Even for experts, it’s currently very hard to make sense of the incredibly rapid and dramatic trends in the AI market. But that’s not surprising for a massive new tech wave. The tech industry doesn’t move in a linear fashion. S-curve-like patterns can be found everywhere. Not much seems to Read more…
Nine months after the release of ChatGPT, this is a question that suddenly quite a few people are asking. AI luminaries such as Gary Marcus and François Chollet as well as respected industry analysts such as Ben Evans are openly postulating that Gen AI might not be the civilization-changing, business-disrupting Read more…
How do you recognize truly disruptive technologies that will change the world? This question keeps entrepreneurs and startup investors up at night. Is hype a good predictor? As it turns out, much of the time it’s not, even when it’s turned up to 11. One of my favorite examples is Read more…
On this day 15 years ago, Apple announced the iPhone. It’s worth watching the entire video of the event. It’s a masterclass in how to announce a product and how to do a brilliant demo. There was much hype around it at the time, but considering how much this product Read more…
I find the current heated discussion around Web3 quite fascinating. What I think is an overlooked factor is how Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 started out and how they developed over time. That could give some perspective on where we stand with Web3 and how it might evolve. Both Web Read more…
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” — Peter Drucker’s famous quote summarizes well how important a strong culture is for any company’s success. Particularly tech startups have gone to great lengths in consciously shaping their culture and even exposing their cultural principles publicly (as in the example of Hubspot). But one Read more…
At the beginning of this year, I switched to the other side of the table. I was an entrepreneur for almost 24 years, and I recently took on a new role as a partner at btov, a European VC firm. It’s a rewarding and fascinating job. The part I like Read more…
The world of entrepreneurship is full of buzzwords. We all want to found the next disruptive game-changing hot startup, leveraging our first-mover advantage in deep tech by thinking outside the box, just before pivoting (in an agile way!) after our A/B tests showed concerns with our UX and product market Read more…
Apologies for the slightly clickbait-y title. But it’s true: Everybody wants to build a platform – the term has become inflationary in startup and innovation circles. That’s understandable because successful platforms are amongst the most profitable and most rapidly growing businesses in the world. However, building a successful platform is exceedingly Read more…
One of the worst mistakes a startup can make, particularly at its earliest stage, is to obsess too much about competition. A lot of wise people, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, rightfully suggest that you should focus most of your energy on the customer and the problems you’re solving for Read more…