Adam Kazwell is...somewhat concerned

links for 2011-09-27

  • 'Moneyball': The Very Good Feel-Bad Sports Movie of the Year - Entertainment - The Atlantic
    'Moneyball': The Very Good Feel-Bad Sports Movie of the Year - Entertainment - The Atlantic September 26, 2011 at 11:02PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.09.27 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-09-22

  • The two ways to build a product, according to Bezos | ex post facto
    The two ways to build a product, according to Bezos | ex post facto September 22, 2011 at 01:22AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • Elad Blog: Hire For The Ability To Get Shit Done
    Elad Blog: Hire For The Ability To Get Shit Done September 22, 2011 at 12:49AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • printed&bound - David Foster Wallace vs. Kurt Vonnegut
    printed&bound - David Foster Wallace vs. Kurt Vonnegut September 21, 2011 at 08:15PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.09.22 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-09-19

  • Identifying conflicts in a UI design - (Ryan Singer)
    Identifying conflicts in a UI design - (Ryan Singer) September 18, 2011 at 07:12AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.09.19 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-09-13

  • You Can't Analyze Your Way to Growth - Roger Martin - Harvard Business Review
    You Can't Analyze Your Way to Growth - Roger Martin - Harvard Business Review September 13, 2011 at 04:56AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • Brian Phillips on Novak Djkovic's victory over Roger Federer in the 2011 U.S. Open - Grantland
    Brian Phillips on Novak Djkovic's victory over Roger Federer in the 2011 U.S. Open - Grantland September 13, 2011 at 01:32AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.09.13 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-09-12

  • Daring Fireball: The New Apple Advantage
    Daring Fireball: The New Apple Advantage September 12, 2011 at 12:13AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.09.12 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-09-08

  • A Founder's Guide to Starting in 6 Weeks - Blog - General Assembly
    A Founder's Guide to Starting in 6 Weeks - Blog - General Assembly September 08, 2011 at 05:03AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.09.08 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-09-04

  • Caterina.net» Blog Archive » Make things
    “There is a great satisfaction in building good tools for other people to use.”

    I want to hear about things out there that they love.

    Leaders are people who go their own way without caring, or even looking to see whether anyone is following them.


    (tags: quotes inspiration caterinafake)

2011.09.04 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-31

  • Jobs made Apple great by ignoring profit | The Great Debate
    Jobs made Apple great by ignoring profit | The Great Debate August 31, 2011 at 05:06AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

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links for 2011-08-30

  • Elapsed Time: So, what do product managers do?
    Elapsed Time: So, what do product managers do? August 30, 2011 at 07:12AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.08.30 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-29

  • Jobs Talks About His Rise and Fall - The Daily Beast
    Jobs Talks About His Rise and Fall - Newsweek August 29, 2011 at 05:42AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • Google's Strategic Mistakes Drove Motorola Buy - Horace Dediu - Harvard Business Review
    Google's Strategic Mistakes Drove Motorola Buy - Horace Dediu - Harvard Business Review August 29, 2011 at 05:41AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.08.29 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-18

  • Jonathan Abrams on the long, strange trip of Arvydas Sabonis - Grantland
    Jonathan Abrams on the long, strange trip of Arvydas Sabonis - Grantland August 17, 2011 at 07:07PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.08.18 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-17

  • The Fine Line Between Fear and Courage // ben's blog
    The Fine Line Between Fear and Courage // ben's blog August 16, 2011 at 07:45PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.08.17 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-12

  • Louie's Brilliant Second Season - Hollywood Prospectus Blog
    Louie's Brilliant Second Season - Hollywood Prospectus Blog August 11, 2011 at 07:23PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: A Post Gender Normative Man Tries to Pick Up a Woman at a Bar.
    McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: A Post Gender Normative Man Tries to Pick Up a Woman at a Bar. August 11, 2011 at 03:30PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.08.12 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-10

  • Restaurant websites: Why are they so awful? Which ones are the absolute worst? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine
    Restaurant websites: Why are they so awful? Which ones are the absolute worst? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine August 10, 2011 at 05:08AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.08.10 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-09

