Stretched thin: Venture capitalists serve on too many boards Bill Gurley is one of the smartest venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, which is a big reason that the general partner of Benchmark Capital held a coveted seat on the board of directors at Uber until recently. However, Gurley and then-CEO Travis Kalanick had a falling out, and two of Gurley’s colleagues, not Gurley himself, asked Kalanick to step down. Now Benchmark has suedKalanick, claiming that he failed to tell the board about a “pervasive culture of gender discrimination and sexual harassment,” according to the lawsuit. If Gurley is so smart, and so plugged
in to Silicon Valley, why did he not detect such a serious problem himself? Here's How Silicon Valley Is Racing To Bring The World Online
Our world seems more connected than ever. Google recently boasted that its Android mobile platform has over 2 billion users. A month later, Facebook said it had the same number of monthly active users. And yet, over 4 billion people around the world still don’t have access to the internet. Africa and South Asia are particularly affected: One of the lowest rates in the world is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where merely 3.8% of the population has access. But now, Google, Facebook, SpaceX, and a handful of other startups are developing ways to get the rest of the world online. These companies’ motivations aren’t purely altruistic. These costly projects serve dual purpose: as generators of good PR, as well as a gateway to billions of potential new Internet-connected customers, who (they hope) will ultimately use their services. [ BuzzFeed ] Silicon Valley loves Burning Man and these tech executives are no exceptionAmong the 70,000 or so people who will make the trip to Black Rock City, Nevada, this weekend for the start of Burning Man will be some of the most influential people in Silicon Valley. Every year, some of tech's top execs join the annual festival, dressing in shiny costumes and exploring the art installations just like everyone else. The unwritten rules of the festival encourage anonymity and privacy. But the attendance of some of the CEOs and founders has been revealed by one of their enthusiastic peers on Medium. And many members of the tech elite have found their time on the playa — Burning Man speak for the dusty dry lake bed where the festival takes place — so life-changing that they couldn't help but speak about it publicly. [ Business Insider ] China is overrun with unicorns.China’s startup industry is booming. Here’s a list of Chinese unicorns that have entered the market since the start of the year. [ Wired ] How This Female Venture Capitalist Is Creating Equality For Women And GirlsToday is Women's Equality Day, a celebration of the day that the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote. While it's irrefutable that we've made significant progress since the women's suffrage movement, we still have to make strides toward gender equality. Nisha Dua, a partner at BBG Ventures and founder of the #BUILTBYGIRLS movement and Wave, is a champion for women and girls. Dua and her team provide venture capital funding for female-founded businesses and support for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields — two male-dominated fields where sexism is prevalent. [ Forbes ] The Importance of Understanding and Preventing Startup Failure Why is learning about startup failure important? Understanding startup failure is important because we have millions of startups worldwide launching each year and there are major deficiencies in the learning process of how to start a startup the right way and huge deficiencies in running a startup the right way. [ Medium ] 'I was terrifed': Women in tech explain why they don't report sexual harassmentSilicon Valley firms are facing unprecedented scrutiny about the way they handle sexual harassment, after a slew of cases from woman claiming discriminiation, inappropriate behaviour, and even assault. In 2015, there was Ellen Pao, who launched a landmark but unsuccessful suit against her former employer, investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Earlier this year, former Uber employee Susan Fowler alleged harassment and discrimination and claimed her former manager had propositioned her. And then there were the dozen female founders and venture capital partners who came forward to allege harassment from vaunted Silicon Valley names like 500 Startups founder Dave McClure, Binary Capital cofounder Justin Caldbeck, and Lowercase Capital founder Chris Sacca. [ Business Insider ] Two ex-Googlers are using AI to guarantee interviews for tech job seekersTwo former Googlers are guaranteeing workers in the tech industry that they get interviews with their dreamer employers thanks to artificial intelligence. The past year or so has seen AI deployed to tackle a broad range of issues, and with their startup Leap.ai, ex-Google engineers Richard Liu and Yunkai Zhou believe it can be used to crack the hiring conundrum in tech. [ TechCrunch ] In Silicon Valley, data trumps opinion — even with gender parityThis Saturday, Aug. 26, marks Women’s Equality Day; the date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. As a diverse group of current and former CEOs and business leaders, it is clear to us that Silicon Valley has the opportunity to go beyond a single day of celebration and celebrate women’s equality every day. And that's the real goal. [ Re/Code ] In Silicon Valley, the right sounds a surprising battle cry: Regulate tech giantsOur world seems more connected than ever. Google recently boasted that its Android mobile platform has over 2 billion users. A month later, Facebook said it had the same number of monthly active users. And yet, over 4 billion people around the world still don’t have access to the internet. Africa and South Asia are particularly affected: One of the lowest rates in the world is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where merely 3.8% of the population has access. Uber faces another twist in its legal battles E4: "Angel" podcast: angel & syndicate leader Ed Roman on optimizing for outsized outcomes in SV |