Tag: technology

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Up next: a public hearing on employee-non compete agreements at the State House

by bijansabet

As some of you know, I wrote a post almost two years ago taking a stand against employee non-compete agreements which are legal and enforced in my state (MA) and many others.

I was thrilled that a number of public debates and panels have take place since then on the subject. And many entrepreneurs, VCs, CEOs and employees have voiced their support in this effort to get rid of employee non-compete agreements. These efforts led to House Bill 1794 which attempts to limit the use and term of such agreements.

People have asked me how they can help. Until now, I responded by saying that we need to do this in a grassroots fashion. Blog & tweet about it. Get rid of these things in your organizations, tell your VC, tell your board, tell your employees that you don’t want these things anymore.

Right now, I’m asking that you do all of that but I’m asking for one more thing.

There will be a public hearing on this issue at the State House on Oct 7th at 10:30am. The hearing is to discuss the merits of House Bill 1794 which is an effort to reduce the employee non-compete agreements significantly.

Please show your support and attend this public hearing. If you can’t attend in person then please submit your written testimony in advance (instructions here). Also I ask that you spread the word about this hearing.

I believe this is a very important issue. Competition and innovation go hand in hand.

Update: Scott Kirsner also wrote about this hearing and includes a link to some interesting data.

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Moore’s law not fast enough for game consoles, so what’s next ?

by bijansabet

One of my favorite things about technology is the fact that nothing is for certain and nothing is a birthright.

Take the game console market. It was long believed that Sony was king of the hill, Microsoft was making a good run at it and Nintendo was left for the dead.

We know that isn’t how things turned out. The Nintendo Wii has been an enormous success and they did it without taking on Sony & Microsoft head on with more graphics and more expensive hardware.

In fact it may turn out that the current “high end” game consoles may be with us for a long time. Microsoft has said that Xbox 360 should last until 2015 and Sony talks about a 10 year life cycle for PS3.

Why is that? My friend Steve Perlman believes that Moore’s law is simply not keeping up for the current game console model.

via IEEE Spectrum:

“…my realization that the amount of computing power that was going to be needed to achieve the level of realism video games were approaching would soon be impractical for a device you hook up to your TV in the living room. I began to realize, Gee, these boxes are getting bigger and bigger.

One of the things about being an engineer is that you like Moore’s Law. Given the growth of some sort of demand—in this case computer graphics demand—you just project what size silicon is needed and how much power and cooling will be needed. If you follow that, you realize that what would be needed for the new games coming out would outstrip the pace of what could be developed in a home setting.”

The PS3 already has a nine-core processor. The Xbox360 I believe has 3 cores. These things are very expensive to manufacturer and are highly subsidized to support their current business model. No wonder we are a long way from seeing their next hardware platforms.

But the web doesn’t wait for these life cycles and it doesn’t care about traditional business models.

Right now Apple is making a big move into games with iPhone/iTouch and the App Store. They are distributing games for free or 99cents vs $30 games sold for the PSP or DS. That is disruptive and a big deal.

And they are just getting started. Just wait until those mobile games all connect to your favorite social networks, or when we see augmented reality games. The mobile device life-cycle is revving up, not slowing down.

We live in exciting times. That’s for sure.

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The double standard

by bijansabet

Reading Techmeme this morning and came across two stories that gave me a bit of the heebie jeebies.

1. Carriers aren’t happy with the FCC Chairman’s position on net neutrality

ATT & VZW believes net neutrality should apply to wired broadband service providers but not mobile carriers. I believe that is a double standard.

Mobile carriers use cable’s broadband network, without permission, as a dumb pipe with their 3g microcells (femtocells). What would happen if TWC or Comcast blocked ATT microcells connectivity. Answer: ATT would be pissed.

Here’s what FCC Chairman Genachowski said yesterday:

This means they cannot block or degrade lawful traffic over their networks, or pick winners by favoring some content or applications over others in the connection to subscribers’ homes. Nor can they disfavor an Internet service just because it competes with a similar service offered by that broadband provider. The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed.

