March 5, 2018

Raising money is hard.

Entrepreneurs need to understand what’s involved – from what to consider when picking the right venture partner and how to think about the economic and control rights at stake, to what life will be like after the deal closes. This assumes that the company is ready to raise venture money in the first place – an important consideration that not enough entrepreneurs really stop to consider.

At Foundry Group, we believe in a level playing field when it comes to knowledge. We want entrepreneurs to understand all the issues and to make the most informed decisions they can. That not only benefits them, but it benefits us as their partners and investors. That was one of the motivations for Jason and I to write Venture Deals. It’s also why Jason co-teaches the venture capital course at CU Boulder.

We believe that access to information is a good thing.

So when the founders of Hotshot, a startup that provides digital learning for lawyers, asked if they could come to Boulder and interview Jason and me for a video on raising venture capital, we happily obliged.

The video they created is called “Advice on Raising Venture Capital.” Anyone can access it for free, and we encourage you to check it out. While Hotshot’s content is aimed at lawyers and law students, this course is for entrepreneurs. In it, Jason and I discuss the different things that founders should consider when raising venture money for the first time.

We don’t have a stake in Hotshot – we just like what they’re up to and wanted to share the content.

Also published on Medium.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Facebook sent some of its users a bizarre survey asking whether they would like child grooming to be allowed on the social network.

Selected users were asked how they think Facebook should set the rules on whether adults can ask minors for sexually explicit photos (a crime), and whether, if they controlled Facebook, they would let such messages be allowed (also a crime).

The Guardian's Jonathan Haynes posted screenshots of the survey on Twitter, and The Times also previously reported on its contents.

In one question, Facebook asked: "In thinking about an ideal world where you could set Facebooks' policies, how would you handle the following: a private message in which an adult man asks a 14 year old girl for sexual pictures."

The multiple choice answers include "this content should be allowed on Facebook, and I would not mind seeing it" and "this content should not be allowed on Facebook, and no one should be able to see it." Such messages would clearly be illegal throughout the US, the UK, and elsewhere in the world, and there is no option to say they should be reported to the police.

In another question, it asked: "When thinking about the rules for deciding whether a private message in which an adult man asks a 14 year old girl for sexual pictures should or should not be allowed on Facebook, ideally who do you think should be deciding the rules?"

Possible answers include "Facebook decides the rules on its own," "External experts decide the rules and tell Facebook," and "Facebook users decide the rules by voting and tell Facebook."

Again, there is no mention of what role the law might play in deciding these rules.

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider that child grooming is banned on Facebook and it has no plans to change that.

"We sometimes ask for feedback from people about our community standards and the types of content they would find most concerning on Facebook," they said. "We understand this survey refers to offensive content that is already prohibited on Facebook and that we have no intention of allowing so have stopped the survey."

The social network has been criticised over the survey. Labour MP and chairwoman of the home affairs select committee Yvette Cooper told The Times: "This is a stupid and irresponsible survey. Adult men asking 14-year-olds to send sexual images is not only against the law, it is completely wrong and an appalling abuse and exploitation of children.

"I cannot imagine that Facebook executives ever want it on their platform but they also should not send out surveys that suggest they might tolerate it or suggest to Facebook users that this might ever be acceptable."

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Getty

Good morning! Here is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

1. Buzzy augmented reality startup Magic Leap accused an employee of stealing $1 million (£726,000) over several months, after allegedly colluding with an external recruitment agency. Magic Leap has raised $1.9 billion (£1.4 billion) since 2011 but has yet to release its promised augmented reality glasses.

2. A former recruiter for YouTube is suing Google, claiming the company stopped hiring white and Asian men in order to boost diversity. Arne Wilberg said he was fired in November for complaining about Google's practices.

3. Rovio, the Finnish gaming firm behind 'Rovio' is closing its London studio after less than a year and axing the 7 staff who work there. The firm reported worse than expected results for the fourth quarter of 2017.

