July 2011
24 posts
“Our growing Google workforce comes to us from all over the world, bringing with...”
– Susan Wojcicki
I love this distinction between a culture of yes vs. no.
WatchWIth all the buzz flying around HTML 5 is was innevitable what some of the details around one of our portfolio companies, Strobe, would start find its was into the open.
If you’re interested in the future of HTML 5 or where the mobile web is heading Charle’s presentation from DevCon5 titled “HTML5 Is the Future: But Not Like You Think” is a must read (it’s best...
The DIY Electronic Medical Record
My love life hit a major speed bump last Tuesday night. As I climbed into bed that fateful evening, I had decided to slip into something a little, um, more comfortable: a Zeo head strap thingy.
For those unaware, Zeo has developed a sleep system to monitor and improve your sleep patterns. The good folks behind the product had sent me a complimentary device and I was anxious to take it for a spin....
RIP Regional Venture Funds
I had a different post I’d plan to write this morning, then I read this on the blog of Boise, ID based Highway 12 Ventures blog:
The venture business demands successive funds be raised to keep a firm “in the game” as it relates to quality deal flow and reputation. This creates a tension between growth and bandwidth as a firm progresses. It is with this notion that we’ve decided to not...
“Everyone just wants validation, love, security, enjoyment and hopes for a better...”
– … and 28 other wonderful life lessons learned travelling around the world for 8 years straight.
WatchAlgorithms terraforming the earth? You know it must be @slavin_fpo!
A fantastic TED talk and great food for thought to start the week.
The Best Way to Compete is Not to Compete at All
The rise of the iPad became that much more interesting this week as sales numbers from Apple’s quarterly earnings poured in.There’s been plenty of clear and concise analysis done over the last few days, so I will stay way from that.
But, I do want to highlight one theme we’ve touched on here before via a few excerpts from the others.
From the NYT:
As one example of its...
“The tablet market doesn’t today look anything like the smartphone market ever...”
– Gruber nails it.
Startup America by Stopping the IT Cartel
When I hear the term “cartel” I generally think of Tony Montana introducing his competitors to his “little friend” not some IT contractor sticking up the government. But, that effectively is what departing federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, asserts is happening today through the procurement process. From his recent appearance in front of the White House Science committee:
We...
“Your sensitivity and tolerance improve only with practice. I wish I’d been given...”
– Matt Jones
Entrepreneurship and innovation, like any skill or sport, can improve with consistent practice. Yes, there are some freaks of nature in sport and business, but everyone else can only pull away from the pack through repeated and deliberate, often mundane, practice.
PS- if you’re...
The Flow
It’s been nearly a year since we moved from SLC to the Bay Area and I often get asked the same set of questions about it; namely, how’s it going, what do we like, was it worth it, does the difference in cultures make your head want to e’splode, etc.
Though, there are a lot of personal and professional answers I give to these questions (more in a future post), one of the...
“Groupon, LinkedIn and Zynga hired a combined 11,143 new employees between March...”
– Primack’s Stat of the Day
“People of this generation are 120% more likely to be business owners without...”
– YES!
The age of the company man is over, welcome to the create-your-own-job-economy. Whether you’re working in a big company or starting something new on your own, we’re all entrepreneurs from here on out.
“While these are all good reasons to consider convertible debt, I am not a big...”
– Fred
+1
“Sorry, Mr President: you’ve got the pundits, talking heads, and powers...”
– Umair
“Technical superiority does not equal desire, and therefore sales… How many Linux...”
– RIM Exec
Thoughts on Necessity, Fund Returns and the...
A few weeks back Dan Primack wrote a piece dissecting the return performance of UTIMCO’s private equity portfolio. When it comes to measuring venture capital returns the top tier of performance is where all funds try to place themselves. They do this by casting themselves against vintage years, assets classes or comparable funds who focus on similar technology sector. The inside joke that...
“The Internet no longer belongs to the young tech genius with a great idea and...”
– J Bat
How I Recovered From My Worst Pitch Meeting Ever
A good friend of mine met with a large fund of funds who is an investor in OATV. After the meeting he pinged me to say how the meeting went and concluded with “they love you!”. That is definitely true now, but it most certainly wasn’t true after our first pitch meeting. In fact, that first meeting will go down in history as my most disasterous pitch ever (so far).
You see unlike...
