I was at a conference about a year ago and listened to the head of tech transfer of one of New York’s major universities say “We’re doing a great job. I don’t think there’s anything we could possibly be doing better.” And he actually seemed to believe it. I had a bit of culture shock. […]
Taxing carried interest is nothing but a political circus
I should start by saying that because of the idiosyncratic nature of my thirteen years of venture investing, I’ve never been paid a carry. And, since I’m now a country gentleman, cutting the brush and tending the horses over here in bucolic Hoboken, I probably never will be. So maybe I’m uniquely qualified to give […]
Information and Markets, Pork Chop Edition
In The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, a thought-provoking book, I came across this. The fact that the nutritional quality of a given food (and of that food’s food) can vary not just in degree but in kind throws a big wrench into an industrial food chain, the very premise of which is that beef […]
Hitting the tropopause
Some of us old-timers are feeling a bit uneasy. My friend Seth is having flashbacks and reliving Q1 2000. I long ago overcame my own PTSD, embracing my dot com bubble grief after being repeatedly compelled to recall the events in excruciating detail by various lawyers and accountants (ah, the joy of working for a […]
A picture worth significantly less than 1000 words
As an aside to yesterday’s post, here’s the mental model I am using for the industry this week.
Who Invests in Quantitative Marketing Companies?
About a month ago Jay Yarow wrote about the financing of The Trade Desk. One of the commenters insisted that only Redpoint, Union Square, Highland, Sequoia or First Round Capital were expert enough to invest in online marketing firms. I think this is wrong-headed (and not just because I was one of the investors listed […]
How to completely disappear in 45 minutes or less (at least from marketers)
Just been reading the FTC complaint against… well, against everyone I know, it seems: the exchanges, the DSPs, the data targeters, the ad agencies, the analytics companies, the whole quantitative marketing shebang. It was pretty straightforward, quoting everyone’s marketing material, making the industry seem much, much larger than it actually is*. Ed Zimmerman has a […]
The End to End Principle in Ad Exchange Design (The Thin Exchange, 2)
Where should decisions about which ad runs where be made? Ajay Sravanapudi, in his recent article on AdExchanger says a DSP is really just a feature on an exchange… A DSP simply uses [RTB API] of an exchange to buy media and run campaigns more effectively. The exchange has an ad server that can deliver […]
Everybody’s an ad exchange (The Thin Exchange, 1)
Everybody’s a DSP? Everybody’s a marketplace. There’s this confusing moving about in the marketplace. AdECN was a pure exchange, and is now part of a publisher. Right Media, same thing. OpenX was a publisher tool, and is now running an exchange. AdMeld similarly. AppNexus was an exchange and is now a DSP (I think.) Same […]
I know it’s a good deal for you.
In the past few months I did not invest in a couple of companies whose businesses I really liked because they were raising seed financing through convertible debt. Convertible debt is essentially a loan with an option to invest in the next equity round at a discount. So, for instance, a typical seed stage convertible […]