“Do you know where we are?” asked Milo.

“Certainly,” he replied, “we’re right here on this very spot. Besides, being lost is never a matter of not knowing where you are; it's a matter of not knowing where you aren't – and I don’t care at all about where I’m not."

Areas of Interest (v2)

Just under a year into my existence in the world of startups and venture capital I wrote a post on my areas of interest. Almost a year later, my perspective has just about completely changed. First, lessons learned:

  1. There’s a ton I don’t know, and learning it is hard (if you don’t care). Gaining experience is a gradual process, and it’s best to start with what you know, then to jump to the tangential unknown. And focusing on what you genuinely care about is super important - it makes it so much easier and worthwhile.
  2. You’re most useful to startups if you stick to what you know. I could write essays on this, but basically: the more you know > the more value you can add > the more involved you can be > the more you will learn > repeat.

Currently my kaleidoscope of interest in the startup space looks pretty much like the above. Underlying everything are three interconnected macro trends: mobile-first, the social layer, and data availability. These three trends are pretty obvious at this point: 

  1. With mobile phone ubiquity (5 billion worldwide) and unlimited extensibility (thanks to iOS and Android), developers are often building new applications for mobile use first.
  2. Thanks in large part to open APIs and people’s desire to stalk each other, everything now either has or is capable of having a ‘social layer’ built in.
  3. More data is created every 2 days than in the entire history of the world up to 2003, and that data is now more accessible than ever.

These three macro trends have created a really cool set of positive externalities everywhere. Three that I care about are:

  • Education / Knowledge. New ways to teach, learn, and share ideas are now possible, including mobile education games (that are actually fun), deep linked interactive books, and an ability to use data to analyze what works and what doesn’t.
  • Developing Countries. M-Pesa, a mobile payment company, has roughly 10 million subscribers in Kenya - 40% of the adult population. These trends, combined with startups like FrontlineSMS, are creating huge opportunities for innovation.
  • Filtration / Curation. In short, with all this new data availability, there are tons of opportunities to better track, analyze, and use all sorts of new datasets to improve our lives.

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Life, Liberty, & Ownership of Data

Lately I’ve been frustrated that my data - created and stored in different applications across my iPhone, iPad, and Mac - still often resides within those applications alone. Despite the fact that we’re in a mobile, “internet everywhere” age (I was told yesterday of a town without running water that had wifi), I can still only get at certain data in certain places. Evernote has excelled at meeting this challenge, as has Amazon with WhisperSync, but what about my ToDo items? Or messages and @replies marked read in Twitter? Or the fact that of the myriad of mind mapping applications for iOS, only one does multi-device sync!

I don’t mention Apple among the successful syncers in protest of their “charge for sync,” Mobile Me model. Owning your data should be an inherent human right, and companies that force you to keep it in their walled garden, or charge you for access to it, should be boycotted. Unfortunately I’m of a weak will when it comes to Apple products, and will be sitting out of that battle for moment….

Developers: the value of my data is the data itself, not the application! Give me a way to get at that data anywhere and I will be a very happy customer - even if you’re not the one providing the vehicle to access it. I’m a big proponent of beautiful UI/UX work, but I would definitely sacrifice that to make sure I can access my stuff.

This was actually another one of those posts that has been sitting, written, in my file for a while now - only seeing the light of day because a friend mentioned that he was planning to make an investment in this space. Thank god. No developer should be releasing something they want people to use heavily if the underlying data created in use is not entirely transferable. Yet of course there are always exceptions, and it will be interesting to see where companies like Facebook end up in this regard.

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We Invest In What We Use

Since I began spending more time outside of the Penny Black office meeting entrepreneurs and investors, I’ve noticed that often the first question I’m asked is what type of company we invest in. Given that we’ve invested in a pretty broad range of startups, I’ve given a pretty broad range of answers.  But after a year of doing this, I’ve noticed that the startups I most enjoy working with on an ongoing basis are those that make products and services that I actively use.

A great example of this is Rapportive, which I used (and loved) for a long time before being introduced to Rahul, one of the founders.  It’s simply a great idea, that creates an immense amount of value for me on a daily basis. And given my general interest in information overload, I was very excited to be involved.

At first I thought that we had to sit down and divide up sectors of interest and expertise in order to provide the greatest value-add to our startups. What I didn’t consider, however, was that by default you become an expert in what you use simply in the process of selecting the tool. It took me a long time to find the best project management tool to manage my last startup’s team, and once I found it I noticed that I quickly became the expert among my friends in online project management software.

So what do we invest in? Most of what I do on a regular basis involves consuming, producing, and connecting data (and people), so naturally I’m fascinated by anything in that arena. Would we look at a medical device company, or a women’s media platform? Sure. There are tons of amazing startups outside of my immediate “usage sphere,” and I love meeting bright entrepreneurs. But when it comes to investing, I’d much rather focus on what I use.   

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Juventas Fugit  is designed and written by Justin Wohlstadter, who, when not writing in the third person, can be found in a coffee shop talking about startups, thinking about the future of education, and generally procrastinating something important.

  • Passions: startups that positively affect the world, education innovation, good design, learning, and meeting those with an equally insatiable curiosity.
  • Play: director of product design at Enterproid and partner at BOLDstart Ventures.
  • Previously: built the early-stage venture arm of Penny Black. And many other crazy, less successful ventures involving fire extinguishers, measuring philanthropic impact, and creative spaces.
  • Pedantry: most of the important stuff I taught myself or learned from friends, but I’m fortunate to have (barely received) degrees from Harvard and Oxford. At Oxford I wrote my dissertation on how internet innovation will disrupt access to higher education.
  • Procrastination: can be found on Twitter, Linkedin, AngelList and other web spaces, and be reached via email at my first name at this domain.
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