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Do Believe the Hype (Benefits Coming Later)
Albert Wenger – May 31, 2016
At USV we have been using Carlota Perez’s framework that distinguishes between the installation and deployment phases of a technology. In short, the installation phase is when a technology first comes into a market and investments are capacity building. The [...] Read more
11 Years of the USV Investment Team
Nick Grossman – May 28, 2016
As part of our (currently open) analyst hiring process, we ask applicants to record a few videos of themselves answering questions about their views on USV, venture capital, and the web & mobile app ecosystem. So, in the spirit of [...] Read more
Skillshare: Welcoming New Investors
Albert Wenger – May 26, 2016
We first invested in Skillshare almost five years ago. At the time the company was focused on in person classes. While many of those were as engaging as I had hoped, it was difficult to grow. Coming to an in [...] Read more
Twilio: Powered by Innovation
Albert Wenger – May 25, 2016
I am bummed to be missing Twilio’s annual Signal Conference this year. Not just because Jeff does a fantastic keynote, but because Twilio always announces a truckload of amazing new goodness. Here are just two great things from yesterday: first, [...] Read more
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