August 2011
76 posts
25 seconds of tennis from the Nadal v. Golubev...
“Mr Pistorius’s secret weapon is his ability, shared by only a handful of...”
– Prostheses in sport: Running foul? | The Economist
“Although the media’s coverage of Irene may have seemed wall-to-wall, Nate...”
– After Hurricane Irene: The storm-clouds clear | The Economist
“In the venture world, we talk a lot about the leading trends in social and...”
– Behind the Glittery Web Start-Ups, Investors See Other Gold - NYTimes.com
“Knowledge work is craftsmanship. It would be nice if we could use the rise of...”
– tiring | Carl R Nelson
6 tags
“[Brad Feld, of the Foundry Group]: I think 3D printers will be commonplace in a...”
– Is 3D the future of printers? - The Term Sheet: Fortune’s deals blog Term Sheet
Awesome.
Lift, Epic, and Habit – Technology companies built... →
Simple interactions, social engineering, immediate practicality, deeper meaning. Win.
First off, I love the idea of Lift, the first venture supported by the Obvious team (i.e. Ev and Biz). A simple service for people to share accomplishments, with the requisite social engineering and big data analysis to turn it into a powerful platform for helping people accomplish things they care about.
As...
“Butterfield thinks Glitch’s independence from Facebook will yield much higher...”
– peHUB » Stewart Butterfield on the Pressure of High Expectations (Updated)
True. But remember that only a very small % of Zynga users pay anything, and that most of the revenue is made from a small base of users. Mean =/ median, and the difference is important in comparing Glitch’s and...
“The value of a social gesture to society as a whole is currently being...”
– Moral Networks
4 tags
“CouchSurfing.org, a non-profit website that connects global travelers with...”
– Non-Profit CouchSurfing Raises Millions In Funding - Forbes
I would love to know how and why CouchSurfing decided to shift gears.
“We need white space because “that’s when we process what has actually been...”
– Do Less, Accomplish More | Think Tank | Big Think
“What does this mean for those bidding on Hulu? Whoever claims the site will have...”
– Hulu Shifts Its Programming Strategy Even As Buyers Plan Bids | Adweek
How an Ohio university made $1m through its... →
More:
How do you decide what to back?
There are three criteria for eligibility – the vehicle must have an active license from the university; it must not have previously received dilutive financing and a C-level entrepreneur – typically a “CEO” – must represent the vehicle. We also look for its ability to garner significant value increase via technical risk reduction and/or...
“Photojournalism is such a thankless task because many people don’t want to be...”
– Photojournalism is such a thankless task because many people don’t want to be affected
“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the...”
– John Cage, via Detroit Venture Partners - Startup Zone
“Once, while speaking to a U of M business school class, a student asked...”
– Detroit Cliche Watchdog: Torya Blanchard proves to be Detroit’s anti-cliche at White House event | MLive.com
“Soon came VidCaster, a service for Web sites to add video; it was started by...”
– Silicon Valley Booms but Worries About a New Bust - NYTimes.com
That’s why entrepreneurs should learn a little finance.
“While Chartbeat shows real-time analytics for a site, Haile says Newsbeat has...”
– How Chartbeat wants to help save the media industry — Tech News and Analysis
“In a world of transparency, API’s, platforms and ecosystems, closed app store...”
– DIGIDAY:DAILY - Why App Stores Suck For Marketers
“Our UX philosophy is, ‘Let’s make it nearly impossible for you to...”
– BankSimple Wants to Shake Up Banking, With Cutting Edge UI Design | Co. Design
The real challenges technology companies face... →
The real challenges technology companies face today are human, not technical. And that’s a normal part of the cycle, not a failure of venture capital or innovation. A sample from the letters; get the rest by subscribing now.
From Founders Fund’s manifesto explaining their investment thesis, What Happened to the Future?
In the late 1990s, venture portfolios began to reflect a different sort of...
“A year after a rival fashion house allegedly sent Nicole “Snooki”...”
– Abercrombie & Fitch Will Pay ‘The Situation’ to Stop Wearing Its Clothes | Adweek
A PR stunt, of course. And since I heard about it, I guess it worked, a little bit.
1 tag
Pricing models, the freemium myth and why you may... →
From 2010, but still good.
“What surprises you the most about digital advertising today? -> “The...”
– Venrock’s Pakman Sees In-Stream Mobile Advertising As The Next Big Opportunity
“Seriously, folks, the mere notion that you can hear anything remotely...”
– Top Ten Things I Have Heard in an Investment Bank Elevator
“It’s still out there… you remember how much in love you once were, how you...”
– Flickr Not Dead, But Losing The Soul Of Photo Sharing | TechCrunch
About Flickr. From a comment by Jolene on Hawk’s original post.
Ad Tech Mergers and Acquisitions Predictions For... →
An interesting read about some potential adtech M&A.
State Department Spent $1.2 Billion On An Asset... →
Sad.
The Architecture of Disaster →
“It’s not just that Citi Field looks backward; it looks backward through a fractured lens, as if it had been conjured by a freshman at RISD armed with some stadium-design software, a book of old-ballpark postcards, and 48 hours’ worth of meth.”
“After my experience at Skillshare, I’m convinced that startups need to adopt a...”
– Skillshare: Why Every Founder Needs an Apprentice
Love this. Props to @mikekarnj and @badboyboyce.
AOL's Ad Dollars Finally Rise →
Sidenote: Can you believe more than 3 million people still pay AOL to connect to the Internet?
“Bloomspot does not orient themselves around group deals. Instead, they focus on...”
– Bloomspot Raises $40 Million To Prove Their Local Offers Model Works — And They Guarantee It Does | TechCrunch
A better business model than Groupon, or a sign of how Groupon needs to change?
“Healthcare is a system that produces more data than almost any other sector, but...”
– Google Health’s Failure to Bring Meaning to Data | Blog | design mind