# Best of avc.xyz on Kiwi News Page: https://news.kiwistand.com/source/avc.xyz 12 stories from avc.xyz have been shared on Kiwi News since 2 January 2024, with 28 upvotes and 4 comments in total. The latest was shared on 1 January 2025. They are listed below, most upvoted first. Summaries are AI summaries of the linked article. ## 1. Minting Is the Native Business Model for Web3 (and maybe AI too) - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Minting-Is-the-Native-Business-Model-for-Web3-and-maybe-AI-too?index=0x65afec3a1d3f1a93b497ee456f8180baca67825fbf623b5bf1dcaf1d27dba6d2bf30aa46 - Source: https://avc.xyz/minting-is-the-native-business-model-for-web3-and-maybe-ai-too - Shared 23 January 2024, 10 upvotes, 2 comments The author argues that minting, the act of collecting a work by paying a small amount for a copy, is a native business model for Web3 and could also help with AI. Zora is cited as an example, where liking a post means minting it, sending the creator a tiny payment and giving the collector an owned copy. The author says that if a creator gets a thousand people to do this, they make a nice amount of money, and that collectors build data sets they own on the blockchain. The author proposes that such collections could later train open-source AI models that people run on their own phones, and says the author's blog already offers a Collect button using the same mechanism. ## 2. Startup mortality rates - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Startup-mortality-rates?index=0x66e1befe0241516372eb397bc322c3c5b249c210bb8039630da369d33f93086348d6b5f7 - Source: https://avc.xyz/startup-mortality-rates?referrer=0x2cb5ae51861a4a6e8568b527cafc3891317ac94d - Shared 11 September 2024, 5 upvotes, 0 comments The author's main point is that a small share of venture investments produce nearly all the returns, and that startup failure is expected and built into how USV plans and underwrites its portfolio. Fred Wilson says he has long described early-stage venture outcomes as roughly one-third good investments, one-third investments that turn into something but are regrettable, and one-third zeros. He cites Nate Silver's book On the Edge, which quotes Marc Andreessen's figures for a16z funds, including 25% of investments returning zero, 25% returning between zero and 1x, and 10% returning 10x or more. Wilson notes that failure rates rise and fall with the fundraising market. ## 3. What Will Happen In 2025 - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/What-Will-Happen-In-2025?index=0x6775abadd034066e435d9a7627e0b6fcb6157daf71a8e63375d3714d5d23e01b0f78cfb3 - Source: https://avc.xyz/what-will-happen-in-2025-1 - Shared 1 January 2025, 2 upvotes, 1 comment The author makes 13 predictions for 2025, which the article presents as playful forecasts rather than analysis. They include Apple and Google surpassing OpenAI/ChatGPT in consumer AI prompts, Waymo surpassing Uber in rides in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and bank-to-bank payments surpassing credit card interchange payments in a few US categories. Other predictions cover Dyson launching a housekeeper robot named Judy, NFT art making a comeback with MOMA buying The 6529 Museum Of Art, and Arizona's ESA program enrolling over 25% of K12 students. ## 4. Investing At The Edge - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Investing-At-The-Edge?index=0x65b13dd4abec1da353efce3ea2ab7aabf06b2252601383ddcb8addea9bfa7c542e3f39e6 - Source: https://avc.xyz/investing-at-the-edge - Shared 24 January 2024, 2 upvotes, 0 comments USV's partnership set out about a year ago to articulate a single thesis for its investments across all its sectors, and the result is the line "USV invests at the edge of large markets being transformed by technological and societal pressures." The firm says it chose "edge" because attacking the status quo head-on is difficult, while an end run around it is easier. It also says "societal" was chosen because, although most people assume VCs focus on technological change, its greatest returns have come from societal changes. The full reasoning is laid out in a blog post by Nick. ## 5. The native business model for content - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/The-native-business-model-for-content?index=0x65ae876817b3e6ffa6fe6c9147bee40b6f97cd9ec472d49627d3f69f8bf6d0a06ce8a5ae - Source: https://avc.xyz/the-native-business-model-for-content - Shared 22 January 2024, 2 upvotes, 0 comments The author argues that AI could give content creators a native revenue model, similar to how search engines monetized browsers. Writing in an emailed exchange with a friend named Lock and in a post about a book, the author floats the idea that a litigation settlement could require major AI companies to pay two-thirds of their revenue to content companies and writers. The article also cites Chris Dixon's book Read Write Own, in which Dixon says most current AI systems have no economic model for creators and that an economic covenant between AI systems and content providers will be needed. The article ends by suggesting web3 holds the answer, with more to follow in a future post. ## 6. Reserves, Recycling, and Returns - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Reserves-Recycling-and-Returns?index=0x66d4543f1a0fcaa25eb813d5b10843eacad1a8015eadbe2d90ff93aa5fecb0cc0a0aafc3 - Source: https://avc.xyz/reserves,-recycling,-and-returns - Shared 1 September 2024, 1 upvote, 1 comment Fred Wilson of USV argues that early-stage venture firms need to manage reserves and recycling carefully to enhance fund returns, though strong founders are still required for a top-decile fund. He compares early-stage investing to poker: a small initial investment buys a seat, and later follow-on investments are like adding chips as the company proves itself. Wilson says USV models each fund's expected capital needs and runs simulations to ensure it always has enough reserves for every portfolio company. He also