This principle will not prevent broadband providers from reasonably managing their networks. During periods of network congestion, for example, it may be appropriate for providers to ensure that very heavy users do not crowd out everyone else. And this principle will not constrain efforts to ensure a safe, secure, and spam-free Internet experience, or to enforce the law. It is vital that illegal conduct be curtailed on the Internet.

That’s exactly right Julius.

2. Microsoft Poaching Apple Store Managers and Sales Staff.

This one is more like a rumor. And I have no idea if it’s true or not. But here’s the thing. Microsoft recruits from it’s competitors all the time. As does Apple. As does Google. etc. Competition is good and crazy competition is even better.

But here’s my issue: if you work for Microsoft you are required to sign an employee non-compete agreement (boo!). That means Microsoft won’t let you easily leave and join a competitor but they have no problem hiring from the competition.

That’s a double standard too and I don’t agree with that.

N.B: I don’t want to sound righteous here. I’m sure I am guilty of my own double standard from time to time. But I am passionate about these two issues (net neutrality & non-competes) so I had to point them out.

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Where is the “silicon” in Silicon Valley ?

by bijansabet

Looking west over northern San Jose (downtown ...image via Wikipedia

Earlier today in Palo Alto, I met with an old friend who back in the 1990s, built a number of very successful consumer products companies that combined hardware and software. (I’m not sure he wants me to say his name publicly).

We talked about a number of things like his next company and things he wants to build. We also talked about his frustration with VCs and entrepreneurs these days. His view is that we are too afraid of technology risk when creating & funding startups.

I’m probably being too kind here – his belief was that VCs only want to deal with market and business model risk vs technology risk these days. We don’t’ build products that are hard to build or might not be possible to build. As a result entrepreneurs are working on those types of things. The problem in his opinion:  ideas get smaller, innovation levels off and me-too thinking sets in as yet another “myspace on steroids” gets funded.

He summed up his feeling by asking me  “Where’s the ‘silicon’ in Silicon Valley” ?

I’ve been thinking about our discussion and a few thoughts come to mind:

1 – I do like consumer web services that take advantage of open source, open api’s, and hosted infrastructure and focus on scale. We have several startups in our portfolio that got going with a modest amount of capital. It’s a very nice model where entrepreneurs can start with little dilution (since they are raising little money) and VCs don’t have to invest significant capital upfront to see market traction.

This is a powerful model and I hope to make more investments with this approach.

2 – Just because a company is building something with little capital doesn’t mean it’s a little idea. Twitter started with a modest amount of capital and a few engineers. Boxee started with angel financing and a small team. I think you would agree that these are not small ideas.

3 – I do believe some investors are still comfortable taking technology risk. It’s very apparent in cleantech and biotech.  We are taking technology risk in a number of our investments as well. For example, when we first invested in Kateeva, Verivue and Bug Labs it wasn’t a slam dunk that these products would actually work as originally conceived by the founders. Those companies require much great capital to design and build their products. And I know a number of VCs that are also taking technology risk in their investments.

4 – But my friend is right. We are building less hardware companies. We are seeing more companies that can build things in a matter of months not years. We are seeing programs like YC and TechStars help start companies with less than $10k. Those programs are growing and I don’t see them slowing down. That’s a good thing.
It’s true, the term “Silicon Valley” doesn’t mean what it used to. SV has evolved from its roots.

But we don’t have to build hardware to build stuff that matters.

At the same time I’m definitely keeping this conversation in my mind as I meet startups with significant technology risk.

I didn’t rule out those companies before and I’m not going to in the future either.

Here’s to the crazy ones!

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Rooting for Android

by bijansabet

Plenty of folks ruled out Google’s Android when it first shipped with Tmobile G1. The biggest problem was the G1 hardware & form factor.

Gears on T-Mobile G1G1 by niallkennedy via flickr

Frankly, it was disappointing. Plus the number of 3rd party apps were limited to say the least.

Much of that has changed. I’m seeing more and more entrepreneurs and developers building Android apps. Many of these apps are coming out before Blackberry or Palm and in some cases even ahead of the iPhone.

