Here are a few of this quarter's highlights:
Sarah Lacy launches Chairman Mom, a social platform for working mothersSarah Lacy, founder of media site Pando, has unveiled her newest company, Chairman Mom. The subscription-based startup aims to provide resources to working mothers, and ultimately set them up to succeed in all areas of their lives. “One of the things
that’s actually pretty distinct for us is we focus really on the woman, not the children,” Lacy told TechCrunch. “There’s a lot of sites where you can get a lot of answers of what’s a great pre-school or where’s a restaurant that is kid-friendly. and a lot of things are always very kid-centric. We’re really woman centric.” Spotify’s Daniel Ek is now worth about $2.3 billionSpotify is worth $25 billion as of Wednesday, and that means that its founders now have real money — not just some on-paper-only wealth. CEO Daniel Ek, who owns just over 9 percent of the music streaming company, is now sitting on about $2.3 billion of Spotify stock at its current price. His lower-profile co-founder, Martin Lorentzon, has about $3.1 billion worth of shares in the company. [ Recode ] Skimlinks CEO & founder Navarro moves on, hands reigns to new CEOFounders don’t always see a startup all the way through to an “exit”. It happens a lot more often than you realise. In fact, it’s quite often the case in Silicon Valley, despite the mythic status the ‘founder story’ has attained there in recent times. So it’s actually a sign of maturity that founders in Europe are making moves of this nature. [ Tech Crunch ] Silicon Valley Grapples With Security Risks After YouTube ShootingA shooting outside the offices of YouTube on Tuesday prompted an outpouring of support from fellow technology workers, as well as a sense of dread over whether other corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley were vulnerable to similar attacks. [ Bloomberg ] It’s a bold move for a four-year-old sneaker brand. GREATS, a company that sells Italian-made leather shoes, will open a store in New York on April 20, right around the block from its closest competitors, Adidas and Nike. At a time when malls are shutting down at record pace, GREATS believes that brick and mortar stores are still a valuable retail channel. “There’s no better way to introduce a customer to what we’re about as a brand,” says Ryan Babenzien, GREAT’s CEO, who formerly worked for PUMA and K-Swiss. [ Fast Company ] THIS SILICON VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL IS THE ULTIMATE INCUBATORKEN MONTGOMERY HAS always nurtured star students. One went on to become President Obama’s deputy chief technology officer; another founded a coding school in Nebraska; still others are Rhodes scholars and Harvard PhDs. But the English teacher and debate coach had no idea what he was doing right—until he started polling those former students. The secret wasn’t test prep or more homework, they told him. It was that Montgomery had encouraged them to create. What if, he thought, he built a whole school around that idea? [ Wired ] Venture Catalysts: The 36 Women Secretly Breaking Up Silicon Valley’s Old Boys' ClubAILEEN LEE STARED at the email in her drafts folder for nearly a month, unsure what to do. The summer of 2017 had been brutal for venture capital. One San Francisco firm, Binary Capital, was evaporating as a partner resigned over allegations of sexual harassment. Accusations of inappropriate sexual advances and affairs would soon lead cofounders of two other prominent firms—500 Startups and multibillion-dollar firm DFJ—to resign. Silicon Valley was facing a reckoning, an early #MeToo moment, months before that scandal radiated out of Hollywood. [ Forbes ] Exclusive: Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Minted Co-Founder Melissa Kim Join StyleSeat Board3D Home Printing for the Developing World – Alexandria Lafci and Brett Hagler of New Story CharityAlexandria Lafci - https://twitter.com/laughsee - and Brett Hagler - https://twitter.com/bretthagler - are cofounders of New Story Charity - https://newstorycharity.org/ New Story Charity builds homes and communities in the developing world. They were part of the Summer 2015 YC batch. They just 3d printed their first home in Austin, Texas. You can read more at - https://3DHome.org Zilingo joins heavyweight class of Southeast Asian ecommerce with $54m series C raiseVenture Capital Alliance Invests $45 Million In Puerto Rico's 'Entrepreneurial Ecosystem'Chinese ecommerce giant Meituan-Dianping to acquire bike-sharing startup MobikeCould Blockchain Technology Help Avoid Another Cambridge Analytica?AllRaise wants to increase the amount of venture funding female founders receivePinterest Founder Ben Silbermann’s Lessons on Decision Making, Values, and Taking Time for YourselfUnicorns: Which are Growing, Which Are Shrinking?BitPay Raises $40M in Series B Funding to Expand into Emerging Asian MarketsAsia news roundup: Ola acquires Ridlr, Grab-Uber deal scrutinized, and more |