February 2012
“The fatal misconception behind brainstorming is that there is a particular...”
– Chris Dixon
“Thou shalt NOT poach from a startup whose CEO is your friend!
Thou shalt NOT...”
– Startup Poaching Etiquette – Be a Richard, Not a Dick! | Mentor Backed
“So the great tech leader is one who can foster an environment that honors...”
– Evolving the technical organization
Expect us
Expect us to arrive when frustration hits. Expect us to change things. Expect us with the round pegs in the square holes. Expect us to be surprisingly correct. Expect us when you least do. Expect us for help. Expect us to misinterpret you. Expect us to question the status quo. Expect us to disappoint. Expect us for bigger things. Expect us to change and accept the challenge! Expect us bold and...
January 2012
COO Survey
Inspired by Second Life founder Philip Rosedale (foundation interview), once every other month, I send a company wide “COO survey”.
It consists of three simple questions: “Do you want to keep my as COO?”, “Am I getting better at my work?”, and “Why?”.
I use Survey Monkey to collect anonymous answers.
Once every other month I get some very sobering...
“Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand...”
– MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren’t Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought | Techdirt
Startups Use Four Catalysts to Win Funding:... →
Interesting tips on gaming fund raising.
“What I do know is this: it would be good if more women see interesting...”
– A Rant About Women « Clay Shirky
“Amazon didn’t create publishing’s woes, any more than blogging created the...”
– Confessions of a Publisher: “We’re in Amazon’s Sights and They’re Going to Kill Us” | PandoDaily
“The more value that employees give a company, the more the employer should be...”
– Google Recruiter Mike Junge on Startups, the Biggest Mistake Job Applicants Make, and Why It Pays to be Nice
This is why I don't give you a job →
Under these circumstances - I hope it’s understandable - I don’t feel a strong urge to sell my apartment and invest the money into a new company. But for 4 reasons I will definitely not do it.
Why taxes and corruption is complicated for business.
“Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources...”
– What’s an Entrepreneur? The Best Answer Ever | Inc.com
How Larry Page Changed Meetings At Google After... →
Every meeting must have one clear decision maker. If there’s no decision maker — or no decision to be made — the meeting shouldn’t happen.
No more than 10 people should attend.
Every person should give input, otherwise they shouldn’t be there.
No decision should ever wait for a meeting. If a meeting absolutely has to happen before a decision should be made,...
Who Needs Process? →
Software development methodology is organizational Valtrex. Sure, it treats a symptom, but the only cure for the underlying disease is to never have contracted it in the first place. This is not to say that process and methodology are bad. They are means to an end. But the ability of your team to execute on a goal is inversely proportional to the amount of process you have in place. It’s not...
“On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world....”
– Jack Welch
“There is absolutely nothing that beats hard work. You hoped when you were coming...”
– Wall Street Journal asks banking superstar Sallie Krawcheck for her “secret of success”:
“In contrast to search, social networking advertising is like hanging signs on...”
– Like Hell Facebook Is Killing Google
December 2011
“Most companies (98 %) in the world (even tech startups) should be very...”
– Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?
“Some facts about people over 50:
• They make up 29% of the population.
• They...”
– Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian
“As soon as brand became a verb, branding became an activity. And as soon as it...”
– Bob Hoffman from the book The Ad Contrarian.
August 2011
Free business idea
One-click-buy for everything.
“Buy this”-browser extension. Press the button. Any item on the page your visiting that’s possible to buy is automatically bought and shipped to your home adress, using your pre-filled payment info. Automatic for known sites, mechanically turked (or whatever) for unknown.
I know it would work. I’d use it every week.
July 2011
“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no...”
Hadoop & Startups: Where Open Source Meets... →
“which brings me to the last point. a lot of folks ask me how Ive been able to...”
– just tristan.
That’s the way to do it. I know, from experience.
June 2011
May 2011
“The important distinction is whether you risked everything, put your life on the...”
– cdixon.org – chris dixon’s blog / There are two kinds of people in the world
April 2011
Advice for Computer Science College Students -... →
Without further ado, then, here are Joel’s Seven Pieces of Free Advice for Computer Science College Students (worth what you paid for them):
Learn how to write before graduating.
Learn C before graduating.
Learn microeconomics before graduating.
Don’t blow off non-CS classes just because they’re boring.
Take programming-intensive courses.
Stop worrying about all the jobs...
“The highly successful group’s answers had a different character. “My...”
– What Separates the Extremely Successful from the Pack? - Marcie Schorr Hirsch - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review
Insightful about the high value impact of having a great life partner.
“Finally, make sure you are living your life. You are young and hopefully have...”
– A Message To Graduating MBA’s
Words to live by.
“Google may be starting to think that if the industry weren’t going to sue...”
– open…: Why Google Should Buy the Music Industry
Managing Your Own Psychology Is The Most Difficult... →
I had a vague idea of what he meant, but I didn’t actually know what the format was supposed to look like or what should be included or excluded. It was a silly little thing and I had much bigger things to worry about, but everything is hard when you don’t actually know what you are doing and I wasted quite a bit of time sweating over that stupid spreadsheet.
Haha… I literally know how...
March 2011
Honor and Recognition in Event of Success « Steve... →
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”
Attributed to Ernest Shackleton
Ben Horowitz: Bubble Trouble? I Don’t Think So →
Very well written by Ben Horowitz regarding the discussion as of late about a possible new bubble.
Yishan Wong's answer to What life lessons are... →
Interestingly I find myself doing almost all of what Yishan Wong suggests to do.
Sadly, I’m not rich. Yet. :-)
Q on Stack Overflow about lesser known algoritms →
There are some data structures around that are really cool but are unknown to most programmers. Which ones are they?
“Marc Andreessen said to me: “Do you know the best thing about starting a...”
– Picking a General Partner // ben’s blog
I know those two feelings all too well. A friend of mine once described his relationship to his company as Bipolar. I’ve come to doing that too. :-)
How To Get Your Emails Read →
I totally agree with the importance of a great subject line. If you want to reach me, this is the way to do it.
The point is this. I scan all my mail many times a day and open and reply to all of it that I can. Senders matter. Subjects matter.
By @fredwilson
February 2011
VC's are not your friends. →
Brutal honesty by @sgblank.
And what they promised their own investors was that they would invest money in deals that would grow in value and achieve liquidity. As much as they liked me as the entrepreneur, they couldn’t throw good money after bad when they thought the deal went south.
January 2011
Yuri Milner, SV Angel Shaking up Angel Investing →
SV Angel and Yuri just changed the rules for angel investing. This should be interesting since it levels the field. Are we going to see a new layer of Top Tier Angel Investors?
Yuri Milner and SV Angel are offering angel investment to EVERY new Y Combinator startup.
The terms? $150,000 in convertible debt. With no cap and no discount. If you’re an investor you know exactly what that means and...
(How to do) Failing well →
Startups talk a lot about how to succeed, but talking about failing is often toned down. It’s the reverse 80/20 problem. We spend 80% of our time talking about succeeding, while only 20% are actually succeeding. Maybe if we talked more candidly and often about failing we’d get better at succeeding?
Failure sucks. Nobody wants to fail. But in the start-up world, most people are doing...
@davemcclure AARRR Start Up Metrics Chart designed... →