Tech Trek Study Questions
List two forces of industry and competitive analysis.
(1) intensity of rivalry among existing competitors (2) the threat of new entrants (3) the threat of substitute goods or services (4) the bargaining power of buyers (5) the bargaining power of suppliers
Facebook Mission Statement: Give _______ the power to ________ and make the world more _________ and _________. a) people, interconnect, distant, complex b) businesses, collaborate, profitable, successful c) people, share, open, connected d) people, share, interconnected, instantaneous
(c)
Facebook currently has slightly more than _________ active followers. a) 535 million b) 725 million c) 845 million d) 950 million
(c)
Which was not a rule by Andy Kessler in his book, "Eat People"? a) Be a market entrepreneur not a political one b) Stock market allocates capital to those that deserve it and starves those that don't c) Humans adapt to technology d) Move to the edge of the network
(c)
Name a company that Facebook does NOT intend to partner with through its Open Graph. a) Netflix b) Hulu c) Ticketmaster d) Charter
(d)
Q. What is Tallwood's average investment size in a company?
A. $4-6 Million (but as little as 50K and as much as 15 Million)
T/F Q. Dado Banatao, Luiz Arzubi and George Pavlov all have electrical engineering backgrounds and education.
A. F - Pavlov does not.
Q. Instead of being the first to develop an idea, Zynga uses the ____ __________ method to determine what games to make.
A. Fast Follower
What is an Ultrabook and why is Intel investing in them?
An Ultrabook is super-thin, light-weight laptop. Intel has invested $300 million into an Ultrabook fund, and hopes to break into the mobile device market that has long been dominated by chips produced by competitors on the ARM architecture.
How does thredUp engage its community? Name two of its methods.
An active Facebook page, The Daily Thred blog, box discussions, and user profiles.
What does it mean to have a "crossover investment strategy?"
As seen with Technology Crossover Ventures, crossover investment refers to investing in companies both while they are private entities and in the long-term after they "crossover" into public markets.
T/F: Even with their fraud detection team, Google still estimates that about one in three clicks is fraudulent.
F. They estimate it to be fewer than one in ten
What is the name of Facebook's annual developer conference?
F8
Explain the role of fabless semiconductor firms.
Fabless firms do not need to invest in the incredibly capital intensive chip manufacturing plant
True or False: TCV only takes majority positions in their portfolio companies.
False, TCV takes both majority and minority positions. Q. Name a Pro and a Con of late stage investing/ A. Pro: Less Risk Con: Less Impact Tallwood Venture Capital
T/F Did Larry Page outline Google's new strategy as "more arrows in the quiver"?
False, he said "more wood behind fewer arrows" basically consolidating number of products.
Andy states, "Money will find its way to businesses with the largest marketshare." T/F
False, it will find its way to the highest returns
T/F Does thredUp allow users to take pictures of what is inside the boxes?
False, they feel that photos will not look professional and will deter buyers.
True/False When you perform a search Google's crawlers begin searching through the World Wide Web until they find the best list of sites related to your search.
False- Google searches its own copies of the web that it creates by storing and indexing the text of online documents on their own computers.
Although Apple is closing in on Android in terms of overall smartphone market share, what market is Android currently largely preferred by?
First-time smartphone buyers (Android holds 57% of first-time buyer market vs. Apple's 34%)
Who was seen as a main obstacle to the sale of Yahoo's Asian assets?
Former CEO and board member Jerry Yang, before his exit from the company.
Who was Andy Kessler's co-founder?
Fred Kittler
What company did Paul Maritz found?
In 2003, he founded Pi Corp which was later bought by EMC.
In 2007 what significant change did Apple make?
In 2007 Apple changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc. That same year Apple entered into the mobile device market and introduce the iPone, a prime example of the paradigm shift taking place at Apple.
With an annual average of $4,709 sales per sq foot, Apple is the __________
Is the Top Chain Retailer in the United States
What is latency?
Latency in essence means delay. It is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another.
Andy Miller's company that he sold to Apple was in what business?
Mobile Advertising
Which investment bank is serving as the lead underwriter for the Facebook IPO?
Morgan Stanley
What is ThredUp's target market?
Mothers
What was the name of the first microprocessor that Intel developed, and in what year was it released?
Name: 4004 Year: 1971
List three significant hits of TCV
Netflix, Expedia, Real Networks, Redback Networks
What is Equinix's biggest competitive advantage?
Network effects because people want to all be on the same network and connected together to eliminate delays.
Does IQT work on classified projects for the CIA?
No, IQT works on unclassified information and problems provided to them by QIC.
How long has thredUP been in San Francisco?
One and a half years
Depending on possibly forthcoming legislative changes, what online business is Zynga considering entering?
Online gambling
List two advantages that an incumbent product with network effects has over a new entrant.
Options are 1) Switching Costs 2) Complimentary Benefits 3) Installed base
What is EA's Origin?
Origin is EA's new online content/game digital distribution platform to compete with rival Steam.
In what ways are peer-to-peer (P2P) models more complex than B2C models?
P2P market places require careful management of demand and supply growth. Trust and quality between peers is critical so that users are not lost and so there is no transaction friction. Consistent transaction experiences are also necessary in order to build brand and to lead to word of mouth marketing.
What is a PE Ratio?
PE Ratio = (Stock Price/Earnings Per Share) contributed by Mike Lapointe on Feb 21, 2012 7:49pm
In order to prevent switching costs a new product or services must
Provide more value than the incumbent to ensure that their value is greater than an incumbents value + any perceived switching costs
During the 1990's the US government was disappointed because they were losing out on the brightest minds, most of which were going where?
Private companies located in Silicon valley.
What does PIPE stand for?
Private investment on public equity.
What are "Problem Sets"?
Problem Sets are a yearly generated report, created by QIC to be used by IQT. The report is derived from discussions QIC has with members of the agency, and is then passed on to IQT. This allows IQT to address CIA problems on an "unclassified" level.
Why do the coders (who presumably would prefer to work in silence) sit next to the customer service reps at WePay?
Proximity allows the service reps to get answers quicker if a customer asks a question they can't answer and need to ask a techie. Yahoo
What entity is the main connection between IN-Q-Tel and the CIA?
QIC (IQT-Interface-Conference)
What is the major concern with mobile advertising?
Revenues per ad are generally lower in a mobile setting.
Where did the founders of Airbnb graduate (name one of two schools)?
Rhode Island School of Design (Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia), Harvard University (Nathan Blecharczyk)
Who is the head of Google news?
Richard Gingras
What is TCV's investment focus?
TCV focuses solely on information technology.
To which major overseas chip foundry do Intel's competitors outsource much of their chip manufacturing? Why?
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. Chip factories are expensive to produce - Intel's newest plant, Fab 42, will cost $5 billion.
Name the current CFO of Yahoo (who we will be meeting with) and the role he recently played in a management change.
Tim Morris, he was the Interm CEO after Carol Bartz was fired
Define Latency
Time delay
True/False: Om Malik is known as a general partner at True Ventures.
True.
What is Airbnb's revenue model?
They charge guests a 6-12% service fee based on the type of reservation (larger reservations have lower fee rates) and hosts a 3% transaction fee per reservation completed
What does IQT provide to developing companies beyond "cash"?
They provide intellectual capital (smart, experienced people), technology-related experience, and connections to the "Agency."
What was VMware's first product offering and what did it do?
VM Workstation. VM Workstation allowed hardware virtualization on machines based on the x86 architecture.
Give an example of a two-sided market.
Video game console owners and developers of video games both rely on the other to create value for their products.
What is virtualization?
Virtualization is "injecting a layer between the application and the hardware. The application talks to the virtualization layer, the virtualization layer talks to the hardware. In effect it puts the application in its own box so that you can move the application from one set of hardware to another without worrying about the specific configuration of each machine."
The ___________ feature was a direct attack at PayPal's "piece of the pie".
WePay Stores
What is the goal of Equinix? a) Store, power and connect the internet b) Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful c) Lead in the invention, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies d) Be the most essential global Internet service for consumers and businesses
a
Which of the following companies is not TCV's current investment? a. Groupon b. Airbnb c. K12 d. iPipeline
b
Which of the following is NOT a major part of Intuit's current growth strategy? a) Entering new geographies b) Consolidating product lines c) Building adjacent businesses d) Accelerating the transition to connected services e) Driving growth in the core businesses
b
________ uses proprietary architecture to design low-power consumption chips, where ________ licenses Intel's x86 architecture. a. AMD, ARM b. ARM, AMD
b
CPM pricing means:
b. cost per thousand impressions (Remember, "M" is the roman numeral for 1,000!)
