29 October 2014

Y Combinator, Big Winner, Sequoia Capital

The Big Winner from Y Combinator’s Success? Sequoia Capital: ".... when Sequoia finds a winner, they try to own as much of the company as possible through follow-on investments (they famously provided all of the institutional capital to WhatsApp, a company that was bought by Facebook for $19BN). Sequoia is the biggest winner from the founding of Y Combinator. But why? Sequoia can double down on the fastest-growing companies and YC can’t. The way YC is currently structured doesn’t allow them to make follow-on investments to get larger stakes in the runaway winners like Airbnb and Dropbox (though some of the YC partners do make personal follow-on investments)...."

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22 October 2014

Jason Fried, Scott Heiferman, Building Businesses That Last

Jason Fried + Scott Heiferman: Building Businesses That Last on Vimeo:

Jason Fried + Scott Heiferman: Building Businesses That Last from 99U on Vimeo.

There’s a ton of focus on growing quickly and scaling, but there’s beauty in the long, slow, sustained effort. Scott Heiferman has been running Meetup since 2002 and Jason Fried has been at the helm of Basecamp since 1999. In this 99U Interview, the two accomplished founders discuss the long haul: how do we build businesses that become our life’s work?

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19 October 2014

Tech Darwinism, Why Some Companies Don’t Survive (video)

Tech Darwinism: Why Some Companies Don’t Survive : Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)

NYU Stern School of Business Associate Professor J.P. Eggers and NewCo Chairman John Battelle discuss the evolution of tech companies. They speak on "Market Makers." (Source: Bloomberg--Sept 30)

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15 October 2014

How to Start a Startup (video)

Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup -

Sam Altman and Dustin Moskovitz start off the How to Start a Startup Course. Sam's topic is "Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution, Part I" and Dustin's is "Why to Start a Startup". (published 9/23/2014)

http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec01/ [has slide decks]


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02 October 2014

Venture Capital, Startup Funding, New Tech Bubble

Infographic: Startup Funding Shows Signs of New Tech Bubble | Statista
Source: Statista

Startup Funding Shows Signs of New Tech Bubble | Statista"... venture capital funding in the U.S. amounted to $12.97 billion in Q2 2014, which is by far the highest level it’s been at since Q1 2001. Compared to the second quarter of last year, VC funding jumped 81% in Q2, representing the highest year-over-year increase since Q3 2000 when VC funding reached its historical peak. Interestingly the number of VC deals hasn’t increased as much as the total amount that was invested, indicating that the average value per deal must have increased. And indeed it has: at $11.64 million the average value per deal was as high in Q2 2014 as it’s last been in Q4 2000..."

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Mediocre Entrepreneurs | TechCrunch: " . . . . persistence is not the self-help cliche “Keep going until you hit the finish line!”. The key slogan is, “Keep failing until you accidentally no longer fail.” That’s persistence." - James Altucher

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DealBook - NYTimes

You're the Boss - NYTimes

Bucks - NYTimes