A few weeks ago, Martha Lane Fox and I recorded a podcast with Michael Copeland of A16Z.
I can't bring myself to listen to it, but on the way home I jotted down some notes on what I should have said, and what I wanted to say. So if you listen and think me an idiot, please find some mitigation below.
As I remember there's a bit where we talk about online education etc and I think we fell into the trap of comparing the world of online education with the old world of elite universities. If I'd remembered I would have pointed to Clay Shirky on this. As he points out, it's not about whether the OU or FutureLearn can compete with Harvard or Cambridge, it's about whether online courses are better at getting someone a job than a college they can't afford to go to.
And, we spent a long time talking about the need for different models of tech development than the standard Silicon Valley / Venture Capital story, without, I suspect, coming up with any great examples of what we meant. I think that's because the difference is quite nuanced.
What I should have pointed to was Robin Sloan's Atlantic piece: Why I Quit Ordering From Uber-for-Food Start-Ups. What we are arguing for are technology organisations that realise that they're in a society, not just a market.
