Customers who use your service represent a valuable source of financing for a software-as-a-service business, writes venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz. "With enough money coming in, the business requires less external capital to grow and improve the product," he notes.

Elements of luck and randomness play a greater role in shaping today's startup landscape than many people realize, writes Jon Evans. "My contention is that the world's larger trends -- greater interconnectedness, faster speed, democratized access to technology -- make randomness an ever-more-important factor," he notes.

Airbnb has unveiled a product called Backyard, which provides prototypes of different styles of prefabricated homes. "With Backyard, we're using the same lens through which Airbnb was envisioned -- the potential of space -- and applying it more broadly to architecture and construction," said Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to urge visiting venture capitalists to support France's startups and refrain from urging them to move to the US, sources say. VCs from the US will visit Paris on Wednesday and Thursday.

China's venture capitalists have developed an appetite for foreign startups as they seek to overcome the shortage of Chinese engineers, data scientists and startup founders with soft leadership skills. Confronted by opposition from the Trump administration, they're turning not to Silicon Valley, but to Israel and Europe.

Slack has achieved rapid growth in the enterprise space by integrating with other tools and maintaining a "consumer sensibility" and a sense of humor. "It's a fun product to use," said Slack's Arquay Harris.

Social Finance is slashing its head count by about 7%, a source said, with 100 jobs being eliminated from the mortgage department. Most of SoFi's business comes from refinancing student loans, but the company is trying to expand into other areas.