Mitch Lasky
@mitchlasky
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Partner @Benchmark , 5X Midas List, startup CEO, public CEO, Board @Discord @thatgamecompany (ex @Snap , @riotgames ) Owner/Director @LAFC ; Co-host @gamecraftpod
Joined March 2007
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There is an often-repeated but mistaken belief that core gamers and games companies in general are some sort of vanguard of innovative business thinking. I’ve heard this quite a bit lately in the context of crypto gaming. It’s wrong. 1/9
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The laziest VC move in games is "pedigree chasing": only funding ex-Riot, Epic, or Blizzard employees (and not always leads). The founders of those massive companies (and countless other successful ones) had zero "big game company" experience. But now they're the Ivy League. 😂
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That doesn’t mean crypto gaming is necessarily going to succeed (although I think it will) — but it’s funny how the things core gamers and devs have broadly agreed upon (VR, HTML5) haven’t worked, while things they feared and hated have. 😀9/9
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The metaverse is where Silicon Valley's bias for engineering over game design goes to die
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How did the video game business evolve from its packaged goods roots in the early '90s to the complex, multi-platform, online business of today? What events sparked the major revolutions in business models and distribution? /1
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This was one of the most fun interviews I’ve done.
@patrick_oshag
and I share a great deal of context about the games business, so we could cover a LOT of ground.
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And today we are hearing the same things about NFTs and crypto gaming. “It’s all a scam” — sounds oddly familiar to what people were saying about Zynga's free-to-play games in 2007. 8/9
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We're back!
@blakeir
and I are launching another season of
@gamecraftpod
. Last season was the history lesson; this season is all about the business in 2024. The first episode ("The State of Play") drops tomorrow morning.
Also, Season 1 is now on YouTube:
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“Silicon Valley” has ruined TechCrunch Disrupt for me. All the nerd streetwear and demo-speak urgency. Feels like sophisticated self-parody.
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I used to ridicule VC’s calling themselves “founding investors”; but now late-stage logo collectors are calling their drive-bys “venture”
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In 2003, when EA was trying to invest in my mobile game startup, an executive reviewed our products and said, “A monkey could make these games.” He was looking at the world thru a lens of PC-game quality, like DSLR camera companies thinking mobile phone photography sucked. 3/9
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18 years later, mobile gaming is 50% of the $160B games industry. The key that unlocked mobile — in-app purchase — was similarly met with resistance. Incumbents were trying to sell $15 mobile games, and getting crushed by King and SuperCell. 4/9
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While the games industry has been a laboratory of experimentation (mainly because it’s not an oligopoly like other media), most key business model innovations were originally met with intense skepticism bordering on religious hatred by core gamers and incumbent publishers. 2/9
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This is an excellent expansion of the thesis that drove my avoidance of direct investments in esports (despite backing Riot Games). And why I tried to talk my fellow sports-owner friends out of buying teams. Follow the money. Matt nails it: it's marketing benefitting publishers.
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Free-to-play, the now-dominant business model, was considered a weird Asian sideshow in the mid-2000s. When I was on the Riot board and we were launching LoL in the US, the conventional wisdom was heavily negative. “Core gamers won’t buy virtual goods.” 6/9
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Have to give
@AOC
props for that entertaining Among Us stream. She hit ~450K concurrent and streamed for 3 hours, so the total number of unique viewers who saw her GOTV message was likely far higher. Clever way to reach a demo that doesn't watch TV
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This is precisely who you are
@SenateGOP
. The party of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers. Seditious, anti-American cowards. Full stop.
This is not who we are.
This is not what we fight for.
This is not American.
This must stop.
Now.
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I get that Biden paused negative advertising as a symbolic gesture (he continued campaigning in person in swing states), and I get his old-school gentility when it comes to the game of politics, but this feels like extending professional courtesy to a wounded Ringwraith
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@bgurley
Sorry, partner, but this is a very naive "both sides do it" take. He is using pardons to further/cover-up a criminal conspiracy involving him and his family. Not even close.
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This view was so widespread at the time that we actually pursued a deal to publish a LoL sku for brick & mortar retail pre-launch, as a hedge against free-to-play not working out. I still have the mock up in my office — a box product from now-dead “incumbent” publisher THQ. 7/9
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Same thing happened with downloadable content. Publishers and gamers were skeptical of the Steam store on launch; console DLC was hated and shunned by the core as a "money grab" -- today FIFA Ultimate Team alone is a billion dollar business. 5/9
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William Gibson:"I was never interested in Facebook or MySpace because they feel like malls to me. Twitter actually feels like the street."
