Netflix And Original Programming

Image via Wikipedia

GigaOm: For Netflix, a Risky Bet on Original Programming: Netflix is reportedly in talks to score its first original programming, bidding against cable networks like HBO for the rights to a new project called House of Cards that would star Kevin Spacey and be directed by David Fincher. ..... ected, that still put the price tag for a single series at about half the amount that Netflix has been paying for entire libraries of long-tail content ...... Instead of relying on premium cable networks like Starz and Epix to stream their on-demand content, or waiting years for popular titles to fall out of the pay TV window, Netflix bet big on a deal with indie studio Relativity Media that would give it exclusive access to the indie studio’s movies. It looks like that bet will pay off, as The Fighter, with Academy Award winners Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, will soon appear exclusively on Netflix, rather than going to one of the cable networks....... The overwhelming sentiment in Hollywood seems to be that Netflix will get the scraps that no one else wants. “What used to be called ‘reruns’ on television is now called Netflix,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes has been equally dismissive in the past, saying that he believes Netflix will be a place for low-value content that networks and studios can’t syndicate anywhere else...... One of the arguments that cable networks and distributors like to make about the effect that Netflix — and online video in general — has on the broader TV ecosystem is that by disrupting current business models, Netflix is essentially destroying the engine through which high-quality content is created. ..... could be good news for the future of what we think of as “TV programming.”

Netflix always needed to be about original programming. Netflix needed to be about indie movies. Netflix needed to release movies. As in, you make a movie, and you release it on Netflix. Like Apple has the iPhone app store, Netflix needs to become that place where you place your movies once you make them. If people watch your movies, you make money.

The idea of having to beg old movie houses to run their old movies has been weird. First of all, they don't seem to get the technology. Should be the case that business models chase technologies, but instead we have technologies on a lookout for business models.
Image via CrunchBase
Better late than ever. I am so glad Netflix is getting into original programming. This is the way it always needed to be.

More Sam Walton Than Bill Gates

My startup is a tech startup, sure. But it is first and foremost a high touch startup. Face time is key to my operations to be.

I keep thinking in terms of companies like Zappos. Zappos sells phone calls, not shoes. Customer service is key to how Zappos rolls. I also end up thinking about the offline components of companies like GroupOn.

Walmart early on became a major user of computer technology. Walmart collects so much data. Every transaction is valuable data. And you can only hope to make meaningful sense of all that data if you employ computers. So that's there.

But in microfinance, you can do all the tech trick in the parlor, but it still boils down to face time. The most precious time you will spend with your customers will be in person. Technology helps, but technology can't be front and center, that space is reserved for flesh and blood people.

Hack Of A Job

Solution: Don't use public wi-fi. Especially when you have half a million followers on Twitter. Use only secure wi-fi. Better still, carry your own. Carry one of those phones.

Ashton Kutcher's Twitter account was similarly hacked at TED. TED! Think about that. Some millionaire hacker must have did that.

Looks Like FoodSpotting Rocked Austin
Ashton Kutcher's Twitter account hacked | ZDNet

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (7)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Looks Like FoodSpotting Rocked Austin

I am most definitely going to Austin next year. It's a done deal. A startup I have been rooting for - FoodSpotting - looks like had a field day Sunday. 4,000 showing up for one event: it is called the street smart way of becoming the number one event at the Kumbh Mela of tech. Were they the number one event? I don't know. But 4,000 is a large number, no matter how you measure it.

There were so many launches and relaunches this year at SXSW, this magic number - 4,000 people - alone gives FoodSpotting an edge. They get to go home and claim this year - SXSW 2011 - was FoodSpotting's year. If those 4,000 people downloaded the app as they munched, this is going to be the year the service crosses the 2-3 million download mark. Three million would be half way to FourSquare. Two million would be on par with Instagram.

Offline Mode

I have been offline several days in a row now. Glad to be back online. Thank God for scheduled posting, I have still managed to blog daily.

I stayed away from Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Quora, AVC, Hacker News, TechMeme, Gmail, Google News, the whole nine yards. It was an experience. I missed the internet bad. But I also learned it is really important to be with people when you are with them, like really be with them. I used to be really good with it, and I am still not someone who is permanently glued to the smartphone when out and about - I take the time to smell the roses - but I still was not doing as well as I wanted to do.

I have some work cut out for me.

Time spent offline made me want to try out a phase of staying away from the usual suspect sites for a while to focus on only blogging about my startup idea. Time spent offline made me want to churn out a 100 page autobiography to feed to Amazon Kindle self publishing. Do you think people will buy? I am tempted to give it a try. I think I have a story to tell.

I am glad to be online. But staying offline several days in a row was a necessary exercise.

(Blogging live from the Apple store on 59th Street)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (6)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (5)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (4)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (3)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Speaking Invitation

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeA few days back I kinda complained about not having been invited to sit on a panel at SXSW. Well, looks like I have a speaking invitation somewhere else. I was only joking, people.

