Archive: Articles

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Market Inefficiencies Are an Investor’s Best Friend

By Vin Narayanan on July 19, 2022

There are many different ways to think about which startups to invest in. Some prefer investing in highly disruptive technologies or businesses — like Uber, Tesla or Impossible Foods. Others prefer startups with large or rapidly growing markets. Others like to focus on strong traction or a high level of defensibility. Early Investing co-founder Andy Gordon would argue a good startup investment needs all of these attributes. A…
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Crypto Insider: Shopify Explores NFTs

By Early Investing on July 18, 2022

Shopify is expanding into NFTs. The e-commerce platform — which allows retailers to sell their products directly to consumers — recently launched around 100 new features, including contactless payments, crypto payments and “tokengated commerce.”  According to TechCrunch, Shopify’s tokengated commerce uses NFTs to “‘reward true fans…
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Aave Emerges From Celsius Bankruptcy Unscathed

By Vin Narayanan on July 15, 2022

I wrote extensively about the strong correlation between bitcoin and the Nasdaq Composite and the inverse correlation between bitcoin and the strength of the dollar for Early Investing subscribers today. But crypto’s rich and diverse…

A Strong Dollar Drives Bitcoin’s Price Down

By Vin Narayanan on July 15, 2022

Crypto Market Musings Phew. June inflation numbers came in hot on Wednesday — and the markets mostly yawned. Bitcoin is trading (as of this writing) at around $20,000. It was trading around $21,000 last week. Ethereum is trading around $1,131. It…
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Robots are just beginning to make their presence felt in modern life. Surgery, prosthetics and warehouses are just some of the areas where robots have found a foothold in recent years. There will be many more. These are early days.  But it’s not too early for…

How Gamification Is Changing Our World

By Allison Brickell on July 13, 2022

Last week, I started a journey along with millions of other people.  I’ve never met these people. But we’re all driven by a common goal: to learn a new language. And we’re doing it on Duolingo. When I downloaded the Duolingo app to refresh…
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The housing market is a mess. Data from the National Association of Realtors shows that between May 2021 and May 2022, existing home prices soared nearly 15%. Since March 2020, they’re up 37%. Rent prices are skyrocketing too. RedFin reported that median asking rent rose 15%…
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Startup Insider: The Perfect Time to Invest in Startups

By Early Investing on July 11, 2022

Investing in startups is an opportunity to bet on the future. And they have very different risk considerations than stock investments do.  Given the current bearish state of the stock market, startup investing seems more important than ever. The S&P 500 fell almost 21% in the…

There Is No Crypto “Contagion”

By Vin Narayanan on July 8, 2022

Crypto Market Musings Crypto’s recent correlation with the stock market is finally paying dividends. The stock market is rallying — and so is crypto. As of this writing, bitcoin is up almost 11% over the last five days and is trading…
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Crypto Monitor: The Crypto Bear Market Rages On

By Early Investing on July 8, 2022

The discouraging crypto news continues. Earlier this week, crypto lender Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy. Last week, Three Arrows Capital, a major crypto hedge fund, fell into liquidation. That’s all following the Celsius debacle of last month, when the crypto lender halted withdrawals. Celsius is now cutting jobs…
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Two weeks ago, we recommended that First Stage Investor subscribers invest in Polkadot (DOT). Polkadot is a multichain crypto protocol that connects and secures a network of specialized blockchains. It offers interoperability, scalability, high energy efficiency and user-driven governance.

3D Printing Has Finally Arrived

By Andy Gordon on July 6, 2022

Big things are expected from the 3D printing space. Really big things. But before you begin frantically searching for startups to invest in, there’s something you should know. A lot of people were saying the same thing about 3D printing five years ago. And — ahem…
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Tread Carefully When Investing in Energy Startups

By Vin Narayanan on July 5, 2022

With gas prices averaging around $4.88 per gallon, people are clamoring for a solution that both drives costs down now and keeps costs down in the future. The problem is that a fuel crisis is the worst time to search for…
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Startup Insider: How to Build an Investment Thesis

By Early Investing on June 30, 2022

Wherever you are on your investing journey, it’s important to have guiding principles. Once you understand your own interests and strengths as a startup investor, you can start to build an investment thesis to guide your decision making.  An investment thesis is an argument for a…
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Angel Insider: Investor Networking 101

By Early Investing on June 28, 2022

Startup investing is not for the faint of heart. It requires research, financial analysis and an understanding of how businesses operate. Each and every investor must decide for themselves what their risk tolerance is, how much they can afford to lose and what investment approach works best for…
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A few months ago, a founder pitched me on an interesting idea. It involved drinking and a form of bribery, so naturally I was interested. Her company increased attendance to a business event by sending a bottle of wine to invited participants. She claimed that attendance shot up…