  • Long Rant Time: Questo’s Official Unofficial Review of Everyone Else’s #WTT Reviews -or- Just a 40-Year Old Vergin’ Washin The Throne « Okayplayer
    Of course there are some laws I’ve applied to my life in this lane I’ve decided to travel. 1st and foremost is the only mofos in my circle are people that I CAN LEARN FROM.
    (tags: quotes life questlove)

2011.08.09 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-04

  • Ashton Kutcher Or Kevin Rose, Whose Tweets Are Worth More ...
    Kutcher’s link resulted in 5,888 signups, more than Rose’s 4,356 (but not much more). But Rose’s links resulted in more orders and higher revenues. More of Rose’s followers passed the link along, and they also ordered more. On the first day of the promotion, Kutcher’s followers placed 45 orders, compared to 30 for Rose’s followers. But daily orders from Kutcher’s followers peaked at 75, whereas Rose’s peaked at 158 a week later
    (tags: twitter)

2011.08.04 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-08-03

  • The Mission to Get Osama Bin Laden : The New Yorker
    Planning & Executing the Mission to Get Bin Laden : The New Yorker August 02, 2011 at 08:39PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.08.03 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-28

  • The Five Qualities of the Consummate Innovator
    1. Associating: “innovative thinkers connect fields, problems, or ideas that others find unrelated.” 2. Questioning: ”We found that innovators consistently demonstrate a high Q/A ratio, where questions (Q) not only outnumber answers (A) in a typical conversation, but are valued at least as highly as good answers.” 3. Observing: ”Innovators… carefully watch the world around them—including customers, products, services, technologies, and companies—and the observations help them gain insights into and ideas for new ways of doing things.” 4. Networking: ”Innovators… actively search for new ideas by talking to people who may offer a radically different view of things.” 5. Experimenting: ”Innovators are constantly trying out new experiences and piloting new ideas. Experimenters unceasingly explore the world intellectually and experientially, holding convictions at bay and testing hypotheses along the way.”
    (tags: innovation quotes)

2011.07.28 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-21

  • Browse someone's Twitter feed without seeing any @ replies
    (tags: tools)

2011.07.21 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-20

  • The next, worse financial crisis Brett Arends' ROI - MarketWatch
    The next, worse financial crisis Brett Arends' ROI - MarketWatch July 19, 2011 at 10:56PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.07.20 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-19

  • Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski on How to Connect ...
    Shane Battier, who had played a supporting role, was going to have to become our star: there was one problem: Shane had never imagined himself as a star.

    "Shane," I said, "this morning, did you look in the mirror and imagine that you were looking at next year's conference player of the year?"

    The next day I called again. "Shane, it's Coach. When you were on your way to work this morning, did you imagine scoring 30 points in a game this season?"

    "I won't hang up on you if you won't hang up on you,"

    Shane needed to imagine these sorts of things in order to become the player that he could be.

    He had all of the tools to become a great player, but he fully realized his potential only when he allowed himself to imagine great things.

    For motivating Shane, the crucial word to communicate was "imagination." For others, it may be "enthusiasm" or "self-confidence" or "poise." But undefined words are meaningless - meaning is understood by seeing a word in action.


    (tags: quotes basketball)


  • Getting Real: Epicenter Design (by 37signals)

    Getting Real: Epicenter Design (by 37signals) July 18, 2011 at 04:10PM

    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.07.19 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-18

  • Louis C.K. on Being A Father
    (tags: video funny)
  • How To Steal Like An Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) - Austin Kleon
    (tags: design howto creativity)
  • Your mind can never change Unless you ask it to... - Paul Buchheit - FriendFeed
    Your mind can never change Unless you ask it to... - Paul Buchheit - FriendFeed July 17, 2011 at 06:36PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.07.18 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-16

  • Foundation 07 // Chris Sacca on Vimeo
    Foundation 07 // Chris Sacca on Vimeo July 15, 2011 at 09:31PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.07.16 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-14

  • Please, please, please stop asking how to find a technical co ...
    "You don't find a technical cofounder, you earn one."

