I’ve been thinking about the future of work lately, and I keep coming to the same puzzling conclusion: there is a seemingly unbridgeable gap in the market for engineering talent between the elite class of software “makers” and the wealthy enterprise customers who most need their help. The story goes something like this: As Marc continue…
At the end of a call today with a nascent mobile advertising company, the entrepreneurs described me (fairly) as having dumped “a bucket of cold water” on their idea. When I spoke at a local event a few weeks ago on “location-based services and the mobile ecosystem” (slides below), an attendee pointed out that I continue…
A few months ago I was invited to speak to the Bellevue, WA chapter of Rotary International on my favorite topic: how to create a globally competitive early-stage technology ecosystem here in the Pacific Northwest. As I was putting my thoughts together (full deck below + full props to Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Mark Suster and Marcelo continue…
TechCrunch’s article on this financing had already hit Techmeme by 10 this morning so pretty much the entire world has already heard the news, but I wanted to take a minute to officially welcome Habit Labs co-founders Jen McCabe and Buster Benson to the Founders Co-op family. We’ve been looking for a way to work continue…
A few weeks ago I read a fantastic blog post by Venkat Rao titled “A Brief History of the Corporation: 1600 to 2100” (hat tip to Paul Kedrosky for the lead). Apart from just being a great read, the macro thesis of the post — that the corporation is no longer the primary locus of commercial innovation continue…
(The quote in the title is from rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot in this Business Insider article) These guys are so good at making noise that I almost feel silly piling on, but since the cat is well out of the bag I wanted to at least confirm the news that Giant Thinkwell is our newest addition continue…
This article originally appeared on Seattle 2.0 Early-stage investors (disclosure: I’m one of them) are famous for saying ‘no’. Entrepreneurs seeking capital will spend hours building PowerPoint decks, crafting emails and asking friends for introductions to prospective investors, only to receive an inbox full of one-line ‘thanks but no thanks’ replies. And that’s when they continue…
A common question among out-of-town visitors at Founders Co-op is “how do you get a cab around here?” Seattle is a car-centric city with far-flung neighborhoods and few concentrated population centers that can support a New York-style cab culture. As a result, actually getting a cab to show up when you need it is pretty continue…
A few weeks ago Fred Wilson reflected on the tight market for engineering talent: “[T]here is a war for talent, particularly developer talent, going on. Not just in Silicon Valley but also in NYC and many other places around the country.” In chemistry terms, developers are now the limiting reagent for high-growth software firms. The scarcity continue…
Like almost everyone I know, I’m a total content junkie. I read everything I can get my hands on, mostly tech and startup stuff, but with frequent side trips into economics, behavioral psych, education, endurance sports, music, organizational behavior, and… well… pretty much anything that catches my eye. When I first discovered RSS I was continue…