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Eric Feng @efeng
, 4 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
Personal musings on @ToutiaoApp, the world's most valuable startup who happens to be a news / media company, and the disruption in the media industry brought on by technology.
medium.com/@efeng/the-fut…
@ToutiaoApp is a content publishing platform, not a news aggregator (think Medium, not Google News). AI recommendation tech has been key to its success, but more important is the market opportunity in China, where bad state owned media has created an unmet need for entertainment.
The US media industry is great at entertaining audiences, so I don't think the @ToutiaoApp playbook would upend the media industry in this country, no matter how good the recommendation tech is. But then again, the US media industry is already being upended by tech.
The 4 product utilization stages for media - creation, monetization, distribution, and consumption - have all been disrupted by tech. Every part of media is different now in a digital world. More changes will come as media fully embraces tech natively in their products.
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More from @efeng see all

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Personal musings on the rise (and further rise) of @PokemonGoApp, one of the most successful mobile games of all time.
medium.com/@efeng/the-ris…
After breaking download records during its launch back in July 2016, you might think that interest in @PokemonGoApp had died off. But you'd be wrong. With user and revenue up almost 2x YoY, the app recently broke $2B in total revenue in only 811 days, the 3rd fastest time ever.
What's most surprising is the huge success when the gameplay is actually boring. There's no skill involved in the gameplay. But then again @PokemonGoApp isn't a game; it's a collectible. A sibling of baseball cards, stamps, or coins.
Read 6 tweets
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Personal musings on the venture capital industry, with a focus on the fundraising and investment stats behind it.
medium.com/@efeng/a-stats…
Over the past 15 years, there's been a dramatic increase in the number of venture capital funds, with new seed funds being the main driver of that growth. A full 60% of funds raised each year are now seed funds.
With all these new funds, there's been a corresponding spike in investment deals. There’s now an average of 1 venture capital investment being made every hour of every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Read 5 tweets
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Some personal musings on the state of consumer startups: medium.com/@efeng/consume… . Will we see a next wave of iconic consumer companies emerge?
2009 - 2012 was truly the golden age of consumer startups. In 2009, we had @Pinterest, @WhatsApp, and @Uber. In 2010, @instagram and @xiaomi. In 2011, @Snapchat. And in 2012, @ToutiaoApp. Some of the greatest consumer companies ever all launching in a remarkable 4 year span.
2013 - 2018 has been a hard time for consumer startups during which the incumbents have widened their lead because of their talent, their distribution abilities, and most important their network effects. FAANG alone has added $3 trillion of market cap during this period.
Read 4 tweets

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It's #YorkshireDay! Yes it is. What better way to celebrate than a MASSIVE thread that I'm calling the 'Entirely-anecdotal-Kane-Fulton-#Yorkshire-Startup-Tech-Power-List-100!' These talented folk have been a joy to work with and are doing awesome things in our county. Let's go!
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End of news? My essay on why the crisis of journalism is beyond business models or trust—and what it means for democracy. #media #journalism
medium.com/s/story/face-i…
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medium.com/s/story/face-i…
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