Category: tech

Outside the Box

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It’s been an interesting few days in here in Vegas at CES 2016 hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones. Seems like it’s THE place for everyone to bring the next world changing idea to light and wow the world. As all things are though… It wasn’t ALL good.

Cool. 

1. VR VR VR VR! What a year it was for VR and very cool to see all the different companies jump into the space.  Although there were a LOT of HMD companies creating similar products, it’s good to see the push towards mass adoption. We need all the brands and products and the first push seems like it will be strong!

Special Congrats to NextVR for an amazing event at the Sport Innovation Forum and for its partnership with Qualcomm! Exciting times ahead!

2. The boom of super electric and autonomous cars was pretty impressive, with the Faraday Future being the most awe inspiring of the lot! What a car that is going to be whenever it somehow becomes a real thing! I’m not sure when the day will be when all the cars on the street will be self driving (since I personally LOVE driving so I’m not sure I would use on) but the tech flowing into the auto industry both in fuel consumption to sensory upgrades is truly amazing to see. It’s about time that we start changing one of the biggest parts of modern society.

Not. 

The disappointing part was seeing the sheer number of startups that were creating “incremental” improvements on existing products/technologies. There were 2 areas that made me almost lose my mind. 

1. Health bands and trackers. Considering the mindshare that the few leaders in the industry already have, it was quite shocking to see the dozens of startups and big brands that decided to ALL launch essentially the same product.  I don’t care what anyone says……. Just because the form factor, UX and design changed slightly… It does NOT mean it’s a new product.    

2. Speakers and headphones.  Really?! Since Beats created this new hip consumer segment… I must have seen 100+ brands try to break into the space without providing ANY sort of innovation.  Again. Colours, form factor, birthplace and marginal sound improvements (if any) does NOT make it all compelling and will not give any particular brand an edge in the global battle of commoditisation.

That’s really it for now and perhaps there will be more to talk about once we’re all done digesting the crazy week. 

Good times ahead!

Are all new things good?

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Read an interesting article today from the NYT written by William Cohan http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/business/dealbook/profits-and-ethics-collide-in-nameless-turmoil.html?_r=0 and found the observations and questions asked extremely interesting.  Are all shiny new things good?

This is a question that arises quite often in the VC and startup world.  What is this for? What problem does this solve? Who needs this and why? Of course there is no umbrella answer for this as everything in this world can be used for both good and bad, two sides of the coin.

So what does it come down to? The goals and visions of the founders, those supporting and fuelling the growth or the participating users?

Hard to say.  Lots to think about.  Responsibility comes down to the users and humanity as a whole.  Technology doesn’t change the world. It enables US to change the world.

Long Time Coming……

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It’s funny to see how things progress sometimes.  Since the last post, I’ve gone through and seen a sea ,if not ocean, of change in so many things in my life.  From virtual reality to business structures to emails, there has been no shortage of traveling int circles and ending back at square 1 (but with a better view and experience).

Not all time is lost when going in a full circle.  I now feel better prepared on many fronts although it seems like we haven’t moved at all.

VR has made a several decade loop around and comeback to prominence, which is nice for our portfolio company NextVR.  We are truly excited and believe that the revolution is coming and this time its for real.  It’s also been interesting to observe the track back towards email as the ‘main tool’ and acquisition target of companies from Microsoft to Dropbox.  The window to users seemed forgotten and washed under all the other ‘sexy’ products and businesses JUST to suddenly be shot back into prominence.

As for Vectr, we’ve come a long way to end up where we are now and have never been as confident and excited with our journey ahead.  The team has realigned itself and really coming together and we are ready to rock’n roll.  Some things take time but at at the end and when its done right….. worth it!

sports games and analytics

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I’m not sure about everyone out there but I’ve slowly evolved over the years into a “sports” gamer. I pretty much exclusively play NBA2K and Fifa nowadays but do try and spend some time looking at other games both within the sports genre and the more mainstream FPS and MMORPGs.

What is amazing to me is that sports games basically give you a SLIGHT improvement with the physics and graphics engine year with an updated lineup…. and that’s it! I’ve tried to self add new players into old versions just like the next gamer before buying the latest but… what is it about these games that have us coming back for more?! I don’t fully know, but I definitely do it year after year…. Should start collecting boxes and version of games and see how many years back I can go…. NBA2K yearbook!

Another specific vertical within sports games that I’m fascinated with is fantasy/manager sector. I feel that this is a sector that is ripe for change and innovation. Nothing drastic can be done, but I’ve seen a few subtle changes to games that I honestly feel bring some “freshness” to the whole thing.

