’s new anti-harassment policy, as well as the surprising way in which they are connected.