Dave Winer on the Bootstrapping Effect

April 29, 2009

I really liked Dave Winer’s recent analysis of what he calls the “continuous bootstrapping effect” of social media platforms. Twitter is the current holder of the baton in a series of social media bootstraps, each of which built on what came before. It is not Google, which is a search engine, rather it is what [...]

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The Most Powerful Business Model

April 28, 2009

Years back a professor drew me a diagram of what he called the most powerful model in all of business: Tonight while I was thinking about business models, the web, some friends ideas and workstreamer I pretty much decided he was dead right. Anytime you can add structure to the unstructured you’ve got yourself a [...]

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The Trouble with Newspapers Is Not the Paper – It’s the News

April 27, 2009

I continue to read post after post after post about how the newspaper industry is going under and what can be done to resurrect it using various new distribution models and monetization strategies. While I absolutely agree that the physical manner in which people consume news is changing, I believe there is an even bigger [...]

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Why the Web 2.0 Expo Will Rock and How You Can Go for FREE

March 26, 2009

The countdown to Web 2.0 San Francisco is on! I wanted to highlight a couple of sessions that I am really looking forward to. Also, if you have not done so already, be sure to submit a quick anecdote, personal experience, or hack on the theme “how to do more with less” and you could [...]

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Quick Collaboration Survey

March 25, 2009

I am running a five question collaboration survey. Thanks in advance if you’re willing to spend two minutes filling it out. I’m happy to share the results. You can take the survey here

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Context, Timing, Perception

March 25, 2009

I’ve been thinking about the variables that lead to making a strong impression with someone, whether that be an investor, a future friend, or date. What variables and/or environmental factors help you leave the impression you want to leave? I find it interesting when I meet someone who I expected to really like, or conversely [...]

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Business Plans 2.0 Presentation

March 22, 2009

Yesterday I gave a talk with Kam Khare at the Johns Hopkins University/Carey Business School Entrepreneurship Conference; we called it “Business Plans 2.0.” Kam presentated on the traditional business plan: what it means to be an entrepreneur, to think through a business model and then put structure around those ideas. Kam also spoke about specifics [...]

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Great Sessions at Web 2.0 Expo and Free Ticket Giveaway!

March 15, 2009

I’m getting excited to attend the upcoming Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco hosted by O’Reilly Media and TechWeb. While there are many great sessions in the works, two standout as particularity relevant to readers this blog and speak directly to the changes taking place in the world of early-stage funding. First Alastair Michell is [...]

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Can Young People Afford To Give Back?

March 12, 2009

Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a thought-provoking piece titled, Generation OMG. The article draws parallels between generations growing up in our current economic crisis and the “silent generation� of the Great Depression. However, I believe the article misses an extremely troubling trend that I have observed anecdotally: the increasingly expensive price of [...]

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Larry Gagosian, Social Capital and Niche Knowledge

March 8, 2009

The New York Times is running an interesting story today on Larry Gagosian’s influence within the world of art. It strikes me that the service Gagosian offers would be nearly impossible to automate or digitize. He has leveraged a personal rolodex (social capital), fine taste in art and experience in deal making to invent an [...]

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