Top articles of the week | September 16th

September 16, 2017

Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!

A computer was asked to predict which start-ups would be successful. The results were astonishing

“The domain of picking “start-up winners” was – and largely still is – dominated by a belief held by the venture capital industry that machines do not play a role in the identification of winners.” This article was a fascinating read on how data can impact an industry hasn’t changed significantly.

Lessons Learned Scaling Airbnb 100X

Incredible story of how Airbnb scaled. The lessons come from the company’s first product manager Jonathan Golden; there are some harrowing stories in here and some great nuggets of wisdom – from competitors to insurance, the Airbnb story shows that it takes much more than a good product to succeed.

Eliminating the Human

A very sobering read on the effect technology is having on human interactions. While I don’t agree with everything stated in the article, I enjoyed the different point of view.

“Our random accidents and odd behaviors are fun—they make life enjoyable. I’m wondering what we’re left with when there are fewer and fewer human interactions. Remove humans from the equation, and we are less complete as people and as a society.”

Why WeWork Thinks it’s Worth $20 Billion

We’ve been at WeWork for over a year and a half and we’ve generally enjoyed the experience. The “startup” recently raised another round of financing (a whopping $4.4 billion) and is valued at $20 billion currently. The promise? WeWork promises to manage better office space better than most companies do. WeWork’s potential lies in convincing large companies to outsource their real estate needs in the same way that they outsourced their computers back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The hardware quickly became commoditized, and the companies made their profits by selling services.

How a 171-year-old news agency is the hidden mainstay of news on Facebook

The world’s oldest news agency, the Associated Press is generating a phenomenal amount of engagement on Facebook – 35 million engagements a month. It’s a great read on the tactics they employ and what it means for news journalism overall.