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Introducing OB1

We have said many times that we believe in emergent, decentralized, start-up innovation. Institutions public and private, no matter how well intentioned, tend to protect their institutional interests, whether is it a current revenue stream, or a position of market [...]  Read more

DroneBase

A couple years ago, in early 2013, I started writing a lot about Drones. I have always thought that Drones represent the leading edge of a robotics age. There are a host of reasons for that but the main ones [...]  Read more

Clarifai

Over 30 years ago when I first started to program I was quickly fascinated by the potential for computers to become smart. I remember writing my own version of Eliza and buying the Winston's book on Artificial Intelligence. It seemed [...]  Read more

eShares

Anyone who owns shares or options in a private company instinctively knows that cap table management remains frustratingly analog. At USV, we own equity interests in more than 50 companies. For many of our portfolio companies we own three or [...]  Read more

Introducing Veniam

There has been a lot of talk recently about the Internet of Things. Some analysts estimate there will be 9 billion connected devices, from parking meters to thermostats by 2018. By then, that will be roughly the number of smartphones, [...]  Read more

Assembly

Web services, like governments, don't make anything, they just create the conditions necessary for their users to create value. Today's largest networks have demonstrated this to be true. Passionate communities have been born out of services like Twitter and Meetup. [...]  Read more

Onename

In discussing bitcoin we have always emphasized that payment is only one potential application of blockchain technology. The decentralized public ledger is a new protocol that enables a fundamenatlly new class of systems: logically centralized but with decentralized control. What does that [...]  Read more

Figure 1

Social applications leverage the network structure of the Internet to connect people, places, and media. Over the last decade, we’ve seen the origination and maturation of these services, from Facebook to Twitter to Reddit to Tumblr to many more. At [...]  Read more

Amino

Communities have long been an integral part of the Internet, online places where people can connect and share their passions and interests. And communities can have great network dynamics, where they increase in value as participants join and share more. [...]  Read more