That would have to be the updated chorus line for Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World for many of today’s kids. Sure, they use the Internet “like all the time,” (sorry) but it is surprising to me how little many of them seem to know about its operation. I am basing this on giving an evening class recently to a bunch young folks from the publishing industry and then yesterday spending some time with the teenage son of friends of ours (he is doing an internship with Susan at DailyLit). All of them use ...

That would have to be the updated chorus line for Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World for many of today’s kids. Sure, they use the Internet “like all the time,” (sorry) but it is surprising to me how little many of them seem to know about its operation. I am basing this on giving an evening class recently to a bunch young folks from the publishing industry and then yesterday spending some time with the teenage son of friends of ours (he is doing an internship with Susan at DailyLit). All of them use ...

This morning in the shower I realized that I am having a 10 year anniversary of sorts: I began investing in startups in 1999. Over that decade I have learned a ton and I continue to learn new things all the time (one of the reasons why I love what I do). One key area of learning has been to quickly identify deals that are not going to work and then pass on them (VC jargon for saying no). Doing that means more time to meet with other teams, to dig into those deals that seem like a good fit and...

This morning in the shower I realized that I am having a 10 year anniversary of sorts: I began investing in startups in 1999. Over that decade I have learned a ton and I continue to learn new things all the time (one of the reasons why I love what I do). One key area of learning has been to quickly identify deals that are not going to work and then pass on them (VC jargon for saying no). Doing that means more time to meet with other teams, to dig into those deals that seem like a good fit and...

I have been mulling over the ferocious rumors of an Apple Tablet (sorry, no links as I am on BB, but if you missed these - congrats, you were off the grid!). Really not sure what to think about it. The only device that I would consider carrying regularly outside the house in addition to a smartphone would be an eInk style reader. The reason is simple: weight. A traditional display uses a lot of power and that requires a big battery which makes the whole device heavy (and requires remembering ...

I have been mulling over the ferocious rumors of an Apple Tablet (sorry, no links as I am on BB, but if you missed these - congrats, you were off the grid!). Really not sure what to think about it. The only device that I would consider carrying regularly outside the house in addition to a smartphone would be an eInk style reader. The reason is simple: weight. A traditional display uses a lot of power and that requires a big battery which makes the whole device heavy (and requires remembering ...

Last night I slept incredibly well. Why? Because my youngest son and I were sleeping on our sailboat (hence also no post this morning as we had breakfast together). The cabin is tiny, the cushions hard, the sleeping bags hot. Still slept like a baby (as did he). My theory is that was due to not having blinking crazy colored lights everywhere. At home, it seems that every device these days comes with one or more LEDs to announce its presence. Between a couple of laptops, some cell phones, some...

Last night I slept incredibly well. Why? Because my youngest son and I were sleeping on our sailboat (hence also no post this morning as we had breakfast together). The cabin is tiny, the cushions hard, the sleeping bags hot. Still slept like a baby (as did he). My theory is that was due to not having blinking crazy colored lights everywhere. At home, it seems that every device these days comes with one or more LEDs to announce its presence. Between a couple of laptops, some cell phones, some...

I am a fan of using puzzles in interviews, especially for developers. But it is important to do it right and to draw the right conclusions. Here are some things that I have learned over the years. 1. Puzzles should be just one of many different parts of the interview. 2. Try to find a set of puzzles that works for you and use the same puzzles with many candidates to get better comparability. 3. Focus primarily on approach and behavior and only secondarily on outcome. 4. Unless the position sp...

I am a fan of using puzzles in interviews, especially for developers. But it is important to do it right and to draw the right conclusions. Here are some things that I have learned over the years. 1. Puzzles should be just one of many different parts of the interview. 2. Try to find a set of puzzles that works for you and use the same puzzles with many candidates to get better comparability. 3. Focus primarily on approach and behavior and only secondarily on outcome. 4. Unless the position sp...

