Visualizing Haystack Portfolio - $2BOver here, I’m usually one to write about things, to use words, arguments, structure to share a point of view. Yet, after four years as a small investor (2013-2017), I wanted to examine some data and work with a designer to visualize it. Billionaire Taizo Son Ditches Japan to Start Afresh in SingaporeSingapore may have just added a new tech billionaire, but it had to lure him from Japan first. Taizo Son, who built his fortune on hit smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons, has relocated to the city-state from Tokyo and plans to invest $100 million in Southeast Asia within five years. The younger brother of SoftBank Group Corp.’s founder said in Singapore on Monday he’d become frustrated by regulation in Japan as well as the country’s education system. [ Bloomberg ] Live Office Hours with Yuri Sagalov and Sam AltmanIn this lecture, Sam Altman and Yuri Sagalov, CEO of Amium, hold Live Office Hours with three startups: MoonlightWork, Canny and Tuml. They'll discuss their ideas and their thought processes around building their companies. [ YC Blog ] Behind the Money: Venture capitalists like David Vandegrift shape how things get doneChicago’s top venture capitalists are well-known leaders whose identities often define their firms. But what about those who aren’t on the marquee? Behind the big names, there are principals and associates finding deals, mentoring startups and figuring out how to improve the industry they work and play in. Blue Sky introduces you to some of the folks helping Chicago firms figure out where to invest their millions. WHAT FRED WILSON LEARNED FROM FLATIRON PARTNERS’ FAILUREBE A CHEERLEADER FOR ENTREPRENEURS, AND OTHER DOT-COM BUBBLE LESSONS FROM THE PROMINENT INVESTOR.Wilson today is the co-founder of Union Square Ventures. He has worked in venture capital for more than 30 years. A graduate of MIT and The Wharton School, he joined Euclid Partners in the mid-1980s before co-founding Flatiron. At the time, Wilson’s peers told him he was “crazy” to invest in a “niche” market like the internet, he said. By consuming lessons of his failure in the late 1990s, Wilson wrote a playbook for himself that has been the secret to his success since then, he said. Inside the Hotel Industry’s Plan to Combat AirbnbLast year, Airbnb underwent a rough regulatory patch. The short-term rental company became a Federal Trade Commission target last summer after three senators asked for an investigation into how companies like Airbnb affect soaring housing costs. In October, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York signed a bill imposing steep fines on Airbnb hosts who break local housing rules. The two actions appeared unrelated. But one group quietly took credit for both: the hotel industry. #VANLIFE, THE BOHEMIAN SOCIAL-MEDIA MOVEMENTEmily King and Corey Smith had been dating for five months when they took a trip to Central America, in February, 2012. At a surf resort in Nicaragua, Smith helped a lanky American named Foster Huntington repair the dings in his board. When the waves were choppy, the three congregated in the resort’s hammock zone, where the Wi-Fi signal was strongest. One afternoon, Huntington listened to the couple have a small argument. Something about their fond irritation made him think that they’d be suited to spending long periods of time together in a confined space. “You guys would be great in a van,” he told them. 10 Excellent Pieces of Expert Advice for Entrepreneurs from VCsIf you want to build a successful and sustainable startup and eventually score funding, who better to look to for advice than the investors? VCs have a wealth of experience and know what separates the unicorns (winners) from the donkeys (losers). Entrepreneurs, take note! Here are 10 excellent pieces of advice from VCs. VoiceOps founder Daria Evdokimova: “Our mission is to be moneyball for sales”VoiceOps (formerly Clover Intelligence) is an AI startup for voice enterprise optimization that just presented at Y Combinator’s Demo Day and raised seed funding from Accel, Founders Fund, Lowercase capital, Y Combinator, and AngelList, through Edelweiss’ syndicate. In this interview with VoiceOps co-founder and CEO Daria Evdokimova, we learn:
Who is the Bay Area VC spending millions to get Elon Musk to dump Trump?The secretive Silicon Valley venture capitalist spending millions to tell Tesla CEO Elon Musk to “dump Trump” revealed himself Monday. Doug Derwin, a lawyer turned investor, has already bought ad space on several Silicon Valley billboards asking Musk to cut ties with President Donald Trump, according to Bloomberg. Derwin said he’s prepared to spend up to $2 million on the campaign.
Henry Hillman, Who Helped Fund KKR, Kleiner Perkins, Dies at 98Henry Hillman, a billionaire who diversified his family’s Pittsburgh-based coal and coke fortune and provided startup funding for private-equity firm KKR & Co. and Silicon Valley venture-capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has died. He was 98. |