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Uncertainty Wednesday: Probability
Albert Wenger – Jan 25, 2017
So last Uncertainty Wednesday, we introduced the simplest possible setup with two states and two signal values. Today we will introduce the concept of probability. If you go on Wikipedia you can find a great many different definitions of probability, [...] Read more
What I Learned from Startup Investing about the Trump Presidency
Albert Wenger – Jan 23, 2017
The other day I was pointed to an essay about how people are overreacting to Trump. That we should all adopt a wait and see attitude instead. In thinking about how to reply it occurred to me that this is [...] Read more
Inauguration Thoughts
Albert Wenger – Jan 20, 2017
There is a good thing about today’s inauguration. Despite having the lowest approval rating of an incoming president in a long time, it appears that we will have a peaceful transfer of power. That is what democracy is designed to [...] Read more
Uncertainty Wednesday: States and Signals
Albert Wenger – Jan 18, 2017
After giving two examples (Zoltar, Coin Flipping), it is now time in Uncertainty Wednesday to formalize the ideas. The following picture will be useful. It shows a very simple reality/system (the blue box) we are trying to understand and the [...] Read more
The Fight of Our Lifetime: Past against Future
Albert Wenger – Jan 17, 2017
Many of the people in power or currently grabbing for it are trying to maintain the recent past or even go back further. This is the fight of our lifetime. The Past against the Future. It is NOT: left against [...] Read more
Shippo and the Power of Abstraction: Introducing USPS ePostage
Albert Wenger – Jan 12, 2017
Our portfolio company Shippo today announced that it is now providing all customers with access to the United States Postal Service ePostage program. Shippo is the first company to have received such a license from the USPS since 1999. But [...] Read more
Uncertainty Wednesday: Coin Flipping (Example)
Albert Wenger – Jan 11, 2017
I was going to start formalizing the concepts from Uncertainty Wednesday but I got a reader suggestion to do this in the context of a coin flipping example. This is what pretty much every introductory text uses because, well, coin [...] Read more
Choosing a New Laptop
Albert Wenger – Jan 9, 2017
Seems that roughly every 4 years I consider which laptop to buy and use. In 2008 I switched from a Panasonic CF-W2 to a Macbook Air. At the time I was on my second Panasonic and I had been using [...] Read more
Blockstack Funding
Albert Wenger – Jan 6, 2017
We are excited to announce follow-on funding in our portfolio company Blockstack. Read more