#i found out about this bird in 2023 & planned to draw it then

[dovesick]

magical girl potoo!

[chrono-renard]

writober 2023

Day 11 - Do the impossible

- Scott, did you hear? Martyn wants to become the king of the pirates. — Sausage laughed warmly, running his fingers through the hair of the man who was warming up under the Cuban’s side. The ginger man lay on his chest, closing his eyes and smiling faintly at his lover's words.

Today was one of those lazy days they spent in Scott Denholm's captain's cabin. The ship stood at anchor, moored at its usual anchorage, the sails were lowered, and from the porthole came the lazy splash of waves on the wooden planks of the hold, and the cry of birds from the sea.

- Are you kidding? — Scott laughed tenderly and lazily, adding a note of teasing to his voice and reluctantly opening his eyes and raising his face to look at his lover lying in his bed. — King of the pirates? It sounds crazy.

— Well, you know, this guy... — Sausage purred, drawing out the words like a cat begging for affection and attention

- Our guy? — Denholm jokes.

- Our guy! - Sausage picks up, smiling contentedly at this correction and laughing warmly, like the evening setting sun on a hot summer. — You know, he’s going crazy to find the very treasure for which he became a pirate. And it will help him become the king of all, literally all, pirates.

Scott reluctantly gets up to sit next to Sausage. Baby-blue eyes look somewhere beyond the porthole, as if the pirate is falling under the hypnosis of the sea waves, and Sausage begins to think that he hears the gears in his head creaking loudly and clearly coming up with some kind of plan.

— You know, I wouldn’t like to obey some king. — Scott says vaguely, looking from the waves to his dark, rum-colored eyes. Yes, those same eyes whose gaze was more intoxicating than the best Cuban rum. - And I have a plan.

Scott says the last part in a whisper, a sly smile spreading across his face.

- How about we be kings of the Seven Seas together?

Sausage looks at the man in a little surprise, as if trying to first understand what he’s talking about. And suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, the entire captain’s cabin is filled with the loud and happy laughter of the Cuban.

- Just don’t say that it was a marriage proposal in such a strange way.

- This is true! I want to offer you both mathotage! - Scott exclaims. His blue eyes burn with hope that he will not be denied and with sincere love for both men no matter what.

— Capitán de mi corazón, you yourself just said for a couple of minutes that becoming a pirate king is crazy. - Sausage urges, kissing the man on the corner of his lips, but not expecting to be attacked in return with a short kiss and a laugh. The lover's shining, diamond-colored eyes once again reminded the Cuban that he had found the most precious treasure in the world in his beloved.

— You know, — Scott drawls flirtatiously, smiling slyly like a fox and winking at his man, — So it’s time to do the impossible.

// english is not my native language, I hope for your understanding,,,,,,,,,,,

[brightbeautifulthings]

Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia

"They're all so dark, Dad said one day, watching over my shoulder as I worked at the kitchen table. Why don't you paint things like a blue sky, or a field of flowers, or a bird flying on a breeze? Something happy that your mom can put on the fridge. She can put these on the fridge, I said. Maybe just one flower? he asked. There are no flowers where I live, I said."

Year Read: 2023

Rating: 4/5

About: Cat has been stuck in School for as long as she can remember. The hallways slowly expand and contract with School's breathing, the showers run red with blood, and the students have divided themselves into changed and unchanged. While the unchanged hide in the fortress of administration, Cat and her friends haunt the courtyard and hallways. Her best friend is turning into cardboard, and Cat's face has become a cat mask made of her own hardened flesh. There are no doors or windows in or out of School, and something is hunting them down one by one in the hallways. To escape, Cat will have to understand why they're trapped in the first place. Trigger warnings: Some triggers are listed at the end of the review because they include spoilers. Character death, guns, violence, blood/gore, dismemberment, body/eye horror, bullying, slut-shaming, vandalism.

Thoughts: Thanks to @ninja-muse for recommending this book, since I'm not sure I would have found it on my own. This is probably my favorite Francesca Zappia novel to date, and one of the best novels on this subject I've ever read (more on that after the spoilers). However, I believe it's best to go into it not knowing much more than the description provides. This book works extremely well as a slow reveal. What starts out as a mindfuck becomes slow understanding as we realize more or less alongside Cat what is happening in School, and you'd be doing yourself a disservice to read the spoilers if you plan to read this. However, it covers a number of very heavy and potentially triggering topics (and it's difficult to gush about how I think it works without giving things away), so I'll include those thoughts at the end. I can't stress it enough though. If you're not easily triggered, stop here and go read this book!

