Silicon Valley Startups Favor IPOs Over Deals as M&A LanguishesWhen it comes to choosing an exit, some closely held technology companies are betting they can get richer valuations from a public listing than from being acquired. Okta Inc. is one of at least five sale targets worth $1 billion or more -- public or private -- to have held deal talks in recent months that have fallen apart, people with knowledge of the matter said. The enterprise-software company based in San Francisco is now marketing its initial public offering to investors. [ Bloomberg ] Didi Said to Be Weighing $6 Billion SoftBank-Backed FundingChinese ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing is weighing whether to take a $6 billion investment backed by SoftBank Group Corp. that could dilute existing backers such as Apple Inc., people familiar with the matter say. [ Bloomberg ] Lyft founder's game plan for beating Uber: 'We're woke' and a 'better boyfriend'Uber is getting battered by a never-ending bad-news cycle that has featured accusations of sexual harassment and a lawsuit brought by one of its investors. That has created a big opening for Lyft, Uber's main rival in the US, to capitalize on the situation. So what's Lyft's master plan? According to Lyft's cofounder and president, it all boils down to one word: "woke." "We're woke. Our community is woke, and the US population is woke," John Zimmer said in an interview with Time on Monday, referring to how his company planned to take advantage of Uber's recent stumbles. [ Business Insider ] Hillary Clinton discusses diversity and inclusion in Silicon ValleySpeaking at the PBWC Conference in San Francisco today, Hillary Clinton called on Silicon Valley to improve diversity and inclusion, particularly by introducing paid parental leave policies. Clinton mentioned Uber and its recent sexual harassment scandal as an example of a company struggling with inclusion, and cited Salesforce as a company making positive strides on equal pay. [ Tech Crunch ] Japan's Startup Founders Are Flocking to This Seaside City in JapanFukuoka is the fastest-growing city in Japan outside the capital region, and it is cutting taxes and visa restrictions. From the fifth-floor office of his internet startup, Kazz Watabe can see the sea bass jump in the bay as he works on his fishing website to the sound of jazz and the waves washing on the beach below. [ Bloomberg ] Bustle Turns Political in Latest $12 Million Funding RoundWhen Bryan Goldberg, a co-founder of the sports blog, the Bleacher Report, announced in 2013 that he was starting a female-oriented site, he became a lightning rod for critics who accused him of having no clue what women want or need. Now Bustle is valued at just under $200 million and branching more into political reporting. [ WSJ ] Where to Look for the Next Billion Dollar Startup, According to the VC Who Backed Dropbox and TuneInSequoia Capital Partner Bryan Schreier shares his vision of the future for entrepreneurs. This Developer's Sex Life Is Testing the Limits of Silicon Valley ToleranceCredit Karma's CEO Built a Sexy Brand in an Unsexy Category with No PR Firm and a Tiny Budget — Here's HowKenneth Lin was skimming through Reddit — an unremarkable daily habit — when he discovered something that changed his life for good: His company, Credit Karma, had finally broken into the mainstream. There it was: A thread about credit monitoring kicked off by a user suspicious that his company’s free credit check service was a scam — including a passionate response from a user defending and extolling Credit Karma. “Oh my god,” Lin thought. “That person doesn’t even work for us.” It was a purely organic moment — foreshadowing the word-of-mouth trend that would win the startup millions of users in the months to come. [ First Round ] Software Engineer Starts Unlikely Business: A Weekly NewspaperIn a newsroom wedged into a storefront here, reporters worked on stories about the contentious issues driving the conversation around town, like a property reassessment that could affect taxes and testing in the public schools. An editor read through submissions for a St. Patrick’s Day limerick contest. And Kevin Meacham, the newspaper’s top editor, was in his office, looking at a mock-up of a front page on his computer, “XXXX” taking the place of headlines waiting to be written. [ NY Times ] |