Ideation on social media, venture capital and startups 
Leveraging Ideas
May 2008
The Archives
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05.29.08Exclusivity and Social Design
Brands and MarketingExclusive: Adjective. a) Excluding or having power to exclude b) Limiting or limited to possession, control, or use by a single individual or group Good Magazine has an interesting dissection this month of the world’s most exclusive groups. Not surprisingly almost all the groups have very limited information available about who they are, what they do, or what they believe in. Examples include the Order of Skull and Bones, the Bilderberg Group and the Bohemian Grove. However, the group that Good determines to have the most power – and the most exclusivity? The World Economic Forum. Interestingly, Davos is completely open ...
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05.27.08PitchMonster: Prepare for Venture Capital and Angel Pitches
Venture CapitalI wanted to try something new. I am making available a few pages of advice I put together from leading venture capitalists and angel investors on how entrepreneurs should prepare for an investment pitch. In the spirit of Seth Godin, I am calling this PitchMonster. Hopefully I'll create some additional e-bookish resources also under the PitchMonster name when I have time. Download Pitch Monster Here. These are notes that combine my own personal thoughts and experiences, along with those of the best minds in the early-stage investing business. I hope this helps a few people out there. Also, if folks come across sections ...
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05.22.08To Monetize Is To Flummox
Social MediaThe web startup world fascinates me. It simultaneously contains the most potential of any industry, and yet, is also the most precariously positioned. For example, Facebook is a company managed and owned by some of the smartest minds in the world, and yet these same genius-level strategists can’t seem to figure out how they will make money; a strange quandary when you think about it. Facebook needs to innovate and test new routes to monetization, but fearing backlash from another Beacon-type scenario, it must get its next attempt exactly right. Facebook’s is a situation that will undoubtedly make for one ...
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05.20.08Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists Outsourcing to Product Development Firms
Venture CapitalThis post was originally written while waiting at the airport in Delhi, India. Recently a number of memes have circulated the blogosphere discussing the impending challenges to the traditional venture capital model. I have been living this new reality and actively commenting on it. Let’s start with a few assumptions: Venture capitalists look to minimize risk in their investments, while maximizing portfolio return Entrepreneurs look to spend as little money out of pocket as possible while maximizing the equity they retain in a new venture Due to low barriers-to-entry for entrepreneurs, the traditional VC model (investing larger sums of money for controlling rights) ...
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05.19.08Don’t Mess With Facebook And Its Potential Advertisers
Social MediaFacebook deleted my account last Thursday and I assumed they would change their minds very quickly given the circumstances. I assumed wrong. The reason I was kicked off Facebook is both silly and kind of fucked-up. Maybe I’m just “one user,” a "statistic" Facebook could care less about given their current circumstances. But considering what I have done for the site, acting as a true evangelist -- and maybe their best monetization strategist -- the least I deserve is a response. Here's what happened. The day Facebook Pages launched, and to the knowledge of Facebook, I built five pages on behalf ...
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05.18.08The Trouble With Convertible Note Deals
Venture CapitalA couple weeks ago I wrote a post explaining how many startups are playing dangerous games, banking on small convertible note seed rounds to bridge the gap until they can raise their valuation and then close a Series A without giving up as much of the company. A VC friend recently shared an additional insight that he finds troubling with these types of convertible note deals. It seems that several VC firms have “loaned” $250-$400,000 for which they have given the receiving startup little to no additional support. Of course the same level of human capital investment can’t be expected from ...
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05.15.08The Art of The Delayed Venture Capital Investment
Venture CapitalMost venture capitalists never say “no” outright. However, none ever say “yes" outright either. The reason for this is that the longer a venture capitalist can delay having to invest, the less risky is their investment. In fact, every day that they can delay cutting a check is another day that you the entrepreneur are building, acquiring customers and refining your business model. So what can an entrepreneur do? Unfortunately, entrepreneurs do not have much leverage with venture folk, except for the threat of a missed opportunity. Therefore once you can get one group to commit, the fun begins. As soon as ...
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05.15.08Update: I Got Kicked Off Facebook
Brands and Marketing, Social NetworkingJust an update for RSS readers becasue many have inquired what happened that resulted in my Facebook Account being deleted. Nick O'Neill has a post at AllFacebook explaining what happened. I have been in contact with both Ralph Lauren and Facebook and hope to be back soon. I will provide an update when/if that happens.
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05.15.08I Got Kicked Off Facebook
My Experiences, Social NetworkingThis past New Year’s I made Ten Predictions for 2008 on this blog, including a bonus, eleventh prediction… Well that eleventh prediction has come true: I have been kicked off Facebook for what is, in my opinion, a really big mistake/misunderstanding. Of course since I am the one who was kicked off I will leave it to someone else to cover the story (to avoid bias) and I will link to it when that happens Nick O'Neill has covered the reason at AllFacebook.com. Needless to say, I have really not done anything wrong and I am confident my account will reinstated after additional ...
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05.12.08Top Down Selection: Sifting For Quality Information
My Experiences, Social MediaWhen I was young we used to have a blast in Florida scooping up gobs of beach sand in a sifter and then shaking out the sand in hopes of finding a shark's tooth. Now, I find myself doing the same thing with information. Clearly there is more tech information available than one can reasonably consume in a day, or a lifetime. I have already shared how my information consumption habits have shifted to my reading hundreds of micro hunks of content, streamed to me throughout the day, a concept I'm basing a company around. Clearly, this is a trend with ...
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