This is also one of the best examples of uncanny horror that I've read in a long time. Zappia expertly manages to capture the quality of a nightmare without sacrificing the continuity. School is creepy and semi-sentient, and the changes it brings about in half the students are a study in body horror. Perhaps even more terrifying are the parallels it draws to some very real life horrors such as bullying and, indeed, I found the flashback chapters of Cat's surfacing memories of her former life of being targeted, bullied, and slut-shamed at school more difficult to get through than the surreal scenes of hacked up bodies or bloody showers in School. Real life horror always affects me a lot more than the supernatural, and Katzenjammer does an excellent job of balancing both. The ending is cathartic and effective, and there's less of a plot twist than a sort of inevitable, dawning horror-- which is honestly the best kind.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

Remember how I said that real life horror is always worse than the supernatural or the uncanny? I stand by that statement. Zappia draws such excellent parallels to real life in her uncanny School that it's almost impossible not to realize before Cat does that the traumatic event that put them there was a school shooting. I've read a couple YA novels that handled the subject fine, but I don't think any of them capture it as well as this one. We need something like the supernatural School and the horror of bodies changing in ways we can't explain to fully grasp the senseless horror of gun violence. Killing children makes no more sense than hallways that breathe or girls who turn into their cat masks. It takes Cat the entire novel to understand the horror and absurdity of what's been done to her and to accept it-- that there are reasons but not excuses, and that we will never know all of them. I cried a little at the end, but I think the real life horror of it is too big for tears. Instead, it's a feeling that will sit with me long after I've turned the last page.

[statecryptids]

My big New Year’s resolution was to get back to working on my WIPs, particularly my Field Guide to Saturn project. But designing a whole book is kind of mentally overwhelming, especially with my dumbass ADHD-brain. So I’m easing back into it with a few smaller creature designs. Part of my plan is that in sequel books the main characters, Hyacinth and Jess, will go on to explore life on other alien worlds.  This gives me an opportunity to play around with all the cool planetary stuff I’ve learned about while doing research for my planetarium shows. 

So here’s a short dispatch from Jess.

The Black Widow Binary she mentions is based off a real pulsar binary system called PSR J1311-3430.

 To my Little Orange Fly,

Sorry it’s been a couple weeks. Been so busy with research. Plus, the gamma and radio waves coming off the pulsar make it impossible to send transmission unless we fly the ship a couple light-years away.

 So, once again we’ve found life where we thought it couldn’t exist. You’d think we’d learn by now. Though, I mean, this star system is way more extreme than any place this expedition has visited before.

It’s called a Black Widow Binary.  One of the stars, Oiwa, is a pulsar shooting jets of radiation from its poles. The other, Iyemon, is a red dwarf being ripped apart by those jets. Iyemon is also tidally locked to Oiwa, so one face is always towards the pulsar and the other is always looking out at space. The stars are so close to each other that they complete a full orbit in just 106 minutes.   In addition, all the material that Oiwa is blasting off Iyemon has built up into a ring of energized dust surrounding both stars.

Well, needless to say , this system is saturated with deadly gamma rays and superheated star-debris. So of course we weren’t expecting to find any life here. And yet, life has found a way.

Dr Madura dubbed these organisms Phaethons after the son of the Greek god Helios. She wanted to make that their genus name too, but the name’s already taken by an Earth bird (she’s super salty about that, by the way), so instead she chose Lucidevorator. Which still sounds pretty cool to me.

Phaethons range in size from microscopic to about as long as an open hand.  They live in huge schools on the side of Iyemon facing away from its companion. The environment is cooler here (relatively speaking) and shielded from the worst of the pulsar’s blasts. They feed on the energized material in the ring using both photosynthesis and a kind of chemosynthesis where they directly consume the energized dust. We haven’t yet been able to do a detailed anatomical study on any Phaethons yet because they will literally disintegrate if taken out of their high-heat, high radiation environment. Though the habitat engineers are currently working on an enclosure to safely house them.  

Despite that durability, Phaethons can be killed by direct exposure to the pulsar’s radiation jets if they drift out of Iyemon’s protective shadow. This happens regularly judging by the huge clots of burnt Phaethon corpses our ship’s sampler has scooped out of the ring.  Most of the bodies show signs of decay and Dr Madura thinks that there might be resilient microbes living in the ring that are snacking on the constant supply of crispy-fried Phaethons.

That’s all I’ve got for now. How’s your star system looking? Find any new life yet? Send me some photos so I can draw them, okay? Miss you so much.

Your Brave Explorer,

Jess

(By the way “Little Orange Fly” and “Brave Explorer” are their cute, dumb couples’ nicknames for each other.)

