Investing in hardware and the data layer

Over the past couple of months, we have written about a range of themes that have been interesting to us lately. Through public brainstorming, we have met some inspiring entrepreneurs, been introduced to some cool companies and received some great feedback. All in all, we have been enjoying the process of refining our thesis in […]

The increased risk profile of start-ups

Start-ups, by definition, are risky. But traditionally, start-ups have looked for the least risky position in the value chain. And for many, this is being a platform. Successful platforms build an ecosystem of contributors that create content for the platform. Or, they build a marketplace where sellers decide which products might sell or not. In […]

Learn from our nightmare: tips to prevent getting hacked

Here at Version One, we had two nightmarish weekends in early February when our accounts were hacked by pretty sophisticated and aggressive hackers. As we’ve since learned, hackers love weekends, because it’s a time when targets may not realize the hack right away and the customer service at service providers is limited. But thanks to […]

Three Questions with Bala Subramaniam: Marketplaces

I recently caught up with my good friend Bala Subramaniam, who is the Head of Fulfillment at Instacart. You may remember Bala’s talk on supply-demand equilibrium at our data-driven marketplace meetup back in May 2017. Bala is a seasoned product, business, and technology leader. Before Instacart, he was at LinkedIn and Microsoft. I always learn a ton […]

Investing in digital health and wellness apps

We are continually refining our thesis on healthcare, from looking at clinical-grade at-home diagnostics to biotech and therapeutics. Our previous posts on this topic haven’t included digital health and wellness apps, but these consumer-facing products certainly play an important role in transforming healthcare and democratizing its access. The consumerization of healthcare through apps continues to pick up […]