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Connecting the Disconnected

I’ve already written about social media in the context of Instagram deleting “like counts” on their platform, but what does social media enable us to do anyway? On a basic level, the idea is to have a platform on which users can create and share content (ie. “posts”) for others to see, whether this be people they are already connected with in the real world (Facebook) or people they are not connected with but want to hear from (Twitter) — the problem is that this only works in theory. Given the sheer size of social networks created on websites like Twitter and Facebook, it seems like it has come time for another product to offer the true connectedness I believe a social platform should have. Facebook, while originally pitched as a place to connect with “friends,” has turned into a behemoth of a tech company that, I believe, has lost its core values. Nowadays the idea of a “Facebook friend” has become virtually meaningless, as just over 20% of Facebook users have greater than 500 “f
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PayPal To Acquire LA-Based Startup Honey

A few days ago , payment processing platform PayPal (say that five times fast…) announced they would be acquiring Honey, a Google Chrome extension used for finding discounts while shopping online. While most headlines boast about the numerical value of the acquisition — a whopping $4B — I’m more interested in the reasoning for the company purchase. Honey is an LA-based startup focusing on making the online shopping experience better for the consumer. You can download their service as a Google Chrome extension, and then it automatically gets put to use when surfing the web. When you go on Amazon for example and pull up a product’s webpage, Honey will automatically search the web for better deals on the same item — easy as that. President and CEO of PayPal Dan Schulman says , “Honey is amongst the most transformative acquisitions in PayPal's history. It provides a broad portfolio of services to simplify the consumer shopping experience, while at the same time making it more affor
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Op-Ed: Decriminalize Psychedelics

In June of this year, the world’s first venture capital firm focused on psychedelics was established in Canada. Three months later, the firm, Field Trip Ventures, partnered with the University of the West Indies to create the first ever legal research and cultivation facility for psilocybin (the active compound in “magic mushrooms”) in Kingston, Jamaica. Some say a so-called “psychedelic renaissance” is upon us, as research into the psychotherapeutic benefits of psychedelic substances like LSD and Psilocybin has seen a resurgence. But with these drugs still classified as Schedule I in the United States, we need drastic societal changes if we want to see any tangible evidence-based results. Just because something is illegal does not mean it’s wrong. In fact, just because many people believe something is wrong doesn’t mean it's wrong. Since the Controlled Substances Act was passed in 1970 during Richard Nixon’s presidency, the general public has perceived psychedelic drugs (the class
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Apple’s Commitment to California

According to USA Today , California is home to 17 of the 25 least affordable housing markets in our country. From San Francisco to Los Angeles, our state has overtime become unliveable for many residents who have, for many years, called it home. With a general consensus that our country is nearing an economic downturn, the issue of lack of housing availability and affordability has become paramount, and something needs to be done to address these ever growing problems. On September 25, 2019, Professional Engineer Charles Marohn released a book entitled Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild America Prosperity , a study of urban development as it relates to our country. While reading an article on TechCrunch about the book, I realized just how big a role our state government’s appropriation of funds plays in the issue. In his review of Marohn’s book, author of the article Danny Crichton says , “Cities — armed with economic development dollars and consultants galore — focu
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AB5 — A Benefit or A Cost?

On September 18th, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) – “arguably the strongest of its kind in the nation,” according to the LA Times . What exactly is this, you may ask? Well, AB5 is a piece of legislation which, “will help reduce worker misclassification – workers being wrongly classified as ‘independent contractors’ rather than employees, which erodes basic worker protections like the minimum wage, paid sick days and health insurance benefits,” says Newsom . Although this sounds all well and good, “gig economy” companies such as Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and the like – companies that take advantage of app-based technology to allow individuals to work on their own time for extra cash – will likely feel the pain of increased regulation on components of their core business models. Threats may arise for these companies, ultimately putting into question the longevity of their businesses. Since these companies identify their workers as independe
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The Data Privacy Issue - Who should control our data?

With companies like Facebook and Google coming under scrutiny for data privacy issues, it begs the question of who should be in control of a user’s data when they use tech-enabled products and services. Against our best judgement, we often click the “agree” button for a product or service’s Terms of Service without even reading it, in turn giving companies the right to use our data in essentially whatever way they please (or whatever way is laid out in their ToS). For example, anything posted to Facebook or Instagram becomes the property of the company — no longer is your photo of your beautiful trip to Hawaii your own; Facebook now owns your creation. It’s quite shocking to think that these behemoths of tech companies essentially control us by owning and using our data at their leisure; however, the argument in favor of consumers owning, controlling, and selling their data has its downfalls as well. On the one hand, if consumers had the ability to control and sell their data as
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Inefficiencies in the Market for Innovation (An analysis of barriers to entry for entrepreneurship)

Though entrepreneurship has become increasingly prevalent throughout tech hubs such as Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, the creation of new companies remains hindered by high barriers to entry within the market for innovation. Coming up with a life-changing idea feels nearly impossible, and finding your co-founder as well as new hires is incredibly difficult. To further exacerbate the problem, introductions to venture capitalists are hard to come by, given that investors predominantly focus on companies brought to them by trusted sources. These early connections and decisions could impact the longevity of one’s business, and in turn, the innovation we see in our world. If we can create a network of entrepreneurs who are ready to collaborate and build the companies of the future, the market for innovation would become more efficient, in turn driving more value creation in our world. Entrepreneurship is inherently uncertain, and with uncertainty comes many unknowns. The common view
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