Archive: Early Investing

The Early Investing Podcast: Adobe’s Pricey Figma Acquisition

By Early Investing on September 28, 2022

It’s a tale as old as time. A startup creates a great product, generating lots of sales and happy customers. A corporate behemoth tries to compete with the startup by launching its own version of the product. The corporate behemoth fails miserably and decides to buy the startup with the superior product. Then everyone lives happily ever after — or not, if the behemoth ruins the product.  The latest version of this story stars Figma —…

Regulators Try to Tighten Their Grip on Crypto

By Yasmin Sharbaf on September 23, 2022

Crypto Market Musings On Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates for the third time this year by 75 basis points. Both the stock and crypto markets responded quickly to the aggressive rate hike. As of this writing, bitcoin is down 2.6% and trading below $19,000. Ethereum fell by…

Ethereum Merge Signals a Bright Future for Crypto

By Allison Brickell on September 21, 2022

Ethereum bulls are still rejoicing after last week’s successful Ethereum Merge. The Ethereum network shifted from proof of work to proof of stake — a massive undertaking likened to changing a spaceship engine mid-flight.  It was a long time coming. The Merge was beset by delays…

Why Some Market Events Aren’t “Priced In”

By Olivia Strobl on September 16, 2022

Crypto Market Musings The long-awaited Ethereum Merge occurred September 15th at around 3 AM ET. As of this writing, ethereum is down around 8% following the Merge. The Ethereum blockchain has now moved from a proof of work consensus mechanism to proof of…
The August update of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped yesterday. And the news is… not great. The CPI increased 0.1% for the month and 8.3% over the past year. Excluding food and energy costs, the CPI rose 6.3% from last August. The markets slumped right…

Ethereum Outperforms the Market… for Now

By Vin Narayanan on September 9, 2022

Crypto Market Musings Can August please come back? On August 1, bitcoin was trading around $23,000. On August 31, it was trading around $20,000. As of this writing, it’s trading around $19,360. I like August’s numbers better. My general approach to bear markets is summed up…

Why Competition Is Critical for Startup Investors

By Vin Narayanan on September 7, 2022

I had a chance to play poker with some founders a few weeks ago at LA Tech Week. I mostly kept my mouth shut at the table. Between the game and flowing drinks, the founders were in a chatty mood. And I didn’t want to interrupt the flow.
Things are only impossible until they are not.  These inspiring words were spoken by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a character from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” And I’m not quoting him just because I like Star Trek. (Though I really do.) Star Trek shows us…

The Three Eras of the Collectibles Market

By Early Investing on August 26, 2022

The collectibles market is a fascinating area of investing. Where else can you find sports memorabilia, trading cards and Star Wars action figures all in the same space? It’s also a…

The Crypto Rally Is Over – What’s Next?

By Yasmin Sharbaf on August 19, 2022

Editor’s Note: Vin is out of the office attending LA Tech Week. So KingsCrowd Investment Research Analyst Yasmin Sharbaf is filling in for him on this weekly crypto market update. We think you’ll be interested to hear her point of view. Crypto Market Musings Last week,…

How Startups Can Help the Inflation Reduction Act

By Allison Brickell on August 17, 2022

As temperatures rise across the country, climate change is grabbing more headlines — and the attention of the U.S. government.  The Senate just passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes the most comprehensive climate legislation in U.S.

Crypto and Public Markets Take Inflation in Stride

By Vin Narayanan on August 12, 2022

Crypto Market Musings Finally, some good news. Bitcoin is trading around $24,000 and is up by more than 4% over the last seven days. Ethereum is trading above $1,880 and is up more than 10%.  This week’s inflation data triggered the rally. The consumer price index…

The Search Engine Market Is Waiting to Be Disrupted

By Vin Narayanan on August 10, 2022

Since its launch in 1998, Google is the only search engine that’s really mattered. Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, AltaVista and others just couldn’t keep up. As of July, Google controlled almost 84% of the search market. Bing — Google’s closest rival —…

Demystifying Bitcoin Bottom Predictions

By Olivia Strobl on August 5, 2022

Editor’s Note: Vin is out of the office this week. So KingsCrowd Investment Research Manager Olivia Strobl is stepping in. We think you’ll enjoy her take on the crypto markets. Crypto Market Musings So much happened last week that I don’t know where to begin.

News Fix: Crypto Bear Market Edition

By Allison Brickell on August 3, 2022

We’ve made it to the dog days of summer. The crypto markets haven’t exactly been hot — in fact, they’ve been pretty cold for the last few months. But that doesn’t mean it’s all bad news.  Market Update The crypto market is still in bear market…

A Gold Mine for Collectibles Investors

By Vin Narayanan on July 29, 2022

Attending Comic-Con in San Diego is on my bucket list. I’m a huge comic book fan. And I love superheroes. As a kid, I used to collect all sorts of action figures — Star Wars, Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Bionic Woman, Batman, G.I. Joe. I loved them all. …