Q&A

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Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

GrubHub CEO: What It Will Take to Win the Delivery Wars

By Steve Nellis · Feb 11, 2015 10:01am PST · 2 comments
Chicago-based GrubHub has become the biggest and best-known restaurant takeout app. But it’s under attack from above and below amid nearly $300 million in recent deals in the delivery space. On Tuesday, Yelp acquired GrubHub competitor Eat24 for $134 million. Last year, payments startup Square bought Caviar, which delivers from high-end... Chicago-based GrubHub has become the biggest and best-known restaurant takeout app. But it’s...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

The Ad Tech Company Google Pays Attention To

By Amir Efrati · Feb 4, 2015 10:23am PST · 3 comments
It’s a tall order to compete with Google and Facebook in selling digital ads. That’s especially true for the hundreds of advertising technology firms that sell ads on sites or apps owned by other companies. Many know they face slim odds as standalone entities. So they typically sell themselves to Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and others that... It’s a tall order to compete with Google and Facebook in selling digital ads. That’s especially...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

GitHub Tries to Grow Up

By Steve Nellis · Jan 28, 2015 10:30am PST
GitHub has become the top destination for developers who want to collaborate on code. It has 8.3 million users who work together on 19.1 million software projects hosted on its site. These range from Bootstrap, a popular framework for building mobile websites, to AngularJS, a Google-backed tool for building web apps. Founded in 2008, GitHub is... GitHub has become the top destination for developers who want to collaborate on code. It has 8.3...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Inside Adobe’s ‘Burn the Boats’ Bet
By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 14, 2015 10:01am PST · 6 comments
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

Inside Adobe’s ‘Burn the Boats’ Bet

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 14, 2015 10:01am PST · 6 comments
Plenty of companies talk about changing their business models to adapt to new technologies, but few actually pull it off. Netflix shifted from DVDs to streaming, and Apple survived the transition from the personal computer business to mobile.  A possible new success story: Adobe Systems. In 2013, amid lagging sales, CEO Shantanu Narayen... Plenty of companies talk about changing their business models to adapt to new technologies, but...
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro
Q&A

The Cloud Hanging Over VMWare

By Steve Nellis · Jan 7, 2015 10:03am PST · 1 comment
Before the public cloud, there were hypervisors, and VMware was nearly synonymous with the technology. Now VMware is facing multiple threats to its business. VMware rose to prominence, and its eventual acquisition by storage giant EMC in 2004 for $625 million, by selling hypervisors that helped big companies make more efficient use of their... Before the public cloud, there were hypervisors, and VMware was nearly synonymous with the...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

Sizing Up the Private Tech Markets

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 17, 2014 10:59am PST
For the well-connected in Silicon Valley, there is no shortage of ways to participate in the private tech company land rush. There’s also no shortage of prognosticating on which companies will remain standing when the funding environment turns. Justin Fishner-Wolfson, founder of investment firm 137 Ventures, has an interesting... For the well-connected in Silicon Valley, there is no shortage of ways to participate in the...
Art: Matt Vascellaro
Q&A

Tapping India’s Massive Mobile Ad Market

By Steve Nellis · Dec 10, 2014 10:12am PST
With 200 million users, India is the world’s third-largest Internet market. But the overwhelming majority of those people connect solely through phones, which means some ad-targeting approaches common in the U.S. don’t work. One executive working on new types of targeting is Dippak Khurana, the CEO of Mumbai-based Vserv. He has... With 200 million users, India is the world’s third-largest Internet market. But the...
Art: Matt Vascellaro
There’s a Crisis Happening in the Russian Tech Industry
By Amir Efrati · Dec 4, 2014 7:00am PST
Art: Matt Vascellaro
Q&A

There’s a Crisis Happening in the Russian Tech Industry

By Amir Efrati · Dec 4, 2014 7:00am PST
It’s been a brutal year for Russia, and next year may be worse for its citizens and the business community amid an economic recession and continued friction between its government and the West. There have also been a variety of shockwaves sent through the Russian tech industry, which doesn't get much attention in the West despite being... It’s been a brutal year for Russia, and next year may be worse for its citizens and the...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

Why TV Companies Need To Become Tech Companies

By Martin Peers · Nov 26, 2014 10:15am PST
Three thousand miles separate Silicon Valley from the headquarters of the major TV companies. But it may as well be three million miles, such are the differences in history, business model and outlook between the tech companies behind YouTube and Netflix, on one hand, and TV networks on the other. One company that doesn't quite fit in... Three thousand miles separate Silicon Valley from the headquarters of the major TV companies. But...
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

PayPal Plots Its Future

By Steve Nellis · Nov 19, 2014 11:22am PST
You probably didn’t realize you’re tapping PayPal’s technology every time you take an Uber ride, rent a room on Airbnb or Venmo a friend after a round of beers. And Hill Ferguson, PayPal’s chief product officer, doesn’t have a problem with that. As PayPal gears up to become an independent public company by spinning... You probably didn’t realize you’re tapping PayPal’s technology every time you...
Matthew Vascellaro
Q&A

