Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!
Could Machine Learning Help Companies Select Better Board Directors? Harvard Business Review
Can machine learning help improve the diversity and performance of boards? It’s an interesting question. Despite the clickbait title, the authors provide compelling evidence that more research is needed. The biggest argument is one of diversity; white males with finance backgrounds have dominated boards. Using an algorithm to help create divergent backgrounds (which should yield more diverse opinions) is a good thing.
Georgian Partners rewriting the rules for venture capitalists as it closes in on record Canadian fund Globe and Mail
I haven’t had the chance to work with the team at Georgian Partners from Toronto but quite a few people have sung their praises. Despite not being in the spotlight, they’ve managed to generate impressive returns. This Globe article covers the firm quite in depth. The VC firm also announced that they are building their own software as well – focused on privacy.
The Future of Decentralized Organizations Rob Solomon, Consensys
This article has an interesting premise, what would an organization with 100 million people look like? The author argues that the current form of corporation has reached its peak. While currently effective, a new version is possible via the use of a collaborative network economy.
How The Fastest-Growing Flight-Booking App Is Using AI To Predict Your Next Vacation Forbes
We had the chance to work a bit with the team at Hopper and they are truly a remarkable bunch. The machine learning algorithms they have built for their flight prediction is world class. Their initial focus was on leisure flights and is now moving into hotel bookings. After raising $83M last year, they had huge ambitions for their growth.
Where Have All the Public Companies Gone? Bloomberg
Why are there fewer public companies? It’s an interesting question posed in this article. One of the reasons is the widespread availability of venture capital (see Uber and AirBnb) but there are other, deeper reasons. The US government is looking to change their approach to make it easier for a company to go public.