Data storage doubles every a.) 9 months b.) 12 months c.) 6 months d.) 2 years
b.) 12 months
What is NOT one of the main aspect of Equinix' business model? a) Managed IT Infrastructure Services b) Exchange services c) Web design d) Colocation
c
How many years has Jay Hoag acted as a technology investor? a. 10 years b. 15 years c. 19 years d. 29 years
d
What does Equinix strive to do for its customers through interconnection? a) Get rid of peering b) Provide excellent data center rental cages c) Decrease customers interaction with each other d) Decrease latency
d
Which company does TCV invest in together with Sequoia Capital
eHarmony
List three companies which Jay Hoag is currently on the board of
eHarmony, EA, Netflix, TechTarget, Zillow
List three characteristics of OnSwipe
easy & cheap, content network, highly customizable for publishers of any size
What are the two "swap site" competitors to thredUP?
swapmamas.com and swapbabygoods.com
What is the difference between the x86 and ARM instruction sets?
x86 was an instruction set developed by Intel in 1978, and currently is used in most chips made by Intel and AMD. It is generally produces more powerful chips, and is the dominate instruction set in chips for desktop computers and laptops. ARM was developed in 1990, and is more efficient in power consumption, when compared to x86. ARM chips dominate on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Network Effects otherwise know as _________ or Network Externalities is
occurs when the value of a product or service increases as the number of users grows. Simply, more users = more value.
Name the 3 main components of EA Interactive's revenue stream.
paid subscriptions, advertising, and sales of digital content (virtual goods)
What device is predicted to launch three days before our arrival at Apple?
iPad 3
True or false: design is considered Airbnb's only competitive advantage
False; while clean, intuitive design works into Airbnb's strategy, building a brand name and trust with customers as well as switching costs of user reviews can become Airbnb's main competitive advantage
What does it mean to be naïve yet aware?
It means you might not know everything about being a CEO, but you are aware of that and thus surround yourself with people who can help you.
Which online financial management company did Intuit acquire in 2009? For what price? Which of Intuit's previous products did this acquisition essentially replace?
Mint.com for $170 million; Quicken Online
What is Moore's Law?
"Chip performance per $1 doubles every 18 months"
What are two broad areas of focus for IQT?
"Information and Communication Tech" and "Physical and Biological Tech"
To avoid being targeted by Microsoft, Yahoo called itself a ____________ company rather than a "tech" company
"Media"
What is the tile of Jason Baptiste's upcoming book?
"The Ultralight Startup"
What is the title of Andy Kessler's book that describes his time as an analyst on Wall Street?
"Wall Street Meat"
Q. Which of the follow is NOT a partner at Tallwood? A. Dado Banatao B. Guy Resheff C. Luiz Arzubi D. George Pavlov
B Guy Resheff
What are the three categories of collaborative consumption?
Product-service systems, redistribution markets, and collaborative living services
Name one of airbnb's attractions to users
Professional Photography
What about Highland Capital Partners is considered unique?
Their consumer fund. HCP invests in brick and mortar stores. Ex. Lululemon, Pinkberry, and Staples.
What did Sequoia advise in their leaked Power Point presentation?
They warned about the trouble due to the recession and advised companies to cut costs and become cash-flow positive.
How did the founders of Airbnb raise $20,000 in the company's early stages at the time of the 2008 Presidential election?
They went door-to-door selling Presidential caricature cereal boxes.
What does Rich Aberman mean when he says WePay provides a "democratization of fundraising"?
This term refers to the honor system developed by the transparency of the site. People who give money through WePay can see exactly where their money goes and what it is spent on, so they know if the collector is trustworthy, and this transparency is a very important part of WePay's business. contributed by Kristie Dickinson on Feb 21, 2012 5:35pm
Explain how Apple's production of the iPod relates to the 5th Wave of Computing and Moore's Law
iPods became faster and cheaper, with greater data capacity. The latest iPods hold 40x more songs as the original iPod and cost less than the original iPod.
Keiretsu is a Japanese term referring to the importance of _______________ among businessmen. a. partnerships b. competition c. communication d. dedication
a. Pertnerships
CEO Brian Chesky believes we are moving from an ownership society to a(n) ___________society, where we are defined by our experiences and not our things
access
The home-tel business has scaled __________ and has ___________ barriers to entry than the deals business. a) Quicker; higher b) Slower; higher c) Quicker; lower d) Slower; lower
b
Name 3 deflators of EA's profitability.
high licensing and royalty costs, lost revenues from piracy, lost revenues from the used game market, smaller profit margins for mobile and social games (often freemiums), increased competition due to low barriers to entry in mobile and social gaming
Give an example of cannibalization between Apple's products.
iPhone is cannibalizing iPod market—iPhone made up 39% of Apple's revenue in last year's Q1 and iPods 13%, vs. iPhone 53% and iPods 5% this past quarter.
53% of Apple's revenue is from their ____________. These sales are an example of cannibalization because they are decreasing the sales of what Apple product?
iPhone sales. The iPod.
What is the typical fee structure of a VC firm?
"2 and 20" - The firm earns a 2% management fee on a fund and a 20% performance fee.
Why was In-Q-Tel created?
"to ensure that the CIA remains at the cutting edge of information technology advances and capabilities." -First CEO (Louie Gilman)
How large is the Highland Consumer Fund?
$300M
How much money is Audience hoping to raise with their IPO?
$75m
What are the three main forms of advertisement that Zynga offers?
(1) Banner ads (2) Video ads (3) Product placement
List the two services of Google's advertising model and briefly describe what they are.
- AdWords: Sponsored links alongside organic search results - AdSense: Google Ads hosted on external sites
On average, facebook ads see a ____ clickthrough rate where Google ads enjoy a ____ clickthrough rate.
04%, 2%
What instruction set is used by chips in each of the following devices: 1) iPhone, 2) MacBook,3) Asus Ultrabook, 4) iPad?
1) ARM, 2) x86, 3) x86, 4) ARM
Name one reason Apple switch to Intel's x86 chips in 2006.
1) Their previous chips consumed too much power and gave off too much heat for small notebooks, 2) Intel's chips became just as powerful as Apple's previous chips, 3) IBM's commitment to the previous chip was uncertain, 4) it allows Macs to run natively run the Windows operating system
What the lowest rate Inuit will give you for processing payments with GoPayment?
1.7%
_______ was the biggest year for M&A exits.
2010
How many of Sequoia's 13 IPOs in 2010 were from companies based in China?
9
Around what percent of the world's internet traffic is routed through Equinix?
90% of the world's internet traffic
DAU stands for ___________ _____________ _____________
A; Daily Active Users
What is a hypervisor?
A "hypervisor" is a layer of software that resides between the operating system and system hardware to enable virtualization.
What was Andy Kessler's first job on Wall Street?
A semiconductor analyst at Paine Webber.
Q. Tony Conrad's About.me was acquired by AOL how long after it had its public release?
A. Four days.
T/F Start-ups at True Ventures help each other?
A. True, portfolio companies at True Ventures help each other
What is an IP address? Why is it not a reliable way to track an individual?
An IP address is the number assigned to a network-equipped piece of hardware by which another device can identify it. They are useful for geo-location, but you are assigned a new IP address every time you sign on/off/switch Wi-Fi Networks, so IP targeting can't reliably identify individuals.
Name the two Asian firms that Yahoo holds a large stake in.
Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan
What is unique about the titles of employees who interact with current and potential investments at Sequoia?
All deal exposed employees are referred to as partners.
What company is the large exception to Andy Kessler's rule: "get horizontal."
Apple
What is Apple's current market valuation and why is that number significant?
Apple is currently valued at $468.61 billion, which makes it the worlds most valuable company ahead of Exxon Mobile
Why doesn't Apple conduct focus groups?
Apple tells the customer what they want—knows what they want before they do (idea of disruptive technologies).
What does "ARPU" stand for? Why is it relevant?
Average revenue per user. It is relevant because it is a measurement of a game's ability to generate revenue, especially by means of the sale of virtual goods. It is important because most social and mobile games are offered as freemiums, so EA has to see how much money each user is generating. If the ARPU is low, EA has to find other means of revenue from its games.
The idea for WePay was started when Bill and Rich: A. Were brainstorming ideas for the BCVC competition B. Needed a way to collect money for a bachelor party C. Got bored one day while doing homework in O'Neill Library D. Were looking for a way to pay the bills more efficiently
B
Which of the following banks is not underwriting the Audience IPO? a. JP Morgan b. Morgan Stanley c. Deutsche Bank d. Pacific Crest Securities
B
Where did Phil Schiller get his undergraduate degree, and what is his degree?
B.A. in Biology from BC
Why don't startups take out bank loans instead of raising VC money?
Banks don't invest in risky enterprises, nor do they provide the expertise of a VC firm. contributed by Patrick on Feb 20, 2012 8:13am
How does Mint.com make its revenue?
