What Is AirBnB's Valuation Right Now?AirBnB has quickly become a household name, no pun intended. The peer-to-peer home-sharing platform was founded in Silicon Valley in 2008 as airbedandbreakfast.com. It was initially scoffed at by investors, who thought the idea would never catch on, given that people already had so many hotel options. For example, Union Square Ventures co-founder Fred Wilson wrote in 2011 that he passed on AirBnB because he couldn't picture it working: "We couldn't wrap our heads around air mattresses on the living room floors as the next hotel room and did not chase the deal," he said. "Others saw the amazing team that we saw, funded them, and the rest is history." In the summer of 2008 alone, the company and its three founders were rejected or ignored by 15 angel investors. However, their big break was coming -- thanks to cereal and some quick thinking. [ The Motley Fool ] Record $19 Billion of Investment Suggests Europe Tech Is Doing FineEuropean startups are on pace to collect a record $19 billion from investors this year, despite concerns the U.K.'s departure from the European Union will weigh on the region's technology industry, according to an annual report by the London-based venture capital firm Atomico. The bitcoin exchange Coinbase has been ordered to hand the IRS info on 14,355 of its highest-rolling customers
There’s an implosion of early-stage VC funding, and no one’s talking about itAmid record amounts of capital raised by VCs worldwide, and a sharp rise in the number of private “unicorns” valued at $1 billion-plus, there has been a quiet, barely noticed implosion in early-stage VC activity worldwide. The chart below is dramatic, and accurate. Since 2014, the number of VC rounds in technology companies worldwide has nearly halved, from 19,000 to 10,000, according to PitchBook. During that time, the drop in VC funding amount has been nowhere near as dramatic, highlighting that VCs are concentrating investment into fewer later-stage companies. [ Tech Crunch ] How 41 People in Lithuania Took Over Your Facebook FeedOf all of Facebook’s superpowers, perhaps the most disconcerting is how it can make online publishers disappear with the push of a button. Think I’m exaggerating? Just look at what happened to websites like Upworthy, Viralnova and Distractify, which amassed enormous Facebook followings and then faded from view after the site’s algorithm started to weed out pages that published hyperbolic headlines and low-value fluff. Other publishers that depend on Facebook for a large portion of their traffic — which is to say, most of them — fear they could be next under the guillotine. [ NY Times ] The 11 most valuable VC-backed ecommerce companies in EuropeEcommerce has long been an industry in which VCs have had success. Indeed, several of Europe's biggest VC investments and exits have come in this sector. Just this year, Rocket Internet-backed food delivery marketplace Delivery Hero priced its IPO at the top of its range at €25.50, netting the company €465 million and giving it a valuation of roughly €4.4 billion. Elsewhere, Deliveroo, one of the most valuable startups in
Europe, completed a huge $482 million Series F round in early November. Uber Investor Shervin Pishevar Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Multiple WomenFive women tell Bloomberg the venture capitalist used his position of power to pursue romantic relationships and unwanted sexual encounters. Managers Must Be Insane To Brainstorm In Groups“Evidence from science suggests that business people must be insane to use brainstorming groups.” That’s a shocking statement. Adrian Furnham, a professor of organizational and applied psychology at University College London, said it. It turns out it’s completely true.
Social Influence processes in group brainstorming We feel better and more productive in group brainstorming sessions, but in reality, we produce fewer ideas and of fewer quality. In addition to the paper above, these results have been confirmed many times. The researchers and authors of the paper proposed the theory that three forces impinge group brainstorming productivity:
Pinterest business lead Tim Kendall is leaving the companyPinterest president Tim Kendall, who has since joining in 2012 overseen the growth of the startup’s advertising business and launch of a wide array of ad products, is leaving the company at the end of the year. Kendall oversaw the company’s business operations for the past five years as it sought to grow from a niche advertising product in experimental budgets to something worth robust ad spend from larger businesses. Since then, Pinterest has begun to steadily refine its pitch and built a business that is reportedly targeting $500 million in revenue next year. It missed some early projections that it laid out many years ago, but with more than 200 million monthly active users, Pinterest has made a full-court press to get its ad products out the door and into the hands of brands and marketers. [ TechCrunch] Blue Apron loses its CEONest, iPod Creator Fadell Backs His First Cybersecurity StartupLSE Events | How Entrepreneurial Management Transforms Culture and Drives GrowthUptake raises $117 million to spot inefficiencies in industrial machineryFarmers Business Network Raises $110 Million To Help Squeezed Farmers Cut Costs, Increase ProfitsH2O.ai Raises $40 Million to Democratize Artificial Intelligence for the EnterpriseSurvey: Silicon Valley's Russian Ties Is The Top Tech Scandal Of 2017This Is the Low-Profile, High-Stakes World of Venture LendingE10: "Angel": Matt Brezina, angel Dropbox/Cruise & founder Xobni/Sincerely, invests in buildersWhy You Need To Dedicate At Least Four Years To Your Startup IdeaEpisode 1 rolls out new $81M seed-to-Series A fund, despite Brexit headwindsStartup event in Finland puts spotlight on European techAcorns Teardown: The Most Popular Robo-Advisor Faces A Fierce Fight As It Goes ‘Upmarket’ |