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Announcing Blockstack: Decentralized DNS and Identity for Blockchain Applications
Albert Wenger – Feb 25, 2016
The blockchain holds great promise for developing decentralized protocols and applications such as marketplaces (e.g., openbazaar), registries for digital and physical assets (e.g. mediachain) and social networks that have no value extraction by a controlling company. Everyone who wants to [...] Read more
Trust and Democracy: The Odd Parallels between Trump and Apple
Albert Wenger – Feb 24, 2016
Confidence in the US Congress is near an all time low according to a Gallup poll on “Confidence in Institutions.” People have stopped trusting government. And government has done a lot to deserve it. Politicians have taken huge sums of [...] Read more
A New Face for the USV Network
Bethany Crystal – Feb 18, 2016
Hi! I’m Bethany Marzewski, and I’m thrilled to be taking over Brittany’s position as the new network General Manager at Union Square Ventures. In this role, I’ll work with the great teams at USV’s 60+ portfolio companies to expand the [...] Read more
Key-Based Device Unlocking (Question/Idea re Apple Case)
Albert Wenger – Feb 17, 2016
There is a ton of confusion out there about Apple’s refusal to comply with a court order. The most level headed account I have been able to find is by the Register and I highly recommend reading it. The question [...] Read more
Possible Recession and Operational Excellence in Tech
Albert Wenger – Feb 12, 2016
I have not been blogging much because I have been working on my book, but many people have asked me about the markets. So here are my thoughts. Much of the recovery in the labor market since 2008 had been [...] Read more
Veniam’s new round of funding
Brad Burnham – Feb 11, 2016
Our portfolio company Veniam announced today that they had closed a significant new round of funding led by Verizon Ventures. The funding will allow Veniam to deliver on the promise of "smart cities" by connecting thousands of vehicles in public and [...] Read more
The Future of Programming
Albert Wenger – Feb 3, 2016
I learned how to program on this Apple II over 30 years ago. Over that time period – as a first approximation – programming has stayed the same. Yes, I have learned new tools and new programming languages, but programming [...] Read more
Fund Level Vs Deal By Deal Carry
Fred Wilson – Feb 2, 2016
In a venture fund, the general partners will make something like twenty or twenty five investments. There are outliers for sure. A few venture funds will make less investments than that. And there are seed funds that will make significantly more [...] Read more
Even If You Could Use 100% of your Brain, Machines Will Still Beat You (not just at Go)
Albert Wenger – Jan 28, 2016
So I admit that I enjoyed watching Lucy, the Luc Besson movie with Scarlett Johanssen as the eponymous Lucy, who by virtue of an inadvertent overdose of a designer drug manages to use 100% of her brain capacity. She turns [...] Read more