cdixon

8 ms·

1.
by cdixon 11y ago
Commoditize the complement: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html
2.
by cdixon 12y ago
VCs almost always bring in outside experts to diligence ideas that they are qualified can't diligence themselves. That happened extensively here.
3.
by cdixon 12y ago
Sounds like you are interested in philosophy after all! :) Whether and how there can be a priori knowledge is an old philosophical question.
4.
by cdixon 13y ago
Yeah I thought about using "vertical integration" but that's a pretty overloaded term at this point. Usually refers to existing businesses buying up suppliers/buyers to control production and pricing. I think "whole
5.
by cdixon 13y ago
It is Bitcoin. I was just trying to present some of the ideas behind Bitcoin without all the baggage of the word.
6.
"small casual payments" (first paragraph of original Bitcoin paper)(nonchalantrepreneur.com)
1 points by cdixon 13y ago|0 comments
7.
by cdixon 13y ago
My view is that the whole system was designed for a different era and not for the web. The problems include 1) consumer having to fill out a form at each merchant, 2) consumer having to decide if she trusts the merchant (1 & 2 lead to t
8.
by cdixon 13y ago
My guess is the exchange fees will go down over time and instead Bitcoin companies will end up making money selling additional services.
9.
by cdixon 13y ago
I think the original Bitcoin paper said it well: "small casual payments." To pay online right now, you have to decide: 1) do I trust this vendor 2) do I want to fill out this form with all my info Generally this (plus transaction
10.
by cdixon 13y ago
Definitely interested in lots of other uses for the ledger. If you or someone you know is working on something, we (a16z) would love to talk. I'm hoping next year we'll see a lot more startups building on top of the Bitcoin protoc
11.
by cdixon 13y ago
I also think this issue is going to become more urgent as native mobile apps that do have a "global" (OS-wide) payment system become more dominant. Open web needs something analogous to compete.
12.
by cdixon 13y ago
Here's one model that could work. Think of Bitcoin as analogous to physical cash. Cash = small casual payments in offline world. Bitcoin = small casual payments in online world. (btw, the original Bitoin paper says this pretty explicit
13.
Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience(mobile.nytimes.com)
2 points by cdixon 13y ago|0 comments
14.
by cdixon 13y ago
Great list. I would also add: What is Mathematics? http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Elementary-Approach-Ideas-...
15.
by cdixon 13y ago
Yes, our investment was very publicly disclosed on my blog, Coinbase's blog, and multiple news sites. Also, I was posting positive things on my blog about Bitcoin long before I (or a16z) had a financial interest. I am interested in Bit
16.
by cdixon 13y ago
We (a16z) would love to see more innovation along these lines and would be excited to try to help.
17.
by cdixon 13y ago
I agree it's imprecise. But I'd argue the de facto fees in the existing system are much higher than 2.5%. The biggest cost are all the transactions that should happen but don't. Most merchants/payment companies block pay
18.
by cdixon 13y ago
We invested in Oculus after we saw a demo of the new prototype. For me, it was up there with the first time I saw Apple II, Mac, the web, Google, iPhone etc.
19.
by cdixon 13y ago
I'd strongly recommend having a presentation in the pitch meeting. It helps control the flow of the meeting and ensure you cover all the important points.
20.
by cdixon 13y ago
Agreed. That is a ridiculously hard problem but in my opinion perhaps the most important tech problem of our time.
21.
by cdixon 14y ago
This follows a classic pattern. Incumbents once argued that having a 3rd wireless carrier per city was a threat to the public: http://cdixon.org/2012/10/10/regulatory-hacks/
22.
by cdixon 14y ago
"You have to ignore the elephant in front of you, the likelihood they'll succeed, and focus instead on the separate and almost invisibly intangible question of whether they'll succeed really big." This reminds me of Arthur Rock's heuristic:
23.
by cdixon 14y ago
It turns out startups are risky.
24.
by cdixon 14y ago
I think you guys are being a bit too literal. This is how people talk in colloquially, and it's a common phrase in the hedge fund world where I was working at the time.
25.
by cdixon 14y ago
I was thinking of 2001-2002 (genuine downturn) and then separately 2003-7 (great time to invest - e.g when I invested in Skype). Obviously 2008-ish (RIP good times) was the 3rd. Maybe I shouldn't have called them "downturns" but instead "de
26.
by cdixon 14y ago
Yes. Wall Street grades Facebook by drawing lines through dots of revenues and margins. The more accurate way to view Facebook is as a powerful coil that can spring in multiple directions. (I say this as someone who questions whether Facebo
27.
by cdixon 14y ago
The canary trap.
28.
by cdixon 14y ago
Mostly: Less competition for users (e.g. there are 600K iOS apps now - too many), and easier to hire (main alternative right now is to get funding and start a company).
29.
by cdixon 14y ago
This happens every couple of years in tech. I've personally witnessed 3 downturns now. One was real and two were arguably the best time to start companies. Raising money might be harder, but generally only for bad companies.
30.
by cdixon 15y ago
I like the idea of getting together to demo stuff you are working on more than hackathons.

More ›