This tech startup is starting its own net neutral, independent internet
Silicon Valley Wants to Cash In on FastingLike most of the health fads that catch on in Silicon Valley, this one broke through thanks to word-of-mouth—and a Medium post. Entrepreneur Sumaya Kazi extolled its virtues to 650,000 readers, while venture capitalist Phil Libin and others preached about it to anyone who would listen. Their miraculous idea was in fact a very old one: eating nothing at all for long stretches of time. Monthly Google searches for “intermittent fasting,” which has become a catchall term for various forms of the practice, have risen tenfold over the past three years, to as many as 1 million. That’s about as many as “weight loss” gets, and more than “diet.” Now comes the next step, as businesses try to turn various forms of the craze into profit. [ Bloomberg ] BirchBox CEO-Turned-Investor Hayley Barna Discusses Top Founder MistakesHayley Barna co-founded beauty cosmetics company Birchbox in 2010. As the co-CEO, Barna helped grow the startup to more than a million monthly subscribers — all while raising tens of millions of dollars in venture capital. But then in August of 2015, Barna decided to relinquish her chief executive role. “I realized that after six years of starting, operating, and growing BirchBox, it was best for me and for the business to step away,” she said. [ Fortune ] Catalyst brothers find capital success with $2.4m from True Ventures Over the past few years, the old language of “customer support” has been supplanted by the new language of “customer success.” In the old model, companies would essentially disappear following the conclusion of a sale, merely handling customer problems when they arose. Now, companies are actively reaching out to customers, engaging them with education and training and monitoring them with analytics to ensure they have the best time with the product as possible. [ Tech Crunch ] When Cool Guys Want Luxury Watches and Wrist-Mounted Flamethrowers, This Is Where They Shop It might be a cliche but it's a pretty accurate description of the e-commerce startup Touch of Modern: The third time is the charm. Its four co-founders pivoted twice before settling on the idea that would finally pan out--a site offering a curated selection of clothing and home goods for men. And pan out it did: Touch of Modern estimates it will hit $200 million in revenue in 2018. This is the story of an overnight success, eight years in the making. [ Inc. ] Canvas General Partner Paul Hsiao Leads $15.3M Series B Investment in KIDBOX – Adding Another Female CEO to His PortfolioIf you think Canvas Ventures General Partner Paul Hsiao gravitates to female founders and CEOs, we wouldn’t blame you. Hsiao has led Canvas investments in the following female-led companies: Thrive Global (CEO: Arianna Huffington); Zola (CEO: Shan-Lyn Ma); eporta (CEO: Aneeqa Khan); Fluxx (CEO: Madeline Duva), today added KIDBOX (CEO: Miki Racine Berardelli) to his list. He serves on each of these company’s boards. Paul also led a Series C investment in Houzz, led by another female CEO, Adi Tatarko, when he was a partner at NEA. Canvas, as a firm, was ranked #1 by The Information’s recent “VC Diversity Index” of 2018. According to Canvas, 30% of their investment capital since their inception in 2013 have gone to female-led companies. That compares to 15% industry-wide according to Pitchbook. [ Tech Crunch ] Softbank, Google join $1.9 billion investment in China truck-hailing firmChamath Palihapitiya From The Sohn Conference - April 23, 2018 | CNBCMobileCoin, a cryptocurrency from the creator of Signal, just raised $30M for mobile payments E814: Airtable Howie Liu: $52m B, launches Blocks customizable apps& supercharge database insightsAndreessen Horowitz is preparing to launch a separate fund for crypto investmentsList Co wants to help early-stage entrepreneurs do their own PR through access to up-to-date media listsThis guy turned Go-Jek from a zombie into Indonesia’s hottest startupSequoia China co-leads $11m Series A in US medtech startup NuProbeCulture Trip picks up $80M for its millennial-focused travel site Asia news roundup: Razer acquiring fintech firm MOL Global, Nio to set up $500m auto fundDealShot: Chinese WeChat Business Service Firm Weimob Raises $160M In Series D Funding RoundChina's Didi in talks for IPO as early as this year: WSJZach Hatraf - Founder at Anchor Charter Services - Innovation …http://innovationcity.co - “I actually make a list of 3-5 things that I need to do, and if I hit those… I know that I’ve won the day. And when I win the day, I just need to win a series of days to succeed. I guess that’s my whole strategy.” [ Youtube ] Additive Dealmaking An analysis of the evolution of the buy-and-build strategy Surviving The Retail Apocalypse: The Technologies And Trends That Can Help Brick-And-Mortar Thrive AgainMaster Lecture: Venture Capitalists |