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Voice Platforms: Open Alternative is an Opportunity
Albert Wenger – Nov 4, 2016
There is a lot of excitement among startups and other companies about building for Amazon’s and Google’s voice platforms. My reaction to this can be summed up as follows: Google and Amazon will have a perfect copy of every enduser [...] Read more
Uncertainty Wednesday: Limits on Explanations (Turing and Gödel)
Albert Wenger – Nov 2, 2016
Today in Uncertainty Wednesday we are continuing to look at what limits exist on explanations. If you are just coming into this series now, you will definitely want to start all the way back with the framework which sets out [...] Read more
Future of Code Talk
Albert Wenger – Oct 31, 2016
Tomorrow evening I will be giving a talk on the “Future of Code” at the NASDAQ Startup CTO Summit. The amount of code in the world has been growing exponentially for years. And that means that when you are in [...] Read more
Innovating on Exit Models for (Mission Oriented) Startups
Albert Wenger – Oct 28, 2016
At present there are three common exit options for venture backed and bootstrapped startups: trade sale (most common), IPO (increasingly rare) and sale to a PE firm (growing). We need innovation here both in the existing options and by creating [...] Read more
Uncertainty Wednesday: Limits on Explanations
Albert Wenger – Oct 26, 2016
Now that I have, ahem, explained my take on explanations, Uncertainty Wednesday can move on to examine what limits them. Again, as a reminder, the whole point here is that limits to explanations and to observations are what results in [...] Read more
Moving New York Tech Forward: Clarifai’s Series B
Albert Wenger – Oct 25, 2016
Today our portfolio company Clarifai has announced its $30 million Series B financing led by Menlo Ventures. It constitutes an important milestone in the history of the New York City startup ecosystem: generous early backing for an ambitious technology vision. [...] Read more
The Problems with EULAs are Infecting Hardware: What Will it Mean to “Own” Your Car?
Albert Wenger – Oct 21, 2016
Watching Tesla’s video of a door-to-door self driving car offers an amazing glimpse into an autonomous and robotic future But there was also a disturbing footnote to the announcement: you are not allowed to let your self-driving Tesla operate as [...] Read more
Birth of a Theorem by Cedric Villani (Book Review)
Albert Wenger – Oct 17, 2016
I recently finished reading “Birth of a Theorem” by the French mathematician Cedric Villani. It is a terrific book even if you understand only a fraction of the math in it (I certainly did not understand most of it). Villani [...] Read more
Our Need for Purpose and Recognition
Albert Wenger – Oct 14, 2016
As part of my thinking about a possible World After Capital, I have been looking into human needs. A framework that is frequently mentioned in that context is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is a great example of something that [...] Read more