A unicorn company, or unicorn startup, is a private company with a valuation over $1 billion. As of August 2021, there are more than 800 unicorns around the world. CB Insights I sometimes felt quite alone in my scorn for the idea of “unicorn” terminology as applied to startups and their valuation. The focus on … Continue reading Unicorn to Unicorny
Unicorns
Unicornonsense
Sometimes when we find ourselves on the third base, we think we hit a triple. It doesn’t matter if we got there by series of luck of the draw. I mean a botched throw that turned a single into a triple. Or a passed ball that helped with a stolen base or two. The point … Continue reading Unicornonsense
Summer’s over so let’s WeWork
I am not much for summer vacation, but occasionally I do like to take a couple of days to tune out my work life. All the travel and meetings of my trip made it difficult for me to sit down and write a coherent piece for this week’s newsletter. So rather than begin this week’s newsletter with the usual essay, I will just offer up the following observation. Continue reading “Summer’s over so let’s WeWork”
5 stories I recommend that are worth reading
Three Mushers, one blizzard, and the world’s hardest dog sled race. No, this is not about Iditarod, but about the 1,000-mile long Yukon Quest. Great and fun read from Deadspin. Ofo-oh! China’s unicorns built up and ruined China’s bicycle manufacturing hub. The bust is impacting small businesses and upending individuals’ lives. This is good reporting … Continue reading 5 stories I recommend that are worth reading
The Price is Right
I have to admit, it is great to see the initial public offerings of various technology companies come to market and create a level of excitement. Lyft, Uber, and Pinterest are hogging the headlines, but they are also helping to kickstart the financial engine that makes Silicon Valley hum. Of course, not everyone is enthusiastic. … Continue reading The Price is Right
Cockroaches, Unicorns, Startups. Enough Already!
An article on the UK-version of BusinessInsider got me a little worked up and I made a post on my Facebook page. An intense conversation followed and Dave Winer suggested that this would make a good blog post. He was right – as always! “Everything is about resiliency now to weather the storm,” says Tim McSweeney, … Continue reading Cockroaches, Unicorns, Startups. Enough Already!
2015: Analysis of Venture Capital, IPO & Exit Trends
2016 is turning out to be a tough year for startups and the venture capital industry. It shouldn’t come as a susrpise, for there were early signs of the coming slowdown – except no one was noticing. With help of my friend Nima Wedake, I parsed the 2015 data from Pitchbook and other data sources to … Continue reading 2015: Analysis of Venture Capital, IPO & Exit Trends
The Slow Death of Irrelevance
Evernote isn’t dead — not yet at least.But the seeds for its long-term demise are already well under way, argues Josh Dickson. The main reason — growing irrelevance of the product and inability of the company to innovate forward.[Syrah] Continue reading The Slow Death of Irrelevance
Yelp, Cord-Cutting, Expensive Eggs, Facebook and 7 Billion Mobile Subscribers
In the middle of the slow summer months, this has been one hectic week: Earnings and other news have kept the information flowing at a much faster pace. I have been taking notes and wanted to share these interesting tidbits, which have gotten lost in the noise. Yelp calls for help! You might not have paid attention … Continue reading Yelp, Cord-Cutting, Expensive Eggs, Facebook and 7 Billion Mobile Subscribers