References

deWilde, Cruz. (2014, February 20). PSR J1311-3430 “Black Widow” Pulsar Animations. NASA Visualization Studio. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11215

NASA Goddard. (2014, February 20). NASA | A Black Widow Pulsar Consumes Its Mate [video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgI3w4SOAik

Sutter, Paul. (2023, April 10). New Kind of Pulsar May Explain How Mysterious ‘Black Widow” Systems Evolve. Space.com. https://www.space.com/new-pulsar-explain-black-widow-binary-star-system

[twistednuns]

July 2023

Four days in the Manú Rainforest. This trip really didn't start out ideal when my phone fell out of my bag, straight into the river. The crazy thing though: when we went river tubing, Ángel checked the spot again and found it! It had been in the river for two days and it still showed signs of life. Incredible. What I learned: I need to stop looking for distractions, trying to use other people to manage my emotions, and seeing my life trough a camera lens. // More good stuff: Ron teaching me Sanskrit in the van. / All the amazing plants and wildlife we saw on our daily (and nightly) jungle treks. A sloth mama with her baby. All kinds of monkeys and birds (red and green macaws, oropendulas, blue-headed parrots, even a small toucan). Ants in all colours and sizes. An agouti and a bush rat. Big spiders, a small snake and the tiniest frogs. A cayman. Ancient parasite trees, Palo Santo, erotic roots, exotic flowers. / Ángel's telescope and binoculars. / My room with a 360° view. / Regular visits from a tame peccary lady. She enjoyed scratchies behind her ears like a dog and rubbed against our legs. / That full moon night at the lake, a background of jungle noises: howling, croaking, squeaking. Magical. / Chef Jeff's delicious food. / The crazy little kitten at the lodge. / I got along very well with Agathe and Teva. They're going to send me their photos from the trip! / Lessons on hyperindependence: "You know, when I offer you help you should really take it." / Enjoying the boat ride and the view over the rainforest with low-hanging clouds. / Reading a whole book in one go on the way back.

Laura class about the foundations of Human Design. I even booked a reading with her.

Raw vegan cheesecake at Café Kula. I've tried three different ones so far!

Meeting Winni, one of the owners of SolSeed. Such an inspiration. I would love to create a space like that.

Joining a laughing circle one evening. It was an absolutely ridiculous experience. Imitation, accents, animal noises, laughing at tough life events, declaring thumb wars, pure comedy. So glad I took a hit of that spliff before the event.

Another breathwork session with my girl Ari back in Pisac. Going to higher spheres during the retentions. I didn't draw the Past Lives card again but Breakthrough and Ripeness. Afterwards we talked for a long time. About our plans and experiences, Human Design, plant medicine, this and that. I can't wait to meet her again some day.

A Human Design reading with Laura.

Painting intuitively with watercolors and charcoal. Drawing tarot cards, weaving their meaning into the painting. Explaining the ideas to the others in a sharing circle. It felt so nice to just sit down and paint, have access to art supplies on the road.

My second experiment with plant medicine at Ayasana Wasi. It was a very intimate ceremony with Magnus and Lynn from the Netherlands and our hosts Pia and Luca. I felt a lot of sympathy and gratitude for everyone. Luca's sound bath was incredible and Pia basically brought me back to reality. After the ceremony, all four cats explored the maloca and Kali (my favourite) enjoyed cuddles and conversation. My experience is quite hard to integrate because I was shown pure bliss and it felt like I'd died and come back to my human form. What is even real anymore?

Another otherworldly massage with Raphael. Dhruva had already done an amazing job the week before but Raphael really put a lot of time and love into it. I felt cared for and caressed like a cat at some point.

Vida Vegan saved me on a nasty travel day by holding on to my backpacks for a few hours! It was lovely to meet Eric and Jacqueline for the last time and eat some delicious tomato soup. Their food always looks like straight out of a Michelin star restaurant. And I tried llullucha for the first time. Enya's Sail Away on the radio. Green apple soap.

Actually being able to sleep on the night bus after a grumpy evening. Arriving in Puno (still sleeping so the driver had to wake me up), the hotel allowed me to check in at 6am. Grateful.

A boat ride to Uros, the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. Meeting two cats / taking the cat boat.

Buying strawberries, blueberries, a clementine and a lúcuma at the market. An afternoon nap, dreaming of being in the Andes.

Looking at old photos. Realising how much beauty, love and abundance there is in my life. I can't wait to go home. Anticipation.

Frank Zappa's genius.

I treated myself to another Clear Minds Meditation Club hoodie and a longsleeve from Rip'n'Dip.

Taking an early bus to Copacabana. Biting into sour tutti frutti gummy tubes - the taste reminded me of BumBum ice cream. Finally feelt like updating Instagram. Instant feedback from my friends. Sitting on the right side: The view was gorgeous. Hills, wide open fields and Lake Titicaca in the background. So many animals. Mainly sheep, alpacas and cows, but I also saw a kitty and a pig family with lots of little piglets!

I fell down on my way to the hotel upon arriving in Bolivia and hurt my knees. But I moved into my gorgeous little bungalow (stained glass windows, domed ceiling, view over the lake), lit a fire, made cinnamon tea and a hot water bottle. Ate snacks in bed/ordered food and had a video call with Do. She even shared her Netflix password with me and prescribed watching Gilmore Girls. Slow travel. I might stay another night.

The view from the waterfront. Isla de la Luna against a snow-covered mountain pass. Little ducks with pastel blue beaks. The soothing sound of the water.

Stumbling upon a cute souvenir for Do. Treating myself to two pairs of earrings and a necklace. Helping the lady in the shop change the chain, having a lovely little conversation. Learning about ametrine/bolivianite, a mixture of amethyst and citrine. Two of my favourite crystals. Now I really want to get one. A cute souvenir for myself.

