December 2009
10 posts
5 tags
Tenacity Versus Failing Early (and Often)
Fred wrote about tenacity this morning prompted by a post from Mark Suster about tenacity being a key trait for an entrepreneur. As per usual there is a long comment thread on Fred’s post and also quite a few comments on Mark’s.
There is, however, only a limited discussion of the potential conflict between tenacity and the ability to “fail early and often” (before and...
Getting a Second Opinion
Yesterday I went to get a second opinion on my ongoing dental pains. I went to a specialist in the matter (implants), presented the history and asked for his opinion and advice. The whole process was incredibly useful. First, it made me focus on what was fact versus interpretation or emotion. Second, I got a perspective from someone who has no stake in the outcome and who is looking at it with...
Startups and Your Health
I am going through an annoying dental crisis following an implant that has somehow developed an infection. Having worked at or with startups all my life I have on several occasions pushed forward even at times when it was detrimental to my health. I know many entrepreneurs who do the same — including some recent instances in our portfolio. It is a reflection of the will to create something...
4 tags
It's Privacy Week (Again)
I have written about privacy on this blog several times before. This week the topic seems to be front and center again with Eric Schmidt stating in a CNBC interview that “[i]f you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place” and Facebook introducing new privacy settings, which default to sharing with everyone.
I...
2 tags
My Take on Climategate
For the past couple of days I have not posted for two reasons. First, I was in London and tried to sleep as late as I could before my meetings (still effectively getting up before 4 am). Second, I was reading up on “Climategate.” In case you have been completely offline and have not even watched my favorite fake news source, The Daily Show, here is a one sentence summary: Several...
3 tags
Customer Service Matters for Mission Critical
Saturday night I arrived late at our house having taken our older son to his first tennis “tournament.” Everyone else was already asleep and the house was dark. I tried to turn some lights on, only to discover that we had a power outage! After some back and forth, I finally managed to get Con Edison to dispatch someone. A ConEd guy showed up at 1am and determined that the main...
Worried About the Googlenet
Yesterday, I tweeted “welcome to the googlenet” and was asked to explain what I meant by that. My tweet was about the announcement of Google DNS. With Google DNS, you can now run pretty much entirely on a Google stack. You fire up Chrome OS (or maybe just the Chrome browser), point DNS to Google, get your content from Google (e.g., music integrated into search results or driving...
Working At Startups
I am excited to be speaking at the NYU Stern Entrepreneurial club later today about working at startups. Apparently, all the big banks and consulting companies come through the school (via Finance club etc) and extol the virtues of working at big companies. I look forward to providing an alternative view. Some of the points I plan to cover include: (1) Right and wrong reasons to want to work for a...
3 tags
Standing By Obama
Yesterday, Fred wrote a post titled “Stuck In The Middle With You” about his continued support for President Obama. I feel the same way. I was excited early on about Obama’s campaign, felt that he made smart choices then, and was thrilled to see him elected. Obama took office under some of the most adverse circumstances of any president, with two wars in progress and an...
1 tag
Touch Typing: a 21st Century Skill
This morning I am meeting with the principal at our kids’ elementary school. I am hoping to convince him that touch typing is more important for the kids to learn than good hand writing. When I look at my total output these days, a tiny fraction of it involves pen and paper. But I do write a lot every day on a computer keyboard.
I find that writing blog posts, answering emails, putting...