Pebble’s Kickstarter success isn’t an anomoly; that they didn’t raise money isn’t a mistake on the part of investors. Pebble is the first example of what will soon be a common occurrence: a startup raises seed capital to build the software platform that powers a prototype physical product; it then pre-sells the first run of production goods, and uses the traction established to raise a venture round to fund the growth of the platform and the team.
But crowdfunding equity stock purchases for risky startups — the target of the JOBS act — cannot work for four main reasons:
- It is based on inappropriate extrapolations from other similar-appearing activities, such as donation crowdfunding (Kickstarter).
- Purchasing equity (stock) in early stage ventures is too innately complex to standardize.
- The conduct of due diligence in the ventures raising money will render crowdfunding prohibitively expensive and thus impractical.
- Crowds are stupid as often as not, or worse.
HBR - The Road to Crowdfunding Hell
More or less agree. I don’t think that due diligence will be impracticably expensive, but that’s only because I don’t think anything more than “check the box” diligence will be performed. Hell, it’s not unusual to see experienced VCs go through the motions when it comes to diligence—they’ll make plenty of calls, sure, but true diligence aims to identify latent assumptions and seek disconfirming evidence for those assumptions. The psychological truth is that when an investor’s excitement depends on accepting the premise of an idea, they will tend to do exactly that, at least until the weight of past experience provides sufficient counter to the excitements of the present.
Pictured is the Super-Kamiokande, a giant neutrino detector, buried 1000m underground in Japan. Usually filled with 50,000 tonnes of pure water, the observatory detects neutrinos by watching for interactions with the subatomic particles in the water. These interactions are extremely rare, which is why the detector needed to be built to the scale it is.
Breathtaking
Highlights:
- MiniDisc the Magnificent
- “We ain’t lion: this adorable Goliath Backpack Pal is a grrreat way to scare away those first-day-of-school jitters.”
- Auctions
- Harry Potter
- Free E-Cards
- More VHS Top Sellers
Zombie Gnomes
(via For my next home)
Rob Cantor - Shia Labeouf
Rob warns you about the dangers of raging cannibal, Shia Labeouf.
Where TripLog fails on style it may well win on speed and pragmatics. Patt has thought about his work and designed a product intentionally. Following fashion and the status quo is easy. Thinking about your users’ lives and creating something practical is much harder.
Mrs Clinton is justly famous for her seriousness and industry. The Taliban attack in Kabul would have taken place even if she was sitting morosely alone in a nunnery dressed in black and eating nettles. And at what level of domestic unemployment does it become permissible for a secretary of state to break a smile? Let her dance, for goodness sake.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - We Almost Lost Detroit (by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.)
Ann Arbor!
Type design is art with a working-class result, where a masterpiece takes several years to complete and only a handful of fonts stand the test of time with broad appeal and utility.
(nods head)
Slow motion stupidity (by Zululicious)
via jkottke
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