Earlier this evening, my partner and co-founder of True Ventures, Jon Callaghan, gave a keynote speech as the outgoing chairman of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), highlighting the virtues of the venture capital industry and its role in the larger economic well being of society. Too often, technology and venture capital have been defined by the glare on the companies and investors based in Silicon Valley. Monster egos, big money, bigger jets, pointless social media banter— such narratives are popular these days. But there is another lens through which to look at the venture industry, which Jon (or as…
Continue reading »Sir Jony Ive, chief design officer of Apple was one of the four co-hosts of Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala alongside Anna Wintour of Vogue, singer Taylor Swift and actor Idris Elba. Apple, was an underwriter of an event widely known as “Oscars of the East Coast.” Here is a text of his speech at the event. (I am working on a larger piece on fashion and technology, which will soon follow!) We are thrilled at Apple to help bring to life Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. When Anna and Andrew first talked to me about their idea,…
Continue reading »I was in New York last week, for what was essentially a blink of an eye. The reason for my visit — a dinner hosted by our firm, True Ventures, for a growing number of portfolio companies in the city that will always remain the center of my universe. It was amazing to see 60-odd…
Continue reading »It was sometime in late 2007, I found myself in the center of a blogosphere-only brouhaha around “conversational marketing.” It was spearheaded by folks from Gawker Media and was directed at John Battelle, who came up with the idea of “sponsored posts” and rebranded them as “conversational marketing.” Almost a decade later, the same idea of “sponsored posts” is viewed as the salvation for the media industry including Gawker. It is a popular way for folks to monetize their audiences, especially in the face of Facebook and Google stealing all other opportunities. For a few years now, much was made…
Continue reading »John Herrman, who writes about the media industry for The New York Times, is one of my favorite writers. His incisive and cutting commentary at his previous home on the web, The Awl, was on my “read first and do everything else later” list. About 10 days ago, we had a conversation about the shifting media landscape and the harsh reality of the media business. My parting comment (which he included in the final piece) was that if I were to start a publication, it would be on Facebook (perhaps as a Facebook page). Today I learned that Vox Media is…
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