And now we are seeing better looking Android powered phones. That will certainly increase volume and developers are going to pay even more attention. Plus, Google doesn’t block 3rd party apps like Apple does. (i still believe that apple is going to drop their gatekeeper role with iphone apps in the near future).

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some of the new Android powered phones this fall.

I’m rooting for Android.

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I use RSS everyday

by bijansabet

Yesterday I read a couple of blog posts (here and here) pronouncing the death of RSS.

It seems to me there is some confusion out there – and we are mixing up different topics & technologies.

As Fred points out, the current crop of RSS readers may be losing favor.

But RSS readers do not equal RSS. The reader is just one app built on RSS.

I don’t use Google Reader anymore. I was a one time addict but ultimately that format didn’t work for me. Yet, I rely on RSS every day.

Just a few examples:

1 – Boxee. I subscribe to a wide variety of content on Boxee via RSS. And a number of content owners publish to Boxee via RSS. They show up as an app and the user doesn’t even know about RSS. It works in the background. Nice and clean.

2 – New York Times. I read the NYT almost everyday and scan the tech blog links on the right side bar. I’m pretty sure they get there via RSS. If not, they should.

3 – Twitter. My firm, Spark Capital, uses RSS to syndicate news from our company website to @sparkcapital on Twitter.

4 – My blog. My blog has an RSS feed. It also uses RSS to grab content automatically. For example: every week, my Top 5 artist are displayed on my blog like this. How does it get there? Yep, RSS (and thx to @joelaz mighty fine yahoo pipe).

There are plenty of other examples but you get the idea.

I like Fred’s description of RSS:

It is a fundamental part of the Internet architecture and is used for all sorts of things. It’s the subscribe system of the internet and a ‘default function’ in the Internet operating system.

That’s exactly right.

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Will the future of TV start with sports?

by bijansabet

Last night I was at dinner with about dozen people last night in Cambridge. The dinner was organized by the folks at MITX (I’m not a member but they were nice enough to invite me).

Gary Vaynerchuk was at the dinner and he talked about the future of the “middle-man” and went through a number of examples.

Gary thought outloud about the future of ESPN as more leagues go direct to the consumer following in the footsteps of MLB. ESPN’s role could very well evolve to an important social commentary & voice on sports rather than being in the exclusive content business. While the timing is unclear it’s hard to argue with that observation.

MLB has been pioneering direct to consumer for some time. I love  MLB.TV. As a Yankee fan living in Boston it’s an amazing service.

And yesterday, Henry Blodget wrote about the US Open web experience.

Henry lists the super sweet features of the USOpen.org

  • Live coverage of 5 (five) matches at once! You, the viewer, pick which one to watch.
  • Competent commentary of all matches. No idiot big-name broadcast personality who knows nothing about tennis oohing and ahhing about all the racket-waving.
  • No ads. Okay, that won’t last, but it’s nice while it does.  (There are ads on the individual matches, but you can always use them as a chance to check out other matches).
  • No annoying cable company dictating what you can and can’t watch and when.
  • No annoying broadcast network refusing to pre-empt the Today Show and therefore showing all matches on tape delay.
  • One simple source for the feed: The event’s site. This instead of the usual TV headache: (which network? when’s it on?, what will they show?)  The feeds here are apparently produced by the Tennis Channel and ESPN.  But you don’t have to know that to watch.

I “tuned” in (ie clicked over) and was blown away. It really is amazing.

The direct to consumer trend is important one. And I like that live sports is showing us the way.

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Writing down your life story

by bijansabet

We spent Thursday and Friday in New York City.

Yesterday, we arrived at my parents in Long Island. Last night after the kids went to bed, my dad told us some amazing things about his childhood that I had never heard before.

My brother and I have learned a lot about my parents lives over the years but I know there are gaps missing from the stories. And there are certainly photos missing. The old photos we have aren’t tagged or organized at all and we don’t have any videos naturally.