Hiring the Leader Tech Startups Live or Die By

By Eric Newcomer · Nov 12, 2014 11:23am PST · 1 comment
Startup founders may get the most public adulation, but a company’s head of engineering can play an equally pivotal role in shaping top technology companies. It can be the most highly paid position at a company, CEO included. When startups like Uber, Dropbox and Twitter needed a vice president of engineering, they tapped Riviera Partners,... Startup founders may get the most public adulation, but a company’s head of engineering can...
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
Box’s Aaron Levie: We’re Misunderstood
By Steve Nellis · Nov 5, 2014 11:15am PST
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

Box’s Aaron Levie: We’re Misunderstood

By Steve Nellis · Nov 5, 2014 11:15am PST
Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, wants you to know that his company is not a storage company and that a partnership announced by two of his biggest rivals—Microsoft and Dropbox—is a great thing for Box’s future. In an interview with The Information, the 29 year old also discussed “misunderstandings” around the... Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, wants you to know that his company is not a storage company and that a...
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

Hope and Headaches for Digital Health

By Steve Nellis · Oct 29, 2014 7:00am PDT · 3 comments
Health care represents about 18 percent of the U.S. economy, and Malay Gandhi is trying to change it one $100,000 check at a time. Mr. Gandhi is the San Francisco managing director for Rock Health, a nonprofit incubator and seed funding provider that has invested in 50 digital health companies, including Doctor on Demand and Lift Labs, which... Health care represents about 18 percent of the U.S. economy, and Malay Gandhi is trying to change...
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

Netflix’s Hastings: Expect a ‘Slow, Steady Drift’ with Pay TV Bundle

By Martin Peers · Oct 22, 2014 12:01pm PDT
If there’s any one individual most responsible for the upheaval now afflicting the television industry, it’s Reed Hastings, the chief executive and co-founder of Netflix. Having started life as a DVD rental business, Netflix has successfully pivoted to be the leading subscription video streaming service, with more than 36 million... If there’s any one individual most responsible for the upheaval now afflicting the...
Q&A

Meet the Internet’s Newest Cloud Startup: Goldman Sachs?

By Steve Nellis · Oct 15, 2014 10:16am PDT
Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s biggest investment banks, but it is arguably also a major technology company. About a third of the firm’s employees are engineers. With hundreds of thousands of cloud computing processors working on its behalf, Goldman crunches more data each day than many Internet companies. Don Duet is co-head of... Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s biggest investment banks, but it is arguably also a...
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
AngelList Founder: ‘Frothy’ Market Puts Burden on Investors
By Eric Newcomer · Oct 9, 2014 7:01am PDT
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

AngelList Founder: ‘Frothy’ Market Puts Burden on Investors

By Eric Newcomer · Oct 9, 2014 7:01am PDT
Naval Ravikant, a serial founder and investor, once sued Benchmark and August Capital for misleading employees about the value of Epinions, a company he co-founded. Since then he’s been poking venture capital firms in the eye another way: He’s making it easier for investors outside the typical VC orbit to invest in Silicon Valley... Naval Ravikant, a serial founder and investor, once sued Benchmark and August Capital for...
Illustration by Matt Vascellaro
Q&A

Evernote Declares War on Microsoft Office, Lends Hand to News

By Amir Efrati · Sep 30, 2014 3:29pm PDT
Evernote CEO Phil Libin says his seven-year-old startup is coming out of “stealth mode” Thursday at the company’s fourth annual conference for partners and software developers. The service, which lets people save notes and other digital media to retrieve later, often gets lumped in with file-storage startups Dropbox and Box. Mr. Libin wants to... Evernote CEO Phil Libin says his seven-year-old startup is coming out of “stealth mode” Thursday...
Priceonomics founder Rohin Dhar. Illustration by Matt Vascellaro.
Q&A

A Media Business Model Built by Geeks

By Eric Newcomer · Sep 24, 2014 11:39am PDT
There are media companies, technology companies and media companies that want investors to think they are technology companies. Then there’s Priceonomics, a Y Combinator-backed San Francisco-based company that raised $1.5 million in seed funding way back in 2012. While Priceonomics came barreling out of YC eager to build a big technology... There are media companies, technology companies and media companies that want investors to think...
Jonathan Ward. Illustration by Matthew Vascellaro.
Q&A

Tech Giants Find Expression in Architecture

By Eric Newcomer · Sep 17, 2014 2:20pm PDT
Technology giants are molding the way billions of people live and think, but their reach isn’t limited to cyberspace. They’re increasingly looking for real-world opportunities to project their brands and shape the environment, and one of the biggest opportunities lies in the the physical design of their massive headquarters. A host of huge... Technology giants are molding the way billions of people live and think, but their reach isn’t...
Alison Pepper, director of public policy at the IAB. Illustration by Matthew Vascellaro.
Wrestling with Privacy in a World of Ad Tracking
By Tom Dotan · Sep 10, 2014 1:15pm PDT
Alison Pepper, director of public policy at the IAB. Illustration by Matthew Vascellaro.
Q&A

Wrestling with Privacy in a World of Ad Tracking

By Tom Dotan · Sep 10, 2014 1:15pm PDT
The Interactive Advertising Bureau was formed in 1996, right at the moment when the internet was beginning its slow erosion of traditional media. As more consumers began getting their news and entertainment online, publishers needed an arbiter of standards and practices to help make it comfortable for advertisers to follow them there. That task... The Interactive Advertising Bureau was formed in 1996, right at the moment when the internet was...