Friday Fives
Friday Fives
A round up of five things that have caught our eye (or ear) this past week.
1. THE RACE FOR AMAZON HQ2
The ongoing saga of Amazon’s search for a location for a second US headquarters, and the ensuing bidding war between cities across the country, has been a hot topic of conversation this year. Last month Amazon finally announced that they would split HQ2 between two cities - Long Island City in New York and Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia.
What was offered in the incentive packages by cities who entered the race has been hotly discussed. And this week the NYC Economic Development Corporation has launched a website for HQ2 in NYC and publically released its HQ2 proposal for the New York Metro area. Originally four NYC neighbourhoods were pitched - the “Brooklyn Tech Triangle,” Midtown West, the Financial District, and the eventual winner Long Island City. The reportedly $2.8billion dollar incentive package for Amazon has raised more than a few eyebrows including Democratic State Senator Michael Gianaris who labelled it a “one of the great PR scams” and NYC Council members who had no vote on the matter.
Earlier this year Richard Florida, co-founder of CityLab, initiated a pledge urging city leaders to refuse to offer Amazon any extra economic incentives and to instead compete on merits. This week he has renewed his call to hold mayors accountable and agree to end or limit extreme incentives - especially when more HQ2-like bidding wars and even bigger incentives may well be seen in the future.
And with tensions high amongst HQ2 opponents, Amazon has brought on PR firm SKDKnickerbocker to help with public outreach and drum up support. This remains one to watch.
2. AUSTRALIA’S ANTI-ENCRYPTION LAW UNDER FIRE
In news close to home, Australia passed it’s controversial anti-encryption law last week which has been denounced as ‘deeply flawed’ by a coalition of global tech companies including Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter.
The law, which gives law enforcement agencies the right to force tech companies to reveal users encrypted messages, has drawn broad criticism for its potential impact on global privacy. Tristan Greene in his recent piece in TNW states that according to experts:
“..if you use any technology product in Australia, your encrypted data could be sent to the government. Finally, if you’re a technology company based in Australia, every potential client, customer, or user knows their data is potentially compromised if they use any of your encrypted software.”
Read more: “Australia’s horrific new encryption law likely to obliterate its tech scene”
3. INVESTOR METRICS - HANDY TIPS FROM ANDREW CHEN
Raising capital is always a hot topic of conversation, and any insights into a successful (or failed) raise can be hugely valuable. Add to this insights into what VCs look for in startup metrics and that’s got to be a boost to the chances of securing that much needed capital. Enter Andrew Chen and his eighty slide deck on how investors can use metrics to evaluate, pick and reject startups.
Chen is a former entrepreneur turned General Partner at Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and this blog post he takes us through his thinking around how growth ideas can be used to evaluate startups. It’s an interesting and detailed read with some good tips.
Read more: “Investor metrics deck”
4. STANDING IN THE GAP WITH AMY NELSON
This week it was announced that women-focused coworking space, The Riveter, raised a Series A of US$15m to expand outside of the West Coast USA. Founder Amy Nelson launched The Riveter in 2016, built with women in mind but also setting out to design a workspace to empower all people - women and people marginalised in traditional business settings (25% of members aren’t women).
Nelson was recently interviewed on the Reboot Podcast, and in this conversation with executive coach, Jerry Colonna, she puts a personal face on some of the challenges of leading a fast scaling business, including some of the barriers that she’s come about raising capital as a woman and what it means to her being a leader.
“I want a future where women at least have a quality of opportunity and that’s what The Riveter is built for. That’s how we’re calibrated and what we’re working toward.”
Listen here: “Standing in the gap with Amy Nelson”
5. OUR FAVOURITE FOCUS APP
OK - so Brain.fm isn’t new by any means, but in the lead up to the Christmas break this old favourite has been a bit of a life saver to help us get sh*t done (and avoid reaching for that third … or fourth coffee of the day). If you’re not already across it, it’s an app which uses AI to produce brainwave altering music to help you achieve a desired state - whether that’s to focus, recharge or, relax. The science behind it all is pretty complex (you can read more about it in their white paper) - but without going into all the science behind it, what we do know is that it is working for us and we were more than happy to pay for a subscription once our free trials were done.
Check it out here