Taboo Things #taboo #porn #pot #fineline #culture

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Spent some time looking into 2 very interesting, hugely profitable yet taboo industries lately. It’s really interesting to see things that are so loved yet so hated depending on the situation.

Marijuana has been a hugely debated topic of late and money is beginning to pour into it. With the ‘light’ on the horizon for recreational use in several huge states, many institutional investors are finally getting “ok” with considering the industry but with many others on the sideline. What’s the deal here? On one hand, there is obviously huge proven consumer demand for this product…… Perhaps proven by the fact that its huge even when illegal  or the fact that once legal, businesses easily boomed or the fact that historical grey area SMEs could make substantial income.  Interesting to consider the returns of investing into this sector vs the typical view and sentiment of being involved.  How drastically will the view on the sector change with the legal system? 

Porn is always (jokingly but true) described as the fuel that pushed users and made the Internet what it is today.  It’s also considered the ‘deciding factor’ of the latest and greatest content format. So why is it an area that is so hard for investors to invest in? I agree that it doesn’t exactly fit the ‘saving the world’ side of things and pretty much is the anti-thesis for many things we teach and learn as we grow up BUT it can be hugely lucrative.

I guess there is a line about taboo and uncomfortable things that are difficult to confront in society. There are just things that we love to love and also love to hate!   

Outside the Box

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It’s been an interesting few days in here in Vegas at CES 2016 hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones. Seems like it’s THE place for everyone to bring the next world changing idea to light and wow the world. As all things are though… It wasn’t ALL good.

Cool. 

1. VR VR VR VR! What a year it was for VR and very cool to see all the different companies jump into the space.  Although there were a LOT of HMD companies creating similar products, it’s good to see the push towards mass adoption. We need all the brands and products and the first push seems like it will be strong!

Special Congrats to NextVR for an amazing event at the Sport Innovation Forum and for its partnership with Qualcomm! Exciting times ahead!

2. The boom of super electric and autonomous cars was pretty impressive, with the Faraday Future being the most awe inspiring of the lot! What a car that is going to be whenever it somehow becomes a real thing! I’m not sure when the day will be when all the cars on the street will be self driving (since I personally LOVE driving so I’m not sure I would use on) but the tech flowing into the auto industry both in fuel consumption to sensory upgrades is truly amazing to see. It’s about time that we start changing one of the biggest parts of modern society.

Not. 

The disappointing part was seeing the sheer number of startups that were creating “incremental” improvements on existing products/technologies. There were 2 areas that made me almost lose my mind. 

1. Health bands and trackers. Considering the mindshare that the few leaders in the industry already have, it was quite shocking to see the dozens of startups and big brands that decided to ALL launch essentially the same product.  I don’t care what anyone says……. Just because the form factor, UX and design changed slightly… It does NOT mean it’s a new product.    

2. Speakers and headphones.  Really?! Since Beats created this new hip consumer segment… I must have seen 100+ brands try to break into the space without providing ANY sort of innovation.  Again. Colours, form factor, birthplace and marginal sound improvements (if any) does NOT make it all compelling and will not give any particular brand an edge in the global battle of commoditisation.

That’s really it for now and perhaps there will be more to talk about once we’re all done digesting the crazy week. 

Good times ahead!

time to reboot!

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It’s that time of the year again where we all get to reflect on the things we’ve accomplished (or didn’t) over the past 364 days.  The holiday season (this is now the most pc way to say it right?) is always a frenzied celebration of accomplishment and bittersweet missed goals.

I believe that the best way to approach it all is to always be positive, keep your head up and charge ahead! The accomplishments can now be tucked under the belt and the missed goals can become NEWER and BIGGER goals for what lies ahead. I will take the attitude of “it’s not over until it’s over” as the fundamental force to creating positive momentum!

Perhaps the key is to keep our resolutions simple, impactful and (most importantly) achievable! It’s a new day (or year) and nothing in the past can hold you back anymore!

I hope everyone has an amazing holiday season and an even better 2016!

 

 

 

the force awakens.

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It’s been a while since the last post but what a year. Our plan of creating and managing systematic chaos has been surprisingly fruitful! Not to say that this is the most effective way of doing things but there’s a different story for everything. Luckily in ours, we were prepared for the opportunities.

It feels like the plot has finally come together and now we can buckle down and focus on painting the amazing details.

The year is quickly coming to and end and there’s a lot for everyone to think about. We certainly have a ton to reflect on and even more to look forward to.

Time for everyone to take a deep breathe and get ready for the road ahead.

 

Are all new things good?

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Read an interesting article today from the NYT written by William Cohan http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/business/dealbook/profits-and-ethics-collide-in-nameless-turmoil.html?_r=0 and found the observations and questions asked extremely interesting.  Are all shiny new things good?

This is a question that arises quite often in the VC and startup world.  What is this for? What problem does this solve? Who needs this and why? Of course there is no umbrella answer for this as everything in this world can be used for both good and bad, two sides of the coin.

So what does it come down to? The goals and visions of the founders, those supporting and fuelling the growth or the participating users?

Hard to say.  Lots to think about.  Responsibility comes down to the users and humanity as a whole.  Technology doesn’t change the world. It enables US to change the world.

