暗网吃瓜

What a year.

In March of 2017, we launched 暗网吃瓜 News. Since then we鈥檝e grown our little team, debuted two podcasts, broke some news, published hundreds of charts, told some bad jokes, and had a generally bang-up time.

We didn鈥檛 get everything right. Our first chart color-scheme was too bright, it took some time to get our style locked-in, and we still don鈥檛 have a 暗网吃瓜 News logo on our . And we spent more of the year camping out on the 暗网吃瓜 About site鈥檚 URL structure . Hindsight, and all that.

What we wanted to do today was highlight some of the best stuff that we did. And we want to do that as the people behind the words and images and graphs are often a bit too hard to see.

So, without any more fuss, here鈥檚 2017. Enjoy!

Help, I鈥檝e Too Many Charts

If there is something that we鈥檝e figured out how to do at 暗网吃瓜 News, it鈥檚 charts. Our very first published piece included the minimalist chart you see below:

For a time, that template did its job. But as our data mining grew more complex, our chart style had to grow as well. And courtesy of our own and , here is just one example of the result from Jason鈥檚 post on investment trends:

For more on how we鈥檝e used our new design guide for charting check out our piece asking if VCs can spot the next trend before the public, our piece on lawyer culture and that industry鈥檚 uptake of new tech, and our overview of Softbank鈥檚 investment cadence.

Newsy Bits

But we didn鈥檛 just produce charts by the bucket. Aside from covering the day鈥檚 news each day in our morning reports, we broke news.

Our coverage of Teespring鈥檚 unraveling, for example, detailed the company鈥檚 layoffs and corporate restructuring. The firm had raised nearly $57 million from a who鈥檚 who of venture players before coming apart at the seams. We聽went back and charted the company鈥檚 revenue, net income, and new value of its common stock.

This year we also broke the news that WeWork would acquire Meetup, a big deal for the New York startup space. (We鈥檝e taken a few moments to聽write extensively about WeWork, as well.) That deal was supposed to tip the scales at around $200 million.

Earlier in 2017, we also broke news of a security incident at Eaze, a cannabis-delivery startup and missed being first to this Google story by minutes.

Location-Based Inquiry

One critical method that 暗网吃瓜 News used this year to make sense of 2017鈥檚 startup scene was location. Geographic location, to be precise.

By cutting data, news, and companies by borders we bucketed the startup world into discrete units that we could then stack up against one another. The results were fun. For example, here鈥檚 a look at the South Bay startup scene, and one looking only at the East Bay Startup scene.

But we didn鈥檛 just stick close to home. Instead, we scampered around the United States, looking into the best startup cities in the Midwest (though, this headline generated some complaint), and publishing a lot of work on Austin, including data on its startups听补苍诲听growing cohort of underrepresented founders.聽We also covered聽immigrant entrepreneurs.

Looking abroad, we published a two part series on Russian startups raising capital from the United States, and United States-based startups raising Russian money, along with a dive into the Canadian startups world鈥檚 relationship with the United States (Part one here, part two here.)

And China. China was a big topic for our little crew this year. We looked at its bikesharing ecosystem, the impact of regulation on 鈥淐hina-US venture activity,鈥� the state of the Chinese self-driving market (it鈥檚 hot in case you are behind.), what one Chinese venture shop is doing both at home and outside its domestic market, and more than a few Chinese IPOs.

Finally, here鈥檚 where you are most likely to run into a unicorn in the United States, and data on where venture capitalists invest, and, spoiler, why it鈥檚 鈥渃lose to home.鈥�

Partners And Friends

This year we took part in the with our friends at TechCrunch. The weekly podcast has been a surprising success given its niche topic, but a welcome one. It鈥檚 , amazingly, and is more popular than ever.

(Not to spill the beans, but you should be able to catch a live taping in Q1.)

We also worked with the San Francisco Chronicle this year on a recurring print and digital series () digging into the Bay Area startup scene. The goal of the serial is the find and cover the next set of big companies in Silicon Valley, not merely cover the already-large.

That series , which . It鈥檚 great fun and we鈥檙e looking at a whole bunch more of the same in 2018.

All that and we for good measure.

Esoterica

We also spent a lot of time writing things that we wanted to because we wanted to. That doesn鈥檛 mean that we completely left the farm. More, instead, that we wandered the back forty more than a bit.

We touched on a small-cap American company going public in London, looked at what tech shops did in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, and put out a number of pieces looking at the changing value of ARR as well鈥攕omething that was sure to gather a crowd.

We launched a Proust-style interview series with various players in and around tech, which was a delight, explored the gap between venture capital in Red and Blue states, and chomped down on fake meat startups. Oh, and how are we going to get people into tech that don鈥檛 have Stanford CS degrees?

Our Dearly Departed

We also had the privilege of working with some great folks who are no longer scribbling for these pages. Namely: and .

