ETFs, like stocks, are accessed on exchanges, through a brokerage account— that is, via financial advisers or institutional sales teams of registered broker/dealers or through on-line transaction services. Trading is one of the largest differences between ETFs and open-end mutual funds, which are purchased and sold once a day at the closing net asset value of the fund holdings.

An ETF has the advantage that it can be purchased whenever  exchanges are open—as well as at closing NAV when a transaction is large enough to qualify for a creation or redemption.

As with all exchange-traded products, ETF investors usually need to pay a commission, however, and incur a trading cost related to the liquidity factors associated with the ETF.

Since 2007 in the United States, ETFs have consistently represented between 15% and 25% of the total dollar value traded when aggregated with equity trading activity.

The 10 largest ETF in volume and AUM are:

1. SPY – SPDR S&P 500 (US stocks)
2. IVV Ishares Core S&P 500 (US stocks)
3. EFA iShares MSCI EAFE (Europe Australasia and Far East)
4. QQQ Powershares QQQ (Nasdaq 100 trading index)
5. VWO Vanguard FTSE emerging markets (Emerging markets)
6. VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market (US Total stock market)
7. GLD SPDR Gold (Gold bullion)
8. EEM IShares MCSI Emerging markets (Emerging Markets)
9. IWM iShares Russell 2000 (Small cap & Mid Cap US Stocks)
10. IWF iShares Russell 1000 Growth (US Stocks, mid/small cap)

ETFs are traded on stock exchanges like stocks. Unlike stocks, however, they do not get onto the exchange via an initial public offering.

The only investors who can create or redeem new shares of an ETF are a special group of institutional investors called “authorized participants” (APs).

APs are large broker/dealers, often market makers, that are authorized by the issuer to participate in the creation/redemption process.

The AP creates new shares of an ETF by transacting with the ETF manager.

Each day, an ETF manager publishes a list of securities that it wants to own in the fund.

The list of securities specific to each ETF and disclosed publicly each day is called the “creation basket.”

To create new shares, an AP goes out into the market and buys up all the stocks in the creation basket at the right percentages.

These transactions between the AP and the ETF manager occur in large blocks called “creation units,”.

Most investors, large and small, buy ETFs through their brokers, just as they do a stock. The price those investors pay is based entirely on supply and demand—as with a stock.

ETF issuers are required by their exemptive relief from the SEC to contract with third parties to calculate and publish an intraday estimate of the value of an ETF share based on that day’s holdings as disclosed in its creation basket.7 This value is published every 15 seconds and is referred to as the “intraday indicative value,” “intraday NAV” (INAV).

Currency ETFs have done an excellent job of providing access to a market that was difficult for retail investors to access as recently as a decade ago. In the past, an investor needed a separate account to trade currencies and high minimums were involved. Today, an individual investor can gain exposure to, say, the Swiss franc with less than $100 and a brokerage account.

Since the first currency ETF was launched in 2005, the sector has grown to include 24 currency funds.

We have 4 kids and there’s not a day that goes by without a debate on the pros and cons of “monitoring” and “managing” their Internet usage.

We have not had a television for years, but the older two have phones and every one of us has our own notebook. The notebooks were for essays, homework and the like, but I know everyone of us watches some videos and my son is hooked on Minecraft and my daughter on Youtube.

So, when my friend Sachin, recommended Meet Circle I went over to see a demo video and ordered one in a minute.

It is a small device, that connects to your WiFi device and monitors and enforces policies for Internet usage for all devices.

I ordered it on Monday, it costs $106 with taxes and I received it today.

It took me 4 minutes to setup. I had to connect the device to the Power Outlet, then download the app.

After dual authentication using my phone, the app “identified” devices connected to the WiFi router and I was able to set policies on YouTube, Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter, MineCraft, etc.

Absolutely wonderful, simple to use and I’d highly recommend it.

In fact the best part is I have setup policies for myself as well. I wont be on the Internet between 10 pm and 430 am.

