Gonz Sanchez - Seedtable (Page 3)

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Gonz Sanchez

The case for a European Tech Visa

The case for a European Tech Visa

Historically, extraordinary talent gravitates toward extraordinary talent. At the very beginning of the 15th century, an extraordinary group of young artists and intellectuals, formed under the patronage of the Medici family, flocked to Florence. Thus began the Renaissance, which later spread to Rome, Venice and the rest of the country.

The Amazonification of Shopify

The Amazonification of Shopify

How come we all like to buy stuff online so much? And when we do, we want it fast and we don’t want to pay a lot for it. What’s worst, our standards are getting higher. Every day that passes, we want online shopping to be faster, cheaper,

Trust in antitrust

Trust in antitrust

On March 3, 1998, US Senator Orrin Hatch called to order a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. > “Is there a danger that monopoly power is or could be used to stifle innovation in the software industry today or, perhaps, more importantly, looking forward?” With that, the antitrust case against

Scooternomics

Earlier this week, Flash, the scooter startup from Delivery Hero founder, re-branded [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=32b602d9ab9d238ceb45e3f05&id=46c844fe74&e=7cb75473a5] as ‘Circ’ and announced 1M rides. 24 hours later, Tier, the Berlin-based e-scooter rental startup, unveiled new hardware [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?

GDPR backfires spectacularly

GDPR backfires spectacularly

A year ago, you opened your inbox to an avalanche of emails from companies warning you about this new “GDPR” thing, explaining how they did a tremendous job so far protecting your privacy and asking you for permission to keep using your data. The General Data Protection Regulation launched last

Berlin goes after a $150 billion pot of gold

Geographic Hubs

Berlin goes after a $150 billion pot of gold

Last week, GetYourGuide announced [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=32b602d9ab9d238ceb45e3f05&id=8d0805aacd&e=7cb75473a5] an astronomical $484 million Series E round. A few weeks before that, Tourlane [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=32b602d9ab9d238ceb45e3f05&id=fa6ff80423&e=7cb75473a5] raised $47 million, and GoEuro revealed a

The biggest industry no one is talking about

The biggest industry no one is talking about

Two weeks ago, Fnatic announced [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=32b602d9ab9d238ceb45e3f05&id=75c627e6e9&e=7cb75473a5] a 19M Series B. A couple of days later, Immortals announced [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=32b602d9ab9d238ceb45e3f05&id=5fbaad33e5&e=7cb75473a5] an acquisition and a 30 million Series C.

Should you get paid more?

Should you get paid more?

I believe that one of Europe’s biggest challenges when attracting Talent is low salaries. I've been here for a few years now, so I know about the quality of life, free healthcare, and decent working hours. And nothing tops having Paris a short train ride away. Alas, the reality

Too good for your own good

Geographic Hubs

Too good for your own good

Different cities send different messages. After living in Buenos Aires, Cincinnati, Milano, Paris and now Barcelona, I realized that each message resonates with different people. Paul Graham writes [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=32b602d9ab9d238ceb45e3f05&id=a5971df212&e=7cb75473a5] : > "Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it

Should Europe get in bed with China?

Geographic Hubs

Should Europe get in bed with China?

If you visit ever have the fortune of visiting China, you’ll grasp something fairly quickly: it runs on an immense scale. China is home to 1.5 billion people, and internet penetration is over 50%: over 770 million Chinese have internet access [https://herokuapp.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?

Is China coming for Europe?

Geographic Hubs

Is China coming for Europe?

A couple days ago, @jason [https://twitter.com/jason] tweeted about China vs. the US [https://twitter.com/jason/status/1117871180990439425?s12], and a Twitter battle ensued. Here's what a brief extract of his ideas: > "Founders, we're up against Jack Ma (& China) enforcing a 72-hour work week ... but I will

Is the U.K. playing Internet God?

Geographic Hubs

Is the U.K. playing Internet God?

Last week, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Secretary of State for the Home Department released a white paper [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/793360/Online_Harms_White_Paper.pdf] calling for significantly

Do you know where your food comes from?

Do you know where your food comes from?

Imagine the most profitable restaurant in your city has no tables, no chairs, and no patrons. Chances are you just pictured the future of dining. Last week, Berlin-based Keatz announced a $13.5 million raise [https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/22/food-will-travel/], on top of the nearly $8 million it

A dark day for Internet freedom (in Europe)

A dark day for Internet freedom (in Europe)

This week, after years of deliberating [https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2019/02/13/eu-article-13-copyright-directive/] , the European Parliament voted ‘yes’ (348 to 274) on the controversial Copyright Reform [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016PC0593]. On Monday, I was indifferent to this. Today, after spending hours of reading

La French Tech is thriving

Geographic Hubs

La French Tech is thriving

I’m sitting at a coffee shop on the 5ème Arrondisement right now. I spent the better part of this week having coffee with startup founders, employees and investors in the Paris ecosystem. Some were French, most of them weren’t. After living for more than a year over here,

France is winning (and it's not the world cup)

Geographic Hubs

France is winning (and it's not the world cup)

A few days ago, The French government unveiled a complete overhaul [https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/05/france-overhauls-its-special-visa-for-tech-talent/] of the French Tech Visa for employees: they are making it easier to come work for a tech company in France. This is for real, not a PR stunt. The visa is

Our blades are f**king great

Our blades are f**king great

Everyone knows the Dollar Shave Club story. A guy launches a business selling razor blades online for $1, their video goes viral [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI], they profit and sell to Unilever for $1b. > “Are our blades any good? Nope. They’re f**king great” People don't

A lot of (EF)fing money

Venture Capital

A lot of (EF)fing money

Entrepreneur First [https://www.joinef.com/] (EF), the London-headquartered “talent investor” that recruits and backs individuals pre-team and pre-idea to enable them to found startups, has raised a new $115 million [https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/19/a-lof-of-efffing-money/] fund to continue scaling. Here's how EF works: twice a year they

The Banking (Revolut)ion

The Banking (Revolut)ion

This week, Nordic banking app Lunar Way announced a €13m round [https://www.coverager.com/lunar-way-raises-e13m/] of funding led by SEED Capital, with participation from Greyhound Capital and investors from the financial services industry. Less than 24 hours later, Starling Bank reported a € [https://www.ft.com/content/3580018c-2f66-11e9-ba00-0251022932c8]75m

Spotify goes wild

Spotify goes wild

On Wednesday, the Swedish giant Spotify reported a 29% rise in MAUs to 207M, their first-ever quarter with positive operating profit, net income and free cash flow but misses on Q4 revenues. Think that’s wild? They also announced the acquisition of Gimlet and Anchor, two podcasting companies, and confirmed

Help, my newsroom is on fire

Help, my newsroom is on fire

Last week [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jan/26/huffpost-buzzfeed-layoffs-digital-journalism] , Buzzfeed founder said the company would reduce headcount by 15%, or about 250 jobs. At the same time, Verizon said it would trim 7% of headcount, about 800 people, from its media unit, which includes HuffPost, Yahoo and AOL.

The Health revolution

The Health revolution

> “No clear line separates healing from upgrading. Medicine almost always begins by saving people from falling below the norm, but the same tools and know-how can then be used to surpass the norm.” ―Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow The new wave in health tech isn't