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The Disruption of Venture Capital

Harvard Business Review

Over the years, venture capitalists have been some of the most ardent students of disruptive innovation. Large pools of capital have been funding risky ventures since antiquity (for example, when the wealthy Marcus Crassus backed an upstart Roman general named Julius Caesar). He was right.

Hedge 16
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What Initial Coin Offerings Are, and Why VC Firms Care

Harvard Business Review

Venture capitalists, who generally have been standoffish to the ICO phenomenon, are now becoming more interested in it for a number of reasons. ICOs are the Wild West of financing — they sit in a grey zone where the U.S. Just as venture capitalists are taking a hard look at this new phenomenon, so should we all.

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How Blockchain Is Changing Finance

Harvard Business Review

For example, consider how new business ventures access growth capital. Traditionally, companies target angel investors in the early stages of a new business, and later look to venture capitalists, eventually culminating in an initial public offering (IPO) on a stock exchange.

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If Crowdfunding is the New Day Trading, Look Out

Harvard Business Review

In an essay earlier this week on the evolution of money and finance, GigaOM founder and venture capitalist Om Malik argued that crowdfunding will be the new day trading, the latest financial innovation to “cut costs and [drive] wider participation in a previously closed and clubby market.” Not everyone agrees.

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Startups Could Fundamentally Change the Way Big Investors Operate

Harvard Business Review

Given their size and appetite for diversification, these gigantic investors are a significant source of financing for many companies and governments in the developed world, and their investment activities can and do move markets. How is this state of affairs possible?

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Could a Four-Year-Old Do What Carl Icahn Does?

Harvard Business Review

Venture capitalist Mark Andreessen, a target of Icahn’s attacks as a board member at eBay, recently likened the 78-year-old to a six-year-old. After using borrowed money in the 1980s and 1990s, then opening up a hedge fund in 2004, he has since 2011 basically just been managing his own money. Apple Finance Skill vs. luck'

Hedge 8
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Calculating the Market Value of Leadership

Harvard Business Review

In recent years, investors have learned that defining the market value of a firm cannot just be based on finances. GAAP and FASB standards require financial reporting of earnings, cash flow, and profitability – all measures that investors have traditionally examined.