Taylor Davidson · Perspective

How will we use AI to build spreadsheet forecast models? ↗
From spreadsheet jockey to prompt CFO, the intersection of artifical intelligence and financial forecasting will bring experimentation to spreadsheets and new opportunities to financial modelers.

Why image recognition, voice interfaces and machine learning will change your homescreen
How new technologies to see, interact with and understand the world - image recognition, voice interfaces, and machine learning - will change mobile operating systems... and your homescreen.

Bots, the new-new-old thing
Why are bots notable? Not because of what they are, but because of what they can do.

Algorithms and The Pursuit of Advertising
Instagram's shift to an algorithmic feed is an age-old story playing out yet again. And Snapchat? Coming soon.

The Entrepreneur's 2016 Gift Guide
What to get now to start planning for 2016.

Why is a shoe company a "startup"?
On the role of technology in startups, and why shoes, furniture, mattresses, clothes, food, and "non-tech" businesses are the hot startups of the moment.

The future of big data, ad blocking and tracking
Is big data a big asset or a big liability? That is up to us. Let's consider how we are using data to make better products and ads while dealing with security, privacy, and tracking.

Artificial Intelligence in Fintech
The financial services industry has seen the buzz over artifical intelligence before, but will the result be different this time?

Small (and Big) Data
Data abstinence and artificial intelligence.

How the Future of Mobile Apps Impacts Ads and Brands
The future of mobile apps will create new avenues for mobile ads. But it all starts with user experiences.

Users, meet Advertisers
The shift from a product people love to a product advertisers love is tough. But that should be expected.

Peak Password
Why the password needs to be replaced

Apple Watch
I'm more excited about Apple's watches than their phones. Here's why.

23 Things I've Learned as a VC
Looking back at three years in venture

Why Mobile Unbundling Isn't Inevitable
The state of mobile app unbundling today, and how app extensions, deep linking, and notifications could alter the rationale for unbundling.

The Internet of Things is about people, not things.
A talk I gave at Startup Iceland, 2014

The State of Programmatic Advertising
... will be defined by the sites we make popular and the ad units made to fit them.

Why Deep Linking Matters
Mobile apps are adding back the structure of the web, bit by bit.

The Peer-to-Peer Movement
Signs of how peer-to-peer technologies will disrupt the centralization of the Internet.

Card Architecture and Card Design
Cards are not the first form of embedding interactivity, but it's the one with the biggest future. Look beyond the design of cards to the architecture behind them.

Publishing as a Product, Pageviews as Users, and What The Shift Means
Re-thinking publishers as intent engines, and what it takes to get there

The mobile single-purpose app strategy
Thin wedges can be valuable icebergs.

Fundraising for Entrepreneurs
Slides from a talk about Fundraising for Early-stage Entrepreneurs I gave at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, Feb 14, 2014

It's a fascinating time to be a publisher
An overview of digital publishers today.

How "native advertising" will shift from the buzzy savior of advertising to the new normal
Programmatic content + programmatic buying, FTW.

Mobile messaging, brands, and adtech
Mobile communication apps may not appear to be adtech companies. But then, neither did social networks.

Feedback from Founders
I surveyed all the entrepreneurs I've met about what I did right AND wrong as a VC. Here's what they said.

Angellist Syndicates is crowdfunding without the crowd. For now.
It's impossible to think about Angellist Syndicates without looking at the broader picture of equity crowdfunding.

A VC's take on CGI 2013
Thoughts from Clinton Global Initiative by a tech venture capitalist.

The most interesting companies in advertising are built for people first, marketers second.
If you want to figure out the future of adtech, look to where consumer technology is going.

Why it's hard for startups to hack brands and agencies for growth
There's a difference between business development and selling.

Notification Zero
Everyone talks about achieving Inbox Zero, why don’t we talk about Notification Zero?

What's Native Today Will be Programmatic Tomorrow

Hardware is Feeding the World
Software might be eating the world, but hardware is feeding the world.

