- Say Yes
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Say yes, and you’ll figure it out afterward. Tina Fey via swiss-miss and Huffpost. Continue reading ➝ – ‘Say Yes’
- Married to My Startup
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– Have you got a girlfriend?– No, but I am married to my startup via Gaping Void Continue reading ➝ – ‘Married to My Startup’
- Fred Wilson: venture capital funds have gotten too big
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I don’t think there’s too much money sitting around. I think there’s too much money in too few hands. So when six white guys in suits control two and a half billion dollars, that’s not a good thing. Instead of being allocated just to one firm, it would be better if that two and a […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Fred Wilson: venture capital funds have gotten too big’
- Absolutely Stunning
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Every frame in this video is a photograph taken from the International Space Station. All credit goes to the crews on board the ISS. I removed noise and edited some shots in photoshop. Compiled and arranged in Sony Vegas. Music by John Murphy – Sunshine (Adagio In D Minor) Image Courtesy of the Image Science & […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Absolutely Stunning’
- Fold to Unlock
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An interesting unlock screen concept by Anton Kudin. Continue reading ➝ – ‘Fold to Unlock’
- Peter Thiel: Where to Start?
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The path from 0 to 1 might start with asking and answering three questions. First, what is valuable? Second, what can I do? And third, what is nobody else doing? The questions themselves are straightforward. Question one illustrates the difference between business and academia; in academia, the number one sin is plagiarism, not triviality. So […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Peter Thiel: Where to Start?’
- 10 Hypotheses for Technology Investing
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Roger McNamee’s 10 hypotheses: “Next” Web Architecture = Hypernet + Hyperweb Enterprises Adopting Consumer Technology Index Search is Peaking Apple’s App Model Has Undermined Economics of HTML4 Web HTML5 is Game Changer for Publishers Tablets Are Hugely Disruptive First Wave of “Social Web” Is Over Smartphones in US: Apple + 7 Dwarfs Wireless Infrastructure Is a […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘10 Hypotheses for Technology Investing’
- Goodbye, Steve.
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To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. – Oscar Wilde Continue reading ➝ – ‘Goodbye, Steve.’
- Entrepreneurs Will Create the Future
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In this keynote address from the Endeavor Entrepreneur Summit, serial entrepreneur and LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman shares his views on the role of entrepreneurs in society and the impact they will play in the creating the future. Hoffman offers valuable rules of thumb for navigating the startup and entrepreneurial process, as well as answering questions […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Entrepreneurs Will Create the Future’
- The Silicon Valley Mindset
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The atmosphere in Silicon Valley is unlike anything I’ve experienced elsewhere. People’s openness to risk is what has enabled countless of startups to fundamentally change people’s lives for the better. There’s a real sense of personal responsibility amongst entrepreneurs that drives them forward. I’ve also found some people are hesitant to get started because if […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Silicon Valley Mindset’
- Technology, innovation, computer science, and more: A VC panel
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What do notable tech-minded VCs think about big trends happening today? In this session, you’ll get to hear from and ask questions to a panel of well-respected investors, all of whom are programmers by trade. Albert Wenger, Chris Dixon, Dave McClure, Paul Graham, and Brad Feld will duke it out on a number of hot […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Technology, innovation, computer science, and more: A VC panel’
- Vinod Khosla on Taking Risks
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Transcript: So it’s says, “We had big dreams.” When I was hang gliding, I remember seeing this motto “Success comes to those that dare to dream dreams and are foolish enough to try and make them come true.” You have to try to do something extraordinary because unless you try something extraordinary, you won’t ever […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Vinod Khosla on Taking Risks’
- Make Meaning in Your Company
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Transcript: The first thing I figured out and learned, sometimes the hard way, about entrepreneurship is that the core, the essence of entrepreneurship is about making meaning. Many many people start companies to make money, the quick flip, the dot com phenomena. And I have noticed in both the companies that I’ve started and funded […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Make Meaning in Your Company’
- Steve Blank Roundup: What Did We Learn?
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Brief Transcript:What I’m going to do today is talk for a bit, give you my view of what the sum of these lectures meant for me and then open it up for questions you might have had about the other ETL speakers, their significance, disagree with what I said or questions about lean startup customer […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Steve Blank Roundup: What Did We Learn?’
