Fred Wilson
The day Fred Wilson dumped AAPL
April 8, 2011: 8:01 AM ETThe VC at the center of an Android vs. iOS debate bet publicly against Apple two years ago
"I am selling my entire position in Apple this morning including the stock I bought earlier than last fall. My average price on my entire position in Apple is $96, so I'll take a small loss on this and a small gain on the stock I bought during the meltdown last fall."
So wrote Fred Wilson, the managing partner of Union Square Ventures, in his widely read blog A VC, on Jan. 7, 2009. He had gone out to dinner with friends the night before and realized that none of them -- "I mean nobody" -- believed the statements coming out of Apple PR about Steve Jobs' health. "As good as the company is," he wrote, "I just can't own a stock when I don't believe the company is being straight with investors."
The story of Wilson's decision to dump his Apple (AAPL) shares 27 months ago came up again this week because of two prominent blog posts he has written over the past six months advising app developers to write for Google's (GOOG) Android in preference to Apple's iOS.
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Android is a mess, say developers
A new survey analyzes the pros and cons of writing for various mobile platforms
On the heels of the debate played out over the weekend between Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson and Instapaper's Marco Arment about whether it's wiser to be writing apps for Apple's (AAPL) iOS or Google's (GOOG) Android come the results a survey of 250 working developers released Monday by Baird's William Powers.
Wilson, a venture capitalist, has been MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 4, 2011 11:51 AM ETPosted in: Android, Apple, Baird, BlackBerry OS, Fred Wilson, Google, iOS, iPhone, Marco Arment, Mobile, Research in Motion, Tablets, Union Square -
How to sell out to venture capital without feeling like you're a sellout
The CEO of Buddy Media analyzes his recent $28 million financing and offers 8 lessons for how to thrive in a fundraise.
By Michael Lazerow, contributor
The venture capital ecosystem is a hall of secrets. The rise of the venture capital blogger, notably Union Square Venture's Fred Wilson, entrepreneur-turned-VC Mark Suster and Foundry Group's Brad Feld, is a welcome first step in providing budding entrepreneurs a view into the venture world. But MORE
Scott Olster, editor - Dec 5, 2010 9:48 AM ETPosted in: Brad Feld, Buddy Media, Foundry Group, Fred Wilson, Mark Suster, Michael Lazerow, venture capital, Victoria Cross -
The implications of too much VC money and too little startup talent
From mass raises at Google to angels oversubscribing the latest hot startup, Silicon Valley is flush with cash, but short on talent. Believe it or not, that's mostly a good thing.
By JS Cournoyer, contributor
The world of early stage investing is changing in ways that are reminiscent to the tech bubble of 1999. As Fred Wilson points out in "Storm Clouds" that investors are behaving badly, making $5M to $15M MORE
Nov 16, 2010 12:03 PM ETPosted in: Angel investor, Business, Dot-com bubble, Facebook, Fred Wilson, Google, Gowalla, Microsoft, Silicon Valley, venture capital, Victoria Cross
