As we get caught in the constant focus on negativity in the media, its hard to lose track of the grander picture. Violence has been on decline over the ages, centuries, decades and years. Thanks, Professor Pinker for not limiting your talks to linguistics!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Eight Best Questions from Venture Capitalists
Great post on Techcrunch by Redfin's Glenn Kelman.
1. What’s your deadly sin?
Sequoia’s Roelof Botha said he only invests in companies that let consumers indulge in one of the seven deadly sins. He rattled them off with alarming familiarity. “You don’t want to be the site that people should use,” Roelof said. “You want to be the site they can’t stop using.”
... and many more.
1. What’s your deadly sin?
Sequoia’s Roelof Botha said he only invests in companies that let consumers indulge in one of the seven deadly sins. He rattled them off with alarming familiarity. “You don’t want to be the site that people should use,” Roelof said. “You want to be the site they can’t stop using.”
... and many more.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Cautionary Tale of How Not to Respond to Critical Questions
When Michael Arrington (or any media rep) asks a tough question, its better to be transparent and respectful, rather than take the route of aggression and denial. The CEO in question here responded with french, and started a war of words with the TechCrunch head. It was quite futile really - as a friend of mine said - "People listen to Bloggers, not to bland CEOs".
It started out here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/31/scamville-the-social-gaming-ecosystem-of-hell/
And ended with this:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/05/scamville-new-offerpal-ceo-admits-mistakes-makes-bold-promises/
Its all quite tragic really - a founder who probably worked years to build their company gets edged out because of a public faux pas. However, it was not just the outburst that led to the demise, but really shady business practices that were spotlighted because of the vehemence of the response. And most people, including investors, figured there must be something behind all of this.
In order for online advertising to gain legitimacy and share of budget proportional to attention share, there must be transparency across the whole value chain - all the way from the users, to the site publishers, to the ad networks, and advertisers. Thanks to Michael, this conversation has been initiated - lets see where it goes from here.
It started out here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/31/scamville-the-social-gaming-ecosystem-of-hell/
And ended with this:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/05/scamville-new-offerpal-ceo-admits-mistakes-makes-bold-promises/
Its all quite tragic really - a founder who probably worked years to build their company gets edged out because of a public faux pas. However, it was not just the outburst that led to the demise, but really shady business practices that were spotlighted because of the vehemence of the response. And most people, including investors, figured there must be something behind all of this.
In order for online advertising to gain legitimacy and share of budget proportional to attention share, there must be transparency across the whole value chain - all the way from the users, to the site publishers, to the ad networks, and advertisers. Thanks to Michael, this conversation has been initiated - lets see where it goes from here.
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