    How to Earn a Co-Founder:
    -Learn to Code
    -Build the Front-End
    -Have real users
    -Build a following
    -Spend some money


    (tags: startups quotes)

2011.07.14 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-13

  • Don’t compete on features | Andrew Chen (@andrewchen)
    Don’t compete on features | Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) July 13, 2011 at 06:02AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • Usain Bolt and Track and Field Records - Grantland
    Usain Bolt and track and field records - Grantland July 13, 2011 at 06:02AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.07.13 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-12

  • How To Do What You Want: Akrasia and Self-Binding | Beeminder Blog
    How To Do What You Want: Akrasia and Self-Binding | Beeminder Blog July 12, 2011 at 04:52AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.07.12 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-08

  • Men’s Journal » Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie » Print
    Men’s Journal » Print » Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie July 07, 2011 at 11:17PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • How Google+ Shows That Google Still D... by Yishan Wong - Quora
    How Google+ Shows That Google Still D... by Yishan Wong - Quora July 07, 2011 at 06:14PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.07.08 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-07-01

  • The Web Is Full Of Hyperlinks Waiting To Happen, Apture ...
    Cool new way to auto generate hyperlinks
    (tags: startups webapps)

2011.07.01 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-29

  • Inside Google+ — How the Search Giant Plans to Go Social | Epicenter | Wired.com
    Google+ is more than a social product, it’s an extension of Google itself. Hence, Google+.

    “We believe online sharing is broken, even awkward,”

    Bradley Horowitz opened Google Image Search and typed “Emerald Sea”. The first result, a depiction of an 1878 painting created by German immigrant artist Albert Bierstadt, so impressed Horowitz that he commissioned a pair of art students to copy it on the wall facing the fourth floor elevators.

    This mother-of-all-streams would be the equivalent of an intravenous feed of information, with inclusion of all the vital content from our social graph and the world at large (Google calls this the “interest graph”). It would scroll forever, and everything would be relevant. If Google’s original goal was to expeditiously dispatch us elsewhere, with this near-clairvoyant stream, Google could turn us into search potatoes who never leave.


    (tags: wired google socialnetworking)


  • We know very little about self-development

    But we do know one thing: People in general, and knowledge workers in particular, grow according to the demands they make on themselves. They grow according to what they consider to be achievement and attainment. If they demand little of themselves, they will remain stunted. If they demand a good deal of themselves, they will grow to giant stature—without any more effort than is expended by the nonachievers.

    (tags: quotes career)


  • Alex Payne — Obligation

    There are several obvious problems with obligation as it relates to work:

    1. Some people don’t feel obligated to do much of anything or they don’t like to feel obligated to do something, even if it’s the optimal thing for them to do. We like choice, or at least the illusion of choice.
    2. If what you’re doing isn’t making you happy, you probably won’t do a good job at it.

    At the end of the day, the best thing you can do is to figure out what makes you happy and then do the hell out of that thing.

    Problem is, it’s really really hard to figure out what makes you happy. It’s way easier to guilt yourself into a sense of obligation which you then use to rationalize the decision to do something you don’t actually enjoy.

    This advice is so completely and utterly not new, but it’s repeated over and over again because so few of us actually seem to remember it. Trying to do what you love as a guiding principle makes a helluva lot more sense then acting out of a sense of obligation.


    (tags: quotes career)

2011.06.29 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-28

  • None of Us Knows What We’re Doing » Feross.org
    None of Us Knows What We’re Doing » Feross.org June 27, 2011 at 11:25PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.28 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-22

  • Debating the Tech Bubble with Steve Blank: Part I // ben's blog
    Debating the Tech Bubble with Steve Blank: Part I // ben's blog June 21, 2011 at 04:08PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.22 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-21

  • Hire based on interest, not credentials " Regarding Work
    "Aim to find an employee who really wants to solve the problem the business is attacking."...Instead of asking how they made decisions in other roles, ask them to make a decision about the product on which they’d be working in this role.
    (tags: career quotes)

2011.06.21 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-18

  • Polaroid's SX-70: The Art and Science of the Nearly Impossible
    There’s a rule they don’t teach at Harvard. If anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing to excess.

