Philosophy Mondays: Human-AI Collaboration
Today's Philosophy Monday is an important interlude. I want to reveal that I have not been writing the posts in this series entirely by myself. Instead I have been working with Claude, not just for the graphic illustrations, but also for the text. My method has been to write a rough draft and then ask Claude for improvement suggestions. I will expand this collaboration to other intelligences going forward, including open source models such as Llama and DeepSeek. I will also explore other moda...
Intent-based Collaboration Environments
AI Native IDEs for Code, Engineering, Science
Web3/Crypto: Why Bother?
One thing that keeps surprising me is how quite a few people see absolutely nothing redeeming in web3 (née crypto). Maybe this is their genuine belief. Maybe it is a reaction to the extreme boosterism of some proponents who present web3 as bringing about a libertarian nirvana. From early on I have tried to provide a more rounded perspective, pointing to both the good and the bad that can come from it as in my talks at the Blockstack Summits. Today, however, I want to attempt to provide a coge...
Philosophy Mondays: Human-AI Collaboration
Today's Philosophy Monday is an important interlude. I want to reveal that I have not been writing the posts in this series entirely by myself. Instead I have been working with Claude, not just for the graphic illustrations, but also for the text. My method has been to write a rough draft and then ask Claude for improvement suggestions. I will expand this collaboration to other intelligences going forward, including open source models such as Llama and DeepSeek. I will also explore other moda...
Intent-based Collaboration Environments
AI Native IDEs for Code, Engineering, Science
Web3/Crypto: Why Bother?
One thing that keeps surprising me is how quite a few people see absolutely nothing redeeming in web3 (née crypto). Maybe this is their genuine belief. Maybe it is a reaction to the extreme boosterism of some proponents who present web3 as bringing about a libertarian nirvana. From early on I have tried to provide a more rounded perspective, pointing to both the good and the bad that can come from it as in my talks at the Blockstack Summits. Today, however, I want to attempt to provide a coge...
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Two years ago I wrote a series of blog posts on board effectiveness tips. I am adding a new one today. If you have a large board, make sure you have a lead director. “What is a lead director?” you may ask. Informally speaking it is the director who makes sure that the board reaches consensus on important issues. Some companies formally elect director to the lead role, but this is uncommon for startups.
Startups that have raised multiple rounds of financing can wind up with large boards with three, four or more investors on it. In these cases a disfunction that I have observed more than once is that each investor waits for some other investor to take the lead. And as a result key decisions are either delayed or not made at all, often with dire consequences. This usually happens around really important and difficult decisions, such as replacing a member of the management team, changing strategy, doing a down round or accepting or rejecting an unsolicited M&A offer (especially if that offer is not super attractive).
So if you have a large board, ask yourself who the lead director is. Who will you go to in such a situation to make sure your board members are engaged? And when you go to them, will they have the time and inclination to act as lead director? If you can’t answer that, I highly recommend you find someone among your board members before a crisis arises.
Two years ago I wrote a series of blog posts on board effectiveness tips. I am adding a new one today. If you have a large board, make sure you have a lead director. “What is a lead director?” you may ask. Informally speaking it is the director who makes sure that the board reaches consensus on important issues. Some companies formally elect director to the lead role, but this is uncommon for startups.
Startups that have raised multiple rounds of financing can wind up with large boards with three, four or more investors on it. In these cases a disfunction that I have observed more than once is that each investor waits for some other investor to take the lead. And as a result key decisions are either delayed or not made at all, often with dire consequences. This usually happens around really important and difficult decisions, such as replacing a member of the management team, changing strategy, doing a down round or accepting or rejecting an unsolicited M&A offer (especially if that offer is not super attractive).
So if you have a large board, ask yourself who the lead director is. Who will you go to in such a situation to make sure your board members are engaged? And when you go to them, will they have the time and inclination to act as lead director? If you can’t answer that, I highly recommend you find someone among your board members before a crisis arises.
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