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I worry about the web3 games companies that are using coin/nft sales as a kind of Kickstarter to raise development funding. As we've seen with things like Star Citizen, pushing the risks of game development onto your users is dangerous, and could hurt adoption of web3 gaming
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Such a privilege to meet Giorgio Chiellini in person for the first time at the match last night (and receive one of his patented hugs). His incredible charisma and emotional intelligence are as impressive as his legendary talent on the pitch.
#LAFC
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This is great. So glad Bill and Brad are doing this.
Reminds me how insanely lucky I was getting to spend every Monday for more than a decade hanging out talking business and investing with
@bgurley
(and
@peterfenton
&
@mattcohler
). Such a rare opportunity in business.
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Elden Ring (which is a magnificent achievement -- atmospheric, insanely detailed, scary as hell) really hammers home that premium console has become the game industry equivalent of the big-budget theatrical film business. Sport of kings, still capable of capturing the zeitgeist.
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I am doing a Quora Session this morning on venture investing, the video game business, and soccer. Come by and ask me a question!
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Beat Portland 3:2 for our 6th straight opening day win, and got my mf RING!
#LAFC
#MLSChampions
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New
@gamecraftpod
out tomorrow.
@blakeir
and I look at the business models that have defined console gaming. Want to know what it takes to be a 3rd party console publisher, how Nintendo has remained relevant, and why modern games promote cross-platform play? Listen in!
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@patrick_oshag
I have 3 on my "I need to know you pretty well before recommending" list: Jack Womack's Random Acts of Senseless Violence; Natsuo Kirino's Out; and Manuel DeLanda's 1000 Years of Non-Linear History
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It’s been great to watch
@benthompson
killing the game at Stratechery and on the Exponent podcast lately. Absolutely top class analysis.
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Republicans are a party of authoritarian tribalism, full stop. If you wonder why the left shouldn't compromise with these idiots on anything -- guns, immigration, etc. -- remember that Fox News called for Obama's impeachment over Syria strikes in 2013.
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The next time I hear a "both sides" argument someone's getting punched in the mouth
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FWIW the big story isn't his lack of taxpaying. That's legal, rich-guy corruption that real estate industry lobbyists have wormed into the tax code over decades. Embarrassing, of course, but not evil. It's the fraudulent refund and the personal loan guaranties that have teeth.
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Police unions must be legislated out of existence. They've been used for far too long to prevent accountability for misconduct, and to intimidate politicians who attempt to regulate out-of-control departments. This isn't a labor issue, it's a rule of law issue.
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In Gamecraft S2E1,
@blakeir
and I discuss content vs. distribution innovation and its impact on value creation. I'm a bit of broken record on this topic, as Blake reminds me ... 🙄
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"Legal Vote" (noun; from modern MAGA-speak; see, also, Orwell, G.): a vote by a white Republican for Donald Trump in a state he is losing. Not to be confused with "fraudulent vote" which is reserved to describe votes by Black people in major metropolitan areas.
No matter what the media tells you, this is NOT over.
It’s not over until every LEGAL vote is counted.
This is America. We the PEOPLE decide who our next President is.
NOT the media.
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This is worth a listen. I started a company in 2000 and managed an early-stage portfolio through 2008-9, and I can vouch for the soundness of their advice, as well as their long-term optimism.
Yesterday,
@bgurley
and I spoke to
@patrick_oshag
on his "Invest Like the Best" podcast about startups in volatile times. Topics covered:
Lessons from previous periods
Building resiliency
Optimism around innovation
And more!
Listen here:
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It's remarkable that the debate about student loan forgiveness ignores the original sin: that capitalism was permitted to commodify education -- even public education -- turning it into a consumer good like an expensive TV only available to the non-rich on an installment plan.
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My friend and colleague
@blakeir
and I are releasing a new podcast called Gamecraft (
@gamecraftpod
), that will try to answer those questions in an 8 episode series -- a thematic history of the modern video game business. /2
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In 2013, at an annual shareholder meeting, CEO Satoru Iwata punched an investor who asked why Nintendo wasn’t putting games on smartphones
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This two part podcast I did with Soren is one of my favorite interviews I've ever done with anyone. So many fun topics and such a playful conversation.
Designer Notes 83: Mitch Lasky (
@mitchlasky
), General Partner at Benchmark, CEO of JAMDAT, and co-host of
@gamecraftpod
. Part 2!
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Links to the series for Overcast, Apple, Spotify, and Google are available on the podcast website at (or you can link to the pod directly at ). I hope you enjoy it! /end
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New episode dropping tomorrow morning. “The Forever Games” — in which Blake and I walk through the attributes of games that contribute to long-term engagement, with many examples. Fun discussion!