Egg and cheese sandwiches. Ordering too much passion fruit juice. Getting it to go in an empty water bottle. A cherry popsicle with gelatin.

A bright and inspired morning before leaving for La Paz. A shower (hot water!), snuggling up in bed, discovering a career coach I really resonate with. Feeling light, positive, happy. Grateful, aligned, realizing that I have all that I need and more. That I need to work on shifting my focus away from the perceived scarcity and see the abundance there is in my life.

The photo Do sent me of the knot she'd finally made into a cherry stem. Mit dir ist gut Kirschenessen.

On the bus to La Paz. Super pretty views. Even seeing nandus. Listening to a gratitude mantra (Jhené Aiko - 'alive & well'). Going on a deep dive into Human Design unconscious charts. I created a birth chart for my design date and according to that my unconsciousness presents as an Aquarius (with quite a bit of Aries mixed in). I resonate so much with that!

David Bowie - Modern Love

My room in La Paz had heating and two big windows overlooking this crazy city and the mountains. I could lie right by the window and bask in the morning sun. And they had real baguette at breakfast, not only that empty, airy bread they usually serve in South America.

Walking through the streets with Rem. Eating my first tumbo at the mercado. Learning about the famous prison at Plaza Sucre where you have to pay rent but can bring your whole family. Bolivian superstition and turbulent politics. Dehydrated potatoes. We walked into a church and they had the same painting of Bisexual Jesus as that store in Belize. And the Virgen de los Remedios wore a blue and magenta dress with silver glitter stars. Catholicism really hits different in the Americas.

Accidentally ending up in a vegan restaurant with a fancy tasting menu. They served me five courses for only 100 bolivianos. I would have never expected this! And right after lunch, I went to the art museum and I was such an amazing experience! Usually I'm a bit disappointed when it comes to art museums around here but this one was top notch. Inspired.

I had fun watching a Cholita wrestling show from the balcony. The smell of sweaty plastic clothing reminded me of children's carnival parties. Now that I think of it, that was a very smell-focused day in general. Chewing gum on the bus reminding me of my teenage years, going out at night. A whiff of someone's cooking strongly reminding me of my grandma's kitchen.

Browsing the stores at the Witches' Market. They had all kinds of amulets, spells, powders and potions, herbs and incense. My backpack is full of obscure objects now. I wonder if they'll let me through customs.

I treated myself to a beautiful ametrine and a piece of an agate geode.

Only ordering food that doesn't exist on the menu in an Indian restaurant. A delicious choice. The owner called me princesa and I kinda liked it.

Warm Bounty porridge: coconut milk, dark chocolate, too much sugar.

Spending my last day in La Paz riding the teleférico up to El Alto. Amazing view of the mountains and the cemetery. Trying to find one of the famous Cholets I ran into a big parade for La Paz Day! I saw a store for Cholita skirts, browsed cheap cosmetics stores and enjoyed a bottle of cold sparkling water (I'd been searching for that for hours).

Ice-cream testing: the winner is clearly the sour fruit popsicle. Second place: a scoop of creamy cherimoya at the train station. Loser: Canela shaved ice. Tasted like the coating of Big Red chewing gum with a ton of sugar. Inedible.

I LOVED our tour through the Uyuni salt desert. It must have been one of the most fascinating and diverse places I've ever seen: crunchy white infinity / fun photos: "I'm a snack!" and asanas on an elephant trunk / finding the Bavarian flag at the salt hostel and a big Rallye Dakar sign / my lovely company - Bismarck, Leo and the girl gang: Hannah, Satoko, Tas and Verity / all the animals I saw: foxes, vicuñas, viscachas, flamingos - even a cat at Cactus Island / red wine and snacks at sunset / laughing so much together, comparing MILFs and cougars, listening to Babymetal on the road / the breathtaking vistas of the desert valleys, huge rocks, marvellous lagoons, volcanoes / a lava field that looked like the surface of Mars / bulbous green coral (?) formations / Burning Man vibes at the train cemetery, the Road to Nowhere (well, actually train tracks to Chile) / geysers and a hot spring that saved my toes from freezing off //

Stargazing in the Atacama desert. I've never had such a clear view of the Milky Way before. And for the first time, I saw Saturn through the telescope - the rings were clearly visible! There were tons of shooting stars coming down. Magical.

A cute little tienda with handicrafts made by local female artists. A lovely denim jacket and a very fluffy and adorable dog. Big boi. I cuddled and played with so many dogs in San Pedro. Highly unusual for me. Pretty ceramics and jewellery stores. Inspiration everywhere.

Witnessing an encounter of two cowboys on their horses on a street corner.

Touching a big meteorite a the Museo del Meteorito. Making a wish.

The thinnest possible crescent moon with a circular Earth shadow.

