08.21.16 Recap

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Machine Intelligence 2.0 in charts and graphs by Shivon Zilis and VentureBeat
Nice general overview of the ML/AI landscape aptly dubbed here as Machine Intelligence 2.0.

Event Driven SaaS - The Workflow Of The Future by Tomasz Tunguz
Outlines how a new wave of SaaS products, if properly designed, can mitigate / eliminate the agency problem of classic software by benefiting users directly. I am personally a big fan of this play. By offering value to the people using the product from day to day -- not just the executives -- products can generate buy-in through accruing benefit. This, in turn, creates both stickiness for the product and the ability to generate even more value through increased data capture and engagement.

What’s the Difference Between Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning? by Michael Copeland and NVIDIA
In case you were wondering, NVIDIA spells it out for you in a thoughtful post (and Part One of their series on the fundamentals of deep learning). 

Human collective intelligence as distributed Bayesian inference by Peter Krafft, et al
Awesome new study finding that a cognitive decision mechanism can treat a variable as a prior distribution upon which to base decisions. Such a mechanism is boundedly rational at the individual level, but in the aggregate can implement a type of Bayesian algorithm. Ultimately, the authors conclude that this perspective of distributed Bayesian inference can reveal how collective rationality emerges from the boundedly rational decision mechanisms people use.

Sam Altman sits down with Mark Zuckerberg to talk about how to build the future with Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg
Interesting conversation from what will be sure to be a great new series from Y Combinator. As Mark summarized on Facebook, "People often ask me what advice I'd give someone who wants to start their own company. My answer is that every good company that I can think of started with someone caring about changing something, not someone deciding to start a company. Instead of trying to build a company, focus on the change you want to see in the world and just keep pushing forward." 

Eleven Reasons To Be Excited About The Future of Technology by Chris Dixon
Leading with a quote from The Economist - “The strongest force propelling human progress has been the swift advance and wide diffusion of technology,” Chris outlines some of the most fascinating technological areas that are posed to make a big impact on the world.

a16z Podcast: Pricing, Pricing, Pricing with Mark Cranney, Martin Casado, and Scott Kupor
A thoughtful conversation on pricing, something that is not always intuitive (and is often overlooked). Hosted by some of the a16z team, they review the implications of pricing on "pre-chasm" companies, or those that effectively create new markets or operate within nascent ones. Something of particular importance for founders who often believe technology itself holds intrinsic value or those who abide by the "Field of Dreams" strategy (if you build it, they will come). As discussed in the podcast, Ben Horowitz  once described pricing as one of the single decisions that drastically impacts the valuation of a company.

The State of Sales and Marketing at the 50 Fastest Growing B2B Companies in the US by Mattermark and Drift
Speaking of pricing -- among other things -- the good folks over at Mattermark and Drift provide a really fascinating report on the sales and marketing strategies that are most effective for driving growth. Insights brought to you by their analysis of data from the 50 fastest growing B2B companies in the US. Good stuff on content, communication, purchasing, pricing, and more. No spoilers -- take a look at the slide deck for yourself.

And in other news...

NASA Climate Modeling Suggests Venus May Have Been Habitable by NASA
What that says ☝️

Frank Ocean (finally) dropped a new album thx Frank
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