Silicon Valley Watcher (Silicon Valley)
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2019
November
11,
2019
|
13:43 PM
America/Los_Angeles
Brazil’s iFood is a great example of a highly innovative company that is very much a product of Silicon Valley even though it is founded and funded largely by Brazilians (and South Africans) and has raised nearly $600 million and swiftly built …
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2018
August
27,
2018
|
12:07 PM
America/Los_Angeles
The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation's relentless 61-year -- annual search for the best young science, maths and engineering graduates -- is developing into a closer relationship with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is funding the …
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July
06,
2018
|
15:38 PM
America/Los_Angeles
There are no unions in Silicon Valley but maybe they aren't needed if software engineers can self-organize at a moment's notice — using the same communications and collaborations tools they use at work and at leisure.
The recent …
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March
23,
2018
|
15:51 PM
America/Los_Angeles
It must be embarrassing for the SEC to have to come to the aid of billionaire investors in Theranos such as Rupert Murdoch, Larry Ellison, and Tim Draper.
The SEC usually focuses its resources on protecting retail investors -- the not-so …
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March
09,
2018
|
10:48 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Kevin Roose reported in a New York Times article headlined Silicon Valley Is Over, Says Silicon Valley,
Robin Li, an investor with the San Francisco venture capital firm GGV Capital, stood in the Madison building in downtown Detroit and said, …
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2017
October
05,
2017
|
07:55 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Gordon Moore’s Law describes the economics of innovation
Demand for chips is huge with chip prices jumping higher every month and shortages of key components such as memory halting product manufacturing lines. The Semiconductor Industry …
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June
27,
2017
|
07:16 AM
America/Los_Angeles
The SF/Bay Area based Hertz Foundation has found a way to surface the best young scientists and fund their work which accelerates the timeline for new breakthroughs. It’s attracted attention from the GatesFoundation with a $5m grant.John Hertz is …
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February
17,
2017
|
03:03 AM
America/Los_Angeles
We are in an era of “Hyperscale companies” such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple that limit opportunities for startups warns Sam Altman, head of Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s influential investment group, accelerator and …
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January
31,
2017
|
09:32 AM
America/Los_Angeles
According to the Chinese zodiac Google became a public company in the year of the Monkey, in August 2004.In Western culture we are familiar with the story of the three monkeys who very wisely: see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. In some …
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January
26,
2017
|
12:41 PM
America/Los_Angeles
The California Historical Society has opened a Summer of Love photo exhibit and is collecting people’s stories about this very important cultural event.To riff on the famous call to action voiced by Timothy Leary at the Human Be-In "turn on, tune …
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January
10,
2017
|
06:14 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Lots of great observations on the value of ten-year old startups in this post by Irish entrepreneur Cronan McNamara: Your Overnight Success will be 10 Years in the Making + 10 Innovation Tips for the Long TermHe makes a good case that over a …
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2016
November
18,
2016
|
04:21 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Every day Facebook publishes millions of pages of content with advertising - what's "not a media company" about that?Yet Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has lately been determined to identify Facebook as a tech company who's engineers are …
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August
25,
2016
|
11:06 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Vinay Pai leads Intuit's developer initiative.Intuit is planning a major expansion of its online Quickbooks business group into a machine learning advice, data and services platform for creating, managing and operating all types of small …
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June
06,
2016
|
23:19 PM
America/Los_Angeles
US President George W. Bush is reported to have once said, "The problem with the French is that they have no word for 'entrepreneur.'"The story about President Bush might not be true, but in many ways the story rings true because France certainly …
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June
01,
2016
|
03:57 AM
America/Los_Angeles
John Hennessy, one of Silicon Valley’s most connected and successful businessmen, has ended his 16 years as President of Stanford University and nearly 40 years on the faculty.He greatly expanded endowments and the university’s engineering school, …