Any ideas and thoughts from players, gamers and makers out there? What is the perfect formula for all this? How can we tap this sector?

Ice Buckets. Or would you rather…..?

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So I can’t help but notice that more and more people are starting to do this ALS ice bucket challenge.  Although I think the thoughts behind it is great, I have serious questions as to WHAT is actually going on.  From what I’ve noticed, the dialogue tends to go something like “I’ve been “CALLED OUT” by xxx to do the “als” ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE”!!! “ROAR!!!”.  

OK.  Are we forgetting what the actual point of this was?  ALS?  where’s the time and emphasis spent on talking about that and to point someone to WHERE we can actually do something (by something I don’t mean dumping ice) to help the cause?  Businesses can have a focus on fair trade or integrate some sort of social service into the operations and people have a choice of proactively participating through resources (aka $$$) or time+effort. But this seems to be losing direction….. what about “if you choose not to dump ice, which would be great as well, you can goto alsa.org to donate?”  

I wonder if the ALSA suddenly realizes they became social media marketers versus fundraisers for their cause.  Wouldn’t it be fun to know what the ratio turned out to be in terms of ice dumping hits of social media vs donations? Do we dare take an over/under gamble on donation vs ice?

The Ice bucket challenge although an interesting way to use the virality of the internet to pass a message and indicates to a good cause, forgets that it is playing an infinitely looped version of telephone where the spirit and soul of the point seems to have been lost. 

I realized, after spending some time talking to NGOs that technology may not be the best skillset that they have and that they are trying very hard to leverage the internet.  Understandable and commendable.  But at the end of the day they must not let something go out of control and become more an internet game and allow people to lose focus on what the actual point is!

Just in case, this is what ALS is.

This is not directed to anyone I know that has already DONE the challenge. Your videos were fun and keep calling people out to help.  Just make sure to let them know donating is also an option.  

Here’s an idea… why not dump AND donate?

 

hitting the road

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Planning trips has always been somewhat of a mixed experience.  On one hand, I’m excited and look forward to the new things and places on the trip but on the other hand sifting through the infinite number of repetitive recommendations is incredibly excruciating and painful.

With the ever increasing number of travel related apps out there I still don’t feel satisfied by any of the given experiences.  What is it that we are looking for when preparing to hit the road?  Are we looking for the cheapest passage?  Curated and guided? Tours and packages on arrival or something to remind me of everything that I’ve planned?  Perhaps something that combines all the elements above?  There are of course great individual services out there that solve some very useful problems.  Here are a few that I always look at and use.

Kayak.  Just to get a sense of everything form flights to hotels and cars.

Airbnb.  To find some cool local places to stay vs mainstream hotels.

Viator.  Check out and plan excursions and tickets to places I don’t want to lineup for.

Trip Advisor and other Guides.  These get a bit confusing and not always the most locally knowledgable but does a broad sweep.  There are some socially crowd sourced apps that I’ve played with too but who are these people rating and talking about places?

I think that at the end of the day, something should understand my price range, cool or main stream accommodations, choices of things I want to do and to lay it all out within the dates I want.  This may be asking for a lot but is it?  Let’s hope more teams out there come up with smart ways to make globe trotting easier!  

Suggestions? 

What about our safety?

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With the new episode of Russian hackers storming the barn that is the world of Internet security months after Heartbleed tore a hole in the system, it brings me to think about our general sense of security in the modern world.
We are told to have different and stronger passwords for everything but yet it seems that there are systemic breakdowns that edge ever closer to disrupting our world as a whole. It really is “our world” nowadays also since the Internet is everywhere and increasingly in everything. Do our archaic forms of letters and numbers really hold a strong enough front to defend us? Is our information ever really safe again? Facebook and Google seem to be the “good guys”, for now, but can we imagine a world if they weren’t? Crazy mad scientists and villains rarely care about market cap and stock price.
This brings me to the “smart home”. A genius concept in a world filled with rainbows and cupcakes but in the world of monitoring and espionage, where does that take us?
Things to think about as always and hope everybody is chillin this weekend.
Change your PASSWORDS!

re-Learning the Ropes

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I want to talk about the process of figuring shit out! This is something that I’ve been feeling heavily as of late……. not that I haven’t felt this way many many times before at different junctures but it hits you just as hard every time this 9 headed beast shows its head(s) again.
Being a coordinator is hard. Being a front man is hard. Being a leader (a culmination of both?) is even harder. This is something that can only be directly absorbed and appreciated, I think, by all of you (not that many I know) that have lead a charge and have (1) celebrated in victory in flying colors or (2) felt like you just got mauled by a pack of wolves followed by getting hit by a train. To me, this is a inexplicably important and impactful experience and really does help us grow. Reminds me of many of my favorite athletes and their most memorable quotes…… usually pointing towards how to learn from adversity how to win again from defeat and how to roundhouse kick your fear in the face.
I suppose the curve for “learning the ropes” is something that should continuolsy get easier over time but what if ropes keep getting added on in ways that are unexpected and self-created? A very interesting dilemma and problem to have in my opinion as it is usually an indicator for growth and exploration into new areas.
Just wanted to rant on a topic that is fresh on my mind.
Word to everyone.