Going on a bike tour to Garganta del Diablo with Hannah. We even had to cross a river so we took off our boots and pushed the biked through the water. Quite an adventure. The walk through the canyon was longer than expected and in the end a steep mountain waited for me. I'm kinda proud of myself for turning around halfway, taking into account my bad knees and difficulties climbing down. Riding back during Golden Hour was lovely - the harsh shadows of the rock formations along the river and the desert trees made the landscape look like an African savanna in a way. We rewarded ourselves with a big batch of ice-cream.

Visiting my 40th country - Chile. Getting out of the Bolivian border scam with a firm no. Entering a different world. It's fascinating how a virtual line on a map can create such opposite realities. Chile is such a rich, western country and a striking contrast to Bolivia in many ways.

Listening to my emotions. Booking a flight home. I feel so much better already. I let all my friends know that I'm coming home and we're making plans for the summer. I need to soak up some love and sunshine. It was tough beating the fear of missing out on an opportunity to see the Galapagos islands or go diving in the Caribbean. But I'll see it as something to look forward to - now I wouldn't really be able to enjoy it anyway.

Many cats on my street in Santiago. A cat cafe just around the corner! They even offer yoga classes. My very cosy bed. Hard to leave. Entering a big Chilean supermarket. Feels like home already.

Discovering waacking, a dance style with dramatic arm movements.

Retail therapy. I bought so many pretty little things in Santiago and I love them all! Especially the lipgloss from the kids department with a glitter star snow globe on top.

The taxi driver with two Freddy Mercury figurines on his dashboard who played Living on my Own for me on the way to the airport.

Jodie Foster's space travel experience in Contact made me cry.

Being back. Hanging out with Manu, goofing around. Cuddling, making food for each other, getting way too comfortable around each other. It's so nice not to be alone for a change.

A lemon ice cream flavoured smoothie. Butterbreze and Yogurette (lemon buttermilk!).

Survival of the Thickest - what a stylish, empowering show. FUN.

An amazingly empathetic Thai massage from Ploy. I'll be back.

An ice cream walk with Raphael. Meeting Do for the first time in months. It was really good to see her!

I ordered the "kiddie party" ice cream and wasn't disappointed: two lollipops, gummy candy and rainbow sprinkles.

Being able to move back to my apartment earlier than planned. Doris helped me so much with the move! We had breakfast together at IKEA and ice-cream in LA. She defended me against my brother. Talked some sense into me. I'm very grateful! After I returned the car, Manu ordered my favourite pizza for me and let me sleep on his sofa one more time so I wouldn't have to go back to my absolutely chaotic flat.

Café Mozart, fancy drinks and the Barbie movie with the Friendzone.

[toomanysinks]

Pi Day wasn’t pleasant for a lot of tech execs

Pi Day is apparently New Job day for tech execs and VCs these days.

Leaving: Lee Fixel

It’s not every day that one of the top VC investors heads out from their shop. TechCrunch’s @cookie aka Connie Loizos has the story:

Lee Fixel, the low-flying head of Tiger Global’s private equity business, is leaving at the end of June, the firm announced today in a letter sent to clients and seen by Reuters . Scott Shleifer and Chase Coleman will continue as co-managers of the portfolios Fixel has overseen, with Shleifer taking over as its head, according to the letter.

Fixel, 39, is reportedly planning to invest his own money and “may start an investment firm in the future,” Tiger Global wrote in the letter.

Tiger Global has become a major force in late-stage investing. As I wrote last fall, it is also part of a small coterie of investment firms which have pushed their portfolio companies to IPO with reasonable speed (the other firm I noted at the time was Benchmark).

One challenge for Tiger has been the rise of the SoftBank Vision Fund, which has driven up valuations for startups and has almost certainly complicated the return profile of many of Tiger’s investments. The two also share a penchant for investing internationally, where Tiger had almost a monopoly position before the Vision Fund burst on the scene.

Another wrinkle worth tracking is the increasing opposition of Indian founders to both Tiger (and specifically Fixel) and SoftBank. As I wrote in the newsletter just a few weeks ago:

There is a clear lack of trust between India’s startup and venture communities, which ultimately threatens the sustainability and growth outlook of the country’s tech sector.

But a solution to the problem is not so cut and dry. Mega growth funds like SoftBank and Tiger Global have given limited control to their Indian portfolio companies and have forced their hands on numerous occasions. Yet Ola’s avoidance of SoftBank has led to lower valuations and more difficult and lengthier fundraising processes.

Leaving: Chris Cox & Chris Daniels

Facebook’s chief product officer is leaving along with Chris Daniels, the VP of WhatsApp. TechCrunch’s Josh Constine summarized the situation:

The changes solidify that Facebook is entering a new era as it chases the trend of feed sharing giving way to private communication. Cox and Daniels may feel they’ve done their part advancing Facebook’s product, and that the company needs renewed energy as it shifts from a relentless growth focus to keeping its users loyal while learning to monetize a new from of social networking.

