Jay-Z vs Marvin Gaye – Hello Brooklyn (featuring Lil Wayne)
Yesterday we spent a part of the day in Brooklyn. We walked across the brooklyn bridge and then took the kids to Pier 6. It was a bit crowded but the kids didn’t care – they had a blast.
Then we had lunch at Iris Cafe, explored the streets and also hit the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. We wanted to hit the Transit Museum but just ran out of time. Fun day.
(photos from yesterday here)
When Lauren was pregnant with our first child, someone gave us that book of children names. It contained a huge list of kid names and the most popular names by decade and by region worldwide.
That book didn’t help us. We ignored the book completely and we just felt like Sophia was the right name. It felt right and we loved that name.
The reason I bring this up is because in my experience the best founders have a gut and instinct about the product. They pay attention to their users but they trust their instinct. They don’t trust or pay attention to market research reports, a competitive analysis matrix or think about focus groups. Those things don’t drive decisions about product for these founders. Especially in the early days.
Yesterday I had three meetings in a row where the founders I met with talked at length about their plans for seo, landing page optimization, a/b testing and other data driven tools. Instead I really wanted to hear why they building their product, I wanted to hear their vision and the problem they wanted to address.
It reminded me of a fine post that my friend Antonio Rodriguez (theonda.org) just wrote a few days ago that a/b testing is a tool not a cure all. It’s a great post and I encourage you to read it.
I do believe data is extremely important. One of the best things about the web is that you can learn a lot by looking at the data. And the tools are just getting better.
But these data tools are just that. They don’t and shouldn’t replace a product’ soul. Because that is everything.
(excuse the typos and lack of links. Wrote this on my iPhone in a cab).
Another wonderful day in nyc. Meetings all day and then caught up with lauren, the kids and friends for dinner. Perfect.
Speaking of NYC, here’s Conor Oberst playing “NYC, Gone-Gone” and then into “Souled Out”.
if we are unwilling to have a full-scale debate over whether nation-building abroad is getting in the way of nation-building at home, we will accomplish neither.
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We are currently staying in an apartment in the W. Village for the first half of August because my daughter is attending a ballet school in the city. A lot of folks leave NYC in August but we are simply loving it this time of year. We are having a nice mix of work and fun.
Found myself singing this song (“My Apartment”) on the walk back to our place tonight after my last work meeting. Written by Ben Kweller when he was living in NYC.
“New York’s the place, where the sidewalks know my face”
When a big company acquires a smaller company it can go all wrong.
Sometimes it goes all wrong right at the start because it was an unnatural acquisition (acquired for the wrong reasons).
Sometimes egos get in the way and the startup is never embraced properly after the deal.
We’ve seen this over and over again. And over the last few years we’ve even seen big tech companies spin out the very startups they acquired just a few years prior.
But big companies desire for startups isn’t going to change and for good reason. Startups can move fast, they attract fantastic people and they can make an impact (or become a threat).
And sometimes the acquisition can be a game changer in addition to providing liquidity for founders, employees and investors.
Consider Android. Google acquired Andy Rubin and Rich Miner’s young startup, Android. Then after making that acquisition they put Andy in charge, put big goals in place, put proper incentives in place and then doubled down in resources.
The result: google is a huge player in the mobile landscape and it’s all because of the Android acquisition + taking care of the people + commitment. In my opinion google couldn’t have done something like android internally. They needed to go outside and they did that masterfully.
I’m not close to the situation but my sense is that YouTube is going to be a great acquisition as well. Founders are still at the company. Branding is unique, they didn’t change the name to google video and it’s clear that google couldn’t win the video game without buying YouTube (remember they tried that first). And YouTube is still innovating with new technologies (hd), new monetization and better content. And google didn’t back down from the viacom lawsuit which shows their conviction.
It’s a pretty special thing to see these startups kick ass before and after the acquisition. It’s a testimony to everyone involved.
There are a lot of lessons I hope founders and big companies consider when thinking about possible combinations. Done right they can change the world.
(please excuse any typos. Wrote this quickly on my iPhone while waiting for my next mtg at City Bakery).
(I’m writing this post on my iPad on a plane from LGA to BOS. So I will make it short and sweet. Please excuse any typos)
Last week, two of my favorite apps saw big updates:
1. Bump
Bump is this cool app for the iPhone and Android that allows users to fist bump while holding their devices and exchange data. I’ve been using the app since day 1 as a fun way to exchange contact info. I rarely if ever carry around business cards so the bump has always come in handy.
The latest version of Bump is killer. First it has a brand new user interface that is a joy to use. Yesterday Lauren bumped me a bunch of photos from her phone and it worked like a charm. The new version also allows you to compare schedules which is a dream.
One of the my favorite things about the new Bump is that it also provides a persistent connection with someone after you physically bump them. Send messages, exchange photos, calendar etc. I can see so many uses for this – the opportunity is incredible.
2. SaneBox
I’ve written about SaneBox before. Simply put, sanebox makes gmail better. It automatically examines your gmail interactions essentially ranks them behind the scenes. Then it labels them into different groups – stuff from important folks, stuff from less important folks, and bulk. It works on the web and also all the email clients I use including iPad and iPhone.
Last week i tried out a new feature. I changed my default gmail inbox to the sanebox “important friends/family/contacts” setting so now my important folks are in my gmail inbox. All other emails are sent to a @sanebox/later folder….which I can read …. later. :)
So now my inbox is filled with stuff from the most important people in my life. It also includes replies to emails I send. It’s been a game changer for me.
(updated this post with links and a few additions based on some offline questions I received)
Last Monday, we heard terrible news.
A good friend’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer. The girl is just 8 years old. It started with a fever that wouldn’t quit and after much testing they figured it out. She started chemotherapy last Wednesday.
This family is one of the most caring bunch of people you have ever met. In fact, they were the first people we met when we moved here in 2001. Lauren met the mother in a playground when our oldest was 2.5yrs old at the time.
We were in shock and then extreme sadness. We think about her every day and throughout the day. Lauren went to the hospital three times last week. On Friday, Lauren brought our daughter Ellie who is close friends with the girl. There have been moments during the week where Lauren and I just look at each other and we both start to well up and we just stop talking.
RIght now, everyone is doing their best to be supportive and helpful to the family. It’s nice to see the community of friends and loved ones kick in. You can see everyone determined to stay confident that this little girl is going to beat this.
We just know she will.