Archive: Early Investing

The Search Engine Market Is Waiting to Be Disrupted

By Vin Narayanan on August 10, 2022

Since its launch in 1998, Google is the only search engine that’s really mattered. Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, AltaVista and others just couldn’t keep up. As of July, Google controlled almost 84% of the search market. Bing — Google’s closest rival — had less than 9% of the market. And DuckDuckGo, a search engine designed to protect user privacy that debuted in 2008, had less than 1% market share. That’s…

Demystifying Bitcoin Bottom Predictions

By Olivia Strobl on August 5, 2022

Editor’s Note: Vin is out of the office this week. So KingsCrowd Investment Research Manager Olivia Strobl is stepping in. We think you’ll enjoy her take on the crypto markets. Crypto Market Musings So much happened last week that I don’t know where to begin.

News Fix: Crypto Bear Market Edition

By Allison Brickell on August 3, 2022

We’ve made it to the dog days of summer. The crypto markets haven’t exactly been hot — in fact, they’ve been pretty cold for the last few months. But that doesn’t mean it’s all bad news.  Market Update The crypto market is still in bear market…

A Gold Mine for Collectibles Investors

By Vin Narayanan on July 29, 2022

Attending Comic-Con in San Diego is on my bucket list. I’m a huge comic book fan. And I love superheroes. As a kid, I used to collect all sorts of action figures — Star Wars, Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Bionic Woman, Batman, G.I. Joe. I loved them all. …

Crypto Bear Market Continues Despite Relief Rally

By Vin Narayanan on July 22, 2022

Crypto Market Musings Relief rallies happen when a lack of bad news — or news that wasn’t quite as bad as investors expected — causes the markets to go up. And they typically take place during bear markets.  We usually don’t…

An Investor’s Approach to Business Models

By Vin Narayanan on July 20, 2022

I have Netflix on my mind. Yesterday, I wrote about how Netflix exploited market inefficiencies to build a dominant consumer brand for our Pre-IPO Profits members. (Editor’s note: It probably isn’t the market inefficiency you’re thinking of. Click here to sign…

A Strong Dollar Drives Bitcoin’s Price Down

By Vin Narayanan on July 15, 2022

Crypto Market Musings Phew. June inflation numbers came in hot on Wednesday — and the markets mostly yawned. Bitcoin is trading (as of this writing) at around $20,000. It was trading around $21,000 last week. Ethereum is trading around $1,131. It…

How Gamification Is Changing Our World

By Allison Brickell on July 13, 2022

Last week, I started a journey along with millions of other people.  I’ve never met these people. But we’re all driven by a common goal: to learn a new language. And we’re doing it on Duolingo. When I downloaded the Duolingo app to refresh…

There Is No Crypto “Contagion”

By Vin Narayanan on July 8, 2022

Crypto Market Musings Crypto’s recent correlation with the stock market is finally paying dividends. The stock market is rallying — and so is crypto. As of this writing, bitcoin is up almost 11% over the last five days and is trading…

3D Printing Has Finally Arrived

By Andy Gordon on July 6, 2022

Big things are expected from the 3D printing space. Really big things. But before you begin frantically searching for startups to invest in, there’s something you should know. A lot of people were saying the same thing about 3D printing five years ago. And — ahem…

How to Play a Correcting Real Estate Market

By Carolyn Price on June 24, 2022

The U.S. residential real estate market is in the midst of a market correction. The average 30-year mortgage rate is at 6.28% currently — the highest rate since 2008. Higher interest rates are limiting access to capital and making mortgage payments…

When Disruptive Startups Drop the Ball

By Vin Narayanan on June 22, 2022

I’m a huge golf fan. I watch all the major tournaments. I watch several Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) events a year. One of my dreams is to watch the Masters in person. I love playing too. In fact, I love playing so much that I recently golfed on…

This Crypto Bear Market Is Not Like the Others

By Vin Narayanan on June 17, 2022

Crypto Market Musings The crypto markets have been crashing hard for the past seven days. After spending about a month trading around $30,000, bitcoin is now flirting with $20,000. Bad inflation news last Friday combined with increased fuel prices sparked a massive sell-off in the equities…

Bridging the Funding Gap for LGBTQ+ Startup Founders

By Allison Brickell on June 15, 2022

Underrepresented founders — including people of color, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community — have historically received a very small piece of the venture capital (VC) funding pie. Female founders received just 2% of all U.S. VC dollars…

New Crypto Legislation to Be Optimistic About

By Vin Narayanan on June 10, 2022

Market Musings Bitcoin has been trading in a narrow range between $29,311 and $31,630 over the last seven days. Ethereum has been trading between $1,911 and $1,731. The trading range for both coins over the last 30 days has been a little wider, with bitcoin trading between $32,000…
2022 has not been kind to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. He’s calling it a “technology winter.” And the numbers are certainly chilling for Son. SoftBank’s Vision Fund lost 2.64 trillion yen ($20.5 billion) for the year ending March 31.  The previous year, it had made a…