There has been much ink spilled here about what this all means strategically, but I do think that there are no good times for prominent 13-year and 8-year veterans to leave their positions. Zuckerberg seems ready to begin a whole new era for Facebook, and perhaps neither wanted to make the multi-year commitment that his new vision entails.

That, or Cox unplugged the servers yesterday.

Leaving (America): Jay Jorgensen

A very rare move from the United States to Korea for a senior exec, from TechCrunch’s Catherine Shu:

Coupang, the unicorn that is defining e-commerce in Korea, announced today that it has hired Jay Jorgensen, Walmart’s former global chief ethics and compliance officer, to serve as its general counsel and chief compliance officer. Jorgensen will relocate to Seoul for the position.

Founded in 2010, with a total of $3.4 billion raised from investors, including SoftBank, and a valuation of $9 billion, Coupang currently operates only in Korea, where it is the largest e-commerce player, but has offices in Seoul, Beijing, Los Angeles, Mountain View, Seattle and Shanghai.

Coupang has been the outlier success of the Korean startup ecosystem for the past few years. The company’s founder, Bom Kim, who holds a bachelor’s and an MBA from Harvard, has worked to apply American management models to Coupang, attempting to eschew the insular culture typical of Korea’s technology companies. Clearly, that vision is drawing international talent.

Staying: Zachary Kirkhorn

Tesla is getting some financial help from itself, from TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec:

The automaker officially tapped as its next chief financial officer Zachary Kirkhorn, a longtime employee who has been part of the automaker’s finance team for nine years, according to securities filings posted Thursday. The automaker also appointed Vaibhav Taneja, who led the integration of Tesla and SolarCity’s accounting teams, as its chief accounting officer. Taneja, who will report to Kirkhorn, will oversee corporate financial reporting, global accounting functions and personnel.

No telling whether Kirkhorn knows how to blow a whistle though….

No Longer Admitted: Bill McGlashan

Sometimes when you venture to make an investment, it doesn’t always pan out, from Maggie Fitzgerald at CNBC:

TPG’s Bill McGlashan was fired from the private equity firm on Thursday amid the massive college cheating scandal.

McGlashan, 55, has been terminated for cause from his positions with TPG and Rise effective immediately.

“After reviewing the allegations of personal misconduct in the criminal complaint, we believe the behavior described to be inexcusable and antithetical to the values of our entire organization,” said a TPG spokesperson.

McGlashan founded TPG Growth, which has had a litany of successes investing in later-stage startups such as Airbnb.

Leaving (but not by choice): Bird employees

Once high-flying and now somewhat not as high-flying scooter startup Bird announced that it was laying off around 40 employees. From TechCrunch’s Megan Rose Dickey:

“As we establish local service centers and deeper roots in cities where we provide service, we have shifting geographic workforce needs,” a Bird spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We are expanding our employee bases in locations that match our growing operations around the world, while developing an efficient operating structure at our Santa Monica headquarters. The recent events are a reflection of shifting geographical needs and our annual talent review process.”

I hope they flip them the Bird on the way out.

India fintech and the growing proxy war between global tech giants

Photo by anand purohit via Getty Images

Written by Arman Tabatabai

South African media conglomerate and investment giant Naspers is reportedly planning to invest $1 billion in India this year.

According to reports earlier this week, Naspers is looking towards India’s budding fintech market in particular to unload the fresh pile of dough it’s sitting on after recently lowering its stake in Tencent and cashing out on Walmart’s $16 billion acquisition of portfolio company Flipkart last year.

The fintech heavy thesis directionally makes sense in the context of Naspers’ broader strategy. Naspers has openly discussed its attraction to India’s financial services market and the company already has an established footprint in the region as the owner of payments platform PayU.

That said, the amount Naspers is reportedly looking to gift in just one year is astounding. Indian fintech startups saw around $2.6 billion of investment in 2018 according to Pitchbook. Naspers’ investment alone would represent a 40% spike in India’s total fintech venture capital.

Though one billion dollars in one year may seem ambitious, Naspers has proven it’s not afraid to pour billions into India and emerging verticals, having just led a $1 billion round in Indian food delivery startup Swiggy only a few months ago.

More importantly, Naspers’ push shows that the company is seriously doubling down in the escalating competition to become the dominant force in India’s booming fintech ecosystem. As we discussed in our recent conversation with Billionaire Raj author James Crabtree, India’s financial system is ripe for disruption. With secular tailwinds like growing mobile penetration and financial literacy, innovative financial models in India have begun leap-frogging traditional institutions, with Google and Boston Consulting Group even forecasting that the market for digital payments in India would reach $500 billion in size by 2020.

And many have taken notice — the number of fintech investments in India has grown at a 200%-plus compound annual growth rate over the last five years, according to data from Pitchbook, as leading investors and global tech powerhouses all battle to become the layer of financial infrastructure on which the future Indian economy sits.

A recent deep dive in the WSJ highlighted how crowded the ongoing fight for Indian payments dominance has become in the context of Paytm, an Indian startup that received a $1.4 billion investment from venture behemoth SoftBank:

The Indian market is one worth fighting for, with hundreds of millions of Indians getting online and starting to transact for the first time, thanks to plummeting prices for mobile data and smartphones.

