November 2009
29 posts
An Investment Thesis →
Thinking through a venture capital investment thesis.
I traditionally think about startup and investment opportunities through broad frames, sectors and trends; but in an effort to get a bit more tactical, here is a general investment thesis:
Products and services that build markets, networks and/or communities,
Focused in industries with inefficient, expensive middlemen, high transaction...
First Steps, Pune, Maharashtra, India →
First Steps, Pune, Maharashtra, India
More photos from a wedding experience still to come…
Microstock isn’t perfect, but economic progress... →
“Economic progress doesn’t care in the slightest how much you liked how things used to be” (link), stock photography edition.
John Harrington, Microstock Creates New Markets? – No, It Devastates Existing Ones:
Stop saying “microstock creates markets” and instead try “microstock markets are devastating existing profitable markets.”
Perhaps that’s correct, but it misses the point.
Existing...
One hop closer to home (returning to India) →
Old photo, new visit; returning to India, one hop closer to home.
Wandering, Marine Drive, Mumbai, India, Jan 2008
My last visit to India during the winter of 2007-2008 feels like it was from another life, considering what’s happened between then and now; perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this trip will be different: simpler, shorter, a time for fun and chilling with friends, one...
Marketing through culturematics →
Related thoughts about how individuals can create businesses by living their lives and creating meaningful, culturally resonating experiences. Marketing through living, in a way.
Starting with an…
Finishing strong (instead of limping home) →
A short story about finishing strong, from the Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Excuse me, but is it worth it, going up?”
I looked at him, obviously tired, struggling up the steps with his young child in his arms: young enough to crawl up into his arms, old enough to weigh too much to carry up a long flight of steps.
I looked up behind me, at the last twenty-odd steps that would take...
I love the street food in Asia. →
What I love about street stall eateries in Asian cities.
Delicacies, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I love the street stall eateries in Asian cities. I love the easy pace, the small bit of calm and sense of time standing still amid the bustle of the streets just an arm’s reach away. I love the dripping water, the oily cooking surfaces, the small bits of cleanliness amid the dirty street and abundant...
Working Nowhere and Everywhere: The Zen of Running... →
A presentation about “Working Nowhere and Everywhere: The Zen of Running A Virtual Studio” by Christopher Natsuume, focusing on eight tips on how to run a virtual office.
You probably already know that creating better organizational and incentive structures for collaboration and value creation is a big interest of mine; below is a presentation that provides eight tips for how Christopher Natsuume...
Creating the Intention Economy →
Continuing the line of thinking about personal APIs and personal RFPs, components of the broader trend in creating algorithmic additions and replacements for human heuristic decision-making.
Wings, Outstretched, Margaret River Mouth, Western Australia
Continuing a line of thinking from Powering Social Search through Personal APIs, referencing Scott Adam’s note on broadcast shopping, Doc Searls,...
Dreams of Horizons →
Dreams of Horizons, Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia
Robin Sloan, The Future of Media? Bet on Events:
What if the magazine article of the future, the album of the future, and the novel of the future are all the same thing?
And what if they’re all events?
…The great virtue of events today, in the dawning 2010s, is that their value seems durable in a way that the value of super-abundant...
Powering Social Search through Personal APIs →
How can social search be improved? By maintaining a standardized, publicly accessible database of of the information and knowledge in people’s heads, and creating an easy way to access that information. In other words, a personal API. *
Damon Horowitz on the Aardvark company blog, The Real-Time People Web, discussing search and the web of people and information:
What really matters is the...
Horizons, Journeys and Destinations →
The views we endure on our journeys, for the views we enjoy at our destinations.
Horizons, Home, San Francisco, California
Horizons, Abroad, Cottesloe Beach, Perth, Australia
Financial Models Are (Still) Always Wrong: Create... →
In January I released a free financial model to help entrepreneurs model and understand the story behind their business. After a lot of interest from entrepreneurs for a simplified version of…
Entering a Dead Zone →
Dead Zone, Virginia, USA
I’ll be largely offline for a little bit, living an active offline life in areas with limited Internet access. Not sure how much I’ll post from Perth, Kuala Lumpur…
Masses, Muted, New York City, NY →
Masses, Muted, New York City, NY
Daniel Roth in Wired Magazine, The Answer Factory: Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell:
… To appreciate the impact Demand is poised to have on the…
Making Myself Uncomfortable (A Zombie’s Journey) →
Following up from the discussion at TribeCon about the power of making yourself uncomfortable, a recent story about putting the idea into practice on a late New Orleans Halloween night extended to a morning’s flying to Houston and San Francisco.
At TribeCon 2009 in New Orleans last week I got to participate in a panel discussion about how to embrace making yourself uncomfortable for personal and...
Life, Overflowing, New Orleans →
Life, overflowing; stories, created.
Life, Overflowing, Frenchmen St., Halloween, New Orleans, Louisiana (CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO VIEW LARGER
What’s not to love about this…
The Local Loci of Control →
A short note about how feedback loops and communication standards impact the loci of control.
Judith D. Schwartz, What Jane Jacobs Can Teach Us About the Economy:
Jane Jacobs was an advocate…
Thinking Upside Down →
Thinking Upside Down, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 2009
Discarding profound thoughts from an abandoned house, considering spikes and the loci of people and place.
Making Yourself Uncomfortable →
The details behind the panel discussion “Making Yourself Uncomfortable” at TribeCon 2009 last week in New Orleans, LA.
Last week at the inaugural TribeCon, a conference about the power of…
