We love what we do, so ClearCreek writes and publishes pieces for a somewhat irregular blog about emerging companies and the capital markets (subscribe: here). Any errors are ours exclusively while the occasional sharp insight is probably borrowed. We hope you find them of interest, and we always welcome feedback.
2013 in a word? According to at least one economist it was: Bitcoin – a secure peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency created in 2009. New Bitcoins are mined by software programmers, and although users can remain anonymous, central to the system is a public database and sequential record of all transactions,,,
Read MoreThe intersection of theoretical economics and practical reality are often akin to the collisions between the Roadrunner and ACME products. Often these two forces align over time, but the blackboard simplicity of supply and demand curves rarely work out so cleanly in real life, particularly when there is transformational change…
Read MoreIf blogs aren’t visual enough for you, WonkBlog has a series on the best graphs of the year, while back on the blog side, here are some thoughts from Ben Horowitz on taking the mystery out of scaling a company; Tim Harford on why there are no new ideas, only remixes…
Read MoreThe insightful Tyler Cowen has studied the way technology can radically change a wide variety of industries — how smart machines might displace human beings. But rather than focus on the typical piece predicting the future of work, Cowen penned an intriguing Op-Ed which tries to imagine…
Read MoreOne of the potential revolutions that has most captivated the public — especially since we are still waiting for our jetpacks — are cars without drivers. From the Batmobile, to Christine, to Das Hoff, the days when a self-driving vehicle answers our call are soon coming. Indeed, Google’s driverless cars have already traveled over a quarter million miles,…
Read MoreLike many people, we are big fans of startup communities. We’d like to think that the benefits of these groups, and their economic and social impact, is self-evident. But we’re even bigger fans of contrarian reasoning, and having one’s beliefs challenged is thought-provoking, so this post naturally caught our eye…
Read MoreCan an online microjobs market help lift up the poor? British economist Tim Harford thinks that it is possible. In his recent post, Harford points to an interesting new site, Slivers of Time. Slivers is an online marketplace that aims to bring the same crowd-sourcing approach..
Read MoreIn 1998 Netflix was formed with a simple idea: rent DVDs by mail under a subscriber model: no late fees, and you don’t have to leave your house. The company went public in 2002 with annual revenues north of $75 million. The virtual model was one originally embraced by the marketplace…
Read MoreOne of the minor signs of professional accomplishment is that dreaded moment where some enterprising young person asks career advice. Often one has to balance between the practical (pursue a typical corporate gig to pay off student debt?) and the promise…
Read Moret’s a question asked of everyone who has ever started a business: can it scale? The optimal final shape of different businesses can vary, but every new business is consumed with growth. Two different pieces from the Harvard Business Review argue that the notion and advantages of scale economics is changing…
Read MoreAlthough an unabashed, unapologetic believer in the inherent virtues of both capitalism and entrepreneurial culture to drive economic growth and raise overall living standards,…
Read MoreWhat if the USA were a business? Not a novel concept, but trust Mary Meeker to take the idea a little further than simple metaphor. Meeker, internet research queen before joining the venture firm
Read MoreIt’s a little early for April Fools, and perhaps it is just my long exposure to entrepreneurs, but there is actually an argument circulating which labels entrepreneurs as tax cheats. This is because entrepreneurs…
Read MoreAmid financial and regulatory oil slicks is an ongoing debate about carried interest, which Warren Buffet once characterized by asking why his receptionist was paying a higher tax rate than he was. She did so because investment funds…
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