Banks pay Mint.com for introducing new customers to various services. OnSwipe
Name three of thredUP's competitive advantages?
Brand - thredUP has built a great brand that mom's trust. This makes new moms more likely to try out thredUP first. Network Effects - When more people post boxes, more people come onto the site to buy which overall encourages more users to join the site. Switching Costs - thredUP has very high switching costs as it takes time for people to build up their profile and gain credibility. Scale - thredUP operates on a large scale and therefore has a large amount of boxes to offer. In addition, their large scale allows them to offer their services for free.
Who are the 2 high-profile advisors to ThredUp?
Brian Swette (former CEO of eBay) and Reed Hastings (Netflix CEO)
How does WePay make money? Select the best answer. A. By charging a monthly subscription fee B. Online advertising C. By charging a small fee per transaction D. A and C
C
Which of Intuit's business groups earned the highest percentage of revenue in fiscal year 2011? 2010?
Consumer Tax in both years
Which of the following methods can an administrator on WePay's site manage and spend money with? A. Paper check B. Direct deposit C. WePay prepaid Visa Card D. All the above
D
Who acquired VMWare in 2004 for $625 million?
EMC
What does Intuit mean by the idea of "eating its own dog food"?
Employees use and critique their products, giving the company more perspective.
Peter Bell specializes in investments in what industry?
Enterprise storage.
Om Malik founded what company?
GigaOm.
What is the product of a VC firm?
Investments in it's portfolio.
What is Project Ten Dollar?
It is a campaign that was started to encourage people to buy new games rather than used games, because EA gets no revenue from the sale of used games.. EA provides each new game version with a coupon or code that is worth $10 worth of additional downloadable content that is unavailable to those with old used versions.
Why is the company named Zynga?
It is named after Pincus' late bulldog
Which 2 co-founders of ThredUp attended BC
James Reinhart (CEO) and Oliver Lubin (Lead UI Designer)
What efficiencies are gained by going horizontal?
Lower Prices and Faster Pace
What is the name of the wildly popular budgeting/spending/tracking website and iOS app owned by Intuit?
Mint.com
Name the three of Peter Bell's portfolio companies.
Many possible answers but some acceptable answers are SCVNGR, VMTurbo, Exagrid, WePay, Virtual Computer, etc.
Airbnb founders unique approach to raise their first $20,000 of funding in 2008 was to sell __________________.
Obama O's and Cap'n McCain's cereal
What are 2 problems that EA faces with its packaged games?
Piracy (which digital distribution helps to combat) and the resale market
What is the difference between political and market entrepreneurs?
Political entrepreneurs enter and control markets due to political permission or "the stroke of a pen." They get legislative permission and pay off Congressmen to get control of the market in which they overtax, overcharge, and fail to innovate. Market entrepreneurs have the ability to recognize the price-value gap often created by political entrepreneurs. They ignore legislation, enter the market, and gain share by innovating, disintermediating, and lowering prices. In doing so, they create economic growth and increase living standards.
Name two of EA's recent major acquisitions.
PopCap Games and Playfish
What was Andy Miller's company name?
Quattro Wireless
What are two of Intuit's new mobile apps?
Quickbooks Mobile and Online Payroll.
How are sponsored links ranked on Google Search?
Rank = (MaxCPC)x(Quality Score)
Benefits derived by interaction among members of a single class of participants are known as _________________
Same-side exchange benefits
What raw material is used to make the silicon which eventually ends up in semi-conductors?
Sand
Who is Yahoo's new CEO (Jan. 9 2012)?
Scott Thompson, former president of PayPal and Yahoo's 4th CEO in 5 years
_____________ is the new feature that integrates Google+ with Google search.
Search Plus Your World
What is Airbnb's biggest weakness that they are currently trying to improve?
Security
Why are shared transaction histories an important aspect of WePay?
Shared transaction histories create transparency on the site. It allows any user to show where their donations/payments are being spent. It creates a self-policing environment and an honor system around WePay. Shady administrators aren't going to get donations, and this transparency allows businesses that are not registered as nonprofits to collect donations. Rich calls this the "democritization of funding."
What is Chesky, CEO and co-founder of airbnb, believes the third wave of Internet?
Sharing economy that gets people offline and connects to the real world
What is Lauren Svensson's role within EA?
She is a publicist for the EA Interactive label
Who is Facebook's COO?
Sheryl Sandberg
What are 2 parts of WePay's mission?
Simple/easy to use and to take the hassle out of online payments
What are Intuit's four principal business segments?
Small business group, Tax, Financial Services, & Other Businesses
What is the big, new game that Electronic Arts has just launched?
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Who are the three founders of Apple?
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple in 1976
What is Summer@Highland?
Summer@Highland is a startup incubator program. Selected startup teams (2-4 employees) are given $15K, office space and a Highland Sponsor. The program is "founder friendly" so Highland Capital does not receive any stake in the firms.
T/F Marvell, one of Dado Banatao's first companies in the US, took over NVIDIA as the 5th largest fabless semiconductor company in America in 2010.
T
What highly competitive program run by David Cohen and David Tisch helped guide OnSwipe in its early stages?
TechStars (New York)
What does Andy Kessler mean by saying technology "eats people"?
Technology is "eating people" because it's putting people out of jobs that can now be done by computer instead of need humans to do the work. Examples of jobs that have already started to disappear are bank tellers, telephone operators, travel agents, stock brokers, and stock traders on the floor of the NYSE.
thredUP's blog that is run by Gia Russo and Michele Adams is called _______________.
The Daily Thred
What is the general premise of Andy Kessler's second book, Running Money?
The book is about how he and Fred Kittler were able to raise $11 million and turn it into $1 billion.
What are the four major cloud types? In addition, please describe one in depth.
The four types of clouds are public (anyone can pay to use it), community (shared between enterprises), private (an enterprise data center), and hybrid (gray area between the public and private clouds that theoretically offers the security of the private cloud with the cost savings of the public cloud).
Approximately how long is the life span of a fund?
The life span of a VC fund is usually fixed at 10 years.
How much money did Zynga raise through its IPO?
Zynga raised $1 billion by releasing 100 million shares of stock at $10/share
Why is the performance fee that VCs earn under scrutiny by the US gov't?
The performance fee is under scrutiny for it's low tax rate as carried interest.
Why does Google offer all of its consumer services for free?
To keep people coming back to its online search engine and create a Google ecosystem with switching costs.
________ are the 1% of players that purchase as much as 50% of the virtual goods on Zynga.
Whales (Whales also spend 3x as much time playing than average users and are given special privileges by Zynga so that they retain they're use)
What is peering?
When different Internet Service Providers connect and share traffic with one another for free.
What is Zynga.org?
Zynga's corporate philanthropy arm which uses virtual goods in games to raise money for different causes and non-profit organizations.
How many of TCV's investments have gone to an IPO? -a: 50 -b: 23 -c: 37 -d: 122
a, 50
How much is Airbnb's valuation a.)$100 million b.) $500 million c.) >$1 billion
c.) >$1 billion ($1.3 billion)
Which is not a term Andy gives people in chapter seven? a.) Slopper b.) Creator c.) Slimer d.) Waster
choice d.
Google's ads are billed on a _______ basis.
cost-per-click (CPC)
Jason Baptiste: "Google helps you find it. Facebook lets you share it. OnSwipe lets you ___________ it"
experience
Apple morphing the iPod into the iPhone, a device that captures all of these product categories in one device, is an example of ________ ?
Envelopment
What is Facebook trying to do in China?
Essentially, they are trying to make amends with the Chinese in order to delve into the Chinese Internet and tap into the great potential of Chinese users.
True or False: Y Combinator usually has large stakes in the companies they invest in.
False: They have small stakes of 2-10%
What are three security features Airbnb offers to its hosts?
(1) $50,000 Airbnb Host Guarantee (2) Voice Connect - allowing hosts to speak with potential guests without revealing their phone number (3) the ability to decline a guest (4) may require guests to pay security deposit or cleaning fee (5) 24/7 customer service hotline (6) verified customer reviews
List 3 important characteristics that make Apple's supply chain a competitive advantage
(1) Closed ecosystem (2) Economies of Scale (3) Lean product line (4) Cash - economic resources
The value of network effects comes from what three things?
(1) Exchange (2) Staying power and switching costs (3) Complementary benefits
List some trends in today's society that have allowed for ThredUp's success.
