Incentives in Venture Capital, Why You Should Avoid Your Competitors’ Investors, China’s Malaise, and More [link blog]

I read a lot of stuff and here’s a few worth passing along to you!

China’s Age of Malaise [Evan Osnos/New Yorker] — A loooong read but essential stuff if you are interested in China from an sort of view (cultural, economic, geopolitical, startup).

When I return to China these days, the feeling of ineluctable ascent has waned. The streets of Beijing still show progress; armadas of electric cars glide by like props in a sci-fi film, and the smoke that used to impose a perpetual twilight is gone. But, in the alleys, most of the improvised cafés and galleries that used to enliven the city have been cleared away, in the name of order; overhead, the race to build new skyscrapers, which attracted designers from around the world, has stalled. This summer, I had a drink with an intellectual I’ve known for years. He recalled a time when he took inspiration from the dissidents of the Eastern Bloc: “Fifteen years ago, we were talking about Havel.” These days, he told me with a wince, “people don’t want to say anything.” By the time we stood to leave, he had drained four Martinis.

Incentives and the Cobra Effect [Andrew ‘Boz’ Bozworth/Facebook] — So I don’t know if the story Boz references here is fully…