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Startup Insider: The 2021 Holiday Gift Guide
By Early Investing on December 13, 2021
The holiday season is upon us. And that means it’s time to do some shopping. If you’re in need of some quality gift ideas, look no further. In this episode of Startup Insider, Vin Narayanan and Andy Gordon provide gift recommendations from some of our favorite startups in the First Stage Investor portfolio. From barrel-aged tequila to premium jerky to luxurious skin care serums to coconut smoothies, there’s something for…
Ethereum Scaling Offers New Crypto Opportunity
By Adam Sharp on December 10, 2021
This week I wrote a piece for HIVE Blockchain, a crypto miner I am consulting for. In it, I went over a very interesting space: Ethereum scaling solutions. But for ETH to go truly mainstream, it needs lower fees…
Separating Signal and Noise in Crypto Markets
By Adam Sharp on December 10, 2021
Back in September, I wrote a piece called “Beware the Cardano Price Mirage.” In it, I warned that “cheap” tokens like Cardano (ADA) aren’t actually cheap at all. Here’s an excerpt: So although Cardano does currently trade at “just”…
The New Early Investing Website
By Early Investing on December 10, 2021
Using the Early Investing website is about to get easier! For the first time since we launched in 2013, we’re updating the look and feel of our website. And our entire mission is to make it easy for you to use and…
New Pick: Repairing the Broken Relationship Between Pharmaceutical Companies and Patients
By Andy Gordon on December 9, 2021
Deal Details Startup: Responsum Health Security type: Crowd SAFE* Valuation (cap): $4.5 million Discount: 0% Minimum investment: $100 Where to invest: Republic Deadline: January 2, 2022…
Customization and the Future of Retail
By Allison Brickell on December 8, 2021
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I traveled to Pennsylvania to visit family. Thanksgiving dinner — filled with plenty of pie, of course — was delicious. And the next day (Black Friday) I took a leisurely stroll through the local Boscov’s. Now, I typically don’t pay too much…
Crypto Insider: Explaining the NFT Explosion
By Early Investing on December 6, 2021
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have officially taken the world by storm. Collins Dictionary named “NFT” 2021’s word of the year. The use of the term increased 11,000% this year. In basic terms, an NFT is a piece of digital content linked to the blockchain. NFTs are also…
Bitcoin Hasn’t Reached Its Peak Yet
By Adam Sharp on December 3, 2021
Bitcoin has pulled back significantly, but I still think we’re in a long-term uptrend. I just don’t believe this cycle has peaked yet. With a high of $69,000 so far this year, we’re only up about 3.5x from the 2017 cycle high of around $20,000. In…
Big Tech Censorship Gives Rise to New Free Speech Platforms
By Adam Sharp on December 3, 2021
This week Jack Dorsey resigned as CEO of Twitter. Jack founded Twitter and guided it pretty well over the years. I’ve used Twitter for more than 10 years. Twitter has been a fantastic social network. In my opinion, it’s the best…
Aavrani Grows Sales and Sets Its Sights on Expansion
By Andy Gordon on December 2, 2021
I just got off the phone with Justin Silver, the co-founder and COO of Aavrani. He reported significant progress on several fronts. We introduced Aavrani — a beauty company rooted in Indian tradition and rituals — to First Stage Investor…
Top 10 Startup Valuations Both Online and Offline
By KingsCrowd on December 1, 2021
Note: Determining startup valuations is more of an art than a science. Lately, we’ve written about how startup valuations are reaching eye-popping highs. But how do online startup valuations and offline startup valuations compare? That’s the question that our friends at KingsCrowd address…
Startup Insider: Grammarly Raises $200 Million at a $13 Billion Valuation
By Early Investing on November 29, 2021
Grammarly is on a roll. The popular auto-editing software tool has raised $200 million from Baillie Gifford and other investors at a $13 billion valuation. Grammarly is not a particularly exciting company. It helps delete unnecessary prepositional phrases and other grammatical errors — not exactly earth-shattering…
Crypto Insider: ConstitutionDAO Demonstrates the Power of the Crowd
By Early Investing on November 24, 2021
It’s almost Thanksgiving. So in the spirit of giving, we have a treat for Early Investing subscribers. We’re thankful for your support of Early Investing. So while we typically only offer our Crypto Insider videos to…
A Space Investment Worth Consideration
By Adam Sharp on November 23, 2021
Last week I found a space SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) that I think has big potential. The SPAC is dMY Technology Group (NYSE: DMYQ), and it will soon merge with Planet Labs. Planet Labs owns and operates a fleet of…
New Pick: A Legal Services Marketplace Brimming With Upside Potential
By Andy Gordon on November 22, 2021
Deal Details Startup: UpCounsel Security type: SAFE Valuation (cap): $28 million Minimum investment: $250 Where to invest: Wefunder Deadline: December 9,…
Portfolio Update: Haven Protocol Makes Promising Progress
By Adam Sharp on November 19, 2021
Our speculative portfolio coin Haven Protocol has bounced back pretty well from its recent troubles. It had an incident back in July where a hacker exploited a vulnerability. But Haven recently launched a successful fork of version 2.0. (Note the nice social traction…