(1) Green awareness- people are becoming more aware of how they consume, and how it affects the environment- ThredUp is re-using old clothing, a very "green" idea (2) Social media- ThredUp can harness social media sites, e.g, Facebook, to promote its service for little cost (3) Recession- people are looking for cheaper ways to clothe their children
Name one way Airbnb is reaching international markets
(1) Opening 6 new global offices this year with launch parties in Barcelona, Milan, Paris, Copenhagen, Moscow, Sao Paulo (to add to their current 4 offices) (2) Mobile app for both iOS and Android (which holds 48% of world market share)
List (4) key sources of Apple's Competitive Advantages
(1) Supply Chain (2) Brand (3) Switching Costs (4) Cash
Name two companies in Y Combinator's portfolio
(1) WePay (2) Airbnb (3) reddit (4) Scribd. (5) Dropbox
Name and describe two features of iBooks2
(1) iBooks Textbooks—interactive, engaging textbooks that allow students to highlight, take notes on the side, get quizzed by teachers, etc... Available for K-12 students (2) iBooks Author—free authoring tool that allows people to write their own eBooks; Authors own their own content.
What are two main differences of Airbnb from its competitors?
(1) unique listings (treehouses, yachts, igloos, entire countries) (2) free professional photography of listings
What are the 2 key characteristics of disruptive technologies?
(1). They come to market with a set of performance attributes that are not initially valued by existing customers. (2). The performance attributes that customers do value improve to the point where the new tech invades the established market.
The Open Graph delineates what? a) a social graph b) an ever-extending platform c) a stronger user base d) a privacy enhancement
(b)
What is NOT one of Facebook's competitive advantages? a) Network effects b) Business deals with multitude of advertisers c) Loyal, active user base d) Switching costs
(b)
WePay was backed by a lot of smart money. Match the following investors from WePay's Series A & B funding with their "smart money involvement" or other companies they've worked at/invested in. Investors: 1. August Capital 2. Max Levchin & Dave McClure 3. Ron Conway 4. Paul Buccheit 5. Angus Davis 6. Eric Dunn 7. Steve Chen 8. Peter Bell Smart Money Involvement: A. Co-founded YouTube B. Invested in Intuit, StumbleUpon, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems C. Worked at Google and Facebook D. Founder of Swipely E. Invested in Facebook, Google, Twitter, PayPal, Digg, Foursquare, Mint.com, Swipely, Napster... F. Worked at PayPal G. Partner at Highland Capital H. Former CTO of Intuit
1. B 2. F 3. E 4. C 5. D 6. H 7. A 8. G
What are two advantages thredUp has over competitors?
1. Gives members access to thousands of boxes rather than just a one-on-one swap. 2. Streamlines mailing by providing prepaid shipping labels and empty boxes directly to users homes. 3. Several items are bundled into each box, which reduces postage expense. Q. What is the biggest advantage of a redistribution market in which the users provide the assets? A. There is minimal capital investment required. True Ventures
What are 2 struggles that both PayPal and WePay have to face?
1. Honeypot for hackers 2. Massive regulation
What are two advantages in keeping In-Q-Tel a private entity, separate from the CIA?
1. In-Q-Tel can make private equity investments and are not required to comply with Federal Acquisition Regulations 2. Companies can tailor to the CIAs needs and still keep intellectual property rights
What is a "Free Radical"?
A Free Radical is someone who not only creates wealth for themselves but at the very same time improves the world, makes life better and increases everyone's standard of living.
What are cookies? Give an example of how a website could use them to improve your user experience.
A cookie is a line of identifying text, assigned and retrieved by a given web server and stored by your browser. It essentially "tags" your browser so it recognizes you the next time you visit. Amazon.com uses cookies to remember what a specific visitor shopped for, bought, and put in your shopping cart. Cookies are also often used as a "remember me" feature for usernames and passwords.
Which of the following is not part of HCP's portfolio? A). WePay B). ThredUp C). ExaGrid D). Rent the Runway
B - ThredUp
Was the relationship between the aggregate value of IPOs in 2011 versus 2010?
2011 saw an increase of 40% from about 7 billion to almost 10 billion.
What is TCV's normal transaction size?
20m-200m
What percentage of small fund's investments earned greater than a three times return?
21 %.
How many funds has True Ventures raised in the past 5 years?
3 funds
Disruptive technology is based on the notion that _________
A corporation consists of business units with finite life spans: the technological and market bases of any business with eventually disappear.
True/False: In-Q-Tel prefers to be the only investor in a company, in order to ensure that it has a tight grip on the developed technology.
A. IQT prefers there to be multiple investors in the companies in their portfolio. In fact, for every 1 dollar that IQT invested in a company other VC's invested 9
Q. What is the biggest use of Audience's chip?
A. It is most widely known for it's use in the iPhone 4S as it helps convert voice to data for use and interaction with Siri.
Q. How does Tallwood Venture Capital make money?
A. Like most venture firms, they use a fee structure that consists of a certain percentage of the fund on an annual basis (usually 2%) and a certain percent of any returns (usually 20%) as their management fee.
Q. How often does Tallwood Venture do a deal?
A. Not very often - they have done 4 deals since the beginning of 2012.
Q. When TSMC makes chips for these fabless companies, who owns the intellectual property?
A. The fabless firms contract out the manufacturing of the chips to TSMC while retaining the ownership of the IP themselves.
Q. What does it mean when they say that Tallwood's General and Managing Partners "Eat Their Own Cooking"?
A. This means that the partners have chunks of their own net worth invested in the funds, this shows confidence to other investors as they believe that investing in themselves is worth the risk.
Q. What is unique about software under the freemium revenue model?
A. Under the freemium model the software is more of a SERVICE as opposed to a GOOD as it is given away in hopes that users will use that software to buy more goods.
Q. What is unique about Tallwood's EIRs?
A. Unlike most Venture firms who use Entrepreneurs in Residence to advise portfolio companies while working on their own ventures, Tallwood uses Executives in Residence who focus solely on helping Tallwood's start ups get off the ground.
Q. How has Venture Capital performed as an Asset Class over the last 10 years?
A. Venture Capital has significantly under performed the S&P 500 over the last 10 years, however that does not mean that the stronger firms have not done well.
Tony Conrad co-founded about.me and sphere, which were both acquired by what company?
AOL
What is the difference between ARM and AMD?
ARM is an instruction set architecture, frequently used in mobile devices (but not Intel chips). AMD is a competitor to Intel, and cross-licenses Intel's own x86 instruction set architecture.
What does the term ARPU mean?
ARPU means Average Revenue Per User.
Name two of the main VMware product categories.
Acceptable answers are Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud Application Platform, End-User Computing, and Virtualization and Cloud Management
Name two of the main VMware service categories.
Acceptable answers are Global Support, Consulting, Education, and Technical Account Manager
Who is EA's competitor in the higher end console market?
Activision Blizzard.
What are the two companies founded by BC alum and Jay Hoag is currently on the board of ?
Actuate, founded by Peter Cittadini in 1993; TechTarget, founded by Greg Strakosch in 1999
AdWords vs. AdSense: what's the difference?
AdWords is referring to the ads shown on the Google search results page depending on what keyword the user searched for. Ad sense refers to ads using Google's platform that website owners can be paid to put up on their own sites.
WePay uses Google's _______ to advertise their site?
Adsense
What is Intel's major competitor, and why are many of its chips similar to Intel's chips?
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and its chips are similar because the company cross-licenses the x86 architecture.
Name one advantage and one disadvantage EA has against Zynga.
Advantages: brand strength, valuable licenses, well-known iterative franchises, strong position in the console gaming market, Zynga is very dependent on Facebook Disadvantages: Zynga was the first mover in social gaming and has established itself as #1 in social gaming, Zynga is a fast-growing company that has led several EA employees to jump ship to Zynga
Scott Thompson has emphasized a renewed focus on _____________ to increase Yahoo's market share.
Advertising
Give examples of switching costs that people would incur if moving away from Apple's products.
Apple's products have become so integrated in today's society that people would have to change the way they (1) work—at home, school office, etc. (2) create—movies, music, projects (3) share—photos, music, movies (4) buy—music, movies, TV shows, Apps, games, and more (5) consume all kinds of media
What is an API and why is it important?
Application Programming Interface: Allows developers to build applications on top of your platform (ie. Hootsuite uses Twitter's API).
What WePay employee recently starred in an episode of Millionaire Matchmaker?
Bill Clerico!
What can currently be traded on thredUP?
Books, toys, children's clothing
Define burn rate, liquidation preference, and Rachet Clause.
Burn rate is the rate at which a startup uses cash.Liquidation preference determines which parties get paid first in the event of liquidation. The Rachet Clause means that if more stocks are sold by a company, a stakeholder's stock value is not diluted or their stock doesn't go down in value.
"Six-bagger" would imply that a VC earned a _______ return on their investment. a. 6% b. 60% c. 600% d. 6000%
C
Who are the BC alum that are now CEO, COO, Director of Sales/Business Development, and Director of Community of WePay?