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February
09,
2016
|
02:23 AM
America/Los_Angeles
I was excited to be at The Crunchies Awards Monday evening. I was right behind two seats reserved for Mike Arrington (founder of TechCrunch) and my old buddy Om Malik founder of GigaOm.Neither came to occupy their seats and neither did Silicon …
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January
18,
2016
|
05:46 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Silicon Valley's pursuit of diversity is skin-tone distracted and gender confused. Diversity is more than a ratio...Silicon Valley's leadership in sourcing innovative ideas is slipping and its feeble pursuit of diversity isn't helping.Original ideas …
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2015
May
08,
2015
|
01:55 AM
America/Los_Angeles
[Please note: My new day job is Editorial Communications Manager at Delphix, a fast growing IT startup based in Menlo Park, in the heart of Silicon Valley.]Delphix this week named two key additions to its executive team as it prepares for an IPO.- …
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May
05,
2015
|
04:39 AM
America/Los_Angeles
A billboard at the construction site for the Salesforce Tower in San FranciscoMicrosoft is evaluating a bid for Salesforce, reports Bloomberg, as a response to an acquisition offer from an unnamed company.Foremski's Take: Salesforce has a market …
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May
01,
2015
|
01:19 AM
America/Los_Angeles
A demo of the "Capabilities Wall" at Jabil's Blue Sky Center in San Jose.Jabil, the nearly $20 billion manufacturer of a huge range of electronic gadgets, unveiled its Blue Sky Innovation Center in San Jose this week. I learned a lot about this …
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April
21,
2015
|
05:19 AM
America/Los_Angeles
I recently met with Davis Smith, founder and CEO of Cotopaxi, an e-commerce startup that recently raised a $6.5 million Series A round, for a total of $9.5 million --the largest amount ever raised from institutional investors by a Benefit …
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April
09,
2015
|
07:32 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Pat Gelsinger (left) greets SiliconValleyWatcher at a VMware event in February 2015, next to John Furrier of Silicon Angle.The Silicon Valley/San Francisco region has one of the lowest church attendance populations in the US, 30% below the national …
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March
25,
2015
|
08:00 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Meerkat, a live video streaming smartphone app, is the startup of the month judging by screen upon screen of media love for all things Meerkat. But Color, a very similar smartphone app, was ridiculed four years ago.Color Labs, founded by serial …
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March
18,
2015
|
09:00 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Startup stories rarely focus on the product or service but on the valuation and funds raised, as if that's what's most important about a company.Valuations are a trend story but on an individual basis, it says little about the viability of a startup …
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January
20,
2015
|
06:14 AM
America/Los_Angeles
CEO Richard Edelman (center) discusses "trust" at a Churchill Club event in 2013.Public trust in business has plunged across the world and is harming consumer acceptance of innovation, according to a survey of 27,000 people in 27 countries by …
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January
09,
2015
|
05:51 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Box is again trying to IPO after several failed attempts in 2015. It has priced its shares at the bargain valuation of about $1.5 billion compared to its most recent private valuation of $2.4 billion. Reuters' Amrutha Gayathri reported:Box expects …
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January
08,
2015
|
09:36 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Secondary Shares market SharesPost provides liquidity for private companies.The secondary shares market continued to prosper in 2014, with SharePost 100, an index fund of top late-stage private companies, reporting 17 IPOs and five …
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January
08,
2015
|
07:49 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Jamie Bezozo from New York based Sunshine Sachs writes that several San Francisco startups are at this week's Consumer Electronics Show. It's not just big brands.Hello - reaching out to share news from about several SF-based startups competing …
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2014
October
02,
2014
|
13:29 PM
America/Los_Angeles
Foremski's Take: The acquisition of Tibco Software by Vista Equity Partners earlier this week, in a $4.3 billion deal, raises an important issue: can innovative companies survive long enough to become large companies? I meet very few startups that …
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September
16,
2014
|
08:28 AM
America/Los_Angeles
Will Oremus, senior technology writer at Slate, reports that, "Silicon Valley Has Officially Run Out of Ideas." Because the recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, awarded Alfred, the top prize in its competition for startups. Alfred, …
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