Long Time Coming……

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It’s funny to see how things progress sometimes.  Since the last post, I’ve gone through and seen a sea ,if not ocean, of change in so many things in my life.  From virtual reality to business structures to emails, there has been no shortage of traveling int circles and ending back at square 1 (but with a better view and experience).

Not all time is lost when going in a full circle.  I now feel better prepared on many fronts although it seems like we haven’t moved at all.

VR has made a several decade loop around and comeback to prominence, which is nice for our portfolio company NextVR.  We are truly excited and believe that the revolution is coming and this time its for real.  It’s also been interesting to observe the track back towards email as the ‘main tool’ and acquisition target of companies from Microsoft to Dropbox.  The window to users seemed forgotten and washed under all the other ‘sexy’ products and businesses JUST to suddenly be shot back into prominence.

As for Vectr, we’ve come a long way to end up where we are now and have never been as confident and excited with our journey ahead.  The team has realigned itself and really coming together and we are ready to rock’n roll.  Some things take time but at at the end and when its done right….. worth it!

sports games and analytics

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I’m not sure about everyone out there but I’ve slowly evolved over the years into a “sports” gamer. I pretty much exclusively play NBA2K and Fifa nowadays but do try and spend some time looking at other games both within the sports genre and the more mainstream FPS and MMORPGs.

What is amazing to me is that sports games basically give you a SLIGHT improvement with the physics and graphics engine year with an updated lineup…. and that’s it! I’ve tried to self add new players into old versions just like the next gamer before buying the latest but… what is it about these games that have us coming back for more?! I don’t fully know, but I definitely do it year after year…. Should start collecting boxes and version of games and see how many years back I can go…. NBA2K yearbook!

Another specific vertical within sports games that I’m fascinated with is fantasy/manager sector. I feel that this is a sector that is ripe for change and innovation. Nothing drastic can be done, but I’ve seen a few subtle changes to games that I honestly feel bring some “freshness” to the whole thing.

Any ideas and thoughts from players, gamers and makers out there? What is the perfect formula for all this? How can we tap this sector?

california

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spent close to a week over here now between LA and SF and have really come to believe that this is one of the best places to be in the summer. The weather is nice, people are generally upbeat and happy and there is a bunch of stuff going on everywhere, including NFL opening day.

Happy to have seen old friends and met new ones… Always good to come back and get close to everything again and get the pulse of what’s going on.

Ice Buckets. Or would you rather…..?

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So I can’t help but notice that more and more people are starting to do this ALS ice bucket challenge.  Although I think the thoughts behind it is great, I have serious questions as to WHAT is actually going on.  From what I’ve noticed, the dialogue tends to go something like “I’ve been “CALLED OUT” by xxx to do the “als” ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE”!!! “ROAR!!!”.  

OK.  Are we forgetting what the actual point of this was?  ALS?  where’s the time and emphasis spent on talking about that and to point someone to WHERE we can actually do something (by something I don’t mean dumping ice) to help the cause?  Businesses can have a focus on fair trade or integrate some sort of social service into the operations and people have a choice of proactively participating through resources (aka $$$) or time+effort. But this seems to be losing direction….. what about “if you choose not to dump ice, which would be great as well, you can goto alsa.org to donate?”  

I wonder if the ALSA suddenly realizes they became social media marketers versus fundraisers for their cause.  Wouldn’t it be fun to know what the ratio turned out to be in terms of ice dumping hits of social media vs donations? Do we dare take an over/under gamble on donation vs ice?

The Ice bucket challenge although an interesting way to use the virality of the internet to pass a message and indicates to a good cause, forgets that it is playing an infinitely looped version of telephone where the spirit and soul of the point seems to have been lost. 

I realized, after spending some time talking to NGOs that technology may not be the best skillset that they have and that they are trying very hard to leverage the internet.  Understandable and commendable.  But at the end of the day they must not let something go out of control and become more an internet game and allow people to lose focus on what the actual point is!

Just in case, this is what ALS is.

This is not directed to anyone I know that has already DONE the challenge. Your videos were fun and keep calling people out to help.  Just make sure to let them know donating is also an option.  

Here’s an idea… why not dump AND donate?

 

hitting the road

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Planning trips has always been somewhat of a mixed experience.  On one hand, I’m excited and look forward to the new things and places on the trip but on the other hand sifting through the infinite number of repetitive recommendations is incredibly excruciating and painful.

With the ever increasing number of travel related apps out there I still don’t feel satisfied by any of the given experiences.  What is it that we are looking for when preparing to hit the road?  Are we looking for the cheapest passage?  Curated and guided? Tours and packages on arrival or something to remind me of everything that I’ve planned?  Perhaps something that combines all the elements above?  There are of course great individual services out there that solve some very useful problems.  Here are a few that I always look at and use.

Kayak.  Just to get a sense of everything form flights to hotels and cars.

Airbnb.  To find some cool local places to stay vs mainstream hotels.

Viator.  Check out and plan excursions and tickets to places I don’t want to lineup for.

Trip Advisor and other Guides.  These get a bit confusing and not always the most locally knowledgable but does a broad sweep.  There are some socially crowd sourced apps that I’ve played with too but who are these people rating and talking about places?

I think that at the end of the day, something should understand my price range, cool or main stream accommodations, choices of things I want to do and to lay it all out within the dates I want.  This may be asking for a lot but is it?  Let’s hope more teams out there come up with smart ways to make globe trotting easier!  

Suggestions?