It is pretty secure, in fact and I tried to hack my way around it multiple times and failed.

Buy one now if you have kids.

Although the funding market is getting tighter, there are enough companies getting early stage and follow on funding, to create a strong demand for good talent.

In most of the privately held companies I know of, there is a strong need to hire 3-5 developers for each “other” role they hire. Marketing and Design roles are next, followed by Sales.

Most hiring managers at smaller firms I talk to are finding it very hard to hire good folks in this market. The experienced talent (even if they are willing to pay top $) is pretty happy at their current roles, is what I hear constantly.

Many cite good pay, good benefits and great work environment as the key things they offer, but that’s largely insufficient to attract the best people.

On the other hand, the top companies have enough inbound interest from developers and other talent, not because they made it to be a “great place to work”, but because they are attracting a self selecting group of people based on their culture.

What culture is and is not at a startup is fairly hard to understand and express.

I know this: The more unique your culture (good or bad) the more self selecting the kind of people you attract will be.

What makes a company unique for potential employees is not the same as what makes it unique for customers or investors.

A customer wants uniqueness in capabilities, features, etc.

An investor wants uniqueness in technology, distribution etc.

A potential employee wants uniqueness in mission, vision and purpose.

Pay, benefits, compensation, work flexibility are all assumed to be good and table stakes now.

Your culture and how the stories are told around your culture are the things that will attract the self selecting group to apply and want to work for your company.

As an example take HubSpot’s response to the piece by an ex employee.

Their culture attracts a certain type of employee, who would not like to work at another software company for example.

Similarly Jeff Bezos’s response to the New York Times piece was also a defense of their unique culture.

As a founder, I’d spend more time working on creating a unique and different culture which attracts potential employees via word-of-mouth.

Remember, though that what makes your product, technology and company unique wont likely attract potential employees. What makes your culture distinct will.

This is a question I get asked every week. There’s not a week without an email or a LinkedIn message from a person who’d like some career advice and an introduction to a “hot” startup that’s hiring.

Most of the folks I know, understand that their “large” company is not growing as fast and providing them opportunities as quickly as they’d hoped to grow.

I get one of 3 questions:

1. Can you please introduce me to some “hot” startups? The people who work in bigger companies don’t want to take a lot of risk, so they mean “well funded” and “growing well” when they say “hot”.
2. Can you suggest a few “fast growing” companies that I can join? Friends who work at smaller, lesser know and slower growing companies would like names of some good companies and hopefully an introduction there.
3. Do you know anyone at a good startup that’s hiring?

These 3 questions are the hardest to answer.

The best suggestions I have had so far are for my friends to:

a) Look at AngelList jobs

b) Network with their previous colleagues and managers who know them well, so they can vouch for them

or

c) Work on their LinkedIn profile so their profiles shows up for the keywords that recruiters are searching for.

The real answer is that most “hot” startups get a lot more people interested in them than the people they can accept.

So, the bar is fairly high.

To join a hot startup, you need to

a) be referred, by someone in that company who can vouch for your quality

b) be recruited by a head hunter with a mandate to hire for that position quickly

c) get introduced by someone the hiring manager trusts and believes has a high bar for talent.

Most startups post about 70-80% of the jobs (anecdotal information) they are looking to fill.

Finding out the unlisted positions and the executive positions, you have to be an insider – either know the hiring manager or the someone in the senior leadership team.

So, the best advice I have is

1. Make a list of companies by categories, such as SaaS, Cloud Infrastructure, etc. which you think will do well.
2. Go to Angel List to find out if they are hiring. Apply there
3. Then go to LinkedIn to find out who can connect you to the hiring manager
4. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date and your title, and keywords that a recruiter might enter while looking for candidates. The keywords need to be Buzzword compliant unfortunately, so make sure you say Growth Hacker, not Marketing Manager, etc. I know this is lame, but in talking with 4-5 of my recently hired colleagues, this matters a lot