In 1999, Google’s forty employees hosted a cook off to see who would be the future first chef of their company’s kitchen.1 After sampling 25 different cooks, the office ultimately named Charlie Ayers the winner of the competition after trying his eclectic and worldly selection.2 Google’s early employees and Ayers could hardly imagine the gourmet…
Tag: Silicon Valley
Standing in the Way of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, first unveiled his vision of Hyperloop in a 58-page white paper in 2013.1 The Hyperloop, the passenger capsule envisioned to run at 760 mph between Los Angeles and San Francisco, was introduced as an alternative to the $70 billion California high speed rail project, at only one…
HP to Grow Networking Business Through Aruba Networks Acquisition
In its first major transaction since announcing plans to split itself into two last year, Hewlett-Packard agreed to buy Aruba Networks on March 2, 2015.1 The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, is valued at $3 billion, or $2.7 billion net of cash and debt.2 Aruba Networks, based…
Lyft Versus Uber: The Competition Revs Up
The fierce competition between rival ride-sharing services Lyft and Uber is revving up for a battle in the courtroom. In a complaint filed with the San Francisco Superior Court on November 4, 2014, Lyft alleges that former Chief Operating Officer Travis VanderZanden breached his confidentiality agreement and fiduciary duties when he joined Uber after leaving…
The Benefits and Complications of Big Data
The type of significant decisions that drive businesses, big and small, in their attempts to better react to customers’ needs have increasingly been driven by big data. Big data refers to “the recent wave of electronic information produced in greater volume by a growing number of sources (i.e., not just data collected by a particular…
Unsustainable Burn Rates
“No one’s fearful, everyone’s greedy, and it will eventually end.”1 Startup companies are burning through cash at unsustainable levels. Almost all failed startups cease to exist because cash runs out, and nearly all startups get close to running out of cash at some point, regardless of outcome.2 Every startup company is fueled by cash investments.3…
As Apple Pay Is Set to Launch, Will It Become the Apple of CFPB’s Eye?
As Apple looks to replace the wallet with its new Apple Pay feature, is the technology giant unwittingly exposing itself to regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)? Apple Pay allows iPhone users to store their credit and debit cards on their phones and pay for purchases using their phones as well—essentially making plastic…
Convertible Notes and the Golden Age of Seed Financing
What is a Convertible Note? A convertible note is essentially short-term debt that converts into equity at the closing of a Series A round of financing.1 Essentially, an investor will loan a certain amount of money to a startup in return for a note with terms defining how the equity distribution will work.2 Generally, the…
There Is Still Hope for Bitcoin
Mt. Gox has recently shut down and filed for bankruptcy, claiming that it has an outstanding debt of $63.6 million.1 The company, which was the largest Bitcoin exchange, disclosed that it had lost 850,000 units of Bitcoin, including 750,000 that belonged to customers.2 That amount is worth about $477 million, based on current exchange rates,…
The Popping Bubble of Starting Startups
So you have a great idea, an idea that will change the world. But you have a few problems: no money, no experience in managing any project, and absolutely no connections whatsoever. What do you do? Believe it or not, there are some companies (or startups) that actually deal with these types of startup problems….