Mattydom

Everday musings from a man of renaissance.

[mattydom]

Fred Wilson’s annual predictions for the new year are always great, whether on-point or not.  Particular attention needs to be made to #10 in my eyes:

“Markdown mania will hit the venture capital sector as VC firms follow Fidelity’s lead and start aggressively taking down the valuations in their portfolios. Crunchbase will start capturing this valuation data and will become a de-facto “yahoo finance” for the startup sector. Employees will realize their options are underwater and will start leaving tech startups in droves.”

While I think employees “leaving in droves” is likely a fun but gross exaggeration, I’m still very concerned about the potential loss in valuation of employee equity, either via markdowns or an impact from an acquisition below “market value” (as we saw in the article I previously posted....).

[mattydom]

When a Unicorn Start-Up Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt

Employees at Good Technology, once valued at $1.1 billion, found their shares made practically worthless by a sale to BlackBerry for $425 million.

Scary stuff to see that not only were employees’ shares absolutely worthless, but since they were valued during a time of much higher valuation, they actually ended up paying a shitload in taxes on their worthless shares.

[mattydom]

This week we go into the room at the headquarters of fast food chain Hardee's with the people who decided that this burger with beef, hot dogs, and chips is what America should be eating. We'll hear the story of how they sold that burger and other instances where how you tell the story is more important than the literal facts.

Classic case of misguided “innovation” by Hardees, and as always, well done by This American Life.  It’s great that they are trying to create new (heart attack-worthy) sandwiches....but here’s their fault:  who is in the room making the decisions on these sandwiches.  As we see in most “innovation” within larger corporations, the decision makers on which sandwiches are “yes vs no go” are....wait for it....CORPORATE EXECUTIVES.  Yes, executives, who have likely spent little to no time in their own Hardees restaurants (or any type of fast food restaurant, for that matter), who have absolutely no idea what their actual target customer likes or dislikes.  They sit in their ivory tower executive office and make decisions...

Why is it that these large corporations always have executives as decision makers in terms of innovation for their companies?  This is a major error; one that, disappointingly, I don’t see any changes being made about going forward.  Find me a company that “embraces” innovation and actually does it right.  Where do I sign up?

[mattydom]

Mom and pop crowdfunding about to become a reality

The SEC is expected to issue a final rule that will allow small companies to raise debt or equity from anyone.

Good news to hear the JOBS Act is finally moving closer to getting fully approved.  People should understand the inherent risk involved with funding startups and small businesses (no different than being a shareholder in public companies like Enron.  At the end of the day accredited investors shouldn’t be the only ones to be able to profit from the success of these startups and small businesses.  Just allows the rich to get richer....

[mattydom]

For some foreign students, a driving passion for luxury - The Boston Globe

The luxury vehicles that adorn many Boston college campuses are but one sign of the enormous wealth that pours into the city each year from the wallets of international students.

“The approximately 44,000 foreign students in Greater Boston last year spent at least $120 million, not including money they paid directly to colleges” - crazy stat

[mattydom]

My daughter Ellie is 14 years old. She is a super active Snapchat, Instagram and Vine user. A few weeks ago she signed up for Facebook because a website she wanted to access required Facebook log in....

So apparently tweens don’t use Facebook anymore.  You learn something new every day...

[mattydom]

If I am ever in a situation where I need to peddle on the streets of Boston (or any city for that matter), I have officially figured out my strategy, courtesy of a savvy peddler I met this am (hope you use that dollar in a good way). Here's the play: 1. Set up near the subway ticket machine (appropriate/nice attire necessary) 2. Ask someone if they have 50 cents, cause you have 50 and the machine only takes dollar bills (if you are actually aware of whether or not the machine takes coins, you may in fact be a peddler yourself). Make sure to show your 2 quarters to make it viable. 3. When the person says "sorry, I don't have any change," inform them that you will can them half way, if they are OK taking 50 cents on the dollar. 4. When they inevitably say yes and give you the dollar, ask them if you really need the 50 cents, or are all set (similar to a hot dog vendor at Fenway)? Say it really nicely, but make them feel kinda guilty if they actually ask for the 50 cents back. That's all it takes. With this advice, you're well on your way back to riches!

[mattydom]

Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace

The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers to get them to achieve its ever-expanding ambitions.

“Amazon is where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves.”

[mattydom]

Well done by the gents at Google.  Makes total sense...

[mattydom]

Airbnb Launches New Product To Attract Business Travelers

The rental site is introducing a new-and-improved Business Travel program aimed at corporate travelers.

Smart move by AirBnB, especially considering I know a couple people who work for startups that require them to use AirBnB on business trips.

[mattydom]

For Start-Ups, How Many Angels Is Too Many?

The Silicon Valley investment frenzy has spurred so-called angel investors into earlier financing rounds, but there are downsides for both entrepreneur and investor.

Has angel investing finally jumped the shark?  “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley.  Most people don’t want Ferraris, they want a winning seed investment.”  Too many seed investors in a company means too many opinions, few of them likely educated about the company or the space itself.  Not sure how I feel about that.

[mattydom]

Great summary by Fred Wilson on the over-valuation of startups depending on the investment series (Seed thru D)

[mattydom]

McKinsey & Company Acquires Lunar, One Of Silicon Valley's Oldest Design Firms

The award-winning design consultancy is the latest independent agency to jump into the corporate maw.

Interesting move by McKinsey.  Classical vertical integration.  Instead of consulting a company to engage with a design firm to create new products, packaging, etc., why not do everything in-house?

Much like Hansel, design firms are SO HOT right now....

Great move by McKinsey, and Lunar is going to want to kill itself with all the added red tape courtesy of its new parent company.

[mattydom]

LinkedIn buys Lynda

Honestly, I thought they would have a larger valuation than $1.5B.  Shows what i know I guess.  Good news for General Assembly, Khan Academy, etc. though.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/09/linkedin-to-buy-online-education-site-lynda-com-for-1-5-billion/?ncid=rss#.p3zbfj:wPXo

Good move by LinkedIn to offer these services for their members (possibly at no cost?)

[mattydom]

The End of The Culinary Scene in Back Bay?

29 Newbury: another restaurant priced out of the Back Bay by their landlord. 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/04/05/newburyrestaurant/XQkMCjGa0FUYYDQJ3KZyAL/story.html

If this trend continues, it's the potential end of culinary options in the neighborhood. I realize this is darwinist capitalism at its finest, but I wonder what preventative measures there are out to see that this landscape isn’t completely changed for good.  We’ve already said goodbye to Forum, Mass Ave Tavern, Cactus Club, etc. for the likes of retailers and banks....and as a South Ender, I’ve already seen banks take over virtually every single storefront or restaurant available.

How do we solve this? Should city of Boston subsidize landlords who have restaurant tenants (too $ for city, I realize)?  Perhaps we should change zoning laws to make it harder to go from restaurant to more “commercial”? Any other ideas?

[mattydom]

[mattydom]

Interesting play by flightcar - very low customer acquisition cost, but I hope they have an intern working on this, or are using some sort of automated system....