I had an opportunity to buy shares in the Pandora IPO but chose not to. If I was a super active trader and had stayed on top of it I could have made a fair bit of money as the stock popped by about 60% in early trading but closed even the first day up only about 10% from its IPO price. Yesterday, only a couple of days later, Pandora is trading below its IPO price. Today the price is down a bit more. Why did I not jump on Pandora? There are two key reasons. First, I spent a bunch of time readi...

I had an opportunity to buy shares in the Pandora IPO but chose not to. If I was a super active trader and had stayed on top of it I could have made a fair bit of money as the stock popped by about 60% in early trading but closed even the first day up only about 10% from its IPO price. Yesterday, only a couple of days later, Pandora is trading below its IPO price. Today the price is down a bit more. Why did I not jump on Pandora? There are two key reasons. First, I spent a bunch of time readi...

While I have a feeling that Larry Page won’t take any of my suggestions (darn), I am happy to see him come out swinging hard. What a welcome contrast to when Jerry Yang took over as CEO at Yahoo. Several people have written that it is a bad idea to have a corporate wide bonus depending on the achievement of social goals. I happen to disagree. Social is pervasive and google is behind, so in fact everyone in the company should be thinking about how they can contribute to fixing that. It would b...

While I have a feeling that Larry Page won’t take any of my suggestions (darn), I am happy to see him come out swinging hard. What a welcome contrast to when Jerry Yang took over as CEO at Yahoo. Several people have written that it is a bad idea to have a corporate wide bonus depending on the achievement of social goals. I happen to disagree. Social is pervasive and google is behind, so in fact everyone in the company should be thinking about how they can contribute to fixing that. It would b...

So I haven’t seen “The Social Network” yet and there is a good chance I won’t get around to it at all, as I am crazy busy at the moment (and fighting off a cold). But I have read enough reviews that I have a good sense of the positions people are taking. I am a fan of much of John Hagel’s writing and thinking and so was not surprised to see him come up with an excellent review. The gist of Jon’s piece is that “old media” feels compelled to construct a negative narrative around what is happeni...

So I haven’t seen “The Social Network” yet and there is a good chance I won’t get around to it at all, as I am crazy busy at the moment (and fighting off a cold). But I have read enough reviews that I have a good sense of the positions people are taking. I am a fan of much of John Hagel’s writing and thinking and so was not surprised to see him come up with an excellent review. The gist of Jon’s piece is that “old media” feels compelled to construct a negative narrative around what is happeni...

Occasionally I take time out from talking to startups to meet with folks from big brands. What keeps surprising me is that many of these brands don’t seem to understand the power of direct. By direct I mean any communication that is direct between the brand and existing or potential customers without requiring the use of a “medium” to carry the message. Instead, many brands treat the Internet as if it were just another medium that is similar to previous ones. The logic seems to be mostly arou...

Occasionally I take time out from talking to startups to meet with folks from big brands. What keeps surprising me is that many of these brands don’t seem to understand the power of direct. By direct I mean any communication that is direct between the brand and existing or potential customers without requiring the use of a “medium” to carry the message. Instead, many brands treat the Internet as if it were just another medium that is similar to previous ones. The logic seems to be mostly arou...

Managed to get into Google+ last night and here are some very early impressions. First, there is a lot to learn and explore. They clearly built a ton of different things and it will take folks, myself included, a while to figure it all out. It does feel a bit like they wanted to take on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook in one fell swoop, which is a tall order. Second, it does still feel a bit rushed because stuff doesn’t hang together all that well yet. For instance, navigating from circles to th...

Managed to get into Google+ last night and here are some very early impressions. First, there is a lot to learn and explore. They clearly built a ton of different things and it will take folks, myself included, a while to figure it all out. It does feel a bit like they wanted to take on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook in one fell swoop, which is a tall order. Second, it does still feel a bit rushed because stuff doesn’t hang together all that well yet. For instance, navigating from circles to th...

I am excited on many levels to see Google release Google+. First, it was about time that Facebook faced some head on competition. If nothing else it will make Facebook better. Competition is a healthy thing. Second, I like the idea of trying a different cut on how to organize people and relationships. We have had friends and followers, groups and lists, and now we have circles (incidentally, Etsy has had circles for a while). There are two important issues that I am really curious about when ...

I am excited on many levels to see Google release Google+. First, it was about time that Facebook faced some head on competition. If nothing else it will make Facebook better. Competition is a healthy thing. Second, I like the idea of trying a different cut on how to organize people and relationships. We have had friends and followers, groups and lists, and now we have circles (incidentally, Etsy has had circles for a while). There are two important issues that I am really curious about when ...