My New Startup

My new tech startup is in the mobile gaming space. I could call it the first tech startup of my life.

In 1999 I was a founding member - not the leader - of a tech startup that did really well for a few rounds until the nuclear winter hit and it was Gone With The Wind. We were trying to build the top South Asian online community. In early 2008 I met the stated goal and raised 100K for my startup whose vision was what the Chromebook is today. In early 2009 me and my Co-Founder gave the money back to the investors in the face of an extremely ugly economy: we did not see us raising round two money. This is my third attempt. Third time is the charm. When you have four borderline genius developers working towards a private beta product for equity, you know you got something.

There is a huge culture clash between the tech startup world and the rest of the economy. When you try to raise money from people who don't "get it," are not from this world, it is like you accidentally touched naked electric wires. Wow, what was that? You get all sorts of weird reactions.

The Angel List is a great starting point. Although I am in mind to pay Fred Wilson a surprise visit. Very likely I will show up and he will be "away" at one of his 100 Board meetings, either elsewhere in the city or on the Left Coast.

I feel like he owes me money for all the comments I have left at his blog over the years.

Fred, I have had your curiosity, now do I have your attention?



From The Angel List I have a short list of about 50 angels who have (1) listed themselves as interested in mobile gaming, (2) are in or near NYC, although not all are, and (3) who are not too far down in the ranks at the site. I am going through the list, and I am like, I'd want to know and hang out and converse with these people regardless of if they gave me money or not. They just come across as so very interesting people.

Ingress: Hit 8,000,000 AP In Times Square
Ingress: My Blog Posts
Ingress: The Same Territory Seven Months Later
Ingress: Four Grant's Tombs In Jackson Heights

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Paul Graham Is Not That Innocent

Let me state the obvious first. I am a huge admirer of what Paul Graham has built in Y Combinator. And I have drawn enormous inspiration from many of his essays on tech startups. And it was an honor to once get featured in the same BBC article as Paul Graham and Brad Feld. (Paul Graham, Brad Feld, Me, BBC)

And now let me get to the topic at hand. Yes, Paul Graham was misquoted. But that does not change the fact that Paul Graham is guilty of sexism just like I am. I would not accuse him of extreme sexism. I might save that for a ton of men in India. But guilty he is. Why do I say that?

You were there when girls around you were 13. If you did not see sexism then, then you were willfully blind. You very well participated in it. Sexism starts early. Young girls feeding on sexist media do weird things with what they eat. That is sexism.

I don't think there is something fundamental about men and women that makes men head for STEM. Once girls get hit by the pot of sexism early on, they kind of lose their balance, and they end up making weird choices like not going towards STEM with greater gusto than they do.

Paul Graham wondering as to why 13 year old girls don't code more is not exactly like Newton wondering why the apple fell on his head. But sexism IS social gravity. It is all pervasive and all powerful, and all men participate in it, it is only a matter of degree, some more, some less, but we all do.

Sexism is really cutting edge, as is racism. It is as if not more cutting edge than the Internet itself, only the Internet is technology and communications and commerce, sexism and racism are social. It is like I am at this Internet Society event, Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee on stage. And I was and am a huge admirer of the guys. I literally think of the Internet as a new country, a feeling further enforced by a recent Indian Supreme Court decision that is blatantly homophobic. (Homophobia is sick, okay?) And I ask my question of Tim. If the Internet is a country which of you is George Washington, which is Thomas Jefferson? Tim gets offended and says "different race" in an unpleasant way. And I am like, I don't believe this motherfucker. And I made a "mad scientist" remark. (Tim Berners-Lee: The Internet Is Not A Country)

Paul Graham said recently something about "heavy accents," and there he was not misquoted, and I thought that was a racist thing to be saying.

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Paul Graham Is Not That Innocent http://t.co/fQ4lbDe3UM @paulg @fredwilson @rosetaylorm @bfeld @timberners_lee @vgcerf

— Paramendra Bhagat (@paramendra) December 31, 2013

Kevin Spacey: Movie Guy Making Movie Sense

Via Fred Wilson

Tumblr Monetization: Sell To Yahoo

Image by Matthew Buchanan / Flickr via CrunchBase

You have to be crazy about Tumblr to truly understand its appeal. It is half way there between Blogger/Wordpress and Twitter and, to its hard core users, more fulfilling than both. You can't amass a huge audience and not be able to monetize it. But this sale to Yahoo means monetization can wait some more.

Marissa Mayer failed to buy FourSquare as a Google executive, but she has managed to buy Tumblr as the Yahoo Chief. Both are companies that have helped put New York City on the tech map.

