Buzz Room
A compendium of what our partners are reading each week, highlighting macro industry trends, our investment focus areas, and general personal and business strategies.
News About Our Portfolio Companies
- Grovo named #24 on entrepreneur list of best company cultures in America
- Newswhip lands Series A including 100K from Social Starts + takes on fake news
- Instagram launches ads in stories to global advertisers with the help of our portfolio company, Adaptly
- Cassia Networks partners with WWT for greater distribution of IoT solutions
- SocialRank releases Realtime – a “one-person command center for brands and agencies” using AI and machine learning
- Iris.TV CEO, Richie Hyden, weighs in on YouTube TV + challenges to Linear TV
- Evaluating messaging solutions from Lua
- Alphapoint completes blockchain trial with Scotiabank
- SocialRank is turning your angry tweets into useful information for brands
- Kepler integrates our portfolio company Zemanta’s native DSP to provide more holistic cross-channel marketing
Industry Trends
- Snap’s Apple strategy + Instagram stories slowing Snap’s growth? + Snow, Snap’s competitor in Asia + NBC’s 500M infusion into Snap
- Will Snap make it through the year + a valuation infographic + exploring drones and a 360 video camera + the most expensive tech IPO ever?
- Analyzing the Snap IPO in numbers + banker’s influence on Snap’s 1st day pop
- We are watching more video, but not TV + Facebook rushed into Live video and didn’t realize the dark side
- Fred Wilson on the health of the US startup ecosystem
- SaaS businesses that went public are cash efficient
- Manifestos and monopolies – Facebook?
- Google’s Pixel flop
- Anchor allows easier way to record and transmit audio content
- How Alexa could replace TV + Alexa as an intercom
- LPs are bullish in venture
- Bitcoin surpasses gold with speculation of Winklevoss ETF
- 40% of millennials don’t have cable
- Satellite imaging to reflect retail traffic and stock price + another use case…for insurance claims
- Softbank invest 3B into WeWork
- Cloudbleed – everything to know
- Apple, Google, and Microsoft stocks since 2007
- Millennial cities can’t assume a continued boost from young as they age
- UPS testing drones for delivery trucks to be in 2 places at once + Airbus reveals self-piloting flying car concept
- Cheap UA and AA flights are here + affordable air travel
- Facebook messenger bot platforms losing steam + testing out a dislike button
- What happened to Twitter
- Amex adding Uber credits to Platinum Card
- US consumers now spend 5 hours a day on mobile
- JP Morgan’s contract intelligence
- Did the Oscars prove Elon Musk’s theory?
- Analyzing VC exits
- An Ethereum alliance
- State of global tech salaries
- Shoplifting gangs costing retailers 30B per year
- Netflix analyzed with a16z
- Manufacturing job losses leading to a decrease in marriages?
- Spotify 50M paying customers but still a shaky business model
- Drug overdose deaths now higher than guns, cars, and suicides
- Facial recognition software reaching the next level
- Tesla and Ford have roughly the same market cap with Tesla <3% of Ford’s revenue
- Living with robots + what’s wrong with Bill Gates’ robot tax + where jobs will be lost + Cuban on future of tech
Artificial Intelligences
- AI as a threat to the middle class
- AI trader to take on hedge funds
- Europe AI Scalesup report
- SXSW leverages AI + 13 fastest growing startups at SXSW
- Business focus on AI rising exponentially + 5 predictions for AI in 2017 + how to cut through the AI hype
- Non-technical guide to machine learning
- Google Assistant
Commerce
- Dick’s plans native brand push + how Vans has attained eternal youth
- What is a DNVB (digitally native vertical brand)?
IoT Software
- Greatest privacy threat, our connected devices
- Living in an era of big data and smart things
- Most consumers not engaging in connecting devices in homes
- Making industrial IoT data pay
Content and Experiences
- The problems of ‘goggle face’
- VR arcade movement
- What it will take for AR to take over + how Shazam uses AR to make $$$
Blockchain Beyond Currency
- Is blockchain technology the future of two factor authentication?
- IBM’s blockchain deployed by Northern Trust Corp
- Blockchain startup visual + blockchain in 200 lines of code
Work Platforms
- Gig economy platforms creating new type of entrepreneurs
- Effective recruiting metrics for startups
Health
- Predictions for healthcare in 2017
- ACA startups bracing for what’s next
- A majority of healthcare organizations will use IoT by 2019
- DNA could be the future of data storage
Business and Personal Strategy
- The B2B version of the startup matrix + reverse engineering a unicorn
- The MVP is dead + the Hypo framework + 100% retention will help you go public
- Make price the last thing in a pitch
- Sam Altman on how to start a startup + when to start a company?
- The people who never forget things
- Understanding social platforms + network effects from YC
- Myth of the entrepreneur
- Workplace trends millennials are eliminating + escaping a toxic workplace + culture and revolution by a16z + your culture is who you hire, fire, promote
- Poor applicant tracking leads to soft skill shortage
- Jerry Colonna’s therapy for start up CEOs + Brad Feld’s posts on Jerry
- Amazon’s leadership principles
- No need for bunkers…just be nice
- Technology designed to addict us
- 12 life/business lessons from Buffet + 20 slot rule
- Life changing books to read
- Why novelty is overrated + go-to-market fit
- Productivity over efficiency
- The life of a VC