Digital payments in India are soaring” and “set to explode,” Credit Suisse said in a February research note. They should rise nearly five times to $1 trillion by 2023, the report said…

…Meanwhile, it isn’t just Google and WhatsApp challenging Paytm . Indian e-commerce titan Flipkart, in which Walmart Inc. bought a controlling stake for $16 billion earlier this year, has a popular payments service called PhonePe. Amazon.com Inc. has its own payments service and two of India’s biggest telecom players, Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., offer digital wallets, as well.”

Next to peers like Alibaba, SoftBank, or Google, Naspers can often seem like the biggest tech company no one has ever heard of. But if its latest swan dive into India can help Naspers strike gold — as it did with its early investment in Tencent — it might just become the company powering the next economies of the world.

Thanks

To every member of Extra Crunch: thank you. You allow us to get off the ad-laden media churn conveyor belt and spend quality time on amazing ideas, people, and companies. If I can ever be of assistance, hit reply, or send an email to danny@techcrunch.com.

This newsletter is written with the assistance of Arman Tabatabai from New York

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/15/pi-day-was-a-bloodbath-for-tech-execs/

[fmservers]

Pi Day wasn’t pleasant for a lot of tech execs

Pi Day is apparently New Job day for tech execs and VCs these days.

Leaving: Lee Fixel

It’s not every day that one of the top VC investors heads out from their shop. TechCrunch’s @cookie aka Connie Loizos has the story:

Lee Fixel, the low-flying head of Tiger Global’s private equity business, is leaving at the end of June, the firm announced today in a letter sent to clients and seen by Reuters . Scott Shleifer and Chase Coleman will continue as co-managers of the portfolios Fixel has overseen, with Shleifer taking over as its head, according to the letter.

Fixel, 39, is reportedly planning to invest his own money and “may start an investment firm in the future,” Tiger Global wrote in the letter.

Tiger Global has become a major force in late-stage investing. As I wrote last fall, it is also part of a small coterie of investment firms which have pushed their portfolio companies to IPO with reasonable speed (the other firm I noted at the time was Benchmark).

One challenge for Tiger has been the rise of the SoftBank Vision Fund, which has driven up valuations for startups and has almost certainly complicated the return profile of many of Tiger’s investments. The two also share a penchant for investing internationally, where Tiger had almost a monopoly position before the Vision Fund burst on the scene.

Another wrinkle worth tracking is the increasing opposition of Indian founders to both Tiger (and specifically Fixel) and SoftBank. As I wrote in the newsletter just a few weeks ago:

There is a clear lack of trust between India’s startup and venture communities, which ultimately threatens the sustainability and growth outlook of the country’s tech sector.

But a solution to the problem is not so cut and dry. Mega growth funds like SoftBank and Tiger Global have given limited control to their Indian portfolio companies and have forced their hands on numerous occasions. Yet Ola’s avoidance of SoftBank has led to lower valuations and more difficult and lengthier fundraising processes.

Leaving: Chris Cox & Chris Daniels

Facebook’s chief product officer is leaving along with Chris Daniels, the VP of WhatsApp. TechCrunch’s Josh Constine summarized the situation:

The changes solidify that Facebook is entering a new era as it chases the trend of feed sharing giving way to private communication. Cox and Daniels may feel they’ve done their part advancing Facebook’s product, and that the company needs renewed energy as it shifts from a relentless growth focus to keeping its users loyal while learning to monetize a new from of social networking.

There has been much ink spilled here about what this all means strategically, but I do think that there are no good times for prominent 13-year and 8-year veterans to leave their positions. Zuckerberg seems ready to begin a whole new era for Facebook, and perhaps neither wanted to make the multi-year commitment that his new vision entails.

That, or Cox unplugged the servers yesterday.

Leaving (America): Jay Jorgensen

A very rare move from the United States to Korea for a senior exec, from TechCrunch’s Catherine Shu:

Coupang, the unicorn that is defining e-commerce in Korea, announced today that it has hired Jay Jorgensen, Walmart’s former global chief ethics and compliance officer, to serve as its general counsel and chief compliance officer. Jorgensen will relocate to Seoul for the position.

Founded in 2010, with a total of $3.4 billion raised from investors, including SoftBank, and a valuation of $9 billion, Coupang currently operates only in Korea, where it is the largest e-commerce player, but has offices in Seoul, Beijing, Los Angeles, Mountain View, Seattle and Shanghai.

Coupang has been the outlier success of the Korean startup ecosystem for the past few years. The company’s founder, Bom Kim, who holds a bachelor’s and an MBA from Harvard, has worked to apply American management models to Coupang, attempting to eschew the insular culture typical of Korea’s technology companies. Clearly, that vision is drawing international talent.

