June 2010
“Bloggers are radio DJs from yesteryears”
– ExtensionFM Amplifies Your Online Music Experience - Huffington Post
Love that line, so true.
Magnetic Fields - I’m Sorry I Love You
Leap of faith
Here we are in the early days of summer.
Lots of things come to mind each summer. It’s a time when we spend a lot of time outdoors as a family. Our weekends are beyond crazy. Every summer we get to see friends from out of town and we have a few vacations planned. Our firm makes a number of new investments all year long and the summer is no different. I love this time of year.
But there is...
brainfo asked: Were in long island did you grow up?
Johnathan Rice - We’re All Stuck Out In...
The YouTube/Viacom lawsuit and why startups need...
Last week I took a few days off to get out of town with my family. And I pretty much stayed in vacation mode throughout the weekend.
But the YouTube/Viacom decision has been in my mind since last week. As many of you know by now, Viacom had sued YouTube for copyright infringement. YouTube believed they were protected under safe harbor under DMCA.
The judge in this case stated DMCA works well:
...
“Partner Bijan Sabet, a Long Island native, even owns up to being a diehard...”
– In N.Y.-Boston venture rivalry, there may be no clear winner — or loser - The Boston Globe
I’ve never been shy about being a Yankee fan but there is something wonderful and strange seeing this in black & white in the Boston Globe today.
newspeedwayboogie:
The Pretenders - Stop Your...
An outline for an early stage board meeting
We have invested in many first time founding teams that have never participated in a board meeting before.
To make them useful it’s good to be prepared and engage your board.
Here is an outline I like to use. Of course there can be versions of this depending on the stage of the company.
But for early stage, I think the following works pretty well.
Overview and metrics
Product...
WatchJust went on this roller coaster with my daughter and friends.
Jenny and Johnny - Scissor Runner
Oh man....
jaygoldman asked: The VC market seems to go in cycles. We see a bunch of simultaneous investments by lots of VCs into things like storage devices, virtual reality, social networks, etc. Assuming you can talk about generalizations, have you seen any interesting new trends popping up in recent pitches?
Anonymous asked: What is your favorite productivity iPhone app? @daman on Twitter
Anonymous asked: Was the third kid a no-brainer or did you stew on it for a while?
Anonymous asked: Do you like your schedule as a VC? Like you may not work that long hours but you are still happy, right?
I am planning to be a VC and I consider myself a family man. I would love to have the flexibility. Am I right?
I am planning to be a VC and I consider myself a family man. I would love to have the flexibility. Am I right?
Anonymous asked: What's the one thing an entrepreneur should NEVER mention when pitching you? What's the one thing they should ALWAYS mention?
Anonymous asked: Does age of the founders matter when you are looking to invest in a company? How does it affect your decision making?
“However, on at least six occasions during my tests, the new iPhone was either...”
– New iPhone Keeps Apple Top of Class - WSJ.com
i’m still going to get the new iphone but this line from Mossberg is a heartbreaker.
Radiohead - Banana Co
Acoustic and wonderful....
When someone else's problem becomes your problem
This morning I drove to work and a guy in front of me was weaving in and out of traffic. Frantically.
It was pretty clear this guy was late for a meeting, the airport or whatever. And he was creating a headache for everyone else around him. His problem became everyone else’s problem.
Unfortunately this sort of thing can happen in the world of startups and venture capital as well. A board...
A private letter from fathers day
Yesterday we had a wonderful fathers day. Spent the afternoon with lauren, the kids along with my mom & dad and my brother and his family.
My kids gave me a number of great gifts - from the homemade to the store bought. All appreciated and wonderful.
Sophia (age, 11) wrote me an amazing letter. I had to read it again this morning. It made me tear up for a second time so I had to write a...
Band Of Horses - Our Swords
Going back a few...
“Around that time, I attended an offsite of a larger private equity firm and...”
– A VC: Being Present
Extension.fm turns us into smart spiders
Whitney posted this as a comment to an earlier post I had the other day about comments funny enough. I thought it deserved it’s own attention.
It’s a wonderful description of the power and potential of our portfolio company ExFM.
In one sense, ExFM turns us into smart spiders. Each of us is going out there and actively crawling the web in search of music that interests us. Just by...
Are you a micro-manager or can you delegate?
In the early days of a startup it’s common and necessary for the founder(s) to be involved in every decision. From the strategic to the mundane.
Some love it and others do it out of necessity.
But as the company grows the founder(s) have a decision to make. Do they keep a very tight reign or do they delegate responsibility across the company.
And the question is how and when do they make...
Jay-Z + Radiohead - Reckoner’s Encore
not...
Anonymous asked: Hi Bijan,
I am looking to apply to the Start@Spark program. I have a great idea, executive summary, and prototype for my concept, but have not put a management team in place. My thought is I would rather have a support team/VC partner in place so I can be properly advised and perhaps referred to a strong management team. What would you advise?
--
I am looking to apply to the Start@Spark program. I have a great idea, executive summary, and prototype for my concept, but have not put a management team in place. My thought is I would rather have a support team/VC partner in place so I can be properly advised and perhaps referred to a strong management team. What would you advise?
--
Random thoughts about blog comments and...
Since I started my blog I have always enabled comments. The value, community, interaction and fun are tremendous.
And i appreciate other blogs that enable comments. It gives me the feeling (sometimes accurately and sometimes not) that I have a connection to the writer.
For the blogs I frequent, the comments are 99.9% respectful, entertaining, informative and rewarding. Occasionally there is a...
James Mercer - Journey Through The Past
This is...
“Every alpha tester has received all my contact info including phone number. I’ve...”
– My friend Stuart Roseman, founder of SaneBox
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-6-13) →
The Magnetic Fields (24)
The Shins (23)
The Rolling Stones (4)
The New Pornographers (4)
The Shins & Iron & Wine (2)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait
Yes! brand new...
“Starting today, you can tag Tweets with specific places, including all World Cup...”
– Twitter Blog: Twitter Places: More Context For Your Tweets
damn cool
Fitbit
I used to run with the Garmin Forerunner. But it was just too big and clunky for my taste. The software was also a let down.
These days I workout with Nike+ and the iPhone. It’s a fun way to keep track of my runs. But I don’t always carry the iphone with me and you can’t keep the app running in the background - and with limited battery capacity, I’m not sure I would want...
The Magnetic Fields - Come Back From San...
Take your eyes off the screen and smell the...
A few summers ago, I answered a txt on my phone in the car while in traffic.
I looked up from the screen and had to hit the breaks. I was safe and didn’t hit anyone but it was stupid and close.
It was a wake up call. And I don’t do that anymore. I have bluetooth in the car and that’s how I do voice. I won’t txt while the car is in motion.
Last week I received another...
The evolution of desktop applications
The first desktop applications I used were macdraw, macwrite and eudora. They were simple, elegant and I felt like they were made for me.
But as new versions rolled out they became increasingly richer with new capabilities. Some of them died because a new thing with more stuff offered users additional functionality with each year.
But 20 years later I am so pleased that these desktop...
“During the ’90s, I spent countless hours trekking down to Wall Street because...”
– Clay Shirky (via pegobry)
