From the Investors
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures has notes on the Hailo-MyTaxi combination, which he says will “operate at a scale that puts it in the big leagues along with Uber” and other players.
Shai Goldman of SVB Capital published a great list of which investors in the NYC area are actually writing checks. These are the anti-Zombie VCs.
Thomas Grota of Deutschte Telekom AG dropped the investor equivalent of a manifesto on corporate venture. Here’s the dismount:
Kanyi Maqubela of Collaborative Fund writes about the difference between things that are built, and things that are grown. According to Maqubela, he “no longer believe[s]” that they are distinct.
Greg Sands of Costanoa Venture Capital digs into second chances and why they are critically important.
From the Operators
Ryan Holmes of Hootsuite tells a story of steak, negotiations, and mathematicsthat may help you both make dinner plans, and close your next deal.
Jason Fried of Basecamp digs into the difference between building and optimizing, and how you should align your hiring schedule to fit your real needs.
Breaking from our usual mold, Daniel Gross published incredibly interesting notes on the state of American manufacturing. I would not have guessed that the following was true:
Finally, Mattermark’s editorial operation got around to looking into the Pokemon Go explosion. We used charts.
Why Are Marketplace Lenders Struggling?
Marketplace lenders raised hundreds of millions of dollars to shake up consumer finance. Initially the experiment was a success, capped by Lending Club’s IPO flying more than 50 percent in its first day’s trading.
Since then things have gone downhill. What went wrong? Journalist Sonya Mann investigates for Mattermark in a must-read post.
Today was a key day for earnings. After hours Twitter is sharply down, and Apple is sharply up. More in the morning. — Alex