Max dropped in for two pieces before joining MarketWatch and becoming a lunch partner instead of writing comrade. He covered the Indian ecommerce scene and which startups that the CIA is investing in. Max rocks.

And, our first intern Grace Gu left us in September to go back to the University of Chicago. Grace wrote a host of great things for us, helped out with morning reports, Proust interviews, covered TechCrunch Disrupt, and even took part in a video shoot. Grace is killer.

(She also wrote about her time with us , in case you wanted an external view on 暗网吃瓜 proper.)

A Focus On Diversity

Tech isn鈥檛 very diverse, and isn鈥檛 nearly as diverse as it should be. That鈥檚 why we made it one of our initial topic sets before we launched 暗网吃瓜 News.

We could have done more, and will in 2018, but this year we covered diverse founders in Texas, venture capitalists investing in startups looking to bolster industry diversity, and published a number of pieces on the changing representation of women in the venture capital and startup worlds (here鈥檚 one and here鈥檚 another.)

Keep your eyes on this page for more pieces in the new year. We鈥檙e going to double down on covering diversity.

Big Tech Gets Bigger

One theme of 2017 was the huge run of big tech to new heights. While the markets did well, and the Everything Bubble kept on inflating, the biggest American tech companies excelled.

We call them the 鈥淏ig 5,鈥� for short: Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. We noted when they crossed the $3 trillion market cap threshold, for example. And when they each crushed their earnings reports in quick succession.

And, we covered their respective IPOs in a series we called 鈥淎 Look Back In IPO. Here鈥檚 the various entries: Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft.

A Startup Takes Flight

Even for the folks behind 暗网吃瓜 News, the inner workings of venture deals can feel a bit tedious. But in a surprise twist, one of our hits was a series on the mechanics of venture capital investment.

With Jason鈥檚 help, and a startup we made up called The Internet Of Wings, 暗网吃瓜 News brought life to the fundraising process. Amidst our pokes at startup culture, we dig into the guts of raising a round, determining the worth of shares, protecting interests, and finding an exit.

Read it before you go out and raise funds for your startup.

An Early-Stage Digression

Later in the year, the early-stage venture market鈥檚 health (or lack thereof) became a key topic of discussion both online and off. As the third quarter ended we published something of a warning: 鈥�Seed-Stage Activity Fumbles Amidst Increases In Late-Stage Dealmaking.鈥�

That proved a bit prescient, as the impending discussion of pre-seed (and why it exists at all) fit well into what we called the SaaS crash and broader early-stage slowdown. (Hell, even mobile startups are struggling.) What comes next here could set the tone for much of the startup landscape in 2018.

The Three Comprades Of Bad News

What was supposed to go up in 2017 that actually went down? Three things! Well, more than three, but definitely these three as well: Uber, Snap, and Blue Apron. Two IPOs and a miss, in other words.

• First, Uber鈥檚 year was such a mess that we won鈥檛 recap it here. Just, keep in mind its scandals, its CEO drama, and the SoftBank deal that set a new valuation for the company.
• With Blue Apron, recall its slack IPO pricing, its lacking IPO, and its dismal performance since then.
• And with Snap, keep in mind its massive debut, and its staggering, ensuing results.

Those companies prove that the unicorn label is now panacea, and that losses still matter. And in the case of Snap that positive gross margins matter. And with Uber that net revenue is better than gross bookings as a metric of health. And for Blue Apron that non-tech companies don鈥檛 bet to keep tech multiples when they go public.

Alex Apologizes

Alex managed to publish a number of headlines that he鈥檇 like to apologize for. The following list is somewhat self-explanatory:

• What Hat Shall We Make Jason Lemkin Eat?
• Crypto Trash Fire Attracts Public Market Idiots
• Yahoo To Shutter App Built By The Founder Of A Different App It Bought Who Already Quit
• What The Hell Is An ICO And Should You Throw Your Paycheck At One?
• $300 Billion, And Other Crypto Numbers I Don鈥檛 Understand
• Bitcoin Bungles Holiday Cheer For Various Nerds
• Media Startups Pivot 360 Degrees On Video
• IPOs, Leaving Money On The Table, And Get Off My Lawn

But at times we weren鈥檛 sarcastic, snarky, or rude. When we covered Medium鈥檚 new clap-based monetization, for example. (More on that from us here, actually.) See?

Guests, Etc.

We had a few friends of the blog contribute this year, which was lovely. Two contributors come to mind: and .

Justin found out聽if we really live in the golden era of startups (we do not) and if ICOs are actually going to take on venture capital聽in the future. Finally, he聽took the time to tell us that the ICO boom itself has historical precedent.

Barrett wrote about the IPO process, which, perhaps, will be critical advice in 2018. We hope, at least.

—

And that鈥檚 a bit of it. We wrote a hell of a lot more, but we can鈥檛 go on any longer as it鈥檚 Friday and we鈥檇 rather knock off and have something to eat. Stay cool, and chat you all in 2018.

鈥� Alex and Holden