Silicon Valley gets jittery as a couple of start-ups falter...

Just when you thought it was safe to invest in any disruptive company, Silicon Valley gets a bad case of the jitters with the effective shuttering of two moderately high-profile start-up properties – Homejoy (pictured, a home-help business) and GigaOm, a blog about technology news. The dividing line at present seems to be cashflow – if you have it, you can use your network to extend the business, like Amazon and Google (which both jumped around 15% after market following excellent profits). If the cash isn't flowing, well then you are Homejoy and a ton of other start-ups. Expect a lot more about this in coming days as the earnings roll in - Tesla, for example, due Tuesday next week, is highly sensitive to any issues around the new Tesla X SUV and the capex around its Nevada battery gigafactory, given the respective sizes of the investment and the company. MEANWHILE Read chapter one of "Retirement, Investment and Blue Chips - what you really must know" by Alex Pollak at (VIEW LINK)