Steve Jurvetson is out at his own venture capital firm after allegations of sexual harassmentFamed venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson is leaving his job at Draper Fisher Jurvetson in the wake of an investigation into sexual harassment. Jurvetson is the highest-profile venture capitalist to be forced from his job amid an industrywide evaluation of how Silicon Valley treats women. Jurvetson sits on the board of two of tech’s flashiest companies, SpaceX and Tesla, and the news has already stripped him of those posts, at least temporarily. DFJ announced the move in a letter to limited partners on Monday. The firm released a statement to Recode that read:
The firm did not specify the reason for the ouster in the letter, but sources said that the investigation uncovered behaviors by Jurvetson that were unacceptable related to a negative tone toward women entrepreneurs. In a one-sentence statement to Recode, Jurvetson said: “I am leaving DFJ to focus on personal matters, including taking legal action against those who have defamed me.” Jurvetson has not yet provided evidence of steps he is taking to sue, but did say in a tweet that he was a subject of “false statements.” [ Re/Code ] Stitch Fix gets a close look from consumer VC firm Goodwater Capital ahead of IPOWith Stitch Fix’s IPO on the horizon, Wall Street — and the rest of the tech industry — is going to be keeping a close eye on this next big consumer IPO as both a signal for the future of e-commerce startups like Stitch Fix and the consumer IPO market as a whole heading into the back half of the year. So one of the big metrics Wall Street and others will be focusing on is how Stitch Fix’s business is going to look moving forward beyond just their current financials — which look good — according to Goodwater Capital partner Eric Kim. After surveying around 3,000 people over the past few quarters, the firm found that while a tiny fraction of the people surveyed are Stitch Fix users, more than half of those people expect their use of Stitch Fix to increase. It’s a rounding error compared to Amazon, of which 91% expect to increase their usage, but it’s still a positive signal going forward for the company. The company focused on that, among a large number of other data points, in a big report it released today ahead of the company’s IPO. [ Tech Crunch ] Uber will soon close a sad, sad $10 billion funding round led by SoftBankUber is still a shiny unicorn per Silicon Valley standards, but the ride-hailing giant is nowhere near as magical as it used to be. The latest development in a series of unfortunate events: Uber signed off on a new funding round that could total up to $10 billion. That cash infusion, led by Japan's SoftBank Group and U.S. investment group Dragoneer, would be classified as a war chest to nearly every other company in the world. But to Uber, it's a sad development in a long wave of painful setbacks. [ Mashable ] This Fast-Growing $60 Million Company Is All About Tiny AdsAs plenty of startups know, making money off apps can be a losing game. Liftoff has been proving the opposite for the past five years. The Palo Alto, California-based mobile marketing platform specializes in mobile display advertising. In other words, it helps facilitate ad placement for advertisers inside of apps. So, imagine playing a mobile game, and a little banner ad or interstitial prompt suggests downloading a retailer's app or buying its latest hot-selling pair of leggings. That might be Liftoff's handiwork in action, since the company creates and buys ads on behalf of brands. And business has been good. With customers like CBS Sports and RetailMeNot, its three-year revenue growth surged 16,980 percent to $59.6 million in 2016--helping it land at No. 8 on this year's list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. [ Inc. ] New Interplay Investment: BurrowI love writing posts about new investments. Investing is not only an exciting sport, it’s fulfilling. It’s the opportunity to help fellow entrepreneurs chase their dreams. Today I’m excited to announce that we’re helping Stephen Kuhland Kabeer Chopra, the founders of Burrow, in their journey. Burrow is revolutionizing the living room. We’ve all had the moment of trying to move a couch up a flight of stairs. It’s a nightmare. Burrow delivers a high-quality couch at a low cost, but most importantly, they’ve solved the logistical issues related to couches. Burrow couches are delivered in boxes small enough to be sent through regular mail. Assembly only takes about 15 minutes and no tools are necessary. It’s that easy. [ mpd.me ] The current draft of the Senate Tax Reform Bill would tax stock options and RSUs upon vesting. Currently, stock options are taxed upon exercise and RSUs are taxed upon release of the underlying shares. This is a HUGE deal to everyone who works in companies that partially compensate their employees with these two equity instruments. What this would mean is every month, when your equity compensation vests a little bit, you will owe taxes on it even though you can’t do anything with that equity compensation. You can’t spend it, you can’t save it, you can’t invest it. Because you don’t have it yet. [ Business Insider ] Heyday raises $3M for personalized skincare and facialsHeyday has raised $3 million in seed funding led by New York’s Lerer Hippeau Ventures. The company’s stated goal is to take facials “out of the spa” and make them more accessible to a wider range of customers. Founder and CEO Adam Ross’ background in finance might not make him the most obvious candidate to lead a skincare startup, but he said he first got to explore the beauty industry from his vantage point of investment banking. Ross also recalled hearing women’s complaints about “how difficult it was to get a facial.” Specifically, he said the options are limited to costly, high-end facials and “random little places that are generally cheap in a bad way,” with nothing available “in the middle.” [ Tech Crunch ] Tencent's Chief eXploration Officer, David Wallerstein on WeChat, QQ, and GamingDisagree And Commit - A Management Principle For Highly Functioning TeamsDisagree and commit. I first read about this idea in the 2016 Amazon Shareholders letter. But the idea can be traced back to Andy Grove at Intel. Grove wrote about this topic in High Output Management. Disagree and commit is a management technique for handling conflict. There are two parts to it. First, expecting and demanding teammates to voice their disgreement. Second, no matter their point of view, once a decision has been made, everyone commits to its success. Bezos described it this way:
After Harassment Allegations, Justin Caldbeck Attempts a Comeback. Critics Want Him to Stay GoneVenture capitalist Justin Caldbeck resigned in disgrace from his job running Binary Capital in June after six women accused him of unwanted sexual advances. He was one of the first in a new wave of powerful men in technology, Hollywood and media whose careers imploded under a hail of disturbing accounts about unwanted abusive behavior. Now Caldbeck is also the first to attempt a post-scandal comeback. Caldbeck said he is setting out to educate young men about the dangers of “bro culture” in the workplace. He plans to release a website on the topic soon, and on Thursday, he delivered a 51-slide presentation to 50 students in a finance class at Duke University, his alma mater. He said he wasn’t paid and that he hopes to speak at other colleges. His goal, he said, is to “create positive change for women by educating young men about how to be better in the workforce.” [ Bloomberg ] Equity Shot: The Uber-SoftBank deal explainedUnpacking Lyft’s Projected Financials As Uber Pulls Itself TogetherTime to recognise the value of Venture Capital Trust fundsSnapchat’s epic strategy flip-flopThe World’s Biggest Video Game Skins Site Raised $41 Million With Crypto TokensGaming firm Razer up 18% following Hong Kong IPOAirbnb Strategy Teardown: Ahead of Potential IPO, Airbnb Looks Beyond The Hotel IndustrySilicon Valley May Get Rocked With New Allegations of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination |