Building your user engagement pyramid
One of the first blog posts that Boris shared with me when I was starting out is “Don’t forget your logged out users” by Fred Wilson. Fred notes that with many social platforms, a huge number of their regular users don’t actually login because they are able to derive value from their services on a “logged […]
How to start making sense of your data
Now more than ever, companies are collecting large amounts of data at a high frequency. This is thanks to cheap storage and a multitude of tools available to automate the process (i.e. Google Analytics, Flurry, Mixpanel, etc.). While collecting data is one thing, finding meaning or actionable insights is another task altogether. Over the past […]
The untapped Open Data opportunity: who will unlock government data?
I’m fascinated by the Open Data movement, particularly when it comes to government where the concept of open data hinges on the belief that data is a public asset – just like highways and parks – and should be made available to all. We’ve already seen compelling examples of people hacking into this available data […]
How we can improve the odds of finding unicorns
It was my first day at Version One when I realized that finding “VC-fundable” startups would not be easy. Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures, posted a brilliant analysis on why VCs have to look for billion dollar companies (“unicorns”) to deliver acceptable returns, and how rare it is to invest in one: “The odds […]