- Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you
In his famous book Zero to One, Peter Thiel writes, “Competition is for losers. Be a monopoly.” And that philosophy has come to prevail—the average venture capitalist would say that in a portfolio of 20, they are OK with 19 losers and one grand slam. Follow that to its logical conclusion: for every billionaire Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley, you’re OK with 19 broke people. It’s no wonder that inequality is at a 100-year high, entrepreneurial activity is at a 40-year low, and eight men control half the world’s wealth.
Over the past fifteen years, big has crushed little in Silicon Valley, to an increasing degree. The former giant-slayers like Apple and Google have become giants themselves, shutting out or buying up new entrants.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/08/dear-silicon-valley-americas-fallen-out-of-love-with-you/?ncid=rss
- Why Corporate Tax Cuts Won’t Create Jobs
In other words, if we are serious about growth, competitiveness and job creation, we should look elsewhere besides the tax code for answers. We can remain open to immigrants in search of better economic opportunities. We can invest in our public schools and universities. We can upgrade vital business infrastructure such as airports, land transportation systems, the internet backbone and our power grid. We can heighten our vigilance about anti-competitive behavior and regulatory capture by very large corporations that make it difficult to start new businesses.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/opinion/corporate-tax-cuts-entrepreneur.html
I am not a fan of this practice, especially when States are trying to get companies to move in (see SourceCast Episode 87), but sadly it is reality for the cities and States being left behind NYC, Chicago, and San Fran). - Are We Born Optimistic? Or Is It a Coping Skill We Learn as Adults? | Lori Markson
- Just Got Passed Up For A Promotion? Do This Next
Although you might be fuming, it’s important that you take a step back from the situation and give yourself the opportunity to cool off before doing anything else. You certainly wouldn’t want to lose control and torpedo the professional reputation you’ve strived so hard to build before you’ve had to the chance to gather all the facts.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40479877/just-got-passed-up-for-a-promotion-do-this-next
- In Eric Ries’ new book, he tells companies to turn every unit into a cash-strapped ‘startup’
You first have to look at whether you’re treating the people who work for you like entrepreneurs or something different; if you’re expecting your product managers to achieve instantaneous success, that’s not [the standard] to which you were held in the early stages of your company.
Along the same lines, if you aren’t [giving teams] clear, metered funding, how are they going to have that scarcity? It’s that mindset, that hunger, that let’s you say “no,” [to dawdling]. [Companies have to fight] that entitlement funding because the more money you have, the less you want to expose yourself to risk.
Photo: Clem Onojeghuo