Medium grows 140% to 60 million monthly visitorsMedium has released its end of year statistics revealing that it now sees 60 million unique monthly visitors (or readers, depending on your preference). This is a 140 percent increase from the 25 million the company said it had last year. Adoption of the publishing service appears to also be picking up, with 7.5 million posts penned, a 295 percent increase. For a while, Medium has been promoting itself as a place where ideas can be shared and discussed. It has become a place used by people to pen “personal news,” while others have used it to write thoughtful pieces and defend their ideas on how to make the world a better place. As part of its year-end round up, the company has highlighted the most popular topics on the service, based on time spent. The number one? Politics. [ Venture Beat ] Confirmed: Zola wedding registry raises $25 million from Lightspeed Venture PartnersZola, the online wedding registry for engaged couples, has confirmed that it raised $25 million in Series C funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to Re/code. We first reported on the round in late November, at which time sources said the company was valued at $200 million, pre-money. [ Tech Crunch ] The California DMV says Uber has to stop operating its self-driving cars in SFThe agency said it will have to take legal action otherwise. It’s been a very busy day for Uber. In a letter addressed to Anthony Levandowski, the co-founder of Otto and now head of Uber’s self-driving unit, the California DMV demanded that the ride-hail company stop operating its fleet of self-driving cars. The company just launched its self-driving pilot in San Francisco on Wednesday morning.[ Re/code ] Trump Tries to Soothe Tech Chiefs With Pledge He’s an AllyTechnology industry leaders including Facebook Inc.’s Sheryl Sandberg and Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos met with Donald Trump on Wednesday, seeking to persuade a man whose presidential bid many of them opposed to avoid policies they believe would hurt their companies. “I’m here to help you folks do well,” Trump told the executives as the meeting began on Wednesday. How Suzy Batiz Rose From Two Bankruptcies To Build Poo-Pourri, A $300M EmpireToday, Suzy Batiz is the CEO of a $300-million-plus company — Poo-Pourri — in addition to being the proud mother of three and boss to a team of more than 50 employees. But it’s definitely not been an easy road: Batiz was born in Arkansas, where she first pursued entrepreneurial ideas from the age of 16, despite her mother’s efforts to stifle them. [ Forbes ] How We Get It Done: Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, Co-founders of theSkimmOn a day in the lives of two start-up founders whose newsletter reaches 4 million subscriber. Achieving and Maintaining Product/Market FitWe recently hosted more than 130 product, marketing and sales executives at our Norwest Product Summit to discuss achieving and maintaining product/market fit in today’s fast-growing, ever-changing technology sector. It’s a critical topic: 42 percent of start-ups fail because of a lack of product/market fit, according to CBInsights data. Through keynotes and panel discussions, Product Summit attendees heard first-hand from industry leaders about their struggles and triumphs on the road to product/market fit. [ Matt Howard ] What I learned as the first analyst on the AngelList investment teamAlex Pack of AngelList How to read an Investment Termsheet: Understanding ValuationsBy David Willbe for Startup Grind |