CEO- Bill Clerico (founded BCVC competition, former Tech Trekker, Presidential Scholar) COO - Rich Aberman (BC Presidential scholar) Director of Sales/Business Development - Tyler Gaffney (in Bill's Tech Trek class) Director of Community - Sophie Monroe (left BC after 2 years to join WePay)
Battlefield 3 is a direct competitor to which Activision game?
Call of Duty.
Name two locations were Highland has offices.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Menlo Park, California, USA; Geneva, Switzerland; London, UK and Shanghai, China.
Which country did most of Sequoia's IPOs come from in 2010?
China
What are the limitations of Moore's Law?
Chips cannot get smaller forever. Size, heat and power will eventually prevent the progression of the Moore's law. As chips become and more powerful they heat up more easily, so keeping them cool is becoming more costly.
VMware has entered the cloud game by offering an open-source package called ______
Cloud Foundry
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing "is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, are provided to devices as a metered service over a network."
ThredUp's model is based on ___________ consumption.
Collaborative
What are the 4 main segments of WePay's service?
Collecting money, selling tickets, collecting donations, selling items (create a store)
________ when the cost of an investment can be spread across increasing units of production or in serving a growing customer base.
Economies of scale
How is customer service a strength and a weakness for WePay?
Customer service is one of PayPal's downfalls. WePay's strong customer service is creating a strong brand for their company. However, their customer service is also very costly and hard to scale since it relies on human employees.
Describe ThredUp's new Concierge program
Customers can leave pre-paid recycling bags of up to 30 pounds of clothes on their porches to be picked up by the USPS. ThredUP then inspects, sorts, and recycles the clothes to be resold through an online store or donated to Goodwill. Contributors are paid through PayPal and can get up $5 per item.
How do WePay and PayPal differ? Select the best answer. A. PayPal has been known to freeze accounts and WePay does not B. WePay is designed primarily for e-commerce (online stores for merchants) C. PayPal charges per transaction + a monthly fee, whereas WePay only charges per transaction D. A and C
D
Which of the following is NOT a company in which Tallwood has invested? a. Wilocity b. Ozmo Devices c. Sandbridge d. None of the above
D
What is ExaGrid Systems' core product?
Data deduplication disk based storage systems (must have dedup)
According to Jason Baptiste, what is the most difficult part of being a CEO?
Deciding what matters need personal attention, and how to delegate the rest of the responsibility among management.
Name two companies that Velocity Capital invested in.
Elantec, Cybersource, Inktomi, Real Networks...
Will Equinix offer technical/physical support for the servers that are housed in its data centers?
Depending on their contract with the business, Equinix can provide a range of different levels of technical support to the servers. Some companies prefer to be left entirely on their own, while others have agreed to pay Equinix an hourly rate for basic server upkeep needs in situations where it would be more cost efficient than sending in a proprietary IT staff member. In other cases, Equinix will provide an even fuller range of support services
What does Nebula enable its customers to do?
Deploy large private cloud computing infrastructures from thousands of inexpensive computers with minimal effort.
Name the 4 labels of Electronic Arts
EA Games, EA Sports, EA Play, EA Interactive
Why did EA acquire BioWare in 2007?
EA acquired BioWare to begin the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role playing game meant to challenge Activision's World of Warcraft while brining in revenue from the base sale and monthly subscription fees.
Who is Zynga's biggest competitor, and what firm did they recently outbid Zynga to acquire?
EA is Zynga's biggest competitor and they recently outbid Zynga to acquire PopCap Games
How does EA use iterative franchises to gain an advantage?
EA's iterative franchises such as Madden, NHL, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour have an established customer base that is willing to upgrade each year to the new iteration to have access to new content, improved gaming experience, and the online gaming community. EA generates more revenue by releasing the games in a timely manner, like releasing Madden right before the NFL season starts or a Harry Potter game right before a movie is released.
The unregulated 60-ghz wireless spectrum allows devices to transmit data over farther distances than the traditional 2.4ghz and 5ghz wavelengths.
F, 60ghz wireless has a very short range. The difference is that it can transmit substantially more data than 2.4 or 5ghz.
True or False: The first mover in a market usually wins.
FALSE. For tech companies, the advantage comes from being the last mover. Facebook, Google were NOT first movers. These are big enough exceptions to disprove the "rule."
True or False: When a company pivots its a bad sign.
FALSE. Pivots are the result of validated learning about a market. Twitter started out as an audio blogging platform and pivoted into the current 140 character message service.
True or False: Yahoo has a such a small share of Internet traffic, the company is irrelevant. Explain.
FALSE. Yahoo has a incredibly large share of overall internet traffic.
True or False: The Amazon Kindle Fire has proved to be a very fierce competitor for Apple's iPad, and has significantly impacted the iPad's market share in the tablets market.
FALSE—despite the Kindle being cheaper, Apple's brand has remained strong and its customers loyal. The Kindle Fire has not impacted sales of iPads.
Why is it prohibitively expensive to set up a fabrication facility for semiconductor companies, and how do these companies get around that cost barrier?
Fabrication facilities are so expensive because they require so much upfront capital expenditure, and then have to be re-designed every few years to keep up with Moore's Law, as a process set up for a chip run today will be obsolete in five years. To avoid these multi-billion dollar fixed costs, companies outsource the manufacturing of the chips to "fabs" such as TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company). T/F
Which of the following companies has the lowest revenue, net income, and revenue per user: Google Yahoo Facebook?
What terms did Facebook agree to in a late 2011 deal with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that settled a series of governmental inquiries into privacy related issues?
Facebook agreed to several restrictions including the requirement to obtain users' consent before any changes to privacy are made, and the requirement to make content from any deleted profile unavailable following 30 days. Facebook also agreed to undergo twenty years of regular third-party privacy audits. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission determined that if Facebook failed to comply with any of these terms, it would face fines of $16,000 per violation per day.
What company could pose a major threat to WePay and how?
Facebook could potentially create a group payment feature.
Why does Zynga want to break its heavy reliance on Facebook?
Facebook takes 30% of Zynga's revenue brought in through Facebook through the use of Facebook Credits.
What is Facebook's Open Graph, and how is it key to their growth?
Facebook's Open Graph refers to the extension of their platform across the web so that other websites and online services can tap into Facebook's viral and social features. The Open Graph will enable these other firms to create apps on Facebook, or use Facebook login credentials to access their own services. This means that Facebook will grow beyond users simply using Facebook.com, allowing them to expand their sphere and have control greater control over the Web.
What are the two sides of Facebook's revenue model? Which side has shown the most growth proportional to Facebook's overall revenue?
Facebook's revenue comes from Credits and Advertisements. While both have shown significant growth, the revenue from Facebook Credits have expanded significantly over the past few years. This is because of the expanded prevalence of games and third party applications (e.g., Zynga) that are required to give a portion of their revenue to Facebook.
Give two examples that illustrate the Rule-move to the edge of the network
Facebook, Youtube, thredUp, Google
T/F - You must wait for someone to order your box of clothing before you can pick out your own.
False - You can purchase a box as soon as you'd like, and then start packing your own close later.
True or False - You have to swap with the same person.
False - You can receive clothing from one person and give clothing to someone else.
True or False - It costs money to sign up for thredUP and use their services.
False - thredUP operates on a freemium model meaning that it is free to sign up and negotiate a swap. It only costs money when a person purchases a box from another person.
Peter Van Camp is the current CEO of Equinix. True/False
False, Stephen Smith is the current CEO, Peter Van Camp is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and was the CEO from 2000-2007
True/False: In-Q-Tel is a public, for profit company that works directly with the CIA.
False- IQT is a private, not for profit company.
True/False Facebook sees a higher click through rate on advertisements than Google because the ads are more targeted at users preferences and interests.
False- Most people using Facebook are looking at pictures of friends or checking out statuses where on Google people are searching for products so Google sees a higher click through rate on ads many coming from people searching for the products being advertised.
True/False When a Google advertisement is clicked, the advertiser pays the CPC or the maximum an advertiser is willing pay for that ad.
False- When an advertisement is clicked, the advertiser pays one cent more than the minimum necessary to maintain an ad's position on the page.
True or False: Facebook's content is searchable/findable via Google.
False. Because much of Facebook's content is hidden behind password protection, Google is unable to access the vast majority of information contained within Facebook's network. Facebook's increasingly vast Open Graph might mean that more online information will become part of the "Dark Web", hidden from Google's web crawlers.
True or False. EA has increased their number of titles in order to have more games available on store shelves.
False. EA has condensed the number of titles (2009: 67, 2012: 22) in order to focus on the products that are popular and make them money.
True or False: the CTR of Facebook ads is higher than the CTR of ads on Google.
False. Facebook ads have a much lower clickthrough rate than Google ads. 2% average on Google adwords vs. 0.014% on Facebook. This is because people are not on Facebook actively looking for products (i.e., the advertising is targeting a passive audience), as opposed to some on Google who is searching for "Asbestos Lawyers" and is clearly looking for a certain product/service.