Also loving this
#podcast
and I hope
@mitchlasky
and
@blakeir
have more episodes planned ♥️🙏 thanks Mark!
#history
#evolution
#gameindustry
#lessonslearned
#30yearsinbusiness
#interactivetechnology
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This reading list is my idea of hell -- the literary equivalent of those soul-destroying "motivational" office posters. They are not all bad -- there are three of four that are actually worth reading -- but taken together they are utter pablum.
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$ZNGA acquires Benchmark portfolio company NaturalMotion for $527MM in cash and stock. I blog about it here:
http://t.co/TkALTx3csJ
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Episode 3 is out this morning -- I think it's one of our best. Lots of deep cuts and untold stories from the early days of casual and mobile gaming, and a hard look at the iPhone game market's development.
[new episode]
The Calculus of Fun (Ep. 3)
- The rise of casual & mobile gaming
- Mitch's experience as CEO of the first public mobile game company (JAMDAT)
- "Social gaming"
- iOS App Store <> FB ads
- The difference between Supercell & Rovio
Now available on all platforms!
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As I discuss ad nauseam on
@gamecraftpod
@HilmarVeigar
is perhaps the greatest-ever game economy designer, and EVE has long embraced a web3-like decentralized, user-directed play experience. Very interested to see how the EVE community and gamers generally respond to "Awakening"
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@HurdOnTheHill
You utter, spiritless coward. You've just heard seven days of testimony about the president denying military aid to a desperate Ukraine that was losing a shooting war with Russia, and and you are worried about the impeachment hearings? Do your job, sir.
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I may be a bit Old Testament here, but I really think the Democrats need a lot more "eye for an eye" and a lot less "turn the other cheek." More LBJ, less Carter. Govern in our self-interest and stop worrying about alienating the dead-enders. We're the majority, let's act like it
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I've said before that web3 game devs should study the economies in EVE, UO, WoW, etc. -- they've already faced every problem and exploit that token-based economies will encounter. I also think devs should study online poker in the early '00s: real $$, sharks/minnows, regulation
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Hard not to laugh when Trump, Cruz, the Texas AG, and all the Neo-Confederate dunces who joined them can't even get one single dissenting vote from a corruptly-packed, reactionary Supreme Court. Looks like the end of the road for the village idiots' coup d'état.
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Back by semi-popular demand! It's the third edition of my Viewer's Guide to the World Cup, where I share my picks for the best matches to watch on TV, starting with the group stage next week. Read the first installment at:
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CORE is one of the coolest things in the games business today, and this round is a great validation of Manticore's opportunity.
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Tech de-platforming the MAGA-sphere is a massive flex, a naked exercise of political power. It's just disorienting for Republicans because their only prior experience of naked exercises of political power involve Mitch McConnell
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Traditionally at this stage of a failed coup attempt the junta and the dear leader's family secretly board a private aircraft and attempt to flee the country, only to be shot down by fighter jets over the ocean. (sigh)
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Today
@cyngn
announced an $80MM Series C round of financing. I write about Cyanogen & Android in my blog:
http://t.co/pGvBsp3bS7
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The local police in NC, TX, and NY/NJ are a national disgrace. Just the most recent examples in a long summer of cops siding with white extremists and putting allegiance to their Dear Leader above their duty to serve and protect. And they wonder why people despise them.
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As we said in today's episode of
@gamecraftpod
(on AI), this may be the least "evergreen" content of the series. And here we go ... news on the topic of game-playing AI, which we discuss at some length 🙄
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Why no Trump tax returns? 1) tiny net worth w/o intangibles; 2) in debt to Russia and China; 3) hasn’t paid a $ in 10 years. Bet it’s all 3.
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What a surprise. She's an unprincipled liar, too. She will fit right in with the sexual predator and corrupt crony bloc on the Court.
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This is really good. The Buzzfeed story is a perfect example of the importance of non-monetary distribution costs and short vs. long term thinking about distribution.
Do you want to build a big ass company?
Then having a great product is NOT enough. You need to have distribution.
And if you want to master distribution, look no further than the video game industry.
Nearly every consumer innovation you come in contact with, in one way or
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Prioritizing a bail out for socially worthless cruise ship companies and casinos is just incredibly fucking stupid, but given this administration's last 60 days responding to the crisis, I don't think it even makes the stupid top ten.
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If you listened to
@gamecraftpod
S2E2, the details of this unfortunate story will resonate (quod erat demonstrandum 🧐).
