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USV Thesis 3.0

We believe we are still at the beginning of the opportunity to broaden access with the most critical implications ahead of us. As a result, we decided to revise our thesis into a third version: USV backs trusted brands that broaden access to knowledge, capital, and well-being by leveraging networks, platforms, and protocols. Read more

CryptoKitties

The news broke today that USV, along with many of our friends in the tech/startup/VC sector, has invested in CryptoKitties. What is a CryptoKitty? Well it's a cute digital kitten. The USV team made one last December and our kitten [...]  Read more

CEO Summits at USV

Prior to each summit, our CEOs submit lessons learned and current challenges, which we use to help curate breakout groups where they lead each other in conversation. By leveraging an “unconference style” model, our CEOs and founders learn from each other, rather than from us, which makes a lot more sense. Read more

Hiring New Analysts (Update 2)

A second quick update on our analyst hiring process (previous update, original announcement). We have now reviewed all applications. We will be reaching out this week to all candidates, starting with those who have made it to the next stage, which will be telephone interviews. Read more

Hiring New Analysts (Update 1)

A quick update on our analyst hiring process. We received 326 applications. Andy and I have so far reviewed 190 of those and plan to complete that initial review by the end of next weekend. We will contact everyone with next steps the week of February 26th. Read more

Algorand

We have been writing about the importance of decentralized protocols going back to 2013. Since then a lot has happened, including a run up in the price of Bitcoin (and eventually other crypto currencies), the launch of Ethereum, the rise of ICOs and with them the funding of many new projects. And yet it feels to us that we are still in what Carlota Perez calls the “Installation Phase” of a new technology. That’s the period when a market attracts a lot of capital to help build out the necessary infrastructure. Read more