says USV recycles early smaller exits back into funds, giving the example that a $200mm fund investing $250mm at 3x would generate 3.75x on the limited partners' $200mm. ## 7. The USV Librarian - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/The-USV-Librarian?index=0x66842bf83c99a1a29a90f4371919b7c1ea29cc815fec9b07b6d8841929f35149db43a604 - Source: https://avc.xyz/the-usv-librarian?referrer=0x2cb5ae51861a4a6e8568b527cafc3891317ac94d - Shared 2 July 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments USV, a small venture capital firm with twenty employees, is experimenting with its first virtual employee, an AI it calls The Librarian, which it describes as its Chief AI Officer. The Librarian attends all internal meetings, remembers and summarizes them, and reports on them weekly, and team members can ask it questions about past conversations and get instant responses. The Librarian also has a Twitter account, a Farcaster account, a blog, and can send and receive funds at usvlibrarian.eth. USV says the experiment has worked well for a few months and that it is exploring what more the system can do. The post recommends that small teams wanting more help with organizational memory consider a virtual librarian, noting that someone must manage it. ## 8. Streaks - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Streaks?index=0x66797cb6ed14b968d4396d74d642b724bdaabeadf7733697f6accb947b4fbba9efbfa7f4 - Source: https://avc.xyz/streaks - Shared 24 June 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments Streaks are presented as a powerful way to bring users back every day, and the author urges developers to build streaks, streak notifications and streak recognition into their apps. The author notes that Farcaster recently added streaks to its protocol, and that Duolingo and Snap have used streaks to increase frequency and retention. Drawing on a blogging streak of about sixteen years between 2003 and 2019, the author writes that streaks become more powerful the longer they last, and that they can eventually turn into a burden. ## 9. Be Generous - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Be-Generous?index=0x665090d186d92b5e67e3bad0743f56558a925c4336e9df6acf8ce49c3b5ddabdade33633 - Source: https://avc.xyz/be-generous - Shared 24 May 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments Onchain entrepreneurs are more generous than earlier internet founders, and generosity is presented as the key to winning onchain. Bezos's "Your margin is my opportunity" and Zuckerberg's "Carthago delenda est" are cited as examples of the selfishness of web1 and web2 leaders. Satoshi is credited with creating a 1.4 trillion economy and then walking away, and Vitalik is said to have welcomed others building systems that take value from Ethereum. Growing the pie rather than grabbing a fixed share is offered as the reasoning behind this approach. ## 10. Anatomy of a Twitter/X account takeover hack - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Anatomy-of-a-TwitterX-account-takeover-hack?index=0x65c64473c4d031bfaba41eaea6bec7535c17acaea1d84ce13649d70eadc2c1dd51b32c76 - Source: https://avc.xyz/anatomy-of-a-twitterx-account-takeover-hack - Shared 9 February 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments Venture investor Fred Wilson writes that his @fredwilson account on Twitter/X, which has almost 700,000 followers, was taken over on a Tuesday after he clicked a phishing link in an email and entered his password and two-factor code while in a taxi. He says he had not used the account for almost eighteen months and that the email's sender address and the link's URL were not checked, despite his Yubikey two-factor system. The scam was posted to the account around 6:15pm Eastern, after about three hours of unsuccessful attempts to reach Twitter/X support. Wilson thanks Sriram Krishnan for escalating the issue and helping him regain control, and he asks for ways to get the scam site claim-fred dot com taken down. ## 11. Read Write Own - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Read-Write-Own?index=0x659c18905b57e1842f0840c53a944859e3780513a8ef8b67ffcab9306490303c2ac8d5b5 - Source: https://avc.xyz/read-write-own - Shared 8 January 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments Read Write Own is a new book by Chris Dixon, who leads the A16Z crypto fund, arguing that blockchain networks let people own things on the web, the third phase after reading and writing. Dixon wrote the book to explain blockchain networks to young adults choosing careers, to family members curious about their work, and to lawmakers and regulators in DC. The reviewer, who has known Dixon for over twenty years, says the book's final section, which describes new applications being built on blockchain networks, was the most energizing part. ## 12. What Will Happen In 2024 - Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/What-Will-Happen-In-2024?index=0x6593cc25fb4051484d6767f58bdebe1efd2ed82e774d8f44f056fcb4a85b6e67d07bc5e5 - Source: https://avc.xyz/what-will-happen-in-2024 - Shared 2 January 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments Venture investor Fred Wilson (note: the article is not explicitly attributed by name in the text, so no name is given) predicts that 2024 will be a strong year for tech, with healthier capital markets, rapid AI application development, a coming out party for web3 and the new energy stack, and a slower-changing venture capital sector. The author writes that a soft landing appears likely, that inflation has come down, and that the Fed has finished raising rates. The author also says AI and web3 will together produce a more resilient, trusted and equitable Internet, while the energy transition is accelerating in response to warming. The author expects venture capital fundraising and investing to grow in 2024, but much more slowly than surrounding sectors, because limited partners are cautious and the sector needs years to rationalize.