True/False: Did VCs and investors play a big role in the development of Facebook?
False. Facebook grew immensely and then searched funding later on - at this stage, Facebook was so influential that it became in charge of the funding negotiation deals, not the VCs or investors.
True or False: In-Q-Tel is a products company, not a solutions company.
False. In-Q-Tel focuses on finding solutions to CIA problems, not generating products for use by CIA components.
True/False: In-Q-Tel is a late-stage investor who invests large amounts of cash in order to get the highest rate of return.
False. In-Q-Tel, a "Venture Catalyst," is more like an incubator, and the company does not provide large sums of cash because their investments go largely beyond monetary amounts.
True or False: Intel outsources all of its manufacturing to stay competitive.
False. Intel does not outsource all of its manufacturing. In fact, it is currently building a $5.2 billion manufacturing facility in Chandler, Arizona.
(T/F) Google will completely control Motorola Mobility after its acquisition.
False. Motorola will continue to operate as an independent entity because Google needs to preserve relations with its other Android partners. It only needs Motorla's intellectual property (IP) for litigation.
True or False: TiVo used its innovative technology to successfully cultivate a sustainable competitive advantage.
False. TiVo's technology was easily and quickly copied by other companies, and thus did not provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Had TiVo used its technology to gain strategic positioning, it would've been more likely to acquire a sustainable competitive advantage.
True/False: True Ventures is a large VC, especially when compared to companies like Highland Capital and Seqouia Capital.
False. True Ventures is a much smaller firm than both Highland and Sequoia.
(T/F) Equinix strategically builds its data centers in places where it can get cheap, clean energy.
False: Equinix strategically builds its data centers in big cites where networks are dense for the lowest possible latency on connections.
Equinix is experiencing strong recent growth from which two industries?
Financial Services and Cloud Computing
Who is Mary Meeker?
Former top analyst at Morgan Stanley, now at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. She is famous for her slide decks at the annual Web 2.0 Continuity summit.
Paul Graham of Y Combinator tried to convince what venture capitalist to invest in Airbnb, who now regrets not backing great entrepreneurs regardless of their idea?
Fred Wilson (VC and Principal of Union Square Ventures)
Define the "Free Rider Problem."
Free Rider Problem: when others take advantage of a user or service without providing any sort of reciprocal benefit.
Who is our Contact at IQT?
George Hoyem, Partner at IQT.
What is GoPayment? Name one of its competitors.
GoPayment is a free app and free credit card reader, compatible with iPhones, iPads, and Android that allows consumers to swipe their credit cards on their mobile device for a small fee. One of its competitors is WePay.
What is "20% time" at Google and why does Google find it to be valuable?
Google gives its engineers one out of five work days to dedicate to working on their own projects that they are passionate about. This has led to the creation of many of Google's products including: Google Suggest, Adsense for Content, and Orkut.
What is PageRank?
Google's algorithm for organic/natural search results (you can't pay to be #1 on the list). Search engine results are returned and ranked by relevance.
_______________ is a type of computing that uses special software to enable several computers to work together on a common problem as if they were a massively parallel supercomputer
Grid computing
Why is Tallwood one of only a small number of VC firms in the valley that invests in hardware companies?
Hardware is not anywhere near as scalable as software, and thus often does not offer VC's the same growth prospects, or returns.
Why did Andy Kessler leave AT&T?
He was low on the corporate ladder and did not see himself climbing it high enough.
Name 3 sources of WePay's venture funding.
Highland Capital Partners, Y Combinator, August Capital, Ron Conway, David McClue, Max Levchin
Who was the lead investor in WePay's series B round? *Bonus: There was a lot of competition for series B funding, why was this VC firm chosen?
Highland Capital Partners. Bonus: Highland Capital General Partner Peter Bell is a BC alum as are Bill and Rich. Bill and Rich were also impressed with Peter's investments in Oscarina Networks and SCVNGR.
What makes HCP unique?
Highland Consumer Fund In-Q-Tel
Name at least one of Airbnb's competitors.
HomeAway, Roomorama, HomeExchange.com, FlipKey, TripAdvisor, Wimdu
What are the two chief scarcities?
Human ingenuity and Time.
Yahoo has been struggling to define its ________ for years.
Identity
What is Apple's current market share in the smartphone industry relative to Androids current market share?
In Q4 of 2011 with the introduction of the iPhone 4S in October Apple's market share went from 26% in Q3 to 43% in Q4, Android, on the other hand, decreased in US market share, from 60% to 47%
What does "venture catalyst" mean in the context of In-Q-Tel's business?
In-Q-Tel refers to itself as a venture catalyst, as they seek to provide the intellectual capital needed by their companies in order to succeed. As a not-for-profit firm, In-Q-Tel is more interested in catalyzing the ideas and successes of the companies it invests in, as opposed to making a straight profit like other VC firms.
The CIA bound In-Q-Tel's IT space with what two criteria?
In-Q-Tel would only pursue (1) unclassified work with (2) commercial potential.
Name two of the four goals Jason Baptiste outlined for OnSwipe in the coming year.
Increasing content distribution, forming a platform people build on top of, optimizing the sign up flow, and working on the business side to increase ad dollars.
What are the two things that Google is doing to streamline user experience?
Integrating Google+ with all google accounts and making a universal privacy policy.
What was the leading reason behind Intel's acquisition of McAfee?
Intel is emphasizing security as their top priority in developing new hardware. The purchase of McAfee will allow them to expand their security network, bring on new security professionals, and build up security for chips in mobile devices.
List TCV's four main investment sectors under the theme of information technology
Internet, financial technology, infrastructure & communications, software & services
Name the companies that Bill Campbell has advised or served on the board?
Intuit, Apple, Google, Twitter.
Why is it unlikely that Apple will pay dividends with its large cash holdings?
Investors want to see Apple re-investing in the company and in the company's innovation, not giving money out to stockholders to spend on who knows what.
What are the benefits of Concierge to the users?
It saves the users' time as the user does not have to wait for someone else to pick their box. They can get rid of their clothes immediately. Also it gives them more earning potential as they earn on average $17 per bag and up to $5 per item.
For what decision did founder Jerry Yang come under while he was CEO in 2008?
Jerry Yang declined a buyout offer from Microsoft
What are some of the reasons people speculate that Apple could produce an iTV or act as a content provider?
Jobs founded Pixar and then sold it to Disney, and now the Jobs family is the largest shareholder in the Walt Disney Corporation. And Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Disney films (including Pixar, Marvel, Buena Vista), and more. Jobs was on Disney's board, though the family does not currently have a seat. However, their has been emphasis on Apple's massive cash holdings and this a potential to acquire media content (e.g. TV licenses, streaming rights) with that cash.
What is the name of EA's current CEO?
John Riccitello
What initial market have iBooks textbooks been designed to target and what is the drawback of focusing on this market?
K-12 students. While textbooks are to be sold for about $15 apiece in order to buy the books and access the content students need to invest in their own the iPad devices.
What are the three aspects of TCV's investment strategy?
Late stage investment, flexibility in capital and investment types, and cross over investment (investing past IPO).
List two of TCV's investment strategies
Late-stage, crossover strategy
List 3 sources of switching costs
Learning costs, Information and data, Financial commitment, Contractual commitments, Search costs, Loyalty programs
Name two Intuit acquisitions.
Many possible answers, some recent acquisitions are Mint.com, Mobile Money Ventures, Cha-Ching, MedFusion, and PayCycle Inc.
Name one of the two influential Facebook Board Members discussed in the Facebook presentation.
Marc Andreesen (of Netscape) or Reed Hastings (of Netflix)
Who is Zynga's CEO?
Mark Pincus
How do you calculate a firm's market cap?
Market Cap = (Total # shares) * (Share Price)
What month is Facebook expected to price its IPO?
May
Which venture capital firm participated in the funding of Yahoo?
Michael Moritz at Sequoia Capital.
Which two firms partnered in 2010 to undercut VMware with attractive licensing deals?
Microsoft and Citrix
What major firm does Yahoo use to power its search engine.
Microsoft's Bing engine.
Which major technology company attempted, unsuccessfully, to buyout Intuit in 1994 and who was the CEO at that time?
Microsoft; "Coach" Bill Campbell
What personal finance website was acquired by Intuit in 2009 for $170 million?
Mint.com
What are a few key differences between hedge funds and mutual funds?
Mutual funds are regulated because they are required to file with the SEC, whereas hedge funds are not. Mutual funds can only invest with stocks and bonds, whereas hedge funds can use whatever investing tools they want, including leverage (borrowed money), which makes hedge funds typically riskier than mutual funds. Hedge funds are also allowed to "short sell" stocks which is a way of betting that stock prices will fall, whereas most mutual funds cannot. Mutual funds only require a small investment to open an account with a fund company, and hedge funds require a significantly greater amount from individual investors (a minimum of millions of dollars, most likely).
