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No Stack Startups
Andy Weissman – May 6, 2015
One way of looking at a publisher’s chain of business operations is that there are five core things it must do: (1) produce content; (2) market/promote content; (3) distribution; (4) figure out the best user interface or experience for its [...] Read more
Coding is Driving the Car (and More)
Albert Wenger – May 6, 2015
A couple of days ago there was a much favorited and retweeted tweet by the often funny Startup L. Jackson Now I happen to think that this is wrong in an important way but right in another and it is [...] Read more
Empathy and Product Development
Albert Wenger – Apr 30, 2015
Technology companies have a tendency towards the quantitative. We like to measure things. And there is a lot that can be measured from page load times to net promoter scores. Even in board meetings the question “have we A/B tested [...] Read more
Investing in Deep Learning: Clarifai
Albert Wenger – Apr 28, 2015
Today’s blog post is over at USV.com announcing our investment in Clarifai, a deep learning company based in New York City. I have written a fair bit about machine learning and artificial intelligence here on Continuations. We have made a [...] Read more
Some Impressions from Japan
Albert Wenger – Apr 27, 2015
We just got back yesterday from an amazing family trip to Japan. We spent 5 days in Tokyo, 1 day near Atami at an Onsen, 3 days in Kyoto, 1 day in Nara and 1 day Kamakura. Thanks to many [...] Read more
Destination: Everywhere
Jonathan Libov – Apr 23, 2015
Usually the first thing you do when you have an idea for a product or company is to register the domain. Because the web came before social networks and mobile, the conventional wisdom is that you need a website to [...] Read more
Etsy Goes Public
Albert Wenger – Apr 16, 2015
I just woke up in Tokyo where Susan and I are visiting with our children (both as a vacation and as part of home schooling the kids). In the meantime the day is ending in the US but I still [...] Read more
Changing Metaphors
Andy Weissman – Apr 10, 2015
"Photograph - all I've got is a photograph. But it's not enough" Def Leppard Wikipedia tells us that the word "photograph" derives from the Greek words phos and graphê, together meaning "drawing with light." I suppose that for a hundred [...] Read more
The 0% Take Rate Marketplace Valuation Conundrum
Albert Wenger – Apr 9, 2015
I wrote a post not that long ago about how take rate (or rake) is one vector for disrupting incumbent marketplaces. Recently I have seen a number of startups that have taken this to its logical extreme: charge nothing at [...] Read more