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VR/AR: Experiencing is Believing
Albert Wenger – May 23, 2016
I can still remember the first time that I experienced the web, which was on a workstation in a lab at MIT in late 1993 (Mosaic had come out in January of that year). The experience of easily accessing remote [...] Read more
Contestable Markets in the Age of Network Effects
Albert Wenger – May 19, 2016
Network effects are central to our investment thesis at USV. We believe that they provide one of the few (the only?) source of sustainable competitive advantage. We have also been outspoken about wanting to limit the power that these network [...] Read more
The Dangerous Rise of Populism
Albert Wenger – May 17, 2016
My book World After Capital argues that we are living in a dangerous time of transition: industrial capitalism is breaking down and we don’t yet have a viable alternative. Incumbent politicians are still clinging to fixing the existing system while [...] Read more
Announcing Blockstack Labs (a Name Change)
Albert Wenger – May 16, 2016
When we invested in Onename in 2014 it was with the conviction that decentralized applications will require human readable identity systems for some applications. Take the DAO for example. As of writing this post it has raised nearly $110 million [...] Read more
Basic Income: The Biggest Question (Voting for Freedom)
Albert Wenger – May 14, 2016
When I talk or write about basic income, people have many questions on issues such as affordability and impact on the work market. But one question is bigger than all of those: Because basic income is a new concept for [...] Read more
Crucial Founder Skill: Clear Communication
Albert Wenger – May 13, 2016
One of the questions that I get asked a fair bit is what characteristics help a founder to be successful. I have often answered “being stubborn but not too stubborn.” I then elaborate stubborn as sticking to a vision even [...] Read more
You Are Not Alone (USV CEO Summit)
Albert Wenger – May 11, 2016
Today is our annual get together for USV portfolio company CEOs. A few years back, when we first started building out the USV network, we switched to an un-conference format. Gary Chou who first started to bring portfolio companies in [...] Read more
Loyalty and the Need for Group Platforms in Insurance, Services and More
Albert Wenger – May 10, 2016
One of the big problems most modern insurance companies face is fraud. Why is it that some customers feel they can overstate a claim or make a false claim altogether? At least partially it is because they feel they are [...] Read more
Video Hackday, Take 2
Albert Wenger – May 9, 2016
Saturday was the second Video Hackday, once again organized by Susan and Oliver from Ziggeo. What I like a lot about the format is that it is a single day without an overnight. While that may seem like very little [...] Read more