Data, not algorithms, is key to machine learning success
There has been an explosion in machine learning activity, and Shivon Zilis recently mapped out the current machine intelligence ecosystem as we enter 2016. This is one of the key areas that we’ll be following this year. While the opportunities here are tremendous, the exuberance surrounding machine learning distracts startups from a key hurdle: it’s […]
Version One in 2015: A year of building, backing, and exits
As 2015 comes to an end, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve done and where we’re headed. It’s hard to believe that it has been just a little over a year since we launched Fund II with $35M in commitments. Since then, we’ve accelerated our pace – backing exceptional entrepreneurs, feeding their growth, and […]
The Big Opportunity for Bots in Messaging
Messaging platforms are gaining more and more mindshare. Michael Wolf’s deck on the Future of Tech and Media shows that messaging will soon blow past social media as the dominant media activity and will add 1 billion new users by 2018. Given these numbers, the opportunities for messaging platforms are getting very interesting – particularly […]
Shopify’s big people investment: how a startup scaled coaching beyond its executives
We know that companies are successful (or not successful) because of their people. Over the past few years, it has become relatively acceptable to work with a leadership coach and investors typically have a handful of good coaches in their rolodex ready to support and develop young founders. Yet even with this rise in popularity, […]
The evolution of the online marketplace: six big changes since Ebay
It has been twenty years since Ebay arrived on the scene and showed what happens when you bring people together over the Internet to do commerce. Since then, there has been tremendous innovation within online marketplaces. Startups have honed in on every vertical imaginable, branched out from product to services, and tested out new paths […]