Sangeet Paul Choudary: “The early promise of Web2 was built around the argument of the long tail. Back in 2006 – the early days of Web2, when Facebook was still a dorm room phenomenon and Yahoo was making fun acquisitions in user-generated content – Chris Anderson published his NYTimes bestseller “The Long Tail”, arguing that the internet would empower niches in the long tail. And that, by extension, business value would shift away from a few ‘fat/short head’ categories and migrate to many niches across the long tail. That future didn’t really play out as expected. Instead, over the next 15 years, we’ve seen large platforms aggregate niche market activity and increasingly centralize value away from these niches. But with the rise of blockchain-based protocols, we may finally have the necessary business architecture and economic incentives to drive value in niche market activity.”
Chris Dixon on crypto: “Today’s negative financial sentiment most closely resembles 2008. If we are headed for a prolonged downturn, there are some tactical lessons from the 2008 era, namely preserving capital and staying focused on your long-term vision. The strategic lesson is to keep your eyes squarely focused on the product cycle. Things that look interesting to smart people usually do so because they are rich with product possibilities. These possibilities eventually become reality. Toys become must-have tools. Weekend hobbies become mainstream activities. Cynics sound smart but optimists build the future.”
Debashis Basu: “Start-ups don’t care that mad-money funding comes to a hard stop after an IPO. Shareholders of listed companies believe in a different approach to valuation; it must be based on profitability and cash flows, and all eyes will be on corporate governance standards. As a listed entity, corporate actions have to take the interests of all shareholders, especially minority shareholders, into account.”
