March 2010
NYC Needs a Tech Startup Blog. Lets Build it.
joeconyers:
codybrown:
This morning Fred Wilson dropped a post about personal branding that, I think, inadvertently raised a bigger question about the NYC Tech community. In the post Fred extends just how critical it is to have a personal brand online, your blog is your resume, and he went as far to say that he hired all his Jr. investors on the basis of their blogs. There is nothing...
February 2010
“Tod, great post, but you didn’t detail the problem at a level that’s actionable....”
– Don’t “Pull A Patzer” And Other Lessons Learned On Our Trip Down Sand Hill Road
[This comment didn’t show up in oren’s browser, so crossposting.]
(via rafer)
Again, it’s critical for founders to understand all details of the documents their lawyers are preparing and that they are signing....
Hey Jen, you should email me so I have your email address. david.lifson@gmail.com :)
Breathe.
Putting my brain on hold for at least 12 hours. Perspective is a good thing, yeah?
“VentureWire reported yesterday that one of the largest venture capital firms,...”
– For Some Venture Firms, Premium Fees Fade Away - Venture Capital Dispatch - WSJ
The invisible hand at work in the venture asset class.
(via jryu)
Woah. I thought the standard was “2 and 20” but I guess that was inflated to 30?
Great read on the state of VC and where it's... →
bijan sabet: We're looking for an associate →
We are looking to hire an associate at Spark. The title “associate” means different things at different venture capital firms so let me tell you what it means at Spark. An associate at Spark is part of our investment team. He or she will help our team with market & competitive analysis,…
I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but Spark is one of the best VC firms around for...
Statistical significance & other A/B test pitfalls... →
(via soxiam)
Yes yes yes yes yes. You need to understand this.
“Forget about this. We can’t be thinking about how Barnes & Noble has so much...”
– Jeff Bezos in an all-hands meeting with Amazon’s 125 employees after at least one prominent tech pundit predicted Amazon would get wiped out when Barnes & Noble launched its website in 1997, quoted in How Amazon Innovates: Lessons in Strategy for Microsoft and Others. B&N had 30,000...
fionchadd asked: Apparently I can't answer my own posts!
Are you enjoying the snow? It appears to have finally left London - I have to admit it got a little tedious by the end, but it's always more fun when it properly disrupts work.
Are you enjoying the snow? It appears to have finally left London - I have to admit it got a little tedious by the end, but it's always more fun when it properly disrupts work.
Continuations: Burn Rate as the Canonical Mistake... →
One of the all time great opening lines is from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina:
…
I am beginning to think that the opposite is true for (web) startups. There seem to be surprisingly many roads to success. But the canonical road to trouble appears to be taking your burn rate up *before* you have…
We’re burning < $20,000 a month for 5 people and it feels great.
Creating new markets isn't so easy
A couple of days ago, I had a phone call with a partner of an early stage VC firm whose portfolio is filled with successful startups you’ve heard of. Halfway through our conversation, they told me: “We only invest in companies that believe they can be worth $1 billion dollars. If you think you’d be happy with $50-100 million, you’re not the right company for us. The...
MediaPost Publications African-Americans Major... →
nichelle:
BET comprehensive survey of the African-Americans show that are very tech savvy and are spending more time online.
gbattle was telling me about this the other day.
A marketers guide to behavioral economics -... →
hiten:
jryu:
Marketers have been applying behavioral economics—often unknowingly—for years. A more systematic approach can unlock significant value.
Here are the four main bullet points:
1. Make a product’s cost less painful
2. Harness the power of a default option
3. Don’t overwhelm consumers with choice
4. Position your preferred option carefully
Reblogging to read tomorrow.
“FOR NOW EXPECT ACCUMULATIONS TO RANGE FROM 7 TO 13 INCHES… WITH LOCALLY...”
– Local Weather Alert for New York, NY - weather.com
Caterpillar Cowboy: Y+30 Food →
revolvingdork:
winenutnyc:
…
I was thinking the same thing. The people who would benefit the most from food innovation — the poor and lower middle class — are also the ones who can’t afford fresh food. Obesity is a huge problem because they can’t afford to buy fresh produce even if they want to. So the big…
At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own health. It’s actually...
soupsoup:
“There’s one symptom of the coming of age of the NY startup scene that people haven’t really been talking about. I was having a conversation with a friend at Gawker Media the other day, haranguing her about Gawker’s lack of coverage of the web celebrities that it lent such weight to just a year or two ago. The Julia Allisons, Jakob Lodwicks and David Karps of the world. Where are they?...