Staying: Zachary Kirkhorn

Tesla is getting some financial help from itself, from TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec:

The automaker officially tapped as its next chief financial officer Zachary Kirkhorn, a longtime employee who has been part of the automaker’s finance team for nine years, according to securities filings posted Thursday. The automaker also appointed Vaibhav Taneja, who led the integration of Tesla and SolarCity’s accounting teams, as its chief accounting officer. Taneja, who will report to Kirkhorn, will oversee corporate financial reporting, global accounting functions and personnel.

No telling whether Kirkhorn knows how to blow a whistle though….

No Longer Admitted: Bill McGlashan

Sometimes when you venture to make an investment, it doesn’t always pan out, from Maggie Fitzgerald at CNBC:

TPG’s Bill McGlashan was fired from the private equity firm on Thursday amid the massive college cheating scandal.

McGlashan, 55, has been terminated for cause from his positions with TPG and Rise effective immediately.

“After reviewing the allegations of personal misconduct in the criminal complaint, we believe the behavior described to be inexcusable and antithetical to the values of our entire organization,” said a TPG spokesperson.

McGlashan founded TPG Growth, which has had a litany of successes investing in later-stage startups such as Airbnb.

Leaving (but not by choice): Bird employees

Once high-flying and now somewhat not as high-flying scooter startup Bird announced that it was laying off around 40 employees. From TechCrunch’s Megan Rose Dickey:

“As we establish local service centers and deeper roots in cities where we provide service, we have shifting geographic workforce needs,” a Bird spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We are expanding our employee bases in locations that match our growing operations around the world, while developing an efficient operating structure at our Santa Monica headquarters. The recent events are a reflection of shifting geographical needs and our annual talent review process.”

I hope they flip them the Bird on the way out.

India fintech and the growing proxy war between global tech giants

Photo by anand purohit via Getty Images

Written by Arman Tabatabai

South African media conglomerate and investment giant Naspers is reportedly planning to invest $1 billion in India this year.

According to reports earlier this week, Naspers is looking towards India’s budding fintech market in particular to unload the fresh pile of dough it’s sitting on after recently lowering its stake in Tencent and cashing out on Walmart’s $16 billion acquisition of portfolio company Flipkart last year.

The fintech heavy thesis directionally makes sense in the context of Naspers’ broader strategy. Naspers has openly discussed its attraction to India’s financial services market and the company already has an established footprint in the region as the owner of payments platform PayU.

That said, the amount Naspers is reportedly looking to gift in just one year is astounding. Indian fintech startups saw around $2.6 billion of investment in 2018 according to Pitchbook. Naspers’ investment alone would represent a 40% spike in India’s total fintech venture capital.

Though one billion dollars in one year may seem ambitious, Naspers has proven it’s not afraid to pour billions into India and emerging verticals, having just led a $1 billion round in Indian food delivery startup Swiggy only a few months ago.

More importantly, Naspers’ push shows that the company is seriously doubling down in the escalating competition to become the dominant force in India’s booming fintech ecosystem. As we discussed in our recent conversation with Billionaire Raj author James Crabtree, India’s financial system is ripe for disruption. With secular tailwinds like growing mobile penetration and financial literacy, innovative financial models in India have begun leap-frogging traditional institutions, with Google and Boston Consulting Group even forecasting that the market for digital payments in India would reach $500 billion in size by 2020.

And many have taken notice — the number of fintech investments in India has grown at a 200%-plus compound annual growth rate over the last five years, according to data from Pitchbook, as leading investors and global tech powerhouses all battle to become the layer of financial infrastructure on which the future Indian economy sits.

A recent deep dive in the WSJ highlighted how crowded the ongoing fight for Indian payments dominance has become in the context of Paytm, an Indian startup that received a $1.4 billion investment from venture behemoth SoftBank:

The Indian market is one worth fighting for, with hundreds of millions of Indians getting online and starting to transact for the first time, thanks to plummeting prices for mobile data and smartphones.

Digital payments in India are soaring” and “set to explode,” Credit Suisse said in a February research note. They should rise nearly five times to $1 trillion by 2023, the report said…

…Meanwhile, it isn’t just Google and WhatsApp challenging Paytm . Indian e-commerce titan Flipkart, in which Walmart Inc. bought a controlling stake for $16 billion earlier this year, has a popular payments service called PhonePe. Amazon.com Inc. has its own payments service and two of India’s biggest telecom players, Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., offer digital wallets, as well.”

Next to peers like Alibaba, SoftBank, or Google, Naspers can often seem like the biggest tech company no one has ever heard of. But if its latest swan dive into India can help Naspers strike gold — as it did with its early investment in Tencent — it might just become the company powering the next economies of the world.

Thanks

To every member of Extra Crunch: thank you. You allow us to get off the ad-laden media churn conveyor belt and spend quality time on amazing ideas, people, and companies. If I can ever be of assistance, hit reply, or send an email to danny@techcrunch.com.

This newsletter is written with the assistance of Arman Tabatabai from New York

Via Danny Crichton https://techcrunch.com