What did the founders of Airbnb sell during the Democratic Convention to raise awareness about their site and grow their company?
Obama O's and Captain McCain's cereal boxes
Name three public cloud competitors to VMware.
Of the many possible answers some suggested answers are Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, Google App Engine, Salesforce.com, and Microsoft Azure.
Was Apple's decision to buy all the air freight from China to the US in December primarily a defensive move or an offensive move?
Offensive—though it did certainly give them a degree of security that they would be able to ship ontime, the point was to prevent their competitors from shipping in time for the holidays.
Explain what Baptiste means when he says OnSwipe provides a platform for "channel surfing publications"
OnSwipe's features allow users to jump from article to article, from website to website, across many different publications as they browse content on the Web. This gets at the idea that tablet computers are the "TV of this generation"
Yahoo's stock reacted (positively | negatively) to news that Roy Bostock, former Chairman of the Board, stepped down.
Positively
What are the names of the two partners at Sequoia who are former Eagles?
Pat Grady and Michael Dixon.
Who is the current CEO of VMware and when did he take over for Diane Green?
Paul Maritz and 2008.
What does Intel do that most high-growth tech companies do not?
Pay dividends.
___________ is when Internet Service Providers connect and share traffic with one another usually for free.
Peering
What have been some criticisms surrounding iBooks Author?
People have accused Apple not allowing people to own their content, but Apple does in fact state that authors who use iBooks Author are the sole owners of their content. However, there has still been criticism that eBooks created through iBooks Author can only be sold through the App Store/iBooks.
What is strategic positioning?
Performing different tasks than your rival, or performing the same tasks in a different way.
What is operational effectiveness?
Performing the same tasks better than your rivals.
What is the name of the key partner we are meeting with at HCP?
Peter Bell
Name the three partners in the Menlo Park office.
Peter Bell, Andy Miller, Corey Mulloy.
Where did Peter Bell start his career in enterprise storage?
Peter worked for EMC when it was just a startup before heading to HBS.
What Apple exec has taken a special interest in the iBooks2 and iBooks textbooks project?
Phil Schiller
What was the name of the portfolio company Highland recently IPO'd in China for a huge return?
Qihoo 360
Name one of Intel's competitors in the mobile processing space that uses ARM.
Qualcomm, Nvidia OR Texas Instruments
Name Intuit's three main flagship products & describe their primary functions.
Quicken: line of desktop software products allow customers to reconcile bank accounts, pay bills, record credit card and other transactions, and track investments, mortgages and other assets and liabilities QuickBooks: brings bookkeeping capabilities and business management tools to small and medium-sized business users in an easy-to-use design that does not require them to be familiar with debit and credit accounting TurboTax: designed to enable individuals and small business owners to prepare and file their own federal and state personal and small business income tax returns quickly and accurately; designed to be easy to use, yet sophisticated enough for complex tax returns
Why is scale a competitive advantage that WePay needs to work on?
Right now their human-based customer service model is not scalable because it requires people on-call 24/7 and they would have to hire more and more employees just for customer service as they gain more users, and adding staff isn't always easy. WePay must compete for the best of the best in the "Silicon Valley Talent War," and also would need the money to pay salaries to an increasing amount of customer service reps.
Explain why secrecy is so important to Apple?
Secrecy allows them to make a lot of extra money on new releases of products. When the products are finally released everyone wants the new product. They build an enormous amount of suspense up before the release. In addition, this gives the competition no time to respond as they do not know about the new products and critics are not able to give any negative reviews. Everyone has a positive, new and exciting feel about the new products and rushes to the stores to buy them.
What is the difference between a seed round and an alphabet round.
Seed rounds are less money invested in less proven businesses.
What are the two main types of ads on Facebook, and what is the difference between them?
Self-serve ads make up the majority of Facebook's ad revenue - these are the ads that we see throughout Facebook that are targeted to users based on their profiles, interests, etc. They are usually priced on a CPM basis. Engagement ads, comparatively, require user interaction, and may involve users voting, liking a certain product, etc. Pricing is usually based on the level of user interaction.
Which venture capital invests in Qihoo 360?
Sequoia Capital
What is the main difference between Sequoia Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures?
Sequoia mainly invests in seed or early stage funding and TCV primarily invests in late stage funding, even holding companies through their IPO and investing in them in the public market. TCV - Technology Crossover Ventures
"I want to build the game layer on top of the world." Who said it and what is he/she referring to?
Seth Priebatsch, referring to the SVNGR application he created.
What free five-star app for the iPhone/iPad and Android devices allows users to upload a photo of their W-2 form and transfer data to their tax return?
SnapTax
At what VC firm is Alex Finkelstein a partner?
Spark Capital
What was Peter Bell's company name that IPO's in June of 2000?
Storage Networks
Define and give one example of straddling.
Straddling occurs when a firm adopts more than one method of doing business while failing to gain the full advantages of either method. Examples: Gristedes trying to compete with FreshDirect for online grocery shopping, Blockbuster maintaining brick & mortar stores while going after Netflix.
Before being hired as CEO of Yahoo, Scott Thompson worked as president and chief ____________ officer at PayPal. Why is this important?
Technology. This is important because he has a strong background in technology, whereas the majority of Yahoo's previous CEO's had backgrounds in media. Zynga
Explain the 2 and 20 rule.
The 2 and 20 rule refers to the VC charging a 2% rate from the LPs on all AUM, regardless of the performance of the fund. From there, the VC keeps 20% of any paper returns above the initial investment (or some other defined threshold) amount. contributed by Alexander Christian Tingle on Feb 21, 2012 8:50pm
What event did Airbnb use during its early stages to raise awareness about the site and get its first users?
The Democratic National Convention
Who is the customer of a VC firm?
The LPs of the firm.
____________ gained WePay a lot of press and contributed to their huge growth in 2011.
The Occupy Wall Street Movement
Name the two reasons Intel produces most of its chips in the United States?
The US has stronger intellectual property protection and better engineering talent than other countries, such as China or Taiwan.
What is Audience's claim to fame?
Their chip can reverse engineer the human cochlea
Describe network effects as a source of sustainable competitive advantage for OnSwipe.
The more publishers use OnSwipe and the more page views those publishers attract, the more advertisers will want to work with those publishers, which means more money for the publishers, which will attract more publishers who also want to make money, and so on.
Where does the name "Intuit" come from, and how is this relevant to the company's mission statement?
The name "Intuit" comes from the word "intuitive." This title describes Intuit's commitment to the creation of intuitive, easy to use products, and relates to its mission statement in that this ease of use will lead to such a "great improvement in customers' financial lives that they can't imagine going back."
Why did Microsoft recently announce that might negatively affect the future of Intel's market share?
The next version of Windows operating system might support the ARM architecture, which is a competitor to Intel's x86.
When Jason Baptiste quoted "Men lie, women lie, numbers don't," what was he warning entrepreneurs to listen to?
The point of that quote was to explain to the class that widespread use cases can't be ignored. If you try to do something and think it should work, but people don't adopt it, heed their advice and try something new.
What were the downsides of federal programs and funds when it came to acquiring technologies for the government?
The processes were cumbersome and often took so long that they led to the acquisition of expensive, custom, outdated technology.
What was one hypothesis for why Google missed last quarter's earnings?
The rates for mobile advertising appear to be cheaper than on the company's mainstay desktop search engine.
Recall JP's talk on Trueventures...what did the shotgun metaphor represent?
The shotgun metaphor was to show that a large number of small pellets have a very destructive force—True applies that philosophy to profit from a large number of small, low-risk but single-digit return investments.
What are the three major cloud business models? In addition, please describe one in depth.
The three main cloud business models are infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service. IaaS is where cloud providers supply computers, vms, storage, etc. on demand from their datacenter's resource pool. PaaS is providers deliver a computing platform, "programming language execution environment", etc. where developers can develop and run their applications in a scalable and cost efficient environment. SaaS is the end user cloud experience where users usually pay a fee to use a service like CRM, email, etc.
What are the two axes in Twitter CEO Dick Costolo's graph of decision making? Which one is more important?
The two axes are clarity (x) and happiness (y). Clarity is the first priority.
What is Y Combinator's role in the development of start ups?
Their goal is to get companies through the first stage to prepare them to make money on a larger scale. Y combinator provides seed funding (up to $20,000) to start-ups, and sometimes provides several rounds of funding, but money is not the best service they provide. The most valuable help Y Combinator provides is their advice and guidance in developing the founders' ideas and teaching them how to best pitch their ideas. They also help connect founders with investors and acquirers and provide a collaborative environment within the "batches" of start-ups so founders can learn from each other.
