Author: Jason D. Rowley

  • Opportunity in Two Flavors

    One night this week I met up with one of my best friends. I don’t get to see him that often, but that’s alright. It’s one of those friendships that picks up right where it left off, even if it’s been weeks or months. He’s had a lot of opportunities, and so have I. This…

  • Snapchat, By Some Numbers

    Snap Inc., maker of the Snapchat app and face-mounted camera glasses called Spectacles, filed its S-1 with the SEC this past week, the first major step toward going public. I thought it’d be interesting to compare Snap Inc. to Facebook, considering that Snap CEO Evan Spiegel’s IPO roadshow message is that his company is “The…

  • Great Tech Podcasts From Off The Beaten Path

    Great Tech Podcasts From Off The Beaten Path

    If you’re involved in the tech industry and like to listen to podcasts, chances are you’ve already heard the standard-issue stuff that consistently ranks at the top of iTunes. Shows like Exponent (of which I am particularly fond), the a16z Podcast, Startup from Gimlet Media, and even NPR offerings like How I Built This and…

  • 2016: My Year In Writing, And Goals For 2017

    Since (finally) graduating from college in March and spending much of April on a couch recuperating, I spent the latter three quarters of 2016 doing a lot of writing, both for money (from Mattermark and other clients) and for pleasure (i.e. in my personal blog, in The Missive and my newsletter). A look back at 2016…

  • Answering The Void’s Call

    Answering The Void’s Call

    Scattered thoughts on the election and what to do next.

  • Rothenberg’s Wake: Does One Fallen Domino Signal Future Failures in Micro VC?

    Earlier this week, Backchannel published a piece chronicling the “Trouble In The House of Rothenberg”. For those unfamiliar with the story, Mike Rothenberg is – or, was – an uber-connected 31 year-old solo general partner of Rothenberg Ventures (which changed its name to “Frontier Tech Ventures” this week). He was known for being one of the best-connected…

  • Of Apple & Courage

    This past week, Apple announced a number of things at a special event in San Francisco. Among them was the latest iPhone model which, controversially, did away with the 3.5 mm headphone jack. Company claims that this omission was “courageous” were met with sneers and jeers from the peanut gallery and media cognoscenti alike.

  • How to Compare Venture Returns & The Curious Case of a16z

    The Wall Street Journal published an article shining a light on Andreessen Horowitz, the vaunted VC firm that seemingly came out of nowhere in 2009 to become one of the most prestigious venture firms in Silicon Valley. The article indicates that a few of a16z’s funds are not performing as well as their age-matched peers.…

  • Dive Into Network Theory: Some Resources for The Curious

    Dive Into Network Theory: Some Resources for The Curious

    Earlier this week I published a piece for Mattermark’s blog that maps and visualizes the network of international mergers and acquisitions of startups and a few other private companies. To accomplished this, I used data from Mattermark recording 2,250 cross-border M&A deals made between January 1, 2015 and the end of August, 2015. The visualization…

  • Simple Security Best Practices for Bitcoin Users and Investors

    One of the biggest stories to hit the Bitcoin space in months was the theft of 119,756 BTC (valued at ~$70 million USD) from Bitfinex this week. For those that aren’t familiar with the story, a great re-cap was published on CoinDesk within 24 hours of the break-in. (Obviously, if you’re reading this far into…