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Investing in Flow

a16z.com

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Re: Investing in Flow

#21

Post by gregwebs »

It's notable that there are no references in this article. We actually have a 9 month supply of new housing now (which is a lot, that's up from a low of just a few months). Population growth in the US continues to go ever lower (but isn't going negative). Here is a nice data-driven video overview of this current economic situation and also about how this likely indicates a worsening recession ahead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6JBX8Y8XQM

It would be nice to see this data explored in a more localized way. I know there are excesses of new housing in some places and shortages in other places. I also don't know how much of the current excess housing supply is due to houses being built in less desirable locations.

Re: Investing in Flow

#22

Post by rvz »

skywhopper wrote: post #6

This is really gross. Andreessen, who’s used his sway to stop any slight increase in housing density in his own town, talks about the broken housing system and how investing billions into a failed scammer will revolutionize housing in a way that’s completely unstated, but presumably involves attempting to find ways to collect rent from people who need housing while also putting all the capital risk onto those individ…

Unfortunately, This scammer 'Adam Neumann' hasn't failed and still was able to exit out of WeWork with a ton of money. So he is not entirely a failed scammer and was able to get away with it and try again.

An actual failed scammer is Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos.

Re: Investing in Flow

#23

Post by bluelightning2k »

faangiq wrote: post #10
kumarvvr wrote: post #5

> Adam is a visionary leader who revolutionized the second largest asset class in the world I was of the opinion that Adam made a serious and flawed business decision of taking long term leases with borrowed money, but selling short term fluid leases for revenue leading to books that are incredibly risky. At the time of collapse, the sky high valuation was basically a branding exercise, rather than actual business va…

Meh A2z or whatever they’re called doesn’t really care about the OPM. I’d fund him just for entertainment factor. The world needs more spirituality in its valuations. And they’ll just dump their shares on a bigger fool like SoftBank.

The reality is that fame (even the notoriety version) gives people the ability to summon literally hundreds of millions of marketing for free.

All things being equal, that makes them a pretty good bet.

Flow probably will have a far easier time getting PR than almost any other startup this year. Same goes for inbound CVs, follow on investment, and basically anything else that makes startups tick.

So it's not that surprising that he can raise from an S Tier investor with a smile and a landing page that's literally just a logo.

Re: Investing in Flow

#24

Post by rchaud »

mangecoeur wrote: post #16
kumarvvr wrote: post #5

> Adam is a visionary leader who revolutionized the second largest asset class in the world I was of the opinion that Adam made a serious and flawed business decision of taking long term leases with borrowed money, but selling short term fluid leases for revenue leading to books that are incredibly risky. At the time of collapse, the sky high valuation was basically a branding exercise, rather than actual business va…

Adam should write a book “how to fail upwards in silicon valley” What is infuriating is that there is so much great work done by great people on building strong resilient and affordable towns which are a pleasure to live and work in, but the easy VC money flows to the wierdo charlatans instead.

Many of the top VCs still see themselves as the 'weird outsider' despite being unfathomably successful, and shovel money at moonshot projects led by charismatic charlatans.

Listening to Marc Andreessen talk about Web3 use cases was eye-opening. Despite being the guy that made web browsing mainstream (Netscape), he sounds like your typical crypto Youtube shill, all buzzwords all the time.

Re: Investing in Flow

#25

Post by TradingPlaces »

I see a lot of confusion over why anyone would want to take a stake in an Adam Neumann biz. Some guesses…

VCs are looking for return, and quickly, which is why they have glommed on to crypto projects. In the old model, you invest money, wait 5-10 years, and get a payoff when the company goes public or gets sold. With crypto, there is a much more immediate payoff with unregistered securities, AKA “tokens”. And then maybe a second payoff in 5-10 years.

There are no details from a16z or Flow on what this actually is, but I am guessing tokenized rent payments on a blockchain in some fashion, promising some sort of equity to renters, and quick returns to a16z. They came out with a splashy investment and a high valuation, and are hoping to make their money back on the unregistered securities, AKA tokens, and who knows, maybe more in 5-10 years.

Never underestimate the cynicism of a16z.

Re: Investing in Flow

#26

Post by dangerlibrary »

phphphphp wrote: post #7
UmYeahNo wrote: post #2

Anyone know what this magical idea is? Color me skeptical, but the deliberately vague strawman arguments in the post read between the lines to be something like: "If you're a homeowner we want to your equity and if your a renter we want your rent". I don't harbor any illusions that flow wants to help anyone but themselves. I have no idea what flow actually is, but if it's something like "airbnb but permanent on the b…

it is almost certainly some variation on co-living

"Why have 3 roommates in a house when you could have 300 roommates and live in a recently, cheaply converted commercial building designed to be a clone of the Googleplex?"

Re: Investing in Flow

#28

Post by bluelightning2k »

kweinber wrote: post #18
bluelightning2k wrote: post #9

I think A16Z needs to invest more in character references

or an HBO Max account.

Or a different type of character reference; a character count for the landing page which requires multiple paragraphs of information before confidently claiming to have solved shelter for all mankind.

Re: Investing in Flow

#29

Post by RandomLensman »

rexreed wrote: post #13

I used to have a high opinion of venture capital, seeing them as tech visionaries and folks with access to deep pockets that fund the best technology that is truly changing the world. Maybe something has changed, but now all I see are just financial hustlers, working markets, trying to capture or corner spaces with "unicorns", looking for M&A activity that might have already been pre-negotiated looking for something…

Occasionally, VCs fund something that changes the world, but I don't think that is necessary (and maybe also not even strictly sufficient) to make money in that business.
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