Union Square and Fred Wilson posted their top secret research on an industry sector on the web today, and in a post Fred mentioned he always wanted to publicize and be open with his firm’s thought process. He mostly is in the way they conduct their blog.
The research is a new step, and even more bold. Researching Online Education – Union Square Ventures
All along then and now people would ask “but how will you have an advantage if you share everything?”
And Fred correctly observes that “we’ll attract the smartest entrepreneurs” by sharing ideas and engaging with them. Cool.
The competition school worries about copycats, and you can’t copy being the thought leader by just reading up their stuff.
Another thing: I genuinely wonder if venture firms top people are humble enough to read Fred’s blog and try to copy his approach. I think they just don’t. They write their own blogs because they can — this is how they try to compete.
So a community forms around a few folks sharing ideas and that community becomes strong — USV’s gang.