Category: Week1

Start-up Environment in China

Carl Eschenbach, this week’s guest speaker, made a rather intriguing comment about the start-up environment in China. While comparing two lists of tech companies with top capitalizations in 1992 and 2017, he mentioned, “The companies from China already have the top capitalizations in the world. My guess would be, if we spent one year [.… Read more Start-up Environment in China

The changing relationship between software and hardware technologies in modern computing

In the modern technology sector, I often see engineers strictly categorize themselves (and others) based on their title. Are you a software engineer? Or hardware? Does it really even matter? My personal belief is that a good engineer is one that will seek meaningful problems to explore and solve – his or her skill sets… Read more The changing relationship between software and hardware technologies in modern computing

Big Data and Filter Bubbles

Personalized searches have a lot of benefits – obviously, search engines who have figured out better algorithms attract more users (for example, Google versus Bing or Yahoo!) because they allow the searcher to find what is most relevant to them, what they are most likely searching for, more easily and efficiently. Social networking sites like… Read more Big Data and Filter Bubbles

Ethics in Venture-Backed Startups

Ethics in venture-backed startups got me thinking from the presentation on Friday.  Admittedly, I have no experience with startups, but I do invest in the stock market and love reading the latest news on certain companies.  I have seen public companies let go of CEO’s for missing profit expectations, or for stretching the truth when… Read more Ethics in Venture-Backed Startups

Bringing Social Responsibility back to Tech

In recent years, research has emerged on how technology is inhibiting our ability to focus, encouraging smartphone and digital addiction, and enabling social isolation.[1] In addition to this research, news articles have come out about how tech giants have engaged in unsavory practices in the name of profit. This past year, Facebook underwent a senate… Read more Bringing Social Responsibility back to Tech

Fleets of Automated Vehicles in 2020?

During Carl Eschenback’s talk last Friday, he discussed the major tech trends of the 20th century. In the 1960s it was semiconductors, 1970s systems, and moving forward to the 2010s the mobile boom. The question on his and everyone’s minds is: What’s the next tech trend? My hypothesis is what Lyft’s co-founder, John Zimmer, calls… Read more Fleets of Automated Vehicles in 2020?

Unicorn Poop is a Tobacco Flavor

I run by this ad at a bus stop near my home several times a week. I’d never given it a second thought until Sequoia Capital partner Carl Eschenbach’s presentation to our class during Week 1. One distinctive of venture firm Sequoia is that eighty percent of their limited partners are non-profits and charitable foundations.… Read more Unicorn Poop is a Tobacco Flavor

Are Nanoservices a thing?

In class, we learned about how containerization is replacing virtualization. For me, this was an interesting topic because Professor Barreto explained the technology infrastructure differences, the benefits, and some of the challenges.  As I dug deeper, I discovered that emerging trends beyond Containerization include Microservices, and even Nanoservices.  Yes, they are a thing. Before we… Read more Are Nanoservices a thing?

Swipe to unlock - Where UX/UI is heading

First is not always the best. The way that we interact with our devices has changed over a very short period of time. Rather than pushing physical buttons and turning clunky dials, most of our interactions with our devices comes down to a series of taps and swipes on a digital screen. By moving towards… Read more Swipe to unlock - Where UX/UI is heading

No Credit Score? No Problem. Using Tech to Initiate Upward Social Mobility

A case study of Grameen Bank and Tala Sequoia Capital brings to mind a startup idea of my own that I’ve recently been building on. Two particular success stories, namely Grameen Bank and Tala serve as role models for my experience. Let’s say we want to buy a home, start a business or otherwise improve… Read more No Credit Score? No Problem. Using Tech to Initiate Upward Social Mobility