Y Combinator is one of the top startup accelerators in the world and has invested in hugely successful companies including Dropbox, Airbnb, Coinbase, Stripe, Reddit, Zenefits, Instacart and Weebly. Its reputation is such that every well-informed startup wants in for its programs; Y Combinator’s fellowship program received 6,500 applicants this summer. It can be particularly stinging for passionate … [Read more…]
Airbnb founder Brian Chesky recently published a brief but fascinating post on Medium from Airbnb’s early days. Michael Seibel introduced the team to seven prominent Silicon Valley investors during Airbnb’s attempt to raise. They were attempting to raise $150,000 in exchange for 10% of the company’s equity. Airbnb has since gone on to grow explosively, … [Read more…]
If you’re an employee at Valve or Bethesda, I imagine you remember a very wild week in April. Video game publisher Valve, at the time, had unveiled a system to enable paid modifications on its Steam platform. Just four days later the plan was abandoned after a massive backlash. The system would have used Elder … [Read more…]
It’s no secret that there’s a diversity issue in Silicon Valley and tech in general. Mike Isaac of the New York Times recently published an article highlighting incremental progress by tech companies and quoting Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google as all collectively saying they “could do better” when it comes to hiring diverse candidates. If you read any … [Read more…]
Valve’s video game digital distribution platform, Steam, recently implemented a digital returns policy. By all accounts this is fantastic news and a big win for customer rights. Video game returns – even for physical copies – have been difficult to come by for very long time. Usually the most you could do is get a new copy … [Read more…]
Everyone in the business world can and should know that content is king. The major search engines and social networks love quality content. Facebook loves it and Google loves it. Pinterest is built around the curation of quality content. Beyond the effects of driving traffic and word-of-mouth referrals, enjoyable content is enjoyable for the person who matters most: … [Read more…]
Buzzwords and buzz phrases annoy me. They take up space, accomplish nothing, and are generally parroted without realizing how vapid they are. Today we’re going to be going after one of my most hated buzz phrases. The idea that ‘Code is the new literacy’ is one of those phrases that makes less sense in … [Read more…]