Why does Equinix offer their marketplace for free?
Their marketplace encourages the growth of their customers; larger companies require more server space which leads to more revenue for Equinix.
Why does thredUp's model work?
There are many inefficiencies in the children's second-hand clothing mainly that it is expensive, time-consuming, and wasteful. thredUP helps to counter that because their boxes allow each item to be sold for about $2. It also allows moms to save much time as they do not have to go to consignment stores. Finally it is much less wasteful as it allows clothes to be recycled.
List 3 characteristics of a sustainable competitive advantage:
These resources must be (1) valuable, (2) rare, (3) imperfectly imitable (tough to imitate), and (4) nonsubstitutable.
Andy Kessler references three famous businessmen in "Eat People": Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John Rockefeller. Although they may have been labeled "robber barons" for making tons of money, how did they help society?
They all built their empires by lowering costs over and over again and scaling their business to create economic growth and increase living standards (by lowering the cost of steel, oil and transportation by boat or railroad).
After damage to a host's home in July 2011, Airbnb apologized and made several changes to their service to prevent such an issue from happening again. Name one.
They announced a $50,000 Airbnb guarantee for hosts, doubled their customer service team to 88 employees, started a 24 hour customer support line, added "Trust Settings" for hosts, improved user profiles with user histories,
What are three competitive advantages that Zynga has?
They are the first mover in the social gaming trend. The use of data analytics allows them to enhance gaming experiences. Network effects and use of social media allow these games to spread virally. Switching costs are high since players gain currency and reputations in the game.
How is Airbnb similar to thredUP?
They both operate on P2P models and are part of the collaboration consumption movement that encourage people to share their goods.
How much of the search market does Google control and could this be a problem for them in the future?
They control about 2/3 of the search market. This could lead to anti-trust problems.
How many employees does OnSwipe currently have?
They currently have 21 employees.
Disruptive technologies often face difficulties when introduced to the market because______ ?
They don't initially meet the demand of mainstream customers who often reject the technology because it does not effectively meet their needs as the company's current approach .
What was the original amount VMware tried to raise with its IPO? What did they actually raise?
They originally were out to raise $100M to repay its debts to EMC and ended up actually raising $957M.
Who are Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, John Browett and Peter Oppenheimer?
Tim Cook is the current CEO and former COO. Phil is BC alum who graduated from BC in 1982 and is now the Senior VP of world wide marketing. John Browett has recently been named as Apple's new Senior VP of retail. Peter Oppenheimer is Apple's current CFO.
What mobile game in the Apple App Store has Zynga heavily drawn even possibly copying?
Tiny Tower
What is Sequoia's main goal?
To "Build Big Companies" with Disruptive Technology
Name three of the venture capital firms that have invested in thredUP?
Trinity Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, NextView Ventures, Highline Ventures, and Founder Collective.
Name two unique events of True Ventures to gather all start-up talents together
True Founder Corp, True University
True/False Equinix provides network-neutral colocation data centers to its customers.
True, being network neutral allows the internet to eliminate conflict of interest between Internet Service Providers and to accommodate rapid growth of internet traffic and security
True or False: Over 35% of Intuit's revenue in 2011 was produced by software-as-a-service offerings?
True. 40% of Intuit's $3.9 billion in revenue was produced by SaaS offerings.
True or False: The majority of Airbnb listings are outside of the United States
True. Approximately 70% of Airbnb listings are outside of the US.
True/False: Facebook's IPO will be the biggest IPO of any Internet company in history?
True. Between $75 and $100 billion dollars, Facebook's IPO will surpass even Google's IPO.
(T/F) Google licenses Android to handset makers for free.
Yes, Google earns revenue on mobile search which is built into Android.
True or False? Yahoo has more users on their email client compared to Gmail. How do the two user bases compare?
True. However, Gmail's users are comparatively made up of a much younger generation that shows more potential for growth, as compared to Yahoo's users who are predominately older and have retained their Yahoo accounts from years ago.
True/ False: Onswipe considers publishers as partners, not customers.
True. Onswipe does not charge publishers and it is a content distribution platform which brings publishers together. Sequoia Capital
(T/F) Airbnb's use of professional photography has resulted in an increase in bookings.
True. These listings are booked 2.5 times more frequently.
Explain 2 into 20 in one sentence.
Two percent of a fund goes to the VC's management expenses while twenty percent of the upside goes to the VC.
What is special about a private equity sidecar fund?
Whereas a typical fund at a VC firm would be used to fund startup companies at various stages in their developments, P/E sidecar funds are used for the purchasing of distressed companies or assets with the hope of returning them to profitability.
How does the Free Rider Problem relate to Facebook?
With Internet users gaining access to their Facebook accounts on other websites through applications like the social toolbar, Facebook is enabling free riders (these website owners) to exploit Facebook's content without compensation. These free riders are benefiting from ad revenues on their respective websites instead of on Facebook.com because users no longer need to consistently go to Facebook.com anymore with the open graph.
Why are angel investors more common now than they were 10 years ago?
With cloud based services and open source it is much cheaper to start a company. It is not always necessary to raise multi-million dollar rounds.
Who is Jack Grubman?
Worked along with Andy Kessler at Paine Webber as a technology analyst. Became a legend as a stock analyst, paid 20 million a year at the height of tech bubble. Was investigated for misleading investors and was fined 15 million dollars and banned from financial industry for life.
Who were the two firms that provided seed funding to Airbnb?
Y Combinator and Sequoia Capital
What made Yahoo different from Google in its early days in terms of how the website organized information?
Yahoo was a hierarchical, categorical organization of web pages. Google is an algorithmic search.
What aspect of its culture has Yahoo been criticized for (most notably from Paul Graham).
Yahoo's culture is NOT developer-centric like Google or Facebook.
Does thredUP have disruptive potential?
Yes. thredUP has much disruptive potential. It could greatly influence the sales of traditional retail and consignment stores. thredUP although not very dangerous now, could end up taking much business from these businesses as thredUP is much cheaper and less time consuming. In addition, it is a much more fun experience with a great community that could steal traditional customers of retail stores away.
Sequoia was the only VC in what company that was eventually acquired by Google?
YouTube
Why might Facebook struggle to keep their talent (i.e., retain employees) after the IPO?
Young tech employees generally want to work for successful firms that are in the pre-IPO stage, knowing that much of their compensation often involves equity in the company. Thus, once the firm IPOs, their paper net worth goes up as the market value of the company is so high. This is why many Silicon Valley people have such high net worths.
Use marginal cost to create a Flood.
Zero
What was Zynga's debut blockbuster game?
Zynga Poker, which debuted in 2007.
Describe Zynga's revenue model
Zynga follows the freemium model, meaning that its games are offered for free to consumers. Zynga earns its revenues from advertising and the sale of virtual goods within its games, with virtual goods sales making up the majority of its revenue.
What are the advantages to limiting users playing the games in short spurts? Keep in mind that the average user plays 8 5 minute sessions per day.
Zynga has more opportunities to sell premium content to players, and keep them coming back constantly.
What new market does Zynga plan on invading?
Zynga plans on moving into the online gambling industry once it is legalized.
What is the point of Zynga Direct?
Zynga wants to lessen its dependence on Facebook.
The two main sustainable competitive advantages that Equinix has are a) Scalability and Network Effects b) Network Effects and Product Design c) Growth and Strong Management d)Cheap Bandwidth and High Latency
a
___________ sells the most ads of any company in the world and __________ sells the most music. a. Google, Apple b. Google, Wal-Mart c. Google, Amazon
a.
The new global portal of Equinix customers which provides each customer with an electronic storefront enabling easier interconnection with one another is called what? a) Equinix Colocation Facility b) Equinix Marketplace c) International Business Exchange Centers d) Rental cages
b
In recent years, largely due to President & CEO Brad Smith, Intuit has focused on expanding into the world of ______________ services, in which services and products can be accessed across multiple platforms as well as via the cloud (as opposed to traditional, boxed software). Many of these products are known as ____________-as-a-____________ products.
connected; software
In which business segment does Intuit have the smallest number of customers/prospects relative to the market size? a) Consumer Tax b) ProTax c) Financial Management d) Payments
d) Payments
What are the advantages of Apple's imessage service on their mobile devices?
imessage allows unlimited text messages via Wi-Fi or 3g from the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. This service also allows you to synchronize your conversations over all your iOS devices that have imessage. contributed by Bill Kloza on Feb 21, 2012 7:45pm
VMware CEO, Paul Maritz, once said VMware is strive to open the next era. What are the two key factors contributing to that move?
shifting away from a homogenous computing environment to a heterogeneous world; shifting from a document-centric model to an information-centric model. WePay