Female-founded, VC-funded: The numbers behind venture investment in women [datagraphic]A collection of data on female-founded companies with VC backing. (Spoiler alert: VCs are investing in women more than they were 10 years ago, but the numbers are still low.) Kat Manalac's Whale AMAKat answered questions submitted on Whale. Lessons in Tenacity from the Co-Founder of FoursquareIn 2013, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley walked into a bakery and bought a cake. Almond, with meringue on top. It was sweet — but the milestone was sweeter. For more than a decade — since his grad school days — he’d been pursuing one big idea: a product that understands how users move through the world so well, it can deliver timely, personalized tips. That idea had evolved through several iterations, from a startup called Dodgeball to the founding of Foursquare. When he bought the cake, the company best known for “checking in” was several years into something bigger, developing mobile software that would recognize users’ locations and automatically push tailored recommendations. Jessica Alba’s Honest Company is replacing its CEO after a sale to Unilever fell throughHonest Company, the baby and household product company co-founded by Jessica Alba, has replaced CEO Brian Lee with Clorox Company executive Nick Vlahos. Lee will remain a director on Honest Company’s board, where he will be joined by Vlahos, the company said in a press release. Vlahos was most recently one of Clorox’s two chief operating officers and previously ran its Burt’s Bees subsidiary, a brand known for its “natural” vibe. [ Re/code ] The top 15 Canadian VC deals of 201674 Tech Leaders, Led By Tumblr CEO Karp, Urge Congress To Back Planned ParenthoodSeventy-four tech founders, billionaires, CEOs, and investors have signed an open letter to Congressional leaders urging them to reject the GOP plan to defund Planned Parenthood. The group, led by Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp, includes industry bigwigs Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital; Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield; Reddit's Alexis Ohanian; Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz, and Cowboy Ventures partner Aileen Lee. [ Forbes ] Be a Cockroach, not a Unicorn
Applying a day late to the program, AirBnB’s chances were already slim. Their initial interview with Paul Graham, the Founder of Y Combinator, didn’t go so well either. As the three AirBnB founders left the room, one of them handed Graham two cereal boxes of Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains — custom cereal boxes the AirBnB founders created and sold to pay the bills and keep the company alive, eliciting a surprising reply from Graham. “Wow, you guys are like cockroaches… You just won’t die.” According to Brad Stone, “Cockroach was Graham’s word for an unkillable startup that could weather any challenge”.
Where Smart Money VCs Are Investing In Sales TechTrue Ventures and Social Capital are among the most active smart money VC investors in sales tech startups. The Future Called: We’re Disgusting And Barbaric
I often wonder what people in the future will find barbaric about my life. We tend to look back on our ancestors with a mix of amusement and disgust: amusement that those poor fools managed to survive without things like toilets, electricity, and selfies; disgust that their lives were filled with things we find vile. But are we any better? |