From the Investors
Michael Copeland and Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz discuss mobile market trends, current major smartphone makers and question the future of mobile in “Enough With the Old Stuff – Time for New Questions in Mobile” (audio)
Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures believes Apple and Google being the ‘gatekeepers’ of smartphone apps is hindering mobile software innovation in “Mobile Innovation: We Need to Get Past App Store Duopoly“
Tim Devane of Red Sea Ventures sees an increasing adoption of podcasts and shares three thoughts on ‘what the podcast can become’ in “A Platinum Age of Radio“
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures praises Stratechery author Ben Thompson’s perspective on the state of consumer technology in 2014 in “What’s Next“
David Erickson of Bessemer Venture Partners guides management teams with five ‘questions that should be asked’ when choosing a banking firm for an IPO in “‘Demystifying the IPO Process’ – Questions to Ask at the ‘Bake-Off’“
Semil Shah of Haystack Fund for Strictly VC interviews Patrick Gallagher to better understand CrunchFund’s approach to investing in later-stage and B2B companies in “VC Patrick Gallagher on Where CrunchFund is Shopping Now“
Angel Investor Joanne Wilson gives an example of ‘intellectually sparring’ with a male investor for the sake of ‘playing the game [of measuring achievements]’ in “The Games We Play“
Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Ventures at PandoMonthly, argues ‘having too much personal experience can lead to over-extrapolation, given that no two [company] scenarios are the same’ in “If I Were to Go Back, I’d Skip All My Operating Experience and Go Straight Into VC“
From the Operators
Evan Spiegel of Snapchat addresses his employees about the importance of secrets, in an email regarding leaked private company information in the recent Sony Pictures hack in “Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel on Being Hacked: ‘It’s Not Okay That People Steal Our Secrets“
Jason Cohen of WP Engine encourages founders to ‘navigate your own waters’ saying, ‘you mustn’t judge yourself with the yardstick of other companies’ in “The Wrongness of Relativism“
Mickey Graham of Work-Bench showcases twenty of their enterprise technology members and portfolio startups at their recent corporate innovation summit in “Innovation in the Enterprise Summit – Recap“
Mikael Cho of Crew looks to help busy people on the go find coffee shops with the essentials of mobile productivity – good coffee, good wi-fi and plugs in “Coffee Shop Unicorns“
Ina Herlihy of Tradecraft analyzes fifteen startup referral codes and landing pages, noting usability challenges and why personalization matters in “How to Optimize Refferal Programs“