Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Growing up, I had a Winston Churchill quote on my desk: “Never, never, never give up.” It served as a daily reminder to continue pushing forward, especially when things were rough. Persevering against all odds certainly helps in the creative industry where you have to convince art directors and brand managers to buy your abstract…
2. What Is Talkshow? Talkshow is a new messaging app where all the conversations are public. The company says Talkshow “is texting in public,” but it really feels much more like a public-facing Slack room — an ongoing conversation between multiple people, that anyone can see. ID: 8532033 3. Wait. Isn’t that Twitter? No. Here’s…
Mobile live streaming got a big boost in credibility after Facebook turned on the switch, just a few months after Twitter released Periscope. Yet a year in, live streaming casualties are starting to mount. First, it was Meerkat, the onetime tech darling last month pivoted away from live broadcasting. Now, on Tuesday, Katch.me, one of the first startups built…
Image Credit: Helena Group Last week, I received a PDF presentation about “Helena,” a new startup boasting a 20-year-old Yale student CEO and connections—so they claim—to some of the most powerful and influential people in the world, from Stanley McChrystal to, uh, Selena Gomez. I spent the better part of last week trying to figure…
Two issues that come up repeatedly in strategy research are information asymmetries and transaction costs (concepts that originated in economics, with Nobel Memorial Prizes awarded for research in each). This issues are each particularly salient for start-ups attempting to sell in the face of failure.Transaction costs – transaction costs are huge any time a large…
Begin: WordPress Article Content If you’re a fan of Shuddle’s uber-style driving service for getting your kids to school/playdates/etc, bad news: they’re shutting (shudding?) the doors tomorrow. Shuddles main pitch point was their focus on safety: they did intense background checks on drivers, monitored drivers to ensure they stayed on route and didn’t speed or…
Begin: WordPress Article Content Another tech startup seeking to transform aviation has closed its doors. Beacon sought to bring an all-you-can-fly option to business and leisure travelers starting on the East coast. The company’s approach was to charge membership fees, handle customers at the gate with a white-glove service, and partner with regional aviation businesses…
Begin: WordPress Article Content After laying off staff in December as it shifted business models to find a sustainable operation, Dinner Lab has officially shut down, according to a blog post on the company’s site. Dinner Lab, like many startups, is facing a challenging environment for startups that lately have to find their way to…
Three-and-a half years ago a few of us came up with a novel idea; bring together random people, in an unconventional location, and give an up-and-coming chef a chance. The idea was meant to be pretty simple – give a newcomer, an underdog, someone that no one else believed in yet, a platform to showcase…
The latest startup to “catch Silicon Valley’s eye” is a company called Juicero that’s selling, essentially, a $700 Keurig for organic cold-pressed juice. Even though it offers the kind of overpriced, niche gizmo you’d find in a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog, the company is flush with $120 million in investment capital. Silicon Valley giants are betting…