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| | | Well before the novel coronavirus was making headlines, Connie Chan, general partner with Andreessen Horowitz, backed Run The World, a startup that produces live online events. The company offers the core functionality of an in-person conference: ticketing, video conferencing, networking and interactivity. TechCrunch Silicon Valley Editor Connie Loizos sat down last week with Chan to learn more about the opportunities she sees in consumer tech. Their discussion touched on the challenges of building D2C brands that stand out, how COVID-19 concerns are impacting fundraising and her “super app” theory: …You can take a product that used to be only used for a singular purpose and can add on other things that might be ancillary or might actually seem completely unrelated but are still relevant for that particular user from a business definition. Oftentimes it's using either a long-term engagement or a high-frequency-use app to lead-gen for these lower-frequency but very high-margin products. From a consumer standpoint it's really, ‘what else would I need from the internet or from another service provider that this app can also provide me in the same place so I don't have to go download another app?’ Today’s Extra Crunch newsletter is a little shorter than usual: as promised, we’re now delivering these digests a day earlier, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Thanks very much for reading! Walter Thompson
Senior Editor
@yourprotagonist Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Bryce Durbin | | Eric Peckham’s seven-part series about virtual worlds covered the social, cultural and technological implications that attend spending more time in the multiverse. In part 6 of 7, he looks at economics, a core aspect of any environment where people congregate, noting that “what separates virtual from ‘real’ is the ability to make money.” Read more | | | |
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| |  Image Credits: Bryce Durbin | | In the final part of our series, we explore how gaming companies, social networks and startups will fight for the future of virtual worlds. Read more | | | |
| |  | | Yesterday, we rolled out Equity on Extra Crunch, a new interview series where Senior Editor Alex Wilhelm and Managing Editor Danny Crichton speak to VCs, founders and startup execs about subjects “critical to understanding what's happening in the private markets.” For our first episode, we were joined by Jomayra Herrera from Cowboy Ventures and Floodgate's Iris Choi, who chatted about the current state of seed-stage investing. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Kwangmoozaa / Getty Images | | In Monday morning’s column, Alex Wilhelm dug into the S-1 filing for Procure, a SaaS company that sells construction tech software. Valued just under $3B in its Series H raise, Alex looks at its metrics to better understand why a company with a healthy growth rate “filed to go public after the worst week in the stock market since the 2008 crash.” Read more | | | |
| |  | | Connie Chan, an Andreessen Horowitz general partner, discusses the early impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, her recent investments and some preferred strategies for building D2C companies. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Photographer is my life. / Getty Images | | Devin Coldewey writes about space, robotics and other bleeding-edge technology, so when he offered to write a roundup of several innovations that didn’t fit into his recent reporting, I was very interested. In this outing: advances in machine learning, wireless transmission, soft 3D printing (which has potential applications in biotech) and rocketry. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Tony Studio / Getty Images | | This morning, we published the latest edition of “Dear Sophie,” an immigration advice column targeted to tech workers. Today’s question: Dear Sophie: I live in India and run a startup. Most of our clients are based in the U.S. I also have a Delaware C Corp. established a year ago. We have three full-time contractors doing business development and sales. I currently have a B1/B2 visa. As my company continues to grow, we want to expand in the U.S. and possibly buy a house. I want to know what's the best visa to obtain. Appreciate your opinion. Intrigued in India Read more | | | |
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