- Getting to Plan B
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Randy Komisar joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as a partner in 2005. Several years prior, Komisar partnered with entrepreneurs creating businesses with leading edge technologies. Transcript: Randy Komisar: Yeah, I’ve been a janitor and a baker and a heating maintenance man. When I graduated from Brown a long time ago, I worked in a […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Getting to Plan B’
- Optimizing Career and Life Opportunities
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Transcript: What makes you tick? What do you look forward to? Well, my career and my life makes a lot more sense in the rear-view mirror than it does in the windshield. I don’t have any real strong sense of direction. [Laughs] I tend to get excited about things and do them. I tend to […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Optimizing Career and Life Opportunities’
- David Heinemeier Hansson: Unlearn Your MBA
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Transcript: David Heinemeier Hansson is the person who created Ruby on Rails and he’s a serial global entrepreneur. You’ve had a chance to look at his bio on the Web and he’ll tell you more about himself. But right now, we’d like to welcome. David, here at Stanford, we’re really delighted to have you with […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘David Heinemeier Hansson: Unlearn Your MBA’
- A Pandora’s Box of Start-up Expertise
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Transcript: Thank you so much, Tina. Thank you for inviting me. Originally, our CEO, Joe Kennedy, had been scheduled to be your guest today, and he sends his regrets. And I’m going to do my best to fill his shoes. When Tina and I talked a little bit about kind of what we might do […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘A Pandora’s Box of Start-up Expertise’
- Five Biggest Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Make
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Jerry Kaplan, serial entrepreneur, executive, technical innovator, and author, elaborates on the five biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make: 1) Having unclear goals and an unclear mission. 2) Trying to prove that they are smart. 3) Greed – doing it for money. 4) Hiring people that they like rather than people that they need. 5) Not […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Five Biggest Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Make’
- When Do You Know if You Have a Good Idea?
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Transcript: Who do run the great ideas? but you know what, there’s a lot of controversy about trying to figure our which ones are good versus bad. That’s one of those questions… It just depends on the nature of the industry but I’ll give you an example of the group that I don’t trust versus […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘When Do You Know if You Have a Good Idea?’
- Vinod Khosla on the Strength of a Team
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Khosla states that it is the team that make the company. At Kleiner Perkins, he notes that everyone has learned much from each other. Personalities and approaches are diverse and combined to create great strength. Transcript: So I ask you, and I’d like to ask you here to talk about, what’s the — and I […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Vinod Khosla on the Strength of a Team’
- How do venture capitalists decide what to invest in, and why?
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Transcript: Interesting. There’s sort of the less sophisticated answer, which is just we’re supposed to look at maximizing investment return for our investors and that should be the complete answer. It just so happens that if you pursue a passion, in early stages of venture capitalism, I really think this is going to change the […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘How do venture capitalists decide what to invest in, and why?’
- How to Negotiate Valuations
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Transcript: Valuations and how to negotiation them? I think the best thing to do is to talk to two or three venture capital groups at once same time, not 10 but three. And early in the process of interacting with the venture group, I think it’s your right, indeed your obligation to say, OK give […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘How to Negotiate Valuations’
- Be Your Own Advocate
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It was the day of my father’s surgery. As expected, we all were apprehensive, most of all, my father. With the pre-op procedures underway, the nurse prepared to administer the anestesia. Thankfully my father asked which medication they were planning on using. You see, my father was what I call an active participant in life. […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Be Your Own Advocate’
- The Startup Ethos
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If by Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Startup Ethos’
- What Does an Angel Investor Do? Ron Conway and Mike Maples Jr Explain Their Job
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Transcript: So that’s a great segue in the next question which is what do you do for the company? If you end up investing in this new venture that this whole class, we’d all brought to you with this idea, what are you going to do for us? Well, number one write a check which […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘What Does an Angel Investor Do? Ron Conway and Mike Maples Jr Explain Their Job’
- In a Startup: It’s About The People
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Since founding Reputely, I’ve thought about my own personal values and motivations for doing a startup and what I’d like to see the culture of Reputely evolve into one day. What people often don’t realize is that the single hardest part of any startup is: people. This presents itself in a number of different ways, […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘In a Startup: It’s About The People’
