As we near the close of another strange year, I hope you are all staying dry, warm, and safe. I have not heard anything about Alex’s vacation, which I hope means he is having a fantastic time and playing much too much Crusader Kings III. Alex expected to return the following week. In the interim, I will attempt to be half as excellent at summarizing the day’s most important stories.
Have you seen an increase in the number of “.xyz” domains in the wild? Are you curious as to why? Anita Ramaswamy gives a wonderful account of the history of.xyz, its expanding significance in the web3 world, and Google/Alphabet may have initiated the trend. What is up at Black Girls Code these days? Why was Kimberly Bryant, the non-CEO profits and co-founder, abruptly suspended? Natasha Mascarenhas spoke with a number of persons involved in order to obtain some answers.
I haven’t seen the new “Matrix” (I have a child, so viewing any movie without music and/or animated dogs is uncommon), so I can’t comment on Devin’s title, but I admire him for finding a diamond (the movie’s take on our connection with technology) in what he perceives to be the rough (everything else.) Warning: there are spoilers ahead. New Zealand’s startup ecosystem is taking off like a rocket. Where else might New Zealand find victories besides rockets? Rebecca Bellan spoke with local investors and came up with four verticals to keep an eye on.
Connie Loizos’ ability to discern patterns that I would have missed will never cease to surprise me. This time, investment in faith-based applications has increased dramatically, from $6.1 million in 2016 to $175 million this year. Connie got down with the creator of one of these applications (Hallow) to get some perspective on the market.
In the last decade, software as a service has leveled the playing field for companies, but when it comes to venture money, the winners still get everything. According to Sean Fanning, a vice president on OpenView’s investment team, firms with strong growth generally receive the majority of VC funding, leaving the underperformers to compete for crumbs.
Fanning offers three techniques utilized by SaaS businesses with a high enterprise value-to-revenue (EV/R) multiple in an in-depth post: Execution against significant and expanding market opportunities will continue. Using a company model allows rapid expansion (i.e., product lead growth). A strong unit economy creates sufficient long-term free cash flow margins.
