Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!
Unlocking Value Creation Among API-first Companies Sarah Marion, iNovia Capital (reading time: 6 minutes)
We’ve covered API first companies in recent newsletters. This post by iNovia adds to that corpus. Sarah Marion adds some great insights particularly around the concept of net positive value.
Meet Wall Street’s Best Dealmaker: New Billionaire Orlando Bravo Forbes (reading time: 16 minutes)
This is an amazing story of Orlando Bravo, a Puerto-Rican billionaire that is the best performing buyout investor. He exclusively focuses on software and his deal-making has made him a fortune as a result. This piece in Forbes dives into the kinds of companies he invests in and how he thinks about the software industry.
Global AI Survey: AI proves its worth, but few scale impact McKinsey & Company (reading time: 11 minutes)
McKinsey recently conducted a survey that examined the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. High tech is leading the way (obviously) but they are not the only ones. Other industries are employing these technologies where it makes sense in their value chains. Another good read on the topic comes from IEEE Spectrum; they posit that the impact will be felt over a longer time of period and more akin to a revolution.
Startups and Uncertainty Jerry Newmann (reading time: 30 minutes)
“A startup’s primary driver of strategy has to be answering this question, figuring out how to manage uncertainty.” This post by Jerry Newmann dives into the world of uncertainty and how startups need to navigate. He uses the examples of Apple and Google to illustrate how they survived despite massive uncertainty.
Jonah Peretti on the dress, the dossier, and the next pivot to video NY Mag (reading time: 24 minutes)
I’ve long admired Buzzfeed for their remarkable staying power. Building a digital media company is a challenge to say the least. This interview of Jonah Peretti (founder and CEO of Buzzfeed) sheds some light on the company’s approach to news, their strategy and taking VC investment.
