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Entrepreneurship

Two Sigma Ventures to Grand Central Tech

Last time we discussed the very early days. From mid-2008 to 2010, RentHop used co-founder Lawrence Zhou's apartment to write code on nights and weekends, while the founders held day jobs at Traxis Partners, D. E. Shaw & Co.,...

RentHop BitCoin Appreciation Exceeds Boston and Chicago Profits

In December 2013, RentHop.com began accepting BitCoin as a form of payment for landlords and real estate brokers to advertise apartment listings. The company initially offered a 60% discount off the prevailing USD to BTC exchange rate to encourage...

ZipRealty: Early Pioneer turned Zombie Company?

Does anyone remember ZipRealty? Back in the Dotcom 1.0 era, they were among the first widespread discount real estate brokerage companies with a reasonably strong presence in the west coast. I have fond memories of using their saved search...

Is WeWork Default Dead or Default Alive?

Previously we talked about How Not To Die as a real estate agent. Another infamous Paul Graham term is "Default Alive or Default Dead". It sounds extremely harsh and morbid, but that's part of the point. Calling a company...

Demo Day: Why hundreds of Y Combinator alums keep coming back

Twice a year, Y Combinator holds Demo Day to officially debut and graduate a batch of startups presenting to investors and the press. An event called Alum Demo Day takes place the night before. It's the last chance for...

Startup Watch: Taking the Pain Out of Paying Rent

If you’re part of the 34.9% of Americans who live in rented housing, the dreaded refrain of “rent is due!” likely flashes through your head every first of the month. And if you have a roommate (that’s about 38,705,000...