4. A Columbia University researcher has discovered that millions of users may have been following Instagram accounts connected to a Russian troll factory, the Internet Research Agency. Facebook has said it doesn't know how many people followed Russian trolls on Instagram, but Jonathan Allbright found 27 accounts had almost 2.2 million followers.

5. Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that Apple will offer a more affordable 13-inch MacBook Air this year. Kuo expects there'll be a new MacBook Air with a "lower price tag" some time in 2018.

6. Google-owned Nest will stop selling its smart home devices on Amazon, after Amazon reportedly refused to sell the firm's updated products. The change will heighten the fierce competition between Google and Amazon, which just acquired smart doorbell speaker Ring that competes directly with Nest.

7. Analysts expect Samsung to cut its investment in OLED technology by as much as half, according to the Financial Times. Samsung expected high demand for OLED screens after the iPhone X, but weak sales of the phone have left the firm with too much product.

8. Uber described an MIT study which suggested drivers earn less than $4 (£3) as flawed. MIT will revisit the study after CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described the university as "Mathematically Incompetent Theories."

9. Cryptocurrency exchanges Circle, Kraken, and Coinbase plan to hire around 1,000 staff collectively as demand for currencies booms. Most of the staff will work on preventing the outages that were wide-spread in 2017.

10. YouTube said it has no plans to ban Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist who runs YouTube channel InfoWars. Jones has claimed the channel is on the verge of being deleted after making false claims about the survivors of the Parkland shooting, but YouTube said it has no plans to terminate the outlet.

Startup bank Monzo's iconic 'hot coral' cards.Monzo

LONDON — British people are going off the idea of entrusting their finances to a digital-only startup bank, according to new data.

A survey by business intelligence provider RFi Group found a decline in appetite among UK consumers between the first half of 2017 and the second half of the year. People's willingness to bank with a digital-only startup fell from 78% at the start of 2017 to just 54% at the end of the year.

RFI surveyed over 1,000 people from the UK and said the group made up a "nationally representative sample of the banked population."

Britain has experienced in a boom in app-only, startup banks in recent years, including Monzo, Atom, and Starling Bank. These companies have raised hundreds of millions of pounds in funding and grown quickly to attract hundreds of thousands of customers. However, their client numbers are still dwarfed by traditional banks.

The decline in the UK's willingness to bank with digital startups mirrors feelings globally. RFI Group found the global appetite for digital-only main bank provider decreased from 50% to 44% between the first and second half of last year.

Despite the mood change, RFI found the proportion of consumers using digital banking globally rose from 58% to 68% across 2017. RFI Group said consumers appear to be preferring digital offerings from existing banks rather than turning to startups.

Charles Green, CEO of RFi Group, said in a statement: "The findings suggest that traditional banks which continue to 'up their game' in engaging consumers digitally will likely be the ones to benefit in the near future.

"Consumers are becoming more sophisticated when it comes to digital banking, their needs will continue to change and while this happens we are seeing them lean towards a model that provides channel choice which includes both the traditional and more recent offerings."

Virgin Money announced last week that it has spent almost £40 million so far developing its own digital bank.

NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images

Local China Q&A app Zhihu has been temporarily banned from app stores following intense censorship in China over the country's plan to scrap presidential term limits.

The Quora-like app ran afoul of the Beijing Cyberspace Administration for "lax supervision and the spread of illegal information" and was ordered to be removed from app stores for seven days.

The administration did not clarify what the illegal information was. However, last week censorship flared up across popular platforms Weibo and WeChat as netizens criticized Xi Jinping's plan to rule the country indefinitely. Dozens of words were censored, including, at times, Xi's name and even the letter 'N.'

Editors at China Digital Times did find one example of a censored post on Zhihu that asked, "If the driver keeps going in spite of fatigue, without changing shifts, what should the passengers do?"

It appears the order against Zhihu, which is expected to last until 3pm on March 9, could have long-term consequences.

The China-focused website Sixth Tone reported that a Zhihu spokesperson was not authorized to speak on the record said the company will soon "make adjustments." It is not clear what those changes are set to be.

