Writing

Choose

The Fragmentation of Search

The market structure for Search is currently being reshaped. Horizontal and LLM-based “search agents” like ChatGPT and Perplexity are placing unprecedented pressure on search engines like Google. Cracks are beginning to form, from which new possibilities of search are rapidly [...]  Read more

Tutors for Everyone

In 2009 we hosted a one day event we called "Hacking Education." We brought together a diverse group that included game designers, principals from schools, and even homeschoolers. We were fortunate to have the late Sir Ken Robinson give opening [...]  Read more

Fiveable’s Series A

Co-authored by Rebecca Kaden Inequities in our education system are well-documented.  High-quality instructors, college prep classes, and affordable test prep materials are unevenly distributed.   However, learners in today’s classrooms don’t have time to wait for systemic change.  Educational equity [...]  Read more

Dune Analytics

The amount of invention and creativity happening in crypto is head-spinning.  Countless projects, protocols, apps, tokens, and communities are launching, layering, merging, forking and growing every day.  It’s a lot to keep up with. Fortunately, blockchains are (mostly) public data [...]  Read more

Hacking Education 2.0

More than ten years ago, USV hosted a small group of educators, entrepreneurs, activists, and investors for a day-long session called Hacking Education.  In summarizing that discussion, our partner Brad described the group’s collective optimism about the role technology would [...]  Read more

Sora

Co-authored by Hannah Murdoch USV’s education portfolio is built around the idea of changing a system from the outside in. By going directly to learners with products and platforms that offer high quality experiences for free or at accessible price [...]  Read more

Outschool’s Series B

In the post about USV’s initial investment in Outschool 16 months ago, I wrote about the dramatic need for innovation in an education system that looked effectively the same as it did 50 years ago. While the internet had altered [...]  Read more

No End of Computer History (Yet)

At USV we have been discussing a cooling internet universe for several years now. We have largely stayed away from backing strictly sales driven companies as they are exposed to competitors who can spend more money on sales and marketing. [...]  Read more