I was the first person to call Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and offer to buy the company (I was running Bolt at the time). In March, 2010, I published the first Wall Street style research report on Facebook on a Tumblr blog, with a $100 billion five year price target (it was actively trading in the private markets at […]
Op-ED
The Age of Innovation Fatigue
All the constant discussions about innovation have led to innovation fatigue, but is there a way to change this? Read this to find out.
Nationalize Zuck: Why Everyone Loses in Platform-Capitalism
“Stephen Hawking was emphatic AI is an existential risk for humanity. Elon Musk repeatedly warns: “We’re summoning the demon”. These demonstrably brilliant men are on the inside and know that skewed incentives are at play.”
Are Ethics Keeping Pace With Technology?
Returning from vacation, my inbox overflowed with emails announcing robot “firsts.” At the same time, my relaxed post-vacation disposition was quickly rocked by the news of the day and recent discussions regarding the extent of AI bias within New York’s financial system. These unrelated incidents are very much connected in representing the paradox of the acceleration of […]
CryptoWinter Has Nothing On FAMGA Winter Market Cap Loss
Per CoinMarketCap, total crypto market capped peaked at $795.8 billion on January 7, 2018. Since that time, we’ve lost over $680 billion in market cap. We’re down over 85%. Crypto total market cap bottomed at $102 billion. So at the bottom, crypto had lost $692 billion. However, the total amount lost by FAMGA (my acronym […]
Why Super Bowl Commercials Should Cost More Than They Do
Super Bowl commercials are incredibly underpriced – even at a $5 million+ price tag, they should cost way more than they do in 2019. If you told me that you have $25 million and you wanted to sell some stuff, I would look at Super Bowl commercials first — then I would look at Facebook, Instagram, and […]
My Predictions For 2019 : Tech, Investing and Everything Else
New York Venture Partners’ Managing Director Trace Cohen shares his predictions for tech for 2019 and takes a look at how his 2019 predictions fared.
Executing Better By Listening To Public Discontent
In the wake of the closure of Apple’s autonomous car division (Project Titan) this week, one questions if Steve Jobs’ axiom still holds true. “Some people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do,” declared Jobs and […]
Debating The Negative Effects Of Social Media On Youth
The debate around the “dangers of social media” and the effects of social media on youth is such a visceral topic. So many people are talking about how social media is damaging youth, how kids are getting “corrupted” by it, and even how it’s tearing down our democracy.
When VCs “Own” Your Startup’s Lawyers
There’s a game that, as Startup/VC lawyers, we’ve seen played out across many ecosystems. We’ll call it “own the lawyers,” and because it benefits repeat players (professional investors, service providers) at the expense of first-time founders – and the former are usually the people controlling the microphones – it rarely gets discussed publicly.