The decision also comes as China begins its two week-long National People's Congress (NPC), a legislative meeting that will vote on a proposal to eliminate presidential term limits.

Censorship around the NPC is not unusual. In 2016, China's propaganda department released a set of rules for covering the NPC that include: "do not report on security," "do not report on smog," and "do not report on delegates' personal wealth."

DB+co is a career and leadership coaching firm.

I'm a total morning person. I like to get up whenever the sunlight hits my bedroom window. But I always set my alarm for at least 7 a.m., just in case.

The first thing I do is I check my inbox, just to make sure that there aren't any major needs or questions or outreach from clients. Within the first 30 minutes of every day, I scan the news. I read the "Most Popular" section of The New York Times, theSkimm, and since I'm a New Yorker, The New York Post.

Then I'll have breakfast, which is always the same thing: lemon water, cinnamon-raisin toast, and a latte. Over breakfast, that's my time for creative exploration. It might be looking at Pinterest. It could be things about design. It could be career tips and tricks.

Some days I work out, some days I don't. It's just how my body feels. I'll either do a run in Central Park, or my husband and I will do a walk. Sometimes we'll do yoga at home, or I'll do Pilates.

Bryan Fogel in the Netflix documentary, "Icarus." Sundance Institute

Bryan Fogel became one of the biggest success stories at Sundance in 2017, when his doping scandal documentary "Icarus" sold to Netflix for a staggering $5 million (unheard of for a documentary sale). And then on Sunday, it won the best documentary Oscar.

But his journey actually goes back 14 years, when his claim to fame was being the creator of an off-Broadway hit show.

Struggling to get into the business as an actor, writer, or director, Fogel co-wrote the stage play "Jewtopia" with Sam Wolfson in 2003. It's a comedy about two friends navigating the Jewish and Gentile dating scenes. It became a surprise hit, with Fogel and Wolfson starring as the male leads during runs in Los Angeles, and then off-Broadway for three and a half years.

That play then had a touring production, was put into book form, and even spawned a movie version starring Jennifer Love Hewitt in 2012 directed by Fogel.

But that's when the party stopped. The movie barely got a theatrical run, and was thrust into streaming limbo following its 10% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Following that disappointment, and known around town only as "The Jewtopia Guy," Fogel was stuck in the bubble Hollywood likes to put people in.

"There was nothing coming at me that was exciting," Fogel told Business Insider. "In a way, I would call it director's jail."

"Icarus." Netflix But there was one thing that gave him comfort: cycling.

Fogel constantly rode his bike, sometimes even riding and doing competitions alongside pros. Around the time of accusations running wild in 2012 that Lance Armstrong was doping throughout his seven consecutive wins of the Tour de France, Fogel, who idolized Armstrong, began to wonder if the blame should be put on Armstrong or the entire system. Armstrong wasn't the only one doping, though he finally admitted to doing it in 2013.

That led to Fogel to an idea.

"I like to make films and I like to ride my bike, so I set out on this journey to evade positive detection," Fogel said. "Show on a bigger level how this anti-doping system essentially doesn't work and hopefully make a cool movie in the process."

In 2014, Fogel used $350,000 given to him by a friend and began to make "Icarus." He hired a team of nutritionists and trainers to chart his progress, and through that he befriended the man who would be in charge of his doping process, a Russian scientist named Grigory Rodchenkov.

It took years to find what the movie was. Fogel admitted that the first two years of material hardly even made it in the finished version of the movie. But his "Super Size Me"-like journey to see how performance enhancing drugs bettered his cycling led to a friendship with Rodchenkov, which inevitably became his movie.

As shown halfway through "Icarus," Fogel begins to realize through his Skype conversations with Rodchenkov that he's a major player in Russia's doping of its athletes. In fact, he's the guy.

It turns out Rodchenkov is the director of the Moscow laboratory, the Anti-Doping Centre, which does the complete opposite on a daily basis of what its name says it does. The lab, as Rodchenkov shows in the movie, doped the athletes and then carried through methods to make sure they got through the Sochi Winter Games in 2014 undetected.

