This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures became the largest investor in Editorially last fall and I couldn’t be more excited to finally be able to tell you about it. The round includes Lerer Ventures, who participated with the same level of support, Betaworks and a host of experienced angel investors from the design and creative community. When Cameron Koczon introduced me to the company, he said they had the “best starting web team he’s ever seen.

ventures 267

ventures creativity collaboration frameworks 267

Gust

FEBRUARY 10, 2013

Image via Stock.xcng. For most new high-tech products, the first customers are always “early adopters.” The conventional wisdom is that early adopters are the ideal target for new products, to get business rolling. I see two pitfalls with any concerted focus on early adopters; first, the size of this group may not be as large as you think, and secondly, their feedback may lead you directly away from your real target market of mainstream customers.

technology 178

technology strategy innovation opportunity 178

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

The other day I was at a Mercedes dealership. Unfortunately my wife was hit head on in December by a woman who lost control of her car. It was time to get a new car and my wife’s requirements were: The safest thing on the road. As many air bags as possible. I researched the pricing of the car at TrueCar – not because we’re an investor – but because it gives you complete price transparency over what other people in your area paid for a car.

culture 398

culture entrepreneurs financing finance 398

Tomasz Tunguz

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Peter Thiel and Gary Kasparov wrote in the Financial Times about “Our dangerous illusion of tech progress”. The main point of the article is quoted below: [We are living in an era of] cautiousness far too satisfied with incremental improvements. Our ability to do basic things such as protect ourselves from earthquakes and hurricanes, to travel and to extend our lifespans is barely increasing [since the 1960s].

disruption 45

disruption innovation transportation enablement 45

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technology

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

I recently stumbled upon a physical copy of the Economist that had the following chart: I found it so striking to see these companies all stacked up together, and was surprised that my first thought was “Who would want to be Facebook in this scenario?” In fact, I wondered, if you through Microsoft into this mix, with nearly $70B in cash (more than Facebook’s market cap), and a significant foothold in homes through Xbox, where you would place them?

mix-use 315

mix-use networking technology 315

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Surely you’ve been exposed to articles, courses and lectures about various styles of management, and how each is appropriate for some companies and for some levels of organization and at some times. For example, a consensus-building leader works well in that style until someone yells “fire!,” and the emergency requires a dictatorial style of management to act quickly, protecting lives.

peer-to-peer 66

peer-to-peer leadership board culture 66

Tomasz Tunguz

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Successful startups are money machines: they ingest a dollar of investment and produce more than a dollar in revenue. There are three steps to build a money machine: Find or create a product many people will use. Convince customers to buy the product. Mechanize the two processes above, reducing costs and increasing profitability to finance growth. Startups repeat these three steps many times during their lifespans.

frameworks 40

frameworks financing finance capital 40

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Disclosure: I am friends with Maria Popova. Well, we're not great friends. Definitely Facebook friends--and occasionally we'll grab coffee have an in person chat. We should do more of those, since we work next door to each other. In full disclosure, maybe I'm writing this post so we could be better friends. I'm not sure. It seems like it could be a bias.

creativity 285

creativity communities support ventures 285

Tomasz Tunguz

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

For sales people, social proof is one of the most powerful forms of influence, as Robert Ciadini proved in his seminal book on the topic. It’s no secret that the best leads are referrals. Second best is the friend who is a customer in common: “Oh, Peter chose Salesforce for his CRM. Maybe I should consider them too.” Social proof confers the trust of a relationship to the salesperson improving close rates.

disruption 40

disruption innovation startup 40

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development

Tomasz Tunguz

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

On a Saturday morning in August of 2006, Sergey Brin and a team of Googlers flew to Los Angeles to meet Tom Anderson and his MySpace team. By the next afternoon, the two founders shook hands on a three year $900M contract. About twelve months later, I found myself as the product manager for the team in Marrakesh, Google’s executive board room, reporting the state of affairs to Eric, Larry and Sergey.

networking 40

networking media board technology 40

Tomasz Tunguz

FEBRUARY 10, 2013

If you’re a Netflix subscriber, in all likelihood you’re a big fan of “House of Cards.” Netflix designed it that way. With the release of “House of Cards” Netflix began the Moneyball-era of content production. The majority of Netflix subscribers watch Kevin Spacey, political thrillers and David Fincher’s movies. Guess what? “House of Cards” has all three.

technology 40

technology development investing investment 40