EPL starting soon. ARSENAL!!!!

Teamwork

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As we all know, a difference in position can result in significantly different perspectives and outcomes. This is a universal theme that runs deep in daily business, life and sports. Freedom fighter or Terrorist? Creating or destroying? Enthusiastic or annoying? Really hard to say sometimes and even harder to take a step to take it all in slowly and fairly. (feels like a bad sentence)
As an ex-entrepreneur and now investor, it is quite interesting to feel the emotions from both sides. Fresh from taking of the entrepreneurial hat, I fully understand that one must protect their “baby” and not allow outside mofos to run their show all over it. It’s easy to feel protective over ideas and property and hard to accept that an OUTSIDER (how dare they?!?!) could have an interesting and perhaps refreshing perspective. It’s great to be chasing dreams and even better to find supporters, but with how big of a voice?
On the other side, as an investor, I also need to understand that conversations must be held carefully and that we (as a group other than a few) cannot go in guns blazing and lighting up the joint. This is a big turn off for founders and we need to remember that we are supporting a good person+team in pursuing their dreams that in return will hopefully give us returns. This is an interesting and everlasting dilemma and not one that will end, ever.
Pretty similar to teams at school, work, and sports. Some teams start from day 1 with everyone wanting to be the winner and leader. Some teams have members that immediately claim a supporting role for the greater cause. Some teams have leaders and coaches that want a well trained lean mean fighting machine. Which one works best? The great Bulls? The Heat? the Spurs? Germany or Argentina? Do you want the best overall team or the best player? Budding with energy+potential or seasoned+savvy veterans? Dictatorship or Democracy?
I don’t know the answer. Have been involved and seen many of the different situations above (I’m sure we all have)….. Can’t say I have a conclusion……

Fame and Fortune… and tech.

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We all know that artists & celebrities get a lot of attention.  They capture our imaginations and bring us to new, wonderful and thrilling worlds. They’re also the ones seducing us with cool clothes, good food, baller lifestyles and new brands to believe in.  What is it about them that completely mesmerises our senses into submission?  I’m not sure what it is nor will pretend like I know although I guess you call it “star power”, but that’s just defining a term with itself and doesn’t help break it down.  Whatever it is, it works and it pushes us to buy, try and look out for the next big thing.

Momentum over the past few years has quietly rolled two interesting forces together… two prominent and all consuming forces.  The first is fame and the second is technology.

Celebs have always been at the center of  the coolest and trendiest businesses… bars, restaurants, private clubs, beaches, hotels, fashion, whatever it is… and now, they are turning it on to the NEXT (current) big thing… tech!  The iPhone, which has become a celebrity in and of itself, has changed and defined a generation (and forever more), the world  and all the people in it.  So naturally, they’re in there too!  

Celebrities and Venture Capital have a growing and arguably increasingly unbreakable relationship. From Ashton Kutchor with A grade, JT with mySpace, Bieber with selfie social networks and Carmelo Anthony with M7 in the US to Chinese actors REN Quan 任泉, LI Bingbing 李冰冰 and HUANG Xiaoming 黃曉明 forming StarVC.  These celebrities (and more… Will Smith, Kanye, Gaga, Leo, Jay-Z, Shaq) have decided to grab their fame and their gadgets by the horns and run with it.

This is a really interesting trend and I’m starting to believe that there is some brilliance in the craziness.  Great teams are formed when members contribute their unique talents in unison. Perhaps VC and tech startups will be the same.  Some people have to defend, some people have to attack. What’s got more potential in making something popular in tech? Seems logical to think and relate to the famous founders, VCs or Tech Crunches of the World, but isn’t it essentially only getting 80% of those that follow tech? What’s to stop the superstars that we always admire an love?  Why go for only the young, tech fans, and geeks when there’s an opportunity to go for everyone!? 

Getting carried away here but It’s been very interesting to follow and has been giving me ideas.   What do you think?