I told my parents that they should write down their life story. Start at the beginning. They have led fascinating lives. One little tidbit: They both came from different countries to the United States in the 60’s. My mom is from Korea. My dad is from Iran. They met after medical school during their residency in New York. My mom was supposed to be arranged but she met my dad. There is so much more to their story….

These days many of us are sharing our lives on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, blogs and flickr. It’s an attempt to write down and share our life story. From the seemingly mundane to the other end of the spectrum.

I hope my kids can one day check out my shared life to get another window into my life story.

And hopefully they will do the same for the next generation.

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Yes, it’s easy to go after Apple but let’s not forget a few things

by bijansabet

These days it’s very easy to go after Apple’s business practices with iTunes & iPhone.

Unlike the Macintosh operating system where any developer can build an app, the iTunes App Store and iPhone has a specific limitation. Apple must approve your app.

The most high profile app drama is Google Voice. Apple has not given Google permission to run that app on the iPhone. This is on top of the other issues with the app store such as phoney reviews, odd or delayed approval process and other rules that don’t make sense to users or developers.

The reality is that the app store is only about a year old. Before Apple’s app store, the iPhone existed for about a year without any reasonable way to install 3rd party apps (yes, jailbreak showed us the way but most users didn’t do that).

And for the most part, I agree with all of the App Store critics. I wish the Apple App Store was open for all developers. It should work just like anyone can build a website that works with any standard browser and just like building apps for MacOS.

But as long as we are shining a light on Apple, let’s keep a few things in mind:

0 – Life before the App Store.

Before the iPhone and App Store there wasnt any reasonable way to install apps for mobile phones. Just spend 10 minutes with an experienced BREW developer for Verizon handsets. Ask them what that’s like. Before the App store, every mobile 1.0 entrepreneur I know didn’t want to touch client software. They wanted to either build mobile web services, cloud services and/or SMS related services. Some of them told me they were done building mobile software altogether.

You could argue that the carriers didn’t allow it but how did Apple convince AT&T while other titans of the industry (e.g. Motorola, Nokia, Microsoft etc) failed to make that case.

Apple changed all of that and raised the bar. In the past year or so, they have gotten it wrong with a number of things but they are mostly doing it right (ease of use, ease of payment, ease of discovery, etc).

1 – How about other devices? Consider games consoles.

Sony Playstation, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox are selling in huge volumes every year. And those hardware platforms are extremely powerful. They bring crazy computing horsepower and internet connectivity to millions of televisions around the planet. Sounds like an amazing platform for innovation.

But they are closed. Yes, there are loads of titles for those game consoles. But can anyone build any app and distribute on the PS3 or Wii or Xbox? Or does the game console manufacturer have final approval. You know the answer to that one.

2 – Set top box.

It’s beyond closed. Why can’t I connect an external hard drive to the DVR that Verizon or Comcast. It has a USB port. It wouldn’t be hard and that platform has been around forever. Certainly longer than the App Store. Why can’t third parties plug into the MSO’s video on demand system and provide new services and content. Why can’t I replace the guide with a better one? How about downloadable apps to the set top?

3 – Propriety codecs (Sony videocams, etc)

These are simply a few obvious examples. There are many others.

Yes, I agree with the Apple App Store critics. Apple needs to open that up and create a level playing field for all developers.

But let’s not let everyone else off the hook either. They should at the very least become as open as Apple.

(p.s. – small prediction: I believe the Apple App Store will open up completely within a year)

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Boxee gets more fuel

by bijansabet

Late last year, Union Square Ventures and my firm, Spark Capital led a Series A investment in Boxee.

In a short period of time, Avner and the Boxee team have made substantial progress with the product and partnerships. We are getting great feedback from the active Boxee community which is growing quite nicely.

Boxee has done this with a very lean team. Avner has kept the burn rate low and they have well over half of the last round untouched.

But the opportunity in front of Boxee is immense and their progress attracted attention from a number of venture firms.

Last week we closed a Series B investment led by my friend Neil Sequeira at General Catalyst.

Avner has a blog post announcing the latest round and the four things that Boxee is working on – product, content, developers and devices.

I’m thrilled to have Neil join the board and to have GC as an investor in the company.