Behance
We have long believed that the Internet is about giving "power to the people." One way in which the Internet does that is by letting people show what they have created to the world. People do that in all sorts of ways, for instance by posting on blogs and Youtube. This is a bit like "show your work" in school tests -- by doing so you can get credit for it. On the Internet, new connections can then form on the basis of the creations as others discover your work. There are dedicated networks emerging that facilitate this approach. For...
ContinueB Corporation
Etsy announced yesterday that the company has become a Certified B Corporation. In doing so Etsy joins a growing group of now over 500 companies that includes Patagonia and Seventh Generation. We are excited about this as it fits well with our beliefs about the changing role of businesses. Etsy is a great example of the Internet-based networks and marketplaces that are reshaping our economy and society. At Union Square Ventures, these types of networks are central to our investment thesis. We are committed to protecting and enhancing the freedom for networks to form and operate, which was a key...
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Today we are excited to bring together a group of thinkers and doers to USV to discuss how networks are transforming our society and economy, and what this means for the future of innovation, competition, regulation and policy advocacy. We are calling the event Hacking Society, which is, of course, ambitiously broad. What we mean by that is the way in which networks — i.e., groups of people connected directly to one another via the Internet — are finding new ways to work together, make things and solve problems. As this happens — and it's happening across all sectors of life, from entertainment,...
ContinueThe Twitter "Patent Hack"
Yesterday Twitter announced that they plan to amend the assignments agreements that they sign with their employees. They call this proposed amendment the Innovator's Patent Agreement. I've been aware of this effort inside of Twitter for a while and I like to call this move the "Twitter Patent Hack" because I think what they have done is very clever and is likely to have a material change in the way patents are used to foster and/or hinder innovation, as the case may be. Specifically Twitter has said that they will only used these assigned patent rights defensively to protect themselves...
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The shift from hierarchical models of resource allocation to more efficient marketplaces is occurring not only in handmade goods or creative projects, but in the provision of financial services as well. New digitally-native financial services that use technology in ways that directly benefit the customers of those services are emerging in areas ranging from personal finance and lending to trading and business lending. Many of these native services take the form of loosely coupled networks and marketplaces, which operate based upon the principle that transparent, real-time information flows enable users to get faster results and investors better returns. Funding...
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