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Nervana’s $400M+ Buyout Reflects Key Tech Trend in Machine Learning

Xconomy

On the day after Intel announced its acquisition of San Diego machine learning startup Nervana Systems, investor Steve Jurvetson told me he was feeling a sense of satisfaction about a call he made three years ago, and how it has been playing out.

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Why Successful People Focus on the Bottom End of the Funnel

Both Sides of the Table

Today I’d like to give that advice in more tangible terms and with a framework to think about your tasks – the funnel. Sales people (and website customer acquisition folks) all think in terms of funnels and yet non-sales professionals seldom do. Lots of people start, very few finish.

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What is the Right Burn Rate at a Startup Company?

Both Sides of the Table

Let’s set up a framework. We want money to make some acquisitions (investors would prefer to fund M&A if they know specific deals – not to encourage bad behavior. A Framework to Guide You: So putting it all together, you should always be mindful of your personal circumstances and market conditions.

Startup 383
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How to Handle a VC Presentation with No Deck

Both Sides of the Table

I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. And when you finish the demo you can bring in the other important components such as competition, team, customer acquisition strategy, etc. Use it as a framework for a dialog not a script. Mobile app?

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Are MBAs Necessary for Start-ups or VC?

Both Sides of the Table

He writes with a great perspective and is well worth reading. I told people privately my perfect spec: computer science undergrad from MIT (or any other great school), 2-years at McKinsey but no more than that (I love the analytical framework that the top strategy consulting firms provide. I had to laugh a bit reading it.

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Tech Giants’ Partnership To Explore Ethics, Societal Impacts of AI

Xconomy

The Partnership on AI , formally unveiled Wednesday, includes Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Google and its 2014 acquisition DeepMind. General interest, awareness, and discussion about AI has waxed and waned since the field was founded in 1956,” they write ( PDF ). “We

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How I Use Visualization to Drive Creativity

Both Sides of the Table

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. These are all creative processes.

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