The top link on techmeme right now is yesterday’s post by Jason Calacanis titled “Yahoo committed seppukku today." It is worth reading because it powerfully (and hilariously) lays out the position that handing over search to Microsoft is a huge mistake for Yahoo. It is a position I am very familiar with, because I made much of the same argument (although in a less entertaining fashion) last May. But it is more than a year later and I am not sure the logic still applies. First, Yahoo has lost ...

The top link on techmeme right now is yesterday’s post by Jason Calacanis titled “Yahoo committed seppukku today." It is worth reading because it powerfully (and hilariously) lays out the position that handing over search to Microsoft is a huge mistake for Yahoo. It is a position I am very familiar with, because I made much of the same argument (although in a less entertaining fashion) last May. But it is more than a year later and I am not sure the logic still applies. First, Yahoo has lost ...

I have been participating in a series of meetings on how to ensure New York City’s future as a (new) media hub. A persistent theme of these meetings has been that there is not enough external awareness of how many great companies already exist in the city, including many that do some fairly hefty engineering! There is still too much of a perception that New York is good at content but not at innovating in delivery or anything else that requires some heavier technical lifting. At yesterday’s m...

I have been participating in a series of meetings on how to ensure New York City’s future as a (new) media hub. A persistent theme of these meetings has been that there is not enough external awareness of how many great companies already exist in the city, including many that do some fairly hefty engineering! There is still too much of a perception that New York is good at content but not at innovating in delivery or anything else that requires some heavier technical lifting. At yesterday’s m...

I just ran across an article titled “Skilled Immigrants on Why They are Leaving the U.S.” in BusinessWeek (via Techmeme). It is not surprising to find diminished job prospects in the U.S. as a key reason, but I was shocked to read that the wait time for a Green Card for Indian and Chinese citizens is now 10 years (that’s a decade!). That is a very long time for anybody to wait and live with the uncertainties faced by visa holders. Just entering the country when you are here on a visa can be a...

I just ran across an article titled “Skilled Immigrants on Why They are Leaving the U.S.” in BusinessWeek (via Techmeme). It is not surprising to find diminished job prospects in the U.S. as a key reason, but I was shocked to read that the wait time for a Green Card for Indian and Chinese citizens is now 10 years (that’s a decade!). That is a very long time for anybody to wait and live with the uncertainties faced by visa holders. Just entering the country when you are here on a visa can be a...

When we invested in Covestor it was in part because of the fit with our “Power to the People” thesis:To us, this appears to be one of the great constants of the web. It is taking power away from existing large institutions and pushing it out to smaller entities and often all the way to individuals.In the case of Covestor the institutions in question are large investment management firms and the individuals are people who are investing their own money. In its first phase, Covestor made it poss...

When we invested in Covestor it was in part because of the fit with our “Power to the People” thesis:To us, this appears to be one of the great constants of the web. It is taking power away from existing large institutions and pushing it out to smaller entities and often all the way to individuals.In the case of Covestor the institutions in question are large investment management firms and the individuals are people who are investing their own money. In its first phase, Covestor made it poss...

I am sorry to see Amazon buy Zappos. Not because I have bought a lot of shoes at Zappos (still liked this as a title for the post though), but here are three reasons: First, I felt that Zappos could be a real competitor to Amazon for online retail. And I love competition. It is great not just for customers but also for suppliers. Second, Zappos was an IPO-able company based on size and apparently profitability. It takes IPOs to build confidence in the financial markets. IPOs beget IPOs. Now w...

I am sorry to see Amazon buy Zappos. Not because I have bought a lot of shoes at Zappos (still liked this as a title for the post though), but here are three reasons: First, I felt that Zappos could be a real competitor to Amazon for online retail. And I love competition. It is great not just for customers but also for suppliers. Second, Zappos was an IPO-able company based on size and apparently profitability. It takes IPOs to build confidence in the financial markets. IPOs beget IPOs. Now w...