January 2012
1 post
December 2011
2 posts
Mr. Rager by Kid Cudishared from exfm
October 2011
1 post
Information Arbitrage: Mentors: an essential... →
informationarbitrage:
As I’ve gotten older I’ve become increasingly reflective on the seemingly random twists and turns in my life. Most of this consideration has gone towards my professional life, as I was blessed with meeting my life partner in college and, therefore, my personal life has largely been “up and to the…
July 2011
3 posts
Saying Thank You
After doing a big favor for an individual over the past few weeks, I realized not once had this person said thank you for any of my efforts. It made me think of a few things
I thought of all the people who had kindly spent their time giving me advice. All of the introductions and event invitations which allowed me to meet some really amazing people. A number of times I thoughtlessly didn’t...
May 2011
2 posts
Information Arbitrage: The right investors for the... →
informationarbitrage:
“How should I finance my start-up?” is a common refrain from first-time founders and serial entrepreneurs alike. There is no manual for how to best do this, and intuition can only get you so far in the absence of experience and mentoring. As with investors evaluating start-ups, it is and always…
Varsity Bookmarking: My Job Pt.1 — I have no idea... →
pieratt:
I am the CEO of Svpply, Inc., a social shopping S-Corp operating out of New York City. My company has been the recipient of over half-a-million in investor dollars, for the stated purpose of building an unknown, 3,000-member web service into a cultural phenomenon, and I truly have very little…
April 2011
2 posts
Inside The Deal That Made Bill Gates $350,000,000... →
(via Instapaper)
Marco.org: Time bombs →
marco:
Fred Wilson today updated and reiterated his suggestion to develop on Android first:
Roughly six months ago, I put up a blog post suggesting Android was going to be the dominant mobile phone operating system and that developers interested in the largest user bases ought to start developing…
March 2011
3 posts
Alex's Random Tech Thoughts: NDA Before Talking →
alexsrandomtechthoughts:
A startup asked me to sign an NDA before chatting last week.
I have been asked this before and want to express my feelings about it.
Never sign an NDA before talking to someone. There is nothing good that can come out from it.
I understand that some companies want to protect themselves from…
EEX Annual Entrepreneurs Summit - New York , NY,... →
Galleon Case Poses Steep Risk for Raj Rajaratnam -... →
January 2011
4 posts
7 tags
Persistence: a practical guide to the art of...
One of the things entrepreneurs always ask me is how to gain access to high value people and keep them engaged. If you’re smart and knowledgable you can usually network your way into a meeting with anyone in the startup world. While these activities shouldn’t involve a telephoto lens, you do need to perfect the art of almost stalking.
1. No answer means try harder: If you want to...
PR Tips for Startups: Pitching Reporters via Email
As a blogger for VentureBeat, I have received a lot of pitches in person and via email. While I meet many talented entrepreneurs, a large percentage of them have no idea how press coverage can be used to build their businesses. A lot of PR reps don’t either.
Here are a few tips for pitching reporters via email.
1. Your subject line is the headline of your email. I’m only a...
6 tags
3 Ideas to help NYC startups
There are a number of problems you could mention in the New York City startup scene, but the solutions have been slow to emerge. There have been a few I others have thought of recently that I thought were particularly valuable and should be shared with the community. Many of these ideas appealed to me because they
1. Health insurance: Many entrepreneurs are making a very risky move by working...
December 2010
18 posts
Information Arbitrage: Do seed-stage entrepreneurs... →
informationarbitrage:
As I answered on Quora, an angel investor who asks you for a business plan for a seed stage Internet start-up doesn’t know what they’re doing. An entrepreneur needs a clear vision, clear projections (18-24 months) of cash burn and an estimate of how the business model will work on the revenue…
5 tags
Vote for Me! (NYTM Board)
(UPDATED - HERE”S WHERE TO VOTE!) The New York Tech Meetup serves as the center of the New York Tech Scene. Each month, hundreds of people come together to see cool demos of new products and meet other innovators in our community. While the NYTM is already a great organization, I believe I could add a great deal as a member of The New York Tech Meetup’s Board of Directors.
Who am I? In my...
Information Arbitrage: Is it Wise to take... →
informationarbitrage:
There are pros and cons to taking investment from a strategic (who is also a logical acquirer), and it has less to do with the nature of the strategic itself than it does timing, size of investment and control provisions. As a general rule, it is a bad idea to take strategic investment early in…
http://www.thesuperficial.com/ →
Snooki will be in the ball on New Year’s Eve. And here I thought Times Square couldn’t get any dirtier.
November 2010
1 post
Mark Birch. Strong Opinions.: When Your Start-up... →
marksbirch:
There are times when you need to leave childish things behind. While it may be cool to think you are still running a quirky little start-up, the fact is that you got all grown up and now are just another soulless corporate entity.
You have matured. You have real revenues, real customers and…
August 2010
1 post
The Word - Control-Self-Delete - The Colbert... →
Colbert metinons Foursquare, Tumblr, Twitter and a bunch of social media startups in a hilarious ‘the word’ segment on privacy.
July 2010
2 posts
Why Andy Grove Is Wrong About Job Growth -... →
@vwadhwa tells the truth about how startups create jobs, not incumbent businesses.
5 tags
WatchI like to rap about NYC startups. I’m writing a second verse, I’d love some suggestions. I already included Drop.io, Etsy, and Betaworks in the second verse.
May 2010
2 posts
Social Networking: The Employment Law Revolution... →
An interesting post by Dorsey Whitney partner and employment lawyer Gary M. Gansle on how employers can use social media with respect to prospective, current, and former employees.
April 2010
6 posts
6 tags
A couple of things I've noticed will make...
As I’ve met many VC’s and angels in the New York area, I’ve noticed a few small things entrepreneurs seeking funding can do to connect with investors . Investors are people, connecting with them on a personal level is the only way they’re going to like you and write you a check.
Connect with them however they communicate: If an investor tells you to tweet @ him or writes a...
Experience breeds disdain?
rafer:
mosjef:
mikehudack:
Reviewing applications for VP of Content & Audience Development at blip.tv.
Best line of the movie:
Experience with social media — and a disdain for the term “social media” — is essential.
Why Music Tech Invesment Is Up — We All Make Music →
Apparently I’m an expert on VC funding and technology. Who Knew? I got a lot of ink in this piece.
"You aren't buying a computer when you buy an... →
joeconyers:
claytoncubitt:
-Jim Stogdill. Yes. This. (via)
Stu Wall's Tumblr Blog: Why MBAs Fail at... →
5 pitfalls for recent grads starting a company
I began working on Postabon, a bootstrapped start-up, after I graduated from Harvard Business School last June. For eight months my co-founders and I slept on lots of couches, worked from coffee shops, and invested in a minimum viable product….
March 2010
7 posts
loved American Greed - s2 | e13 - American Greed... →
“The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and...”
– Tim Bray in his post on joining Google (via continuations)