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The Unknown Path to a Decentralized Future
Albert Wenger – Sep 22, 2017
Some companies with currently centralized services have been criticized for issuing tokens and raising money in ICOs. There are even allegations that venture investors are pushing companies to do so as a ploy for liquidity. I suspect that some situations like that do actually exist, but I know from first hand conversations that many of the entrepreneurs pursuing this route are doing so out of a genuine conviction that it is the right path to a decentralized future. Read more
USV Network Guiding Principles
Bethany Crystal – Aug 12, 2017
We expose frameworks and ideas, not prescriptive solutions: As VCs and not operators, we know we don’t have all the answers. We seek to expose a wide variety of options to our companies, but never the only way to do something.We [...] Read more
Flip
Andy Weissman – Jun 27, 2017
A Google search for “apartment lease” returns 86 million results. Which makes sense. One of the constants in life is finding a place to live, and signing a long-term contract for that living place. That constant — that lease — remains in force even though changes in our lives may not line up neatly with that one- or two-year period. Many things happen to us while we are stuck with a long-term house or apartment lease: new job opportunities, new roommates or relationships, new family members, and so much more. Read more
Blockstack Browser and Token
Albert Wenger – May 23, 2017
Today Muneeb and Ryan from Blockstack delivered the morning keynote at the Consensus 2017 conference here in New York. They made two important announcements: first the availability of the developer edition of the Blockstack Browser and second the news that there will be a Blockstack Token. To understand the importance of both of these announcements, it useful to look at some of the history of the Internet. Read more
Protocol Labs
Brad Burnham – May 18, 2017
Protocol Labs made a series of announcements earlier today including that Union Square Ventures made an equity investment in the company late last year. We are thrilled to be working with Juan Benet and his team and excited to be able to share some of our thinking here. Read more
goTenna
Albert Wenger – Apr 13, 2017
Disruptive innovations often start out as worse versions of something that already exists. Worse along all dimensions except for one, but one that turns out to really matter because it unlocks a new use case for which the incumbent does not work at all or is not affordable. The PC was slower, had less memory and less storage than a minicomputer. But it was massively more affordable and could be set up and run without the help of the centralized IT department ... Read more