Submissions...
So I got back from lunch to find 5 submissions from 3 people. 3 submissions from mcdavis were so long and unrelated (movie scripts?) that I can only assume were a joke. 1 submission was from fionchadd which was a lovely story, but unfortunately also not in the “theme” of the types of posts I tend to write or reblog. The last was from daryn, who basically questioned the point of...
Guest post on my blog! →
At the urging of mcdavis, I’ve enabled submissions. So Help Me God. Give me something good to read for post-grand jury.
Y+30 Food
winenutnyc:
Very interesting panel at last night’s Y+30 Meetup (Hot Potato Stream) with Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, Glenn Roberts, founder of Anson Mills, Fernando Musics from Rooster Design Group, and writer and Food52 co-founder Amanda Hesser. The discussion ranged from heirloom grains to extreme foods, crowdsourcing, narcotic foods, Jamie Olliver, Michelle Obama and Blue Bottle...
Send me some love (or laughs. or pics of good... →
Today is my second to last day of grand jury duty. Yes! Send me something to check out during my breaks…
Days like today make me remember how insanely...
Not that anything bad happened today. Just general, “Oh shit. This is capital-H Hard”.
How do you get through it?
Toll Collectors Gone Wild →
evangotlib:
jaredklett:
I have never been so proud to be from New Jersey. /via @haxorg
I <3 you, NJ.
How To Build A Successful Sales Channel
richardjordan:
Mark Suster posted about channel sales today. Nice post, as always - I think of all the VC blogs I read his provokes the most desire to respond, so he clearly picks topics well. If you don’t read him you should. Or just subscribe to my VC blogs list on Google Reader.
I’m English originally, so sharing success stories can seem a bit like unseemly bragging, but it’s relevant....
four management lessons from Anna Wintour
heyamberrae:
R.J. Culter, director of The September Issue, observed Anna Wintour day-in and day-out as she single-handedly commanded the $300-billion global fashion industry.
During those eight months in 2007, I was given complete access to the process of creating Vogue. At the end of each day, Anna’s assistant would email me her schedule for the following day and my crew and I would plan...
Is It A Waste Of Time Talking to VC Associates?
robgo:
There has been some chatter on Twitter about the value of pitching to VC associates. Thought I’d lob in my 2 cents on the shuttle to NYC. Full disclosure - I am a senior associate at Spark Capital.
Roles have blurred between associates, principals, EIR’s, and VP’s. Regardless of title, different roles have different levels of influence within a partnership. Over the years, I think...
Why Craigslist Is Such a Mess →
mikehudack:
mattlehrer:
Should craigslist ever be sold, the price likely would run into the billions. Newmark, by these lights, is a very rich man. When anybody reminds him of this, the craigslist founder says there is nothing he would care to do with that much money, should it ever come into his hands. He already has a parking space, a hummingbird feeder, a small home with a view, and a...
Wal-Mart Agrees to Buy Vudu, an Online Movie... →
infoneer-pulse:
The retail giant said on Monday that it had agreed to buy Vudu, a Silicon Valley start-up whose three-year-old online movie service is being built into an increasing number of televisions and Blu-ray players.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a person briefed on the deal said the price for the company, which raised $60 million in capital, was over $100 million....
psychobabble: Power Naps Boost Brainpower →
New research suggests an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brainpower.
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley discovered a nap can not only refresh the mind, but make you smarter. Conversely, the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become,…
J says this is why she’s so smart.
evrt:
clientsfromhell:
From the perspective of being an in-house designer:
Boss: “We want to use the name Auburn as our mass market name, but spelled A U B E R N instead of the traditional.”
Me: “Why the E?”
Boss: “If we spelled it with a U, we wouldn’t be able to sell our products in the south because of those people’s hatred and rivalry with Auburn University.”
Me: “You are kidding...
MilkMade: Flavors of the Month - March 2010 →
Pear Ginger creamy ginger ice cream with fresh Bosc pears
We pair fresh Bosc pears with a creamy smooth ginger custard base to create a fruity ice cream with some zing. A mellow flavor to carry you through the rest of winter. I found one stand at the Greenmarket that is still selling…
Sent in my order this morning! I was tempted to get 2 pints of the Full Stack, but relented for the...
Why don't we do it in the road?
My least favorite Beatles song ever. Although “Bungalow Bill” is a close second. Otherwise, The White Album is a damn good album.