Kim-Mai Cutler of Initialized Capital & TechCrunch on affordable housing crisis in SF Bay Area Housing has become a hot button issue in the Bay Area, and in fact, the world, with homes being unaffordable and the ability to produce more housing being throttled by a number of interests. Housing in the Bay Area has become more expensive than anywhere else in the country, and the ability to rent an apartment has reached a level that has exceeded NYC. Our guest today, Kim-Mai Cutler, is a Bay Area native, Initialized Capital Operating Partner, TechCrunch contributor, and has become an authority on housing in the Bay Area. Join us as she explains the affordable housing crisis, the structural issue of power, the causes and consequences of transit fragmentation, gentrification and income inequality, and more. [ This Week In Startups ] How 2 startup founders with no product, no users and no real proof their company would work raised $3 million — then built a company worth $1.3 billionRobinhood is a commission-free stock trading app that was recently valued at $1.3 billion. But when the company was first starting, there was very little proof the founders could pull it off. Vlad Tenev, cofounder and co-CEO of Robinhood, says his app could not get regulatory approval without having a sizeable amount of funding from venture capitalists. But most venture capitalists didn't want to give him money, because he had no product. 7 startups that were massively funded that died in 2017Where there's life, there's death, and Silicon Valley is no different. For every billion dollar unicorn, there are endless numbers of start-ups that have passed into the ether — laying off their engineers in matching, branded t-shirts; closing down their game rooms filled with ping-pong tables; and leaving heartfelt goodbye notes for customers on their soon-to-be defunct websites. We're halfway through 2017 and already a group of startups that together raised $1.48 billion have shut down. [ Business Insider ] Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg in Lead, Lead Again - Masters of Scale PodcastIn just 6 years, Facebook grew to 2 billion users and 14,000 employees. How? Well first, they hired COO Sheryl Sandberg. And she knew that to lead a fast-changing organization, you have to be as skilled at breaking plans as you are at making them. Great scale leaders know how to pivot. Every day, there are new competitors, new threats, new opportunities. There’s no simple, straightforward set of marching orders. It’s more like a dogfight. You and your team will be flying upside down and at an angle sometimes. Sandberg shares her practical, tactical on-the-ground lessons she learned at both Google and Facebook — everything from hiring people for roles that never existed before, celebrating birthdays for an enormous team, and navigating make-or-break crises as a management team. She also reveals the slow, professional courtship of Mark Zuckerberg. [ Masters of Scale Podcast ] Unpacking Pinterest’s $150M Series WhateverIn a slightly surprising move, Pinterest raised $150 million from private investors this week. The round is notable for a few reasons:
Why the firm may have wanted the cash isn’t too hard to understand. When the markets offer you lots of cash on good terms, you tend to say yes. But let’s explore the round for a minute so that when this particular decacorn does finally file, we’ll be on solid footing. [ Crunchbase Blog ] One Thing Silicon Valley Can’t Seem to Fix“Silicon Valley is the only place on Earth not trying to figure out how to become Silicon Valley,” Robert Metcalfe, an inventor of the Ethernet, once wrote. Every year hundreds of people, tourists and entrepreneurs alike, come to the Bay Area hoping to “see Silicon Valley.” So much so that an article in The Mercury News last year suggested that the Valley is giving Alcatraz, the Golden Gate and the Bay Area’s other tourist attractions a run for their money. [ NY Times ] Why SAFE notes are not safe for entrepreneursThe shortcomings of SAFE notes (simple agreement for future equity) are coming home to roost; ironically, entrepreneurs are paying the price. Y Combinator invented the notes with a noble goal: “we intend the SAFE to remain fair to both investors and founders.” But many SAFE notes that entrepreneurs are quick to issue now have a nasty bite: much more dilution than the issuers thought when they signed those documents. [ Tech Crunch ] How a viral site for millennial 'betches' quietly became a full-blown media companyWhen Jordana Abraham, Samantha Fishbein and Aleen Kuperman started detailing the ins and outs of the typical girl-on-campus as 22-year-old college seniors back in 2011, little did they know that their satirical blog would become a viral internet phenomenon. So much so, that today, Betches is not just a millennial lifestyle website, but a full-fledged brand in its own right. It spans a popular Instagram account, an e-commerce store, two bestselling books, a newsletter, a podcast and a social media company that manages multiple accounts and runs influencer programs on behalf of brands. [ Business Insider ] These South Bay and Peninsula cities are raking in venture capitalThough the region known as Silicon Valley covers dozens of municipalities, a few cities get outsized attention in tech circles. Everyone knows Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose and San Francisco as hotbeds for startup innovation. But they’re not the only ones. Less-talked-about cities in the region are also raking in funding, beating out major cities in other states for total venture investment. [ Tech Crunch ] |