The Mind Of An Entrepreneur

Image via WikipediaIn search of a consulting gig I am in talks with an early stage entrepreneur in Texas. It is amazing to watch his mind work. He has been active in the space he wants to build his tech startup in for almost a decade. The guy has been immersed. That is a good sign. He has a wonderful slide deck. It really spells out the vision. And he has raised some angel money from his brother.

The passion comes through. The knowledge comes through.

One thing I also noted was the dude is suspicious of VC money. He'd rather not take VC money. That thought process was amusing to me. If you end up facing a situation where you are having to decide if you want to take VC money or not, that is a swell situation to be in. Of course he is just starting, he is not there. But it was something to hear him say that.

My Plan For Internet Week

My plan for Internet Week - not set in stone - is to just show up and camp out in that one building and meet as many people as possible. Mind you, I did not say attend as many panels as possible, although one can expect overlap. If people are watching the panels, where you gonna go?

June 6, 7, 8, 9. I am carving out those days.

The Internet Week: The Thing To Do

Social Media Week makes you run around. I don't need to be doing sight seeing in New York City. After taking visiting Nepali dignitaries on citywide tours when doing democracy work for Nepal a few years back, I got to see everything multiple times. Enough. Now get me people.

Ugh, Immigration

Immigration Court Date: June 6, 2011: Prepared Statement

Good talk with immigration lawyer for Monday court date.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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@ 875 Sixth Avenueless than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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@ Union Squareless than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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What's Up With Pictures?

(This post was rejected by Technorati with this comment: It's not news and the only links are to your own blog.)

Image via CrunchBasePictures are all the rage, and Instagram deserves much credit. True, Facebook already had billions of pictures before Instagram even showed but with Facebook people thought - with the exception of Fred Wilson - it was a social network rather than a photo sharing site. With Instagram the facade was gone.

There is just something about pictures. The old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words might be true. Something tells me that even after the world might have moved on to gigabit speeds, pictures will still rule. Because a picture is respectful. You know going in that it need not be more than a split second experience. But a 30 second video is a time commitment. And so the picture will hold its ground even as bandwidth goes up. Actually pictures might expand ground. As the bandwidth expands, people might share more and more pictures. Go figure.

No Alzheimer’s For Me

New York Times: The Bilingual Advantage: the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.

Pinging Hussein Kanji (2)

Pinging Hussein Kanji

Pinging Hussein Kanji

Hilary Rowland

One thing to admire about Hilary Rowland is she started really young as an entrepreneur - maybe 17 - and she has grown her small business empire organically. That speaks to me a lot because my tech startup - at least one of it - is very much in that organic growth mode.

Open Coffee MeetUp: New Location

The Mother Of All Twitter Lists

I follow too many people on Twitter - 45,000? - for my Twitter stream to make any sense to me. I will log in and before I click on the Mention button - the Twitter inbox - I will glance through the first few tweets in my steam, and sometimes I will find a snarky comment from someone - Having Coffee - that I will retweet and then I am done. That is not to say I don't want to follow people. I have gone to great lengths to build my lists on Twitter. I add people to my lists every day, most days.

But there are a few problems. Twitter allows you to create only 20 lists. I don't get it. Why is 20 such a magic number? Why not 30? Why not 40? Or 25?

What Fascinates Me About GroupOn

Image by smemon87 via FlickrOf all the tech companies out there, the one that most fascinates me is GroupOn. It speaks to me. Its emphasis on people action, and its emphasis on words - cute emails - are really something. Of all the tech companies out there, the one that I find most inspiring in terms of what I would want to do with my microfinance startup, GroupOn stands out. You focus on a few basic human actions, and you go for it. You splurge.

I also like how fast they have grown. They were not here at all. And suddenly they are everywhere.

This blog post explains where I think group dynamics stand on the tech map: front and center.

My Web Diagram

GroupOn is the web maturing to land in the human domain, in the flesh.

Live Nation And GroupOn: That Offline Component
18 Months Ago GroupOn Did Not Exist
GroupOn's Legacy: Cute Email?
Image via WikipediaGroupOn, Zappos, And The Non Tech Components
GroupOn Did Not Launch At South By South West
GroupOn Did The Right Thing

Related articles

• Zappos founder Tony Hsieh enjoys the good life (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Why Is This Man Smiling? (nytimes.com)
• Only This Man Can Save Amazon's Wannabe Gilt Killer MyHabit (AMZN) (businessinsider.com)

The Internet Week: The Thing To Do

Image via WikipediaI think you show up less to soak up the knowledge and more to meet people. And I just discovered something that makes Internet Week look like a better deal than Social Media Week. For the most part you stick to one location. Get a 15 dollar pass, and stick to one location.

125 W. 18th Street

The Internet Week Is Mumbojumbo

Monday

Where Social and Impact Intersect: Lessons for Brands
01:00 PM — 01:50 PM
Official IWNY Ford Opening Party with music by Noisey.com
07:00 PM — 10:00 PM
OMMA's Tablet Revolution
08:00 AM — 05:00 PM
Digital Archaeology
10:00 AM — 06:00 PM
ShareThis & SMG present: Social Media Sharing
11:00 AM — 11:20 AM
VICE Speed Interviewing
11:00 AM — 11:50 AM
The Rise of the Daily Email Newsletter
11:30 AM — 12:20 PM
Facebook Marketing Best Practices
12:00 PM — 12:20 PM
Mobile Engagement 101
01:00 PM — 01:45 PM
The Neighborhood Experience (Beyond Hyper-Localization)
02:00 PM — 02:45 PM
Your Startup's Technology: The First 60 Days in Examples
02:00 PM — 02:45 PM
Social Media & Hospitality: Driving Traffic, Boosting Sales & Upping Engagements
02:30 PM — 03:00 PM
Rallying to Restore Sanity in the Digital Age
03:00 PM — 03:45 PM
The Onion’s Team of Three
04:00 PM — 04:45 PM
How to Survive Internet Week: Using Social Media to Make Offline Connections
04:00 PM — 04:45 PM