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i think
@msuster
is spot-on:
http://t.co/pdfaanMkas
Seeing co's at Series A carrying $2-5MM in ugly convert debt. Strong negative for me.
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That was the sphincter-tightening moment for every VR dev and investor with a high burn-rate company. MAU/DAU ratio probably very low, too.
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@TimSweeneyEpic
@deantak
@GamesBeat
Reminds me of that Ali G bit where he pitches the hoverboard to investors. When they ask him how it works, he's like, "That's where you lot come in."
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If you work in games as a creative, a business person, or an investor, or if you are just interested in games as a consumer, I think you will find the series fun and valuable to understanding the deep interplay between content and business models in gaming. /6
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@drtrillionaire
@Cernunnospt
@kocienda
In the early 00's I worked on a feature phone game with Carmack (he had taught himself J2ME for fun -- had never coded on a phone before). Delivered something that most phone game programmers at the time would have considered impossible given the constraints.
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In my headcanon, Satoshi Nakamoto is basically Hari Seldon -- when the last bitcoin is mined he will suddenly reappear as a hologram outside the Federal Reserve
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Back to back western conference champions. Off to Ohio for a chance to repeat as MLS champions.
#LAFC
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What's the difference between the "Wolverine Watchmen" (🤮) and ISIS? One group wears ludicrous beards, drives around in pickup trucks with automatic weapons, plots to kidnap women, terrorizes local governments, and follows a violent extremist ideology. The other is ISIS.
This is our first look at four of the suspects state and local officials say targeted Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
STORY:
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With only four matches left in what has been a fascinating World Cup 😪, it's time for part 6 of my Viewer's Guide: The Semi-Finals
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PRRI: 72% of Trump voters say USA is worse than it was in the 1950s. Mainly old, white, Christian men. Ironic, because they are the problem.
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This election has buried any notion that the
@washingtonpost
would lose its independence and relevance to public discourse under
@JeffBezos
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The new DOJ should charge
@HawleyMO
and
@tedcruz
with felony murder for the death of the MAGA terrorist at the Capitol, which was a foreseeable consequence of their incitement to riot. No more of this "unity" and "reaching across the aisle" bullshit.
#punishtheperps
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@zerohedge
Come on, Torso Boi. You are smart enough to know the impeachment standard. Don’t go all MAGA-tard just because your tax cut jeebus got caught red handed soliciting a foreign gvmt to interfere in a US election, again.
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The earliest photo I have of myself is a black and white from 1963 -- 1 year old me sitting on Sandy Koufax's lap outside the Dodger dugout in Chavez Ravine. So happy for all my friends in the Dodgers' org today: Lon Rosen, Tucker Kain, Peter Guber and Magic Johnson!
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@danctheduck
I agree with your first point. I was mainly writing this for non-game people who look at the industry and assume it's structurally primed for NFTs and crypto because it appears to be so dynamic, while in fact it is quite conservative.
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This is complete nonsense. I'm hoping it's just hustle porn; otherwise, sure, have a "smart generalist" do your next heart bypass surgery.
say it with me now. experts are fake, smart generalists rule the world, everything is designed by people no smarter than you, and courage is in shorter supply than genius
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So predictable that
@realDonaldTrump
response to the pandemic is: 1) a massive financial system intervention to shore up the stock market -- a cornerstone of his re-election campaign; and 2) whatabouting Biden on Twitter instead of actually managing the crisis. Reprehensible.
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So fun to appear as a guest on one of my favorite podcasts. Thanks to
@steakbacon
and
@anglon
for having me on.
You know the work of our guest
@mitchlasky
. After Activision, he basically started mobile gaming at JAMDAT then as VC was key in the creation of Riot,
@discord
and other huge businesses. We talk venture capital, resisting marketing and more this week!
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Good World Cup opener. Qatar and its emir embarrassed by a super talented Ecuador side. Terrible atmosphere (except for the Ecuadoran fans). Two incredible through balls and a solid defensive performance by Mendez + first World Cup appearance for Cifu.
#LAFC
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Best SXSW line so far: "Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution"
@cshirky
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It’s going to be funny post-defeat when
@jaredkushner
tries to go back to his privileged NY life and realizes everyone thinks he’s Goebbels.
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Arrest him
Violence is always unacceptable. Even when passions run high.
Anyone engaged in violence—especially against law enforcement—should be fully prosecuted.
God bless the Capitol Police and the honorable men & women of law enforcement who show great courage keeping all of us safe.
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Skepticism that the holy trinity of VR-AI-autonomous cars will produce huge, near-term markets for startups is form of apostasy in SV today
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