Comet grabs $12.8 million for its engineering freelancer platformFrench startup Comet (not to be confused with Zyl, which was formerly named Comet) is building a marketplace of talented tech and data freelancers as well as companies that are looking for engineers and teams for a specific project. The company just raised a $12.8 million funding round (€11 million) with Otium Venture and Daphni. [ Tech Crunch ] Nine Smart Moves To Network Your Career Into VentureEarlier in a past career life, I was interviewing candidates for the newly created manager role reporting to me as the “senior manager” of professional development. I recall one interviewee vividly as her answer to my standard interview question “what about this job interests you?” killed her prospects of being hired for the job. [ Forbes ] John Doerr on the virtues (and perils) of goal settingJohn Doerr is a legend in Silicon Valley and the venture capital world. He’s the chairman of the VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, at which he has funded companies like Google, Amazon and Netscape. Doerr has also mentored many of their founders and sits on the boards of Google, Zynga and One.org — Bono’s nonprofit campaign to fight global poverty. But in his new book “Measure What Matters,” Doerr doesn’t dish on the history of the Valley or gossip about U2’s front man. Instead he talks about why setting objectives and measuring results is key to building a successful business. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke with Doerr about
why the idea of setting goals and sticking to them is so controversial for some companies. Watch Jeff Lawson Deconstruct Company Values — and Share How Startups Can Better Realize Them It was the moment of truth. Twilio CEO and co-founder Jeff Lawson called the number that gathers all of the company’s employees onto one conference line. Then he asked for a volunteer — little did any of them know he was sitting at a table with a panel of other well-known CEOs. Minutes before, a fellow executive had complimented Lawson on Twilio’s values, but wondered if his employees knew and could name them. A volunteer spoke up and offered: “Simple, easy, and powerful.” Lawson thanked her and she asked him if she did a good job. “You did fantastically,” he said. It didn’t matter that she’d been totally wrong. [ First Round ] In ‘Founder Friendly’ Era, Star Tech Entrepreneurs Grab Power, Huge Pay Founders of highflying startups are increasingly wresting control of their companies from venture-capital backers and extracting huge pay packages tied to going public. Venture capitalists had long called the shots in startup boardrooms and continue to be the primary backers of private companies. But in recent years, they have had to compete against new classes of investors including mutual funds, sovereign-wealth funds and now Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., which has a $92 billion fund investing in startups. [ WSJ ] Evan Spiegel took a snarky swipe at Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook's data scandalHow Silicon Valley lost its soul. And how it can (maybe) get it back.Meet The Female MIT MBAs Starting A Venture Capital FundE824 Open Book Challenge request for startups to replace Facebook! Meet 4 founders (apply 'til 6/15) Building Your Speaker Reel, Growing Your Brand Equity, and How to Raise VC |#ChopItUpShow Ep 03Tim Draper (Draper VC) & Justina Lee (Bloomberg) on Investing in blockchain | TNW Conference 2018Live Free and Die"A new startup will buy seniors’ homes—and let them live there for life."The Most Important Book You'll Read All YearElectric scooter startup Bird reportedly raises $150 million, making it the first $1 billion scooter startup4 Warning Signs That Startup Founders Are Screwing Up Their Personal LivesInvestors Bet $4 Billion on a Cryptocurrency StartupVenture Capital Fund Rokk3r Announces Partnership With the Holt Fintech Accelerator ProgramCase Closed: Taking the Mystery Out of Start-Ups and Venture Capital FundingaHow many billion-dollar companies have female founders?Studies: Venture capital favors male-led companiesTradeshift Raises $250M Series E, Goldman Sachs joins the roundHas The Market Stopped Making New Unicorns? Not ReallyAsk A VC: Can India Ever Produce Cutting Edge Technology?The United States Of Startups: The Most Well-Funded Tech Startup In Every US State |