Looking Back on Tech, Startups, and VC in 2018 | Hacker News Reader

Looking Back on Tech, Startups, and VC in 2018

haystack.vc

67 pointssemilshah8 comments

I'm not certain that I agree with him about crypto hibernation. I am far from a crypto advocate but I follow the space and have some friends deeply engaged in it.

There's an awful lot of work being done, especially with blockchain. Great ideas with impressive teams. But it isn't showtime yet. It's heads down and working time.

Sure, there's plenty of work being done, except it's fueled by the founders' need to show investors that their money is being put to a good use, and hence not pull out. I've yet to see an actual business problem solved with a blockchain (other than helping optimists part with their money).

Relevant NIST flowchart ("Do you need a blockchain?"): https://imgur.com/a/RlUj9Ed

For a while, the flowchart was basically ”Do you need funding?”. A lot of pitches were basically ”X, but on the blockchain”. Seemed to be a decent strategy, too.

I'd highly recommend the NIST blockchain overview paper it came from as well. https://www.nist.gov/publications/blockchain-technology-over...

NOTE: Paper currently unavailable due to government shutdown.

I feel like the current bear market in crypto is sorting the wheat from the chaff, and we'll see more mature projects and progress shine in 2019.

I'm looking forward to Ethereum 2.0 and Cardano. Holochain should also be interesting...

”For me personally, it’s been fascinating to see just how much consumer demand scooters as an easy and fun option, and yet consumers don’t seem to want to charge or dock these items”

Alternative take: petty crime is so incredibly prevalent in SF, customers prefer rental scooters so they don’t have to worry about theft.

A big reason behind the popularity of Citi bikes etc is the same: it delivers the convenience of having a bike, without the headache of having it stolen quarterly.

I interpreted what he was saying differently. To me, he was saying that consumers like renting scooters, but they do not like renting scooters if they have to dock or undock the scooters similar to a citi bike versus a grab and drop approach.

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