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StorySherpa: Open What's Closed

A better way to fight tech monopolies.
StorySherpa: Open What's Closed
By Yury Molodtsov • Issue #51 • View online
A better way to fight tech monopolies.

Open Up Vs Break Up
Fred Wilson has, what I think, is the best take on the regulation of tech monopolies. The nature of their business includes networks effects, as Google gets better with every person searching through, Facebook gets better with every person on the social network. Breaking up these companies is futile, as their successor will get the same scale.
What could help though is demanding them to open up their APIs. Having access to users’ Facebook friends meant life and death for certain services, and Facebook was quick to block it for Vine, for instance. That could give rise to competition, as startups would be able to utilize the existing social circles, import posts, etc. and also decrease the power of these platforms, without getting down to socialism.
avc.com  •  Share
Facebook’s new cryptocurrency may launch this month, a report says
Facebook’s new cryptocurrency may launch this month, a report says
Facebook will announce a new cryptocurrency this month, according to an anonymously-sourced report in The Information. Facebook employees who work on the project, called Libra, can choose to be paid in the cryptocurrency token instead of hard cash, the report says.
Telegram and Facebook seem to converge and compete on a very similar idea.
www.theverge.com  •  Share
Why startups are hard – the math of venture capital returns tells the story
The above tells an amazing story: Over the past few decades, a small number of startups — 6% — end up driving 60% of the returns.
Some thoughts on VC stats.
andrewchen.co  •  Share
Social Capital reincarnated
Social Capital reincarnated
Social Capital tried to disrupt VC and fell apart. Now their partners have gone separate ways: Palihapitiya is rewriting the Social Capital playbook, Hamid is busy reinvigorating Kleiner Perkins and Maidenberg is building on top of the data-driven strategy and proprietary software dubbed “Magic 8-Ball” he built at Social Capital, with a new firm called Tribe Capital.
techcrunch.com  •  Share
Birdbox
Storytelling is for sure one of the most underrated skills.
samir kaji
Someone asked me the other day the one skill that most great VCs have.

My answer? Storytelling

It's also a skill that far too many don't spend enough time honing.
If you ever see beautiful stats on how people don’t get driving license because of Uber, think twice and remember this.
Eliot Brown
per Goldman Sachs research note on Uber, the dramatic decline in youth drivers license rates happened ... in the 1980s https://t.co/3Z1CYSeLbc
Eliot Brown
If you listened to ridehail VCs/investors, this was a completely new trend that was accelerating because of Uber/Lyft, and would augment their future growth
There’s a very fine line between a direct-to-consumer company and a usual FMCG company. That line defines the multiplier: will it be 3x or 15x?
Benedict Evans
Increasingly common question: “is this a software company selling a consumer product, or a consumer goods company with a website?” Embedded within this, a lot of questions about margins, defensibility and competitive advantage.
Bookshelf
Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It
Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It
Scott Kupor has written a new book, Secrets of Sand Hill Road. Scott has been building Andreessen Horowitz from the very early years, so he probably knows a few things. This books seems to be on everyone’s reading list now.
www.amazon.com  •  Share
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Yury Molodtsov

I'm an Investor at Day One Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in tech startups and leads their communications.

Here I look at tech news I find important and the future they might lead us.

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