    “Don’t undertake a project,” an oft-quoted Land maxim goes, “unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.”

    1947: Instand photography introduced by Land
    1950's: Company thrived, introduced new, improved models
    1960's: Company thrived, introduced new, improved models
    1972: SX-70 launched
    1979: Land forced out of Polaroid

    “The A-bomb of photography…revolutionary, spectacular, and amazing.”

    dream all along: “absolute one-step photography.”

    Land’s Polaroid, by Peter C. Wensberg Longtime Polaroid executive

    Insisting on the Impossible Victor K. McElheny’s excellent 1998 biography of Land


    (tags: quotes business history photography apple)


  • Jimmy Kimmel: Father's Day on the cheap - Grantland

    Jimmy Kimmel: Father's Day on the cheap - Grantland June 17, 2011 at 04:09PM

    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.18 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-16

  • Build your business around an idea — Warpspire
    What bothers me is the lack of imagination most startup founders have.

    Filling holes is mediocre and boring. Dare to build something incredible – something unique, something lasting, something special.

    Ideas are lasting, products are not. The easiest way to build something incredible is to base your business around an idea. Products are just the manifestation of the idea.

    "We make it easier to collaborate with others and share your projects with the universe."

    If I look into the future, I know that the idea of collaboration is lasting — but Git? That’s a hard bet to make.

    it’s okay to focus on a product at first. But as soon as you find your strengths as a company, abstract it out into an idea and focus on that.


    (tags: business startups howto)

2011.06.16 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-15

  • My LeBron letdown « HoopSpeak.com
    My LeBron letdown « HoopSpeak.com June 14, 2011 at 07:22PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.15 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-14

  • What Was Day 1 Like?
    What Was Day 1 Like? June 14, 2011 at 01:42AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • The mindset revolution
    The skills I look for in recruits now are often completely different to the ones I looked for only a decade ago. But I do know exactly what kind of people I will want to hire in ten years' time.

    1. Honesty, Trustworthiness
    2. Adaptability, Flexibility
    3. Commitment, Accountability

    Good: Seeing and approaching the world in a way that truly benefits those around you.

    Global: openness to new experiences and new ideas, as well as the ability to make new connections and to create new combinations.

    Grit: It spurs you on when others give up and gives you the grip you need to forge ahead.


    (tags: business career)


  • Everlater

    We talked about how Nate and Natty learned to program. When they came up with the idea for Everlater, they were both young finance geeks on wall street. Nate was a math major; Natty was a econ major, but neither had a clue how to build a web app. They decided that rather than find a “developer” to team up with, they would learn how to program.

    I regularly get asked questions (via email, face to face, and this blog) by non-technical entrepreneurs how they should get started if they don’t have a technical co-founder. There are a variety of answers – one is “learn to program.” In Nate and Natty’s case it’s worked out great and their story is an instructive one. So we’ve decided to work on a series of blog posts together about their story of how they learned to program, the resources they used, decisions they made, struggles they had.


    (tags: howto programming startups)


  • Chuck Klosterman: Why the DVR robs sports of all of their drama - Grantland

    Chuck Klosterman: Why the DVR robs sports of all of their drama - Grantland June 13, 2011 at 03:36PM

    (tags: via_ifttt)


  • Startups Are Hard : jazzychad's blog

    Startups Are Hard : jazzychad's blog June 13, 2011 at 03:36PM

    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.14 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-10

  • Chris Dixon's notes on raising seed financing
    Best thing is to either never need to raise money or to raise money after you have a product, users, or customers.

    The most common question they hear from investors is not about the founders or the product, but “who else is investing?”

    Get involved in your local tech community. Meet every entrepreneur and investor you can. Entrepreneurs tend to be more accessible & sympathetic and can often make warm intros to investors.

    What you should really be focused on when pitching your early stage startup is pitching yourself and your team. When you do this, remember that a startup is primarily about building something. Hence the most important aspect of your backgrounds is not the names of the schools you attended or companies you worked at – it’s what you’ve built.