Last I met David Karp was during Social Media Week. This validation is well deserved. Now Karp and team get to nurture the local tech ecosystem some. I am assuming the Tumblr team will stay put in the city. I don't think it wants to wear "f----g Dropbox T-shirts!"

Karp, I have a clean energy idea that I need some seed money for. Are you in? :)

The billion Yahoo paid it will get back in the stock market reward to the Yahoo stock from the cool factor from Tumblr to the Yahoo brand. So basically this web property has been had for free. It is win win. This is also a strong signal to young and happening tech entrepreneurs that Yahoo is a brand that can be trusted with sexy acquisitions. That is worth at least another billion.

Fred Wilson must be very happy. You couldn't get near that guy without him gushing about David Karp at least once. Now you have concrete proof what it was all about.

David Karp showing up at Yahoo is like Arianna Huffington showing up at AOL, only I don't think Karp will outshine Mayer. She is a hotshot herself, very much so.

Yahoo buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion, vows not to screw it up

The deal is expected to increase Yahoo's audience by 50 percent. ..... Shares of Yahoo rose in early trading on Monday but quickly gave up those gains and were little changed at $26.54. Through Friday's close, they had risen 70 percent since Mayer became CEO. ..... David Karp, 26, who founded Tumblr in 2007 and will remain CEO. ...... Karp, a self-taught programmer who left high school in favor of home schooling ..... his take in the billion-dollar sale would top $200 million. .... "There are a lot of rich people in the world. There are very few people who have the privilege of getting to invent things that billions of people use," he said.

Update: I think Karp will buy a plane.

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Ingress: The Game Changes

I don't understand people who hit Level 8 and then give up. I can understand slowing down because you are pressed for time, you have other obligations. But plain giving up? Why did you get started in the first place?

Not only am I in, at four million action points I feel like I am just getting started. This is a game. And it is great fun. That is the starting point. It is a great game.

In 2010 I wrote a blog post called Mobile First. Fred Wilson read it and wrote a blog post echoing the theme, and that blog post of his became his top post for that year. Ingress is futuristic, in that it it about mobile, about gaming, about location, and a few other things. So for industry watchers it is a great way to get into the action. This is not a waste of time.

It also allows you to get to know a neighborhood like a local. It opens up the city's geography. And that is a big part of the game for me. Seeking opportunities to deploy Level 1 resonators still has appeal for me, and this is a big reason why. I am at a point where I can get any amount of ammo of any level. Ammo is no constraint. Time is. And you use up low level resonators like anything when you go for it.

The point of having high level ammo is to have the option to use it when it makes sense to do so.

This is a simple game like a knife is a simple weapon. I don't think a knife is a simple weapon, if you know how to use it. Some very complex strategies will become possible when there are 10 times more people playing the game, or even 100 times. The velocity of the game increases and more options open up.

Most people who play the game think there are two sides in the game. And the mind unit count makes that suggestion as well. But I think that is the simplistic version. More than two sides are possible. There are many many sides in the game. The AP count is the compass, and many, many sides are possible. Small, agile teams can do more, I believe, than large, scattered teams that waste a lot of time "socializing" on G+.

You still have two basic tools, you have the app, and you have the Intel map. And you are good to go. Time is the only ammo worth counting.

I am at a phase where I need 10 times more people playing the game in New York City to seek the next level of fun in the game for me. Until then I practice the basics, get to know the terrain better, get more intimate with the city's geography, make good use of the two tools and, yes, socialize.

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Level 8 farming for Level 8 ammo is probably the top collective activity in the game right now. And it is no secret. A secret is something that only one side knows. If both sides are doing it, it is not a secret. Both sides build and harvest L8 farms. Both sides try to be as secretive about it as possible. My observation has been most of the harvests get used for vain claims to territories. People use up a lot of ammo to keep what I call their vanity portals. I wish more of that high level ammo were used to create spectacular events. You are not building anything permanent in the game. All you can hope for is screenshots. And perhaps event reports when the screenshots do not do justice.

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What After Mobile?

Image via CrunchBase

Fred Wilson: Putting 2012 To Bed

My venture investing career has three phases all roughly 6-8 years long. The first, at Euclid, was software to internet. The second, at Flatiron was internet to bubble. And the third, at USV, has been web 2 to mobile. I have always used a new firm to denote a new investment phase for me. Throw away the old. Start with the new.

One way to look at mobile is that it is the touch interface, successor to the GUI, Graphical User Interface. When you come from that angle, the question what after mobile has an easy answer.

Natural User Interface, NUI, with all its software and hardware implications.

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