Grigory Rodchenkov and Bryan Fogel in "Icarus." Netflix Around the time Fogel got this bombshell from Rodchenkov, producer Dan Cogan and his team at Impact Partners joined the movie, and gave Fogel the financing and support to complete it. This included Fogel's trip to Moscow to see Rodchenkov at his lab for the final stage of his doping.

But then the movie took a drastic turn.

Doping allegations toward Russian Olympic athletes begin to come out in the news, with involvement tracing all the way up to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Fearful for his life, Rodchenkov devised a plan with Fogel to get him to the US.

"I had so many sleepless nights in that period," Fogel said. "I had a responsibility. This story had to come out, and Grigory was the only person on planet earth who had this evidence."

Fogel and Rodchenkov's faces were suddenly plastered all over Russian television, and Fogel claiming his Facebook and email were constantly trying to be hacked into. This led to the movie's most dramatic moment, Rodchenkov getting in touch with the New York Times in May 2016 to deliver the whistle-blowing story that rocked the sports world. Fogel was there to capture it all on camera. In fact, some of that footage has only recently been included in the movie, as Fogel didn't have enough time to get it into the Sundance cut.

"The movie has the same running time, but we lost 20 minutes of material that was in the Sundance cut, and replaced that with 20 minutes of material that is bringing this story together emotionally. Showing and not telling," Fogel said, who adds that the story also now goes quicker into Rodchenkov's story. "So at Sundance we had a lot of [text] cards because we didn't have the time to put that together." Also different from the Sundance cut, there's now animation in the movie.

Many will likely connect the events in "Icarus" to the allegations that Russia interfered in the US 2016 presidential election. And Fogel is 100% on board with that thinking.

"You think to yourself, if they have been doing this to win gold medals and they had this entire laboratory that was basically a front for this spectacular criminal operation, is there any question what else they're capable of?" Fogel said. "Whether they hacked our election or whether there was collusion, I think the writing is right there on the wall. How much more evidence do you need?"

"Icarus" is available on Netflix.

The Bentley Bentayga helped create a segment of the market where none had existed before.

Objectively, the Bentayga is a great vehicle. It's fast, powerful, luxuriously appointed, and can handle a corner about as well as one could reasonably expect for a large SUV.

But it's far from perfect. First, the looks. Simply put, it's not pretty. Every one of the members of Bentley's design team I've met has been highly credentialed with impressive resumés.

Unfortunately, the Bentayga isn't one of their best works. Here, Bentley fell victim to the need to design an SUV that looks like a "Bentley." Porsche has been guilty of this a couple of times while trying to make its early Cayenne SUVs and Panamera sedans look like the 911.

The Bentayga certainly looks like a Bentley. Just not a particularly attractive one. The front end is ungainly while the overall profile looks more like an overweight wagon than muscular off-roader.

And then there's the spirit and feel of the car. The stylish interior and monster engine couldn't inject the kind of soul and spirit we have come to expect in a Bentley.

To drive a Bentley is more than just a matter of getting to from point A to point B, it should be an experience.

The minute you climb behind the wheel, there should be no doubt in your mind that you are experiencing automotive royalty. It should make you feel special. It should make you feel like a freaking boss.

Sadly, the Bentayga falls short. It just seems to lack that Bentley mojo. The same mojo that oozes from the Continental, the Flying Spur, and the flagship Mulsanne.

Instead, it feels cold and way too VW Group corporate.

Matt DeBord agreed with my assessment and found the Bentayga disappointing. He felt the premise of the vehicle was highly cynical and simply a way for Bentley to maximize profits in a hot SUV market.

If feels like Bentley wanted to be first and they found a cost-effective way to do it by rolling out a re-skinned Audi Q7.

I'm aware it's not as simple as that, and there's nothing wrong with drawing heavily from the Q7, which itself is one of the finest SUVs in the world.

However, the technocratic brilliance of the Q7 makes for a best buy at $95,000, but not at $195,000.

Which brings us back to the Bentayga. Our verdict? There's too much VW Group and not enough Bentley. And that just doesn't do it for us.