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Andreessen’s Scott Kupor says 2017 looks bright for tech startup market

After a tough slog through 2016, tech startups (at least the good ones) have reason to be optimistic heading into the new year, says Scott Kupor, managing partner of Andreessen Horowitz. IPO activity has started to pick up and investors are writing checks again though they’re being pickier than in prior years, all of which points to a healthy, if prudent, 2017. Kupor should know — he’s been running powerhouse venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, based in Menlo Park, since its inception in 2009.

Kupor sat down with this newspaper to discuss which investments he’ll jump on in 2017 (artificial intelligence, all the way), which he might skip (on-demand delivery services) and what he would do if he weren’t a venture capitalist (sing country music in Nashville). [ SiliconValley ]

40 female founders who crushed it in 2016

by Connie Loizos
The stats are nowhere near where women need or deserve them to be, but when it comes to female founders receiving venture funding, we’re beginning to see a significant shift — maybe even a kind of tipping point. Not only was it comparatively easy this year to find female founders who continue to run their companies (in the past, many more have assumed other positions within their startups); it was easier than ever to find female founders whose companies have also raised significant amounts of funding, are hitting new milestones, and in many cases, developing very novel technologies. [ Tech Crunch ]

What top Silicon Valley investors expect in 2017

Interview with - M.G. Siegler, general partner at GV, Jerry Chen, partner at Greylock Partners, Alex Rampell, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz & Ravi Viswanathan, general partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

The year 2016 was an interesting one for startups. Between high valuations and the glory of reaching unicorn status, entrepreneurs have been frenetically chasing private investors — who were more than willing to deliver the cash — and thereby delayed their entry onto the public market. Yet there was significantly less VC funding than in 2015.

London-based auditing firm Ernst & Young (EY) reports that, as of Q3, U.S. companies raised $41.3 billion in 2,802 venture capital deals this year. In the San Francisco Bay Area alone, there were 916 deals, representing $16.9 billion. “Compared to last year’s Q3, VC funding is down,” Jeffrey Grabow, EY’s U.S. venture capital leader, told VentureBeat in an email. “There are several reasons for this decline. Chief among them is the need for the market to absorb the capital that has been deployed. Momentum capital rushed into the later stage of the venture pipeline and was invested in pretty much all available opportunities. It’s time to see how those bets play out.”

VentureBeat also spoke to several VC firms to gather their predictions for 2017. [ Venture Beat ]

These 15 startups didn't exist 5 years ago — now they're worth billions

Silicon Valley can create immense value in just a short time. Just look at these 15 startups that didn't even exist five years ago, which are now valued at $1 billion or more, according to venture capitalists. For the purposes of this list, Business Insider asked PitchBook Data to pull a list of US-based companies that were founded in 2012 or later — since we're nearing the end of 2016 — and that are private tech companies with a valuation of north of $1 billion. [ Business Insider ]

TECH C.E.O.S WHO HAVE THE MOST TO LOSE IN A TRUMP PRESIDENCY

An air of uncertainty hangs over the Bay Area. In the wake of an election that left America with Donald Trump as the nation’s president-elect, tech companies remain uncertain as to what Trump will do, what laws he will pass—and, most importantly, how all of it will affect Silicon Valley. Last year, he made an argument that tech C.E.O.s would likely agree with: that America needed to do more to keep highly skilled international students in the country after they graduated. But since railing against immigration on the campaign trail, Trump has been quiet about immigration and other issues affecting the tech sector. [ Vanity Fair ]

How CEOs Will Make The World A Better Place In 2017

Fast Company asked CEOs across industries—social good, sexual health, beauty, tech, and more—about how, in the face of uncertainty, they will seek to improve the world around us during the coming year. Here's what they had to say. [ Fast Company ]

How Zuckerberg and Chan’s new private school mixes health care and education

Toothaches or asthma can cloud the minds of children who are eager to learn, but a new private school started by Dr. Priscilla Chan and her husband, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, might be just what the doctor ordered. In East Palo Alto, a city with minorities and families living in poverty near the wealthy enclaves of Silicon Valley, The Primary School opened its doors this year to 51 low-income preschool students. It boasts an innovative curriculum that addresses children’s health needs as part of their educational experience.

“There are so many ways a school can really help a child be in their optimal frame of mind to be successful in the classroom that are way more common than what we traditionally define as special needs,” said Chan, a pediatrician and CEO of the school, in an exclusive interview. [ SV ]

Tim Ferriss Is Ready for the Tech Bubble to Burst

As 2016 drags to a close, the nagging question that has long plagued investors -- “are we in a tech bubble?” -- remains a popular point of discussion. While you can find smart people to argue both sides, Tim Ferriss doesn’t equivocate. Not only does he think we’re in a bubble , he seems to actively want it to burst. A quick background: Ferriss used to be an active angel investor. He’d picked some winners, too, including Uber, Facebook, and Alibaba. But he recently gave up investing because, he claims, the influx of venture capital created “fairweather investors” and “fairweather entrepreneurs.” The resulting feed frenzy generates “a lot of noise...the signal to noise ratio is very unfavorable. [ Fortune ]