Category: Tech

What Is Going To Happen In 2019 – AVC

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

I am sure you caught Fred’s 2018 review?

Now comes prediction time.

What Is Going To Happen In 2019 – AVC

I have always felt that as the noose tightens around Trump that he would quit before any impeachment process ever kicks off. Let’s see.

I agree if this happens it will project an air of USA instability and that will be enough to take down global markets a notch or two.

I think in VC startup land we are looking at something different but still need to be pragmatic.

I love how Fred describes the long-term view:

But all of that is going to happen at the margin. I expect 2019 to be another solid year for the tech/startup sector as we are in a possibly century-long conversion from an industrial economy to an information economy and the tailwinds for tech/startup vs the rest of the economy remain in place and strong.

Just started reading Homo Dues – A Brief History of Tomorrow. The time it will take for the total digital transformation of practically everything is longer than people think so we have a long ways to go.

Happy New Year!

Whither the Australian tech scene

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Sad state of affairs down under in tech land these days.

First: https://www.afr.com/technology/tech-firms-including-airtasker-hit-by-rd-incentive-crackdown-that-threatens-software-sector-20181129-h18j51

This one seems pretty damaging – not a body blow but isn’t good sign.

Now this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-06/australia-moves-toward-passing-law-targeting-whatsapp-signal

But the fundamental fact remains that the powers being sought by law enforcement are ill-informed, badly drafted and a gross overreach,” Digital Rights Watch said in a statement. “This bill is still deeply flawed, and has the likely impact of weakening Australia’s overall cyber-security, lowering confidence in e-commerce, reducing standards of safety for data storage and reducing civil right protections.”

RMIT University’s Gregory said the effect of the laws would likely spread beyond terrorist or criminal activities and into private-sector investigations.

“It’s too rushed, too broad, not well-defined and ultimately will be misused,” he added. “People will also be able to use this not just for criminal law matters but also corporation law matters.”

Feels pretty dangerous and I wouldn’t want to be working in security down under.

Maybe this will all blow over but to me it doesn’t bode well for the Australian tech scene.

Seed funding in Singapore isn’t dead. Here’s all the proof you need.

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Normally behind a paywall but this article is free for the day.

Here is one of my incendiary quotes:

Smith adds: “The meme that there is a stage-specific crunch is usually started by founders who have struggled to raise a round. The truth is that everyone struggles and fundraising for startups or venture funds are never easy.”

Seed funding in Singapore isn’t dead. Here’s all the proof you need.

WeWork opens co-working ‘lab’ space in Singapore for early-stage start-ups, Business News & Top Stories – The Straits Times

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Blockpunk!

WeWork opens co-working ‘lab’ space in Singapore for early-stage start-ups, Business News & Top Stories – The Straits Times:

WeWork Labs piloted its concept for the first cohort of start-ups here in September. These included graduates of accelerator programmes and non-profit organisations. Eight start-ups participated in the pilot, including BlockPunk, which is building a next-generation anime studio.

Chief executive and co-founder Julian Lai-Hung said: “Having graduated from the Entrepreneur First Singapore incubator, we wanted to find a similar start-up-friendly culture and global community. WeWork Labs provided this and also helped in attracting new hires and kept the team happy, collaborative and productive.”