Evan Williams on What’s Behind Twitter’s Explosive Growth
Published: March 30th, 2009
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Archive for March, 2009
Nightline Faceoff – God & Satan
Published: March 28th, 2009
I saw this interesting forum on God and Satan on ABC’s Nightline via the web. It seemed like kids were bickering over who is right, and who is wrong. I was never particularly in awe of Deepak Chopra. His teachings and preachings, (if you may call it as such) relies on borrowed ambiguities. Although, it may sound contrasting that I do shift my own beliefs closer to his line of thinking, I never liked his eloquence. That boy, (successful as he may be) needs a dose of warmth in conducting human interaction, which I find in him substantially lacking.
He was testy and uncomfortable for most of the session. He went on to rebuke the pastor. I found his engagement with the young lady debating him on a counter point of view particularly offensive for the rudeness he displayed. I did not like what I saw.
Deepak – Your grasp in your truth may not be so insecure in that you get testy enough to rebuke others for their belief system. And, I am right. Your belief in your truth is sound and secure. You simply need to be able to display warmth and civility, especially when you are espousing the truth of this world to mere peons like us.
I couldn’t help, but fire an email voicing my displeasure with below :
Deep,
I agree (always have, even before I knew you) with your views. But, on Nightline Face-off, you acted rude to the young lady, testy and less than civil.
You need to get your speech and delivery more eloquent. Even the hooker sounds more graceful than you.
Chris
On the Net : Nightline – Faceoff
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Despite Economy, New Startups Retain Optimism
Published: March 20th, 2009
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – With many established businesses just trying to survive, you might not think it’s a good time to start a company, let alone ask anyone for money to help get it rolling. But if a series of presentations from fledgling Silicon Valley startups is any indication, innovation is not braking for the recession.
Over three hours Wednesday, more than a dozen startup founders — most of them in their 20s — gave rapid-fire talks to a group of peers, journalists and potential investors about their companies.
Many of these startups are just a few months old, and some have not yet launched. Those on display ranged from an online marketplace selling gourmet treats to a company offering Web-based voice conferencing. Another is developing dating applications for the iPhone.
The presentations comprised “Demo Day,” an event held twice a year by Mountain View-based Y Combinator, which provides startups with small amounts of initial funding (usually $5,000, plus $5,000 per founder) in exchange for small ownership stakes. Since its inception in 2005, Y Combinator has funded about 40 startups each year; it hopes to use a recent $2 million infusion from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and other investments to bump the number up to 60 per year.
The startups on display, all of which were funded by Y Combinator in January, had the same goals: Show people what you’ve been working on, and possibly get some money from an angel investor or venture capital firm to take your idea to the next level.
Paul Graham, a Y Combinator partner, said the financial boosts startups might garner after Demo Day vary. Some could raise as little as $50,000, while others might make deals for more than $1 million, he said, even though the economy has made it hard to raise larger amounts of funding — say, $3 million.
Jay Moon, 30, took the opportunity to introduce people to the gourmet retail site he co-founded, Foodoro. He thinks of the site as “Etsy for food” — Etsy.com is a Web marketplace for handmade goods.
Moon said he came up with the idea a few years ago when searching for a gift to send to a friend in Texas. He settled on a box of peaches from a California-based organic farm, which his friend loved. This got Moon thinking that he should make it easier for people to discover food from small producers. Foodoro launched 2 1/2 months ago, and has items from more than 60 producers.
Even though retail sales have slowed on and off the Web, Moon is optimistic about Foodoro’s chances. After all, people will still give gifts.
The bad economy also seems like a ripe opportunity to Shazz Bhunnoo, 25, co-founder of Propable, which rents apartments from property owners, furnishes them and then rents them out to people by the room. Propable has not yet officially launched, but Bhunnoo said investors approached him Wednesday.
Jodie Griggs had a similar experience. The co-founder of Nambii, which has made iPhone dating applications like “Kiss or Miss” and “Pick Me Up” that can be used to flirt with people near you, said she had a “pocket full of business cards” after speaking, most of them from potential investors.
“It’s very flattering to have people come up to you,” she said, grinning.
Toni Schneider, a partner with Palo Alto-based True Ventures — which invested $300,000 in a startup called BackType that Y Combinator funded last year — said the startups at Demo Day could have good timing. By the time they’ve grown larger, the economy might have turned around.
“Also, these are very capital-efficient teams — they don’t need a lot of money to keep going. That fits the times,” Schneider said.
Wayne Crosby, 31, and Robby Walker, 25, had an unusual perspective at the Y Combinator event — it helped make them rich, and now they were in attendance as possible investors.
After a Demo Day in 2007, Crosby and Walker’s startup Zenter, which lets people create online slide presentations, was bought by Google Inc. for an undisclosed amount. With money from the Google deal, the two started Mixin Capital, which provides small amounts of angel funding — about $10,000 to $20,000 — to tide startups over between the investment they receive from Y Combinator and what they can raise down the road.
Mixin might invest in a couple of startups that presented during Demo Day. Crosby and Walker were intrigued by Skysheet — a company offering a Web-based spreadsheet application — and Heyzap, which makes it possible to embed games on Web sites.