    (tags: startups howto quotes dixon)

2011.06.10 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-09

  • Phys Ed: The Science of Barefoot Running - NYTimes.com
    Phys Ed: The Science of Barefoot Running - NYTimes.com June 08, 2011 at 04:06PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.09 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-07

  • Wireframing for web apps | The Contrast Blog
    1. The goal of preparing wireframes is to solve design challenges regarding layout and priority. 2. When wireframing, Everything means something, whether you intended to or not. 3. Sketching defaults to same color and font everywhere. Use a limited color set (3-5 grays), 2 fonts, default HTML components, and little else. 3a. Starting with black text, means you can only get bigger and bolder, Starting with gray text, allows you to go darker and lighter. 4. The purpose of low fidelity design, is not to polish and refine, but to explore the solution space. If you can’t produce concepts quickly, then you’re working at the wrong fidelity. 5. Use Real copy and Real data. 6. Know your technology: know HTML/CSS/JS 7. the goal is great delivery, not great deliverables.
    (tags: howto design)

2011.06.07 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-06

  • Alex Payne — All We Will Ever Have
    "“Whatever we are, whatever we make of ourselves, is all we will ever have."
    (tags: quotes al3x)
  • Behind the Project: Pic A Fight — PaulStamatiou.com
    the making of a simple web app, complete with list of languages used, etc...

    Pic A Fight was built on:
    -Ruby 1.9.2 with RVM and Rails 3
    -hosted on several Amazon EC2 micro instances (we spun up 5 during load)
    -with an Amazon elastic load balancer instance
    -using Amazon RDS (it's like a database instance) for our MySQL store and with images hosted via Instagram's Amazon S3.


    (tags: howto design)

2011.06.06 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-04

  • The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia
    ‘The Hangover’ and the Age of the Jokeless Comedy - NYTimes.com June 04, 2011 at 02:24AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • A Snapshot Of Photo-Sharing Market Share On Twitter
    As of end of May, 2011 15% of all tweets contained a link
    (tags: reference twitter)
  • How has Facebook kept growing even after neglecting user feedback on UI changes?
    "any company with a highly social and communicative product needs to have other channels to gauge user satisfaction and value creation that go beyond listening to user feedback"
    (tags: design facebook quora quotes)
  • How to Be a Positive Person, in Under 300 Words | zen habits
    Realize it’s possible, instead of telling yourself why you can’t. Be grateful for your life, your gifts, and other people. Focus on what you have, not on what you haven’t. Don’t compare yourself to others, but be inspired by them.
    (tags: via_ifttt howto productivity)

2011.06.04 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-02

  • Y Combinator Numbers (to date - 2011)
    staggering results from YC (and they're only getting better): Of the startups they'd funded, 94% were able to raise more money after YC.

    Getting funded is not success. It's just something that makes success more likely.

    $4.7 billion / 210 = $22.4 million, so the average value of startups we've funded is about $22.4 million.

    The real lesson here though is how long it takes to measure performance in this business. We're 6 years in, and we could easily be off by 3x in either direction. Startup outcomes are unpredictable, and the outcomes of their investors doubly so, because it's hard to say whether the big successes are repeatable, or if the investors just got lucky. Even 6 years in, all we can say is that the numbers look encouraging so far.


    (tags: startups quotes business)


  • Evan Williams | evhead: The Future of Identity Belongs to Apple and Google

    Evan Williams | evhead: The Future of Identity Belongs to Apple and Google June 01, 2011 at 03:57PM

    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.02 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-06-01

  • Print - Louis C.K.: The ESQ+A - Esquire
    Print - Louis C.K.: The ESQ+A - Esquire May 31, 2011 at 07:20PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.06.01 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-05-29

  • Tout - Templatize, Track and Organize Your Repetitive Emails
    Stop Copying-and-Pasting. Tout helps you focus on the unique parts of your emails, instead of the stuff you always have to mention.
    (tags: tools startups)