- Chris Sacca Helps Founders Cash Out Shares Early
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“You hear people in the Valley always say ‘I want my entrepreneurs to be hungry.” I agree with that, but think there’s a difference between being panicked and being hungry. And I think too often founders find themselves with negative net worth, credit card bills, etc and they get freaked out.” Continue reading ➝ – ‘Chris Sacca Helps Founders Cash Out Shares Early’
- What Really Matters
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July 14th. Most know it as Bastille Day, the national holiday in France that marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress, leading to the eventual demise of its’ absolute monarchy. I know it as the day my father’s struggle with cancer ended three years ago. After years of treatments, surgeries, and hope […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘What Really Matters’
- How I Launched My MVP: Reputely
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Background My mother recently passed away. I never would’ve expected to be 20 years old and have my only living relative be my 95 year old grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. But, I’ll save my life story for another post. With any transformative event, there’s an ending, followed by neutrality, and then a beginning. During […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘How I Launched My MVP: Reputely’
- How to Actually Get Hired
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Derek Sivers posted his thoughts and advice today on how to get hired. If you haven’t had a chance, take a minute to read his post. Sivers definitely provides some good advice, but there’s a few things here and there that would benefit from some clarification. To briefly sum up his advice: Choose one company […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘How to Actually Get Hired’
- 9 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
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Here’s what I don’t understand: almost everyone wants to be successful but most simply aren’t willing to do the necessary work. The secret of success isn’t even a secret anymore but still almost no one gets it; it’s as if there is a pile of cash sitting and waiting for you to touch; but for […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘9 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs’
- 7 Ways to Make Your Customers Swoon Over You
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Startups can turn out to be spectacularly successful, so long as, potential pain points are addressed. What are some key pain points of a startup? Your product isn’t up to par. Your marketing might not be compelling enough. You look at customer service as something that is outsourceable. There’s obviously many more, but the common […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘7 Ways to Make Your Customers Swoon Over You’
- The Biggest Successes Are Often Bred From Failures
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The following is a video and transcript of a talk Randy Komisar, KPCB partner, gave at Stanford University back in 2004. I highly recommend that anyone interested in entrepreneurship reads his book, The Monk and the Riddle: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur. I always tell people that what distinguishes Silicon Valley is not […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Biggest Successes Are Often Bred From Failures’
- On Ageism
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“Sequoia focuses on younger entrepreneurs because people over 30 aren’t innovative.” – Douglas Leone, General Partner at Sequoia Capital Innovation in technology has rapidly lowered the barrier of entry to doing a web startup. In the past, one would need to raise a multimillion dollar Series A round just to get a working prototype. Today […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘On Ageism’
- The Future of Social
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[Facebook.com is] an info aggregator with a great photos app. —Mike Vernal, Platform Engineering Head Facebook is the next Google. There, I said it. The recent comparison of Facebook to Twitter or Myspace is rather shortsighted. Today Facebook is a social-network. Tomorrow? Facebook would be content with shutting down Facebook.com. Why? Because Facebook will be interconnected with the entire web. Rather than relying on users visiting Facebook.com […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘The Future of Social’
- A Look Into New Media Business Models
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I was in a board meeting last week and one of the company founders made a very interesting assertion about the difference between old media and new media. He asserted that old media is about how much money you can charge each viewer. New media is about how many viewers you can get. via avc.com […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘A Look Into New Media Business Models’
- Questions for Jeff Bezos
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What do you say to Kindle users who like to read in the bathtub? I’ll tell you what I do. I take a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and I put my Kindle in my one-gallon Ziploc bag, and it works beautifully. It’s much better than a physical book, because obviously if you put your physical book […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Questions for Jeff Bezos’
- Where have all the H-1B Applications gone?
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Most of you will think that the title is an attempt at fear mongering with regards to outsourcing. It’s not at all. Rather, I’d like to bring to everyone’s attention yet another example of how our economy is suffering. Applications for the H-1B visa, the non-immigrant visa that so many tech companies rely on to […] Continue reading ➝ – ‘Where have all the H-1B Applications gone?’
