December 2011
Academia.edu
I’m delighted to announce our latest investment - Academia.edu based in San Francisco. We led the round along with True Ventures.
Academa.edu has built the best and fastest growing social platform for researchers and academics to share and follow research. They have fantastic tools to upload, organize, share and track papers. And the community is super engaged.
The founder/ceo Richard...
November 2011
MG's excitement about CrunchFund investments →
I promise not to keep incessantly hawking CrunchFund investments — I hate it when VCs do that shit too. I just thought these achievements were worthy of their own post.
I know I’m quite guilty of talking about Spark investments on my blog a lot (likely understatement).
But for me, it’s not about “hawking” and more about “loving”.
I’m simply in awe of...
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Connecting local voices
When it comes to national or global issues, the conversation and debate gets loud and active.
Sometimes too loud due to special interest groups and such.
But our individual and collective voice can break through.
Just look at what’s going on with the #SOPA backlash and the impact that Twitter and Tumblr have had. Bottoms up. It’s real and it’s inspiring.
However when it...
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My bag(s)
A friend asked what bag I’m using these days to carry around my gear.
So I thought I would write a post about it.
When I’m just kicking around boston, either for work or play, I use this Billingham bag. It fits my Leica M9 and spare battery, a small Moleskine sketch, a Moleskine pen. I have an iMac and iPad at the office so I don’t carry a laptop around.
I recently...
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Does your startup suffer from the Inner Circle
As a startup grows, one thing that happens most of the time is the development of the founder/ceo’s inner circle.
It’s a small number of folks the founder/ceo relies on for advice, feedback, strategic issues, etc.
To a large extent it’s normal.
But when the inner circle becomes fortified with a moat around it, well, then you got some problems. Employees and managers not in...
Question about traveling overseas with Google...
I’m testing out a Samsung Galaxy S2 for a few weeks (until I get my hands on the Galaxy Nexus.)
I’ve got Google Voice installed on this phone.
I’m going to be overseas soon.
Two questions:
1. Can I make and receive cellular (vs wifi) calls from my the Google Voice app overseas to the United States?
2. Can I make and receive calls over wifi from this Google Voice number.
...
newspeedwayboogie:
Kanye West and Neutral Milk...
“It appears that Tumblr built in a day or two what no D.C.-based technology...”
– MediaShift Idea Lab . #DontBreakTheInternet: How The Web Became a Political Force vs. SOPA | PBS (via matthew)
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RunKeeper
At Spark Capital, we have always believed that one social graph was insufficient.
And we have put our money where our mouth is investing in Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Boxee, Svpply, Exfm and others. A passionate focus from the founders + targeted engaged community is something we care a great deal about.
We like it even better when the service is targeted directly at the user.
Boston...
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Gatekeepers
In the consumer space, the most important objective should be straightforward. Build a product that delights the end user. That is the obsession. It likely starts with the founder building something they want to see in the world. But ultimately the self makes room and the company becomes hyper focused on delighting the end user.
That’s the primary objective and then the business model has...
fred-wilson:
What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye cover)...
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American Censorship Day
A few weeks ago, I went to Washington DC with a number of other venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to meet with various members of Congress and in President Obama’s administration to discuss important legislation (here and here) that was being pushed through the process.
It’s an awful bill that is vague, poorly written and even worse it is a bill to protect a few special interests...
“Most problematic, though, the Fire does not have anything like the polish or...”
– The Fire Aside, Amazon’s Lower-Priced Kindles Also Shine - NYTimes.com
fuck. bummer.
Daryn Nakhuda: iOS to Android (and back again) →
Daryn wrote an excellent post about his experience with Android and why he’s now back on iOS.
Timing is funny because I’m quite tempted to give Android another try.
The Galaxy Nexus looks quite nice and I’m longing for a better gmail experience on my mobile.
Foursquare, Tumblr, Twitter, exfm all have awesome Android apps at this point.
If the Galaxy Nexus (w/Verizon)...
Youth Lagoon – Cannons
loving this band.
shared...
A Minor Place (Bonnie “Prince” Billy) by...
Jeff Bezos Owns the Web in More Ways Than You... →
Levy: Two years ago, you bought Zappos. Was that an attempt to absorb their so-called culture of happiness and customer service?
Bezos: No, no, no. We like their unique culture, but we don’t want that culture at Amazon. We like our culture, too. Our version of a perfect customer experience is one in which our customer doesn’t want to talk to us. Every time a customer contacts us, we see it as a...
The Radio Dept - Heaven’s On Fire...
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“Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn’t be done”
– Amelia Earhart
Steve Jobs: The parable of the stones →
so great
“And how does a cleantech enthusiast, motorcycling world traveler, and serial...”
– Season’s Greetings! Sincerely Makes Mobile Photos Into Holiday Cards (No Stamps Required) | Fast Company
(disclosure: we are proud investors in Matt’s new company Sincerely)
How to Fix iPhone Camera Roll Crash →
all of a sudden, photos in my camera roll looked blurry. found this fix and it worked like a charm.
