ClassPass’ CMO on How and When to Invest in Product MarketingIt’s the stuff that keeps CMOs up at night: the time had come to sunset a beloved product, and customers were going to care. A lot. It wasn’t a question of whether there would be press, but how rough it would be. And social media was about to light up with the news. That very scenario recently played out for ClassPass CMO Joanna Lord — and she couldn’t be more grateful. Bitcoin doesn’t care what Silicon Valley thinks—it’s trading at a 34-month highThere’s been plenty of news to keep bitcoin down this year, from plunging venture capital investment to rising skepticism about blockchain technology’s viability in the marketplace. Yet the cryptocurrency is trading at its highest levels since its insane bull run of 2013. Today, bitcoin hit $788.49, surpassing the year’s high of $781.31, set on June 13. [ Quartz ] Uber Rolls Out Self-Driving Cars in San Francisco Without DMV ApprovalUber Technologies Inc. continues to dive head first into autonomous vehicles. Just don't call them that in California. Starting Wednesday, Uber will let customers in San Francisco hop in a self-driving car, if they're lucky enough to hail one. There's a lot the company won't say about the launch, like how many cars they plan to roll out, but it will gradually introduce self-driving Volvos in its hometown. [ Bloomberg ] Here’s what Silicon Valley’s top execs are expected to discuss with Trump at Wednesday’s tech summitOn Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Trump Tower, Silicon Valley's most powerful execs—among them Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt,
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella—will meet with President-elect Donald Trump at the much-anticipated tech summit. Also expected to attend are the CEOs of Intel, IBM, Oracle, and Cisco. Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick are joining Trump's economic advisory teamTesla CEO Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick, chief exec of Uber, are joining Donald Trump's new economic advisory board. The two tech-transportation executives have been named as members of the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, it was announced on Wednesday, alongside PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. [ Business Insider ]
Despite More Women, VCs Still Mostly White MenEthnic and gender diversity among senior ranks of the top venture capital firms improved—barely—in the past 12 months. The VC industry remains overwhelmingly male and white. That’s according to the results of a study conducted by The Information and Social Capital, a VC firm, updating a report we published in October of last year. We named the rankings “The Future List” because we believe
diversity and age will bear on how well these firms will perform in the future. You can view The Future List here, along with our full methodology. [ The Information, subscription required ] India Just Flew Past Us in the Race to E-CashSurrounded by bottles of soda and boxes of cigarettes, Sandeep Malhotra sits crosslegged on the counter of his roadside stall, staring intently at his smartphone. A group of customers gestures impatiently, as Malhotra makes it through his first-ever mobile checkout process. He confirms the transaction details, angling his handset to receive optimum 4G. Finally, the green tick appears on his screen: success. [ Backchannel ] Amazon Popcorn Airdrop Makes Drone Delivery HistoryRetail giant Amazon.com Inc. has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer, dropping off a Fire TV device and a bag of popcorn to a house in the rural English countryside 13 minutes after receiving an online order. The delivery occurred Dec. 7 near Cambridge in a zone that U.K. aviation authorities have authorized for drone test flights, according to a tweet Wednesday by company Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos and a video documenting the flight. [ Bloomberg ] Bumble invests in gay dating app ChappyBumble, the dating app that puts women in the driver’s seat, has today announced that it is leading a seed round investment in gay dating app Chappy. The company is not disclosing the details of the investment, but they did say that Bumble is the sole investor in the round and will take an equity stake. In exchange, Bumble will be offering product development and marketing support. [ Tech Crunch ] Leonardo DiCaprio Is Teaming Up with a Boston VC FirmLeonardo DiCaprio has joined the advisory board of local venture capital firm Data Point Capital. According to a press release, the Oscar-winning actor will serve as a special advisor to the firm, which focuses on funding companies that take advantage of the Internet to grow. Data Point Capital managing partner Mike Majors said in the release that the group was excited to partner with DiCaprio and praised him for his unique insight into the entertainment industry. Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase, AngelList ] |