2011.05.29 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-05-25

  • Designing for distribution with Eric+Eric (YC 2011, Mochi Media) | Andrew Chen (@andrewchen)
    Re: the tendency to “bolt on” virality at the end- if you have a viral loop that doesn’t actually cohesively fit into your product, you end up with a really disjointed experience. Instead, the thinking has to start at the beginning- pick something where the sharing/invites are embedded into the idea in the first place.  It’s not always about tightening the viral loop, it's about making it as smooth as possible. It's smooth when it makes sense
    (tags: quotes startups)
  • Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us
    When people come to Paul Graham and say they’ve got a great idea, his first response is, “Tell me about your cofounders”.

    “There are some people who just get what they want in the world. If you want to start a startup you have to be one of those people. You can’t be passive and wishy-washy,” Graham says.

    YC looks for mental flexibility

    “Startups often have to do slightly devious things,” Graham says. “You can tell if people have a gleam in their eye. You don’t want people who would be obedient employees… we’re not looking for people who did what they were told in life.”

    Sam Altman was actually initially rejected, but he “pushed back like a 40-year old” and told Graham that he would be joining the program.

    Angel rounds end and VC begins at a million dollars

    Y Combinator keeps track of the successful companies that they initially rejected.

    The total value of YC companies is now around $3 billion — YC has invested a total of around $5 million.


    (tags: startups interviews graham yc)

2011.05.25 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-05-24

  • You Need to Win the Battle for Share of Mind
    Twitter and Facebook are truly transformative at a societal level

    many startups in the consumer world are now truly hits driven like video games or movies. We compare user numbers like box office receipts.

    To win you must truly provide value that changes the way that end-consumers do something in their lives that will persist.

    When pressed, not enough of these entrepreneurs can answer questions about why users would still be using this product in 5 years, about why their product is going to solve a consumer or business problem that isn’t being solved today. They pitch me features, not value...but value is what you need

    When you solve a real problem you’ll win the true battle. The battle for share of mind.


    (tags: trends startups vc)

2011.05.24 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-05-20

  • Y Combinator Is Boot Camp for Startups | Magazine
    Y Combinator Is Boot Camp for Startups | Magazine May 19, 2011 at 03:25PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.05.20 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-05-19

  • Print Page
    One-Man Show May 18, 2011 at 10:53PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.05.19 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-05-18

  • Is Microsoft trying to end the reign of mobile carriers? (MSFT+Skype+Nokia) « fox @ fury
    Is Microsoft trying to end the reign of mobile carriers? (MSFT+Skype+Nokia) « fox @ fury May 17, 2011 at 11:33PM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • The Curve of Talent
    “The more that you manage people in your career, the more you’ll find that it is very hard to find people who can execute well on what they are asked to do. The bar of performance wasn’t innovation, but simply competently executing the expected job.

    Most people in the business world don’t have a particularly clear idea on how to do their job well.

    It is very easy for a C player to seem moderately successful when progress is largely based on inertia.

    A players don't want to be at large companies because, more often than not, corporate bureaucracy and process not only fail to reward, but actually punish A players.

    By contrast, startups have no inertia and need to create momentum from nothing.

    Most startups need a core team of A players; folks who can “write the book and not just read it.”

    One way these candidates can be identified is when they actually teach the interviewer something about how the company can win.


    (tags: career quotes management startups)

2011.05.18 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

links for 2011-05-17

  • L019: Bitcoin P2P Currency: The Most Dangerous Project We've Ever Seen - Launch -
    L019: Bitcoin P2P Currency: The Most Dangerous Project We've Ever Seen - Launch - May 17, 2011 at 01:17AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • Rhizome | Do Artists and Technologists Create Things the Same Way? Seven on Seven Guests Respond
    Rhizome | Do Artists and Technologists Create Things the Same Way? Seven on Seven Guests Respond May 17, 2011 at 12:28AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)
  • There really isn’t much of a “tablet” market – Marco.org
    There really isn’t much of a “tablet” market – Marco.org May 17, 2011 at 12:28AM
    (tags: via_ifttt)

2011.05.17 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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