A16Z also funded 21.co's earlier iteration when they made terrible mining rigs. The cynic in me says they believe the instant liquidity + their brand name will paper over all cracks.
Thats precisely his point. Contagion causes the break. Analogous to a bank run or the ruinous fall of the Thai baht in 97/98. Nobody has any real info on whether the bank has enough reserves, nor do they care. They just dont want to hold the asset.
Thats exactly what I had in mind. A reasonably intelligent trader doesnt want to make his operation more capital intensive however. Has use cases, but limited.
Depends on the market. Google's move to 'entities' over keywords means broad search seo is beyond the abilities of "2 guys with some adwords experience" type agencies that were popular circa 2011/12. Quality well thought out sites that (theoretically) align with intent fare better.
That said, if you're targeting a certain city, definitely still works. Most local sites are poorly optimized.