When Larry Page became CEO, I set out my hopes for how Google might evolve its role in the Internet marketplace under his leadership. In particular, I was hoping that Larry would be:Supporting independent third party services instead of either trying to acquire them or competing head on with them. Figure out how to succeed by making others succeed.While the purchase of Zagat is a rounding error for Google it still shows that Google is going in the exact opposite direction. As I tweeted yester...

When Larry Page became CEO, I set out my hopes for how Google might evolve its role in the Internet marketplace under his leadership. In particular, I was hoping that Larry would be:Supporting independent third party services instead of either trying to acquire them or competing head on with them. Figure out how to succeed by making others succeed.While the purchase of Zagat is a rounding error for Google it still shows that Google is going in the exact opposite direction. As I tweeted yester...

Yesterday, Yahoo fired CEO Carol Bartz. Whether or not you agree with that, one thing is clear: firing someone over the phone is wrong. Much as it may be difficult this is a message that should be delivered in person if at all possible (for a remote contractor might have to use Skype). Hearing that Bartz was fired over the phone reminded me not just of “Up In the Air” but also of struggles with firing that I have encountered myself. Firing is probably the hardest thing to do and I was terribl...

Yesterday, Yahoo fired CEO Carol Bartz. Whether or not you agree with that, one thing is clear: firing someone over the phone is wrong. Much as it may be difficult this is a message that should be delivered in person if at all possible (for a remote contractor might have to use Skype). Hearing that Bartz was fired over the phone reminded me not just of “Up In the Air” but also of struggles with firing that I have encountered myself. Firing is probably the hardest thing to do and I was terribl...

After an amazingly busy three weeks so far this August, I am thrilled to be going on a family vacation starting next week. Also am really looking forward to speaking at Turing Festival and Lean Startup Machine in Edinburgh (both on August 26th). Other than that I plan to mostly unplug, finish reading “The Information” and hopefully at least one other book. To accomplish that I will not be blogging and also won’t be on email for anything other than completely mission critical items until right...

After an amazingly busy three weeks so far this August, I am thrilled to be going on a family vacation starting next week. Also am really looking forward to speaking at Turing Festival and Lean Startup Machine in Edinburgh (both on August 26th). Other than that I plan to mostly unplug, finish reading “The Information” and hopefully at least one other book. To accomplish that I will not be blogging and also won’t be on email for anything other than completely mission critical items until right...

Today’s post is over at the USV blog, announcing our investment in Wattpad. Wattpad is an amazing community for sharing and reading stories. Go read the blog post or watch their video.

Today’s post is over at the USV blog, announcing our investment in Wattpad. Wattpad is an amazing community for sharing and reading stories. Go read the blog post or watch their video.

Comments and forums seem like an odd place for spam especially when they don’t permit HTML. What could a spammer gain? The only thing I can think of is possibly a link to their profile. Yet, last week a company I know was hit by a massive spam attack on its forums. Based on volume and frequency and the inclusion of HTML (even though it clearly didn’t render) it appears that the attack was fully automated, including the creation of user profiles. User profile creation required an email account...

Comments and forums seem like an odd place for spam especially when they don’t permit HTML. What could a spammer gain? The only thing I can think of is possibly a link to their profile. Yet, last week a company I know was hit by a massive spam attack on its forums. Based on volume and frequency and the inclusion of HTML (even though it clearly didn’t render) it appears that the attack was fully automated, including the creation of user profiles. User profile creation required an email account...

Blog post today is over at the USV blog where I talk about jig, the service launched by the TastyLabs team. It is a way of formalizing the #lazyweb and getting help from friends, followers and strangers. I have a couple of needs posted there, so if you have suggestions please post them there!

Blog post today is over at the USV blog where I talk about jig, the service launched by the TastyLabs team. It is a way of formalizing the #lazyweb and getting help from friends, followers and strangers. I have a couple of needs posted there, so if you have suggestions please post them there!

Excited to announce our investment in Skillshare today. You can read some other posts about it here: Michael and Malcolm from Skillshare, Fred, and Jenna Wortham in the New York Times.

Excited to announce our investment in Skillshare today. You can read some other posts about it here: Michael and Malcolm from Skillshare, Fred, and Jenna Wortham in the New York Times.

When I first met Susan in a cafe in Paris 20 years ago, one of the very first things I told her was that I had a list of all the things I was going to see in Paris during my vacation there. According to Susan, my super geeky line in asking her to join me on some sightseeing went as follows: “I am going to do all the things on this list, so happy to start wherever you want." A lot of things have changed in the two decades since but my love for lists continues: I still keep many different lists...

When I first met Susan in a cafe in Paris 20 years ago, one of the very first things I told her was that I had a list of all the things I was going to see in Paris during my vacation there. According to Susan, my super geeky line in asking her to join me on some sightseeing went as follows: “I am going to do all the things on this list, so happy to start wherever you want." A lot of things have changed in the two decades since but my love for lists continues: I still keep many different lists...

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching my first Skillshare class. The subject was “Bayesian Probability and a Theory of Life” and is one I am very passionate about. I hope that I was able to convey some of that passion but I can say for sure that I learned a lot: First, the saying that “you don’t understand something until you have taught it a dozen or more times” is definitely true. In preparing for my class and teaching it, I realized that my own grasp of some of the concepts was not as g...

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching my first Skillshare class. The subject was “Bayesian Probability and a Theory of Life” and is one I am very passionate about. I hope that I was able to convey some of that passion but I can say for sure that I learned a lot: First, the saying that “you don’t understand something until you have taught it a dozen or more times” is definitely true. In preparing for my class and teaching it, I realized that my own grasp of some of the concepts was not as g...

The GOP debate brought more talk of a “wet blanket of regulation” weighing on economic activity. Apparently even President Obama thinks that environmental regulation is at issue here and has sadly rolled back some clean air standards. That’s quite ironic at a time when the Chinese are tightening their air quality standards and when we should be looking at creating (clean) tech jobs (as opposed to smoke stack ones) is biting. Instead we should be looking at the cost of financial regulation tha...

The GOP debate brought more talk of a “wet blanket of regulation” weighing on economic activity. Apparently even President Obama thinks that environmental regulation is at issue here and has sadly rolled back some clean air standards. That’s quite ironic at a time when the Chinese are tightening their air quality standards and when we should be looking at creating (clean) tech jobs (as opposed to smoke stack ones) is biting. Instead we should be looking at the cost of financial regulation tha...