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By Tyler Durden

After investing nearly $80 billion into startups in 2015, Venture Capitalists, growing slightly weary of the $1 billion valuations being handed out like candy to every 22 year old with an app that can replace your face with that of panda, have pulled back a bit in 2016 resulting in a 10% reduction in equity capital for America’s graduating snowflakes. But as Bloomberg points out, that’s not a problem as many of Silicon Valley’s revenue-free startups see debt capital as a better alternative anyway…sure, what could go wrong?

Venture deals in 2016—for all but the hottest startups, anyway—required founders to give up more equity in exchange for less money than they did last year. So, despite cautionary tales from tech blog GigaOm and game console maker Ouya, which both flamed out after failing to pay back lenders, U.S. startups have loaded up on debt, enabling them to borrow money without ceding a potentially lucrative stake.

No one publishes national data on venture debt, but a half dozen lenders provided numbers showing activity spiked in 2016. Silicon Valley Bank’s loan volume to venture-backed startups surged 19 percent during the past year to $1.1 billion for the quarter ending Sept 30. Wellington Financial made more than 10 new loans to venture-backed startups in 2016, double last year’s total. At Hercules Capital, annual volume is up and the average deal size increased 16 percent year-over-year to $15.6 million. TriplePoint’s volume is up more than 25 percent. Western Technology Investment CEO Maurice Werdegar called volume “robust” and described the lending environment as “hyper-competitive.”

Borrowing capital allows startups to postpone valuation negotiations that come with raising equity. Startups fear the prospect of selling shares at a lower price, known in the industry as a down round. “Folks don’t want to do down rounds or flat rounds,” says Haim Zaltzman, a partner at law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, which has handled well over 100 such loan transactions so far this year. “Debt allows you to get around that.”

Yes, no one like the “down rounds or flat rounds” which presumably come because companies aren’t performing well against their business plans. But, according to Latham & Watkins, that underperformance makes them great candidates for the debt markets.

Of course, debt markets were increasingly tapped in late 2015 and early 2016 just as VC firms started to pull back.

As startups like GigaOm, Ouya and Mind Candy have found out, debt lenders are slightly less accommodating when hockey stick business plans don’t work out. While debt can certainly help avoid the dilution of those “down rounds,” debt lenders don’t get to participate in the upside so they tend to be a little more practical in structuring deals. In fact, as Bloomberg points out, one lender wanted to accelerate the debt “Metamarkets” if it missed it’s revenue projections by just 20%…outrageous.

Despite the risk, Driscoll decided to take a loan this year. He says he didn’t consider tapping VCs again because …read more

Source: U.S. Startups Increasingly Tapping Debt Markets As VCs Pullback From Egregious Valuations

    

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By George Washington

Guns and knives are, in many ways, the best self-defense tools.

However – as police academies across the United States teach – a bad guy with a knife can charge and kill a good guy armed with a handgun if they're 21 feet apart or less.

In other words, before you have time to draw aim and fire your gun, you may get fatally stabbed.

In addition, if you live in New York, California or another state which makes it hard to carry concealed guns and knives – or you work in the financial services, legal or other professional setting where weapons are frowned upon – you might not be able to carry a gun or knife with you during your normal work day. (And many people don't understand the Second Amendment).

In my state, for example, it's illegal to carry switchblades or even assisted-opening knives. And manual “one-handed opening knives” don't really work as advertised.

Any weapon which you don't already have in your hands may be limited in its real-world usefulness. And you obviously can't walk around brandishing your gun and knife for no good reason.

What to do?

Find an every day object which is legal anywhere in the world, in any city or state, in any work environment … and which you can hold in your hands at all times. The best self-defense weapon is one (1) you can carry with you anywhere and (2) which is an innocuous, every day item.

Self-defense expert Thomas Kurz – a judo instructor, trained in boxing and Kyokushin karate, who knows how to kill a man with an everyday pencil or pen – has designed a weapon you can carry anywhere, and which will keep you dry when it rains: the Unbreakable Umbrella.

Several top martial artists – such as stick-fighting expert Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny – have endorsed the Unbreakable Umbrella.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, you've got to see the videos below to get why this is such a good self-defense weapon …

But first let me briefly describe my experience with the Unbreakable Umbrella.

Normal umbrellas break in a strong wind or after accidentally hitting something. I've gone through scores of umbrellas over the years, and it's frustrating.

But I hit my heavy punching bag as hard as I could with the (1) tip, (2) handle and (3) side of the Unbreakable Umbrella, and it did absolutely no damage to the umbrella.

These videos show how strong this umbrella is, and how anyone can use it for defense … without any training:

These videos show advanced applications of a weaponized umbrella:

Indeed – with training – the umbrella can successfully defend against knife attacks (which are notoriously hard to defend):

The umbrella is actually a fairly well-known gentleman's self-defense system. If you think about it, you might remember seeing it on tv and in movies … for example Sherlock Holmes or The Avengers:

Women can use it as well:

The Premium Unbreakable Umbrella is a BIFL (buy it for life) item, which comes with a …read more

Source: The Gentleman’s Guide to Self-Defense: Part 1

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By Tyler Durden

Submitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com,

Here’s more evidence that the “recovery” never really happened, and good reason to think that the entire social safety net structure is doomed to fall apart.

The birthrate, long tied to economic growth, has been dropping to its lowest point in recorded history – both nationally and, in particular, in the state of California.

This demographic shift is bad news for the economy – in terms of housing, consumer markets, and especially for the long-term funding of social security, medicaid, medicare and other obligations that younger generations have typically been expected to pay into.

Whether or not you agree with the system in place, the fact that it is virtually certain to go bankrupt before the generation of baby boomers shift off this mortal coil should be troubling to everyone planning a future in the United States.

Official numbers show that the birthrate began to steadily decline in 2008 when the crisis hit and – unlike even during the Great Depression – hasn’t ever picked back up. 2016 saw the lowest point ever for California, even with higher births from immigrants factored in.

via the L.A. Times:

California’s birthrate dropped to its lowest level ever in 2016, according to data released by the state’s Department of Finance.

Between July 2015 and July of this year, there were 12.42 births per 1,000 Californians, the agency said this week. The last time the birthrate came close to being that low was during the Great Depression, when it hit 12.6 per 1,000 in 1933.

But, unlike after the Depression, birthrates haven’t bounced back quickly as the economy has picked up.

California has been experiencing a years-long downward trend that likely stems from the recession, a drop in teenage pregnancies and an increase in people attending college and taking longer to graduate, therefore putting off having children…

“Eventually you think about having a child and by this point in time you’re in your early 30s,” he said… when women’s fertility begins to decrease…

Similarly, the national birthrate began falling in 2008 and continued to do so through 2013, when it hit a record low of 12.4 per 1,000 people.

Already, states and cities are unable to meet their pension obligations. A very bad game of musical chairs is in the works, and unless something major changes, it could spell ruin for aging generations to come, who will be forced to contend with a shrinking pool of support – both officially and unofficially – from younger generations.

As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year:

Sales of single-family homes are being weighed down by what Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, calls “the great delay,” the trend of millennials postponing milestones like marriage and having kids. Other ripple effects take years to show up, such as the drag of having fewer young workers paying into Social Security and Medicare…

[…]

“Everything is slower than we expected,” said Sam Sturgeon… he predicts that the total fertility rate won’t go …read more

Source: Why Social Security Is Doomed: "Birthrate At Lowest Level On Record"… And the Future Is Unfunded

    

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