International First
Perhaps instead of web first, or mobile first, we should think about international first and what that means.

Context First
The next set of winners in web services will use the organizing principle of “context first” to build on top of social platforms, mobile platforms and data platforms to rethink how their business operates.

Intent Data, the Key to Internet Marketing
Detailing how first-party digital intent data can be used by marketers and advertisers, and why intent data is not the same as social data. Startup idea enclosed.

How crowdfunding could impact the venture capital industry
What happens when everybody’s a venture capitalist? The crowd is waiting to disrupt yet another industry, and the time is now for the venture industry to take advantage of it.

Why digital intent matters
A glimpse into why we are going to hear a lot more about intent in digital marketing.

The best technology fades into the background
The best technology fades into the background, because people don’t care about tech, they care about what it does.

The Theory of the Nine Rakes
How a joke from the Simpsons tells a story about the power of commitment.

Capital One and Klout (a look into a current promotion)

Intent Engines, Sponsored Actions, and Internet Marketing (why Pinterest, Polyvore, and Personal et. al. matter)
Social services as intent engines, and why they are important to advertisers.

Tim Tebow and the Minimum Viable Offense
The idea of a minimum viable product doesn’t apply just to startups.

How to start charging for what you make
A summary of a short talk I gave at Tribecon 2011

The bubble is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed.
Bubbles happen, but they happen for entirely different reasons every time.

Facebook's potential Adsense competitor
In a “world where more stuff is known by more people”, how will social data link with ads across the web? Here’s one idea.

The real challenges technology companies face today are human, not technical.
And that’s a normal part of the cycle, not a failure of venture capital or innovation.

Information, Intelligence, and Wisdom. There's a business in every part of the stack.
Data is great. Analytics are great. But the applications of data are even better.

The Missing Loop in Health Hacking
Health hacking technology and communities are all missing something. Today’s product and community diversity is a sign of immature products and value propositions, but tomorrow’s diversity will be a sign of competitive differentiation.

Hardware is the new software. Entrepreneurs and investors, get on board.
The opportunities for the hardware entrepreneur have never been better.

Bankers always maneuver faster than regulators (Facebook and Wall Street)
Everyone’s going to pay attention to Facebook raising $500 million. But pay much more attention to where the money is coming from.

The kids are alright.
Studies about generational differences matter. But not in the way we typically interpret them.

Why we create without getting paid
Why do people spend time creating without getting paid? Three big reasons, in my mind: 1) creating is a form of entertainment, 2) it’s never been easier to create and publish for free, and 3) creating creates. We can say yes without having to convince anyone else to say yes. And it’s great. But shifting from free to paid isn’t as easy as we may expect.

Doing Good is Good Business
Doing good is good business. “Social good” can be the base of a strong business model, and I believe we’re steadily coming closer to a point where a business without a “social good” is not a sustainable business. And I’m not talking about environmentally, culturally or morally sustainable, but strategically, economically and financially sustainable.

Where Meaning Meets Business
“Where meaning meets business” is a simple construct that can help us allocate our money, time, attention and love; why should we do things that don’t matter?

The Passing of the Polymath
Once admired for their breadth of knowledge and ability, polymaths are now ironically mocked for the exact same quality. Why?

A Personal API could be a modularized, standardized interface for collaboration.
Continuing the conceptual thinking around a “personal API”

Modeling Viral Loops
Articles on modeling viral customer acquisition loops

Content is cheap, context is expensive. Is it any surprise which one we lack?
Why is context scarce?

How to Fail - 25 Lessons Learned through Failure
Close observation and unfortunate first-hand personal experiences have taught me many lessons about why companies fail. Here’s 25.

What Startups can learn from Billy Beane
Moneyball was about strategy, not tactics: constantly measuring and re-evaluating tactics and alternatives, not about determining and defining the “winning tactic”.

Cutting a desire path through life
Desire paths are how people have chosen the best route to navigate their physical world, whether it is the “intended” path or not.

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