Recession or no, Crosby thinks it’s a good time to launch a startup.
“I think if you’re an entrepreneur,” he said, “you’re always an entrepreneur, regardless of what the economy is doing.”
On The Net : Yahoo Tech
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One Cannot be an Entrepreneur if…
Published: March 19th, 2009
Are you deceiving yourself?
This question is 100% directed to those self appointed entrepreneurs. You see, if there was an institution which gave away entrepreneurial credentials upon completing the required education, it would be a nurturing experience.
Alas, other than gaining a crash course in business management, MBA or acquiring some business skill, there is no agency, institution or authority, which can grant you recognition as an entrepreneur. Either you are an entrepreneur or you are not. And the critical element in establishing your entrepreneurial credentials does not lie with your assumption. Your business and the state of your enterprise dictates that.
On the flip side, there are too many entrepreneur wannabes who fake themselves as entrepreneurs. On the surface, they essentially do all the right things. They talk business all the time. They network. They attend meetings. They have kept some aspect of their business afloat. They may offer some services relevant to their enterprise.
But, what sets an entrepreneur apart from a wannabe is (among many other virtues) is constructing a solid foundation upon which the enterprise will rise up from.
I have met many people over the years, who, upon being introduced, claim to be in business. I have met the same set of people, who have given up on the business they claimed to be in, when I first met them. They are now pushing an entire different business model banking on it to click. An entrepreneur never JUST chases the next hot opportunity. He or she, creates one.
One can never be an entrepreneur, if the needs of the self takes over the needs of the business. The business must remain the #1 priority.
One can never be an entrepreneur, when one is involved with drugs or any form of substance abuse. These folks are worst kinds. Their illusions are so real to them that, these fools hardly understand the quiet laughter of disdain from the smart crowd. They hear it as applause. If you do any kind of drugs or substance abuse, then please, join a circus. Clowns like you make the profession look bad.
One can never be an entrepreneur, if one does not take care of their physical well being. If you are not around, your business won’t be either.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one does not engage in well educated risks, even though it may be overwhelming to average mortals. Remember, an entrepreneur is not an average entity you may find on the street hustling to reach their cubicle for another day’s worth of slavery.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one does not know how to sell. If, you have not made a pitch to sell your products or services yesterday, then there is no better time to start NOW and continue, every day. Else, stop this charade of calling yourself an entrepreneur. You are a slave in a business attire.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, when one does not document their actions. Consider what you did for your business yesterday. Write it down. You know you are deceiving yourself if you could not write 2 strategically important things you did for your business yesterday. Stop making a fool of yourself by calling yourself an entrepreneur. Go get a job. At least, you will have 10 things to document at your workplace.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if you don’t follow up with your actions of yesterday. Every attempted action related to your business must be analyzed for expected ROI. If you networked yesterday at an event, you ended up wasting perhaps an entire evening, if you did not measure expected ROI in its estimated time. Do me a favor? Don’t call this networking. This is socializing.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one does not write down achievable written goals. If you have not written your goals, stop calling yourself and entrepreneur. You are making yourself look bad.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one cannot take RISKS. Entrepreneurial risks are not the same as the risks people take at the casinos. To a great extent, you are in charge. You control the wheel. If you are afraid to ride on that slippery slope, you might as well not ride the vehicle of entrepreneurship at all.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one conducts their business with emotions. Well, we all react to the high’s and low’s of our business and emotions do play a part. I do too, and oft times very candidly and brutally without regard to what others may think of me. I seldom care. But they (emotions) should NOT play a part when coming up with important decisions. Take emotions out of it. Decide what is good or bad for your business with salient research, pros and cons and its short and long term consequences.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one seeks instant results. You must learn to sow your seeds and nourish and nurture the sapling before its roots are firm and the tree grows tall and strong. Only then, will it bear fruits.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one is unethical.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one engages in harming its competitors by using a bully pulpit or unfair means.
One cannot be an entrepreneur, if one merely socializes and spends time with other entrepreneurs.
Finally, one cannot be an entrepreneur, if one does not make money worth some consequence. Keep in mind, your business must deliver results. If the barometer of your entrepreneurship is measured by making money, then make certain, your business does. You can fool yourself only so long.
If your business did not make $10 this week or to be fair, even $5 this month, then, there is something wrong. The business model is flawed. And if you are 100% certain, the business model works, then it is YOU who is flawed. You are doing not nearly anything enough to make it work.
All the points I have mentioned about is not just a good read. They are relevant to your enterprise everyday. “Did I say, everyday?”
So, before you hand over your business card to a prospect, before you attend another business event, before you entitle yourself the credentials of an entrepreneur, take the test of being a real entrepreneur. And you will have to take this test everyday. For, if you don’t, you are merely deceiving yourself.
You know how you feel when someone scams you, when someone rips you off. Scamming and ripping yourself by deceiving the self, is worse.
I know a lot of them myself. They do a poor job parading themselves as entrepreneurs. And that my friend, is a shame.
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