Like Mark Pincus said once, when you become successful and visible as an entrepreneur, you end up with all sorts of speaking requests, panel requests, media interview requests. Often times you have to choose between making those appearances and getting actual work done.

Well, I don't have that problem yet, just like I don't have an inbox problem either. I just have been complaining on Fred Wilson's behalf.

Notice how this email has been composed like I have a personal assistant who reads my emails for me. I don't have one of those. You can talk to me directly, that's fine.

Idea to Initial Execution

Image via Wikipedia"If you're investing in a startup at a $10 million valuation, you're not saying it's actually worth $10 million … You're saying it has a 1% chance of being worth a billion."
- Paul Graham

March 25: Stern: Entrepreneurs Exchange Summit

TechCrunch: If Execution Is What Matters, Where Does That Leave Ideas?: the process of getting a great product out there is a vital part of what constitutes innovation in the first place.

The saying that it is not the idea, it is the execution is cliche in the industry. I am going to argue to the contrary. Ideas matter. Big, unsexy companies execute all the time. When a Marco leave a Tumblr to launch an Instapaper, that is not to say he got dissatisfied with Tumblr's execution, and decided he could do a better job at it, and so he left. It was not about the execution. Tumblr's execution is the most sophisticated it has ever been. He left for the idea.

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (2)

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Apple Refuses To Get Categorized

Image via CrunchBaseInstagram Wave

TechCrunch: Before It Even Begins, Apple Wins SXSW: Apple will be opening a temporary store in downtown Austin for two weeks beginning on yes, Friday, March 11. This will be in the Scarbrough Building on Congress Avenue ...... Work began on the 5,000 square-foot space on Wednesday, and they’ll undoubtedly be working around the clock to get the space done in time. ..... to sell a metric ton of iPad 2s. ...... If there’s one thing SXSW is good for, it’s for flash mobs and hive-think. Once a few people see others with iPad 2s in their hands, everyone is going to want one. This temporary Apple Store is probably going to be the hottest venue in Austin for the week. ..... I just hope the temporary store has the rock-solid free WiFi that regular stores do.

What is Apple? Is it a PC company? Is it a post-PC company? Is it a smartphone company? Is it a hardware company? Is it a software company? Apple refuses to get categorized. In that it reminds me of Nokia.

Instagram Wave

Image by exoskeletoncabaret via Flickr

TechCrunch: Instagram Now Adding 130,000 Users Per Week: An Analysis: Since launching just six months ago, Instagram has quickly become one of the web’s top photo sharing services. The company recently passed the two million user mark and announced the launch of their API....... Instagram is currently adding 130,000 registered users per week ..... Instagram’s 2.2 million users upload 3.6 million new photos per week (or 6 photos per second) ..... 37.5 percent of registered users have never uploaded a photo ..... 5 percent of users have uploaded over 50 photos ..... 65 percent follow nobody, and only 12 percent of users follow more than 10 people .....For users who upload at least one photo, there is a 45 percent chance they will upload a photo the following week ..... Those same users have a 25 percent chance they will upload a photo 12 weeks later, representing a significantly stronger retention rate than Twitter...... If it maintains its current pace, Instagram will continue to add a million new registered users every two months. ..... 37% of Instagram’s users have never uploaded a single photo and 65% have uploaded fewer than three photos. ..... This glut of inactive users is common in free online services, as we saw in our studies of Twitter Data and Foursquare Data last year. This isn’t necessarily a lack of total engagement, as users can use the app to simply follow their friends’ photo streams. ...... over half of Instagram’s users are following exactly one other user, with another 13% not following anyone ..... the vast majority of users who follow only one other user are following the “Instagram Team” account ..... 65% of users effectively follow no one. ...... Only 12% of users are following more than 10 people. ...... 76% of those users who upload their first photo go on to upload a second, 85% of those users go on to upload a third, and so on. ...... average time between any two uploads made by a single user is 43 hours ..... With each new photo uploaded by a user, the expected time until they upload their next photo decreases. ...... 45% of users are still uploading photos in Week 2, but that number drops down to around 25% by Week 12...... users who continue to upload are uploading photos at a faster rate as time goes on. ...... users acquired during such press flashes are, on average, more likely to churn than new users who came in through other channels. We’ve seen this trend in countless other businesses.

Greplin is a sibling company to Google. Greplin is a search engine. (Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited) The Huffington Post is a content company. It is pre Google.

It has been my contention that Instagram has been a sibling company to FourSquare and Gowalla. It is a check in company. Only you are not checking into a physical space, a business establishment, but rather a moment. It has hit some kind of a sweet spot.

Music: Some Soraya Darabi Choices (1)

Fred Wilson, Soraya Darabi: Both Crazy About Music

March 25: Stern: Entrepreneurs Exchange Summit

Image via WikipediaNYU Stern Entrepreneurs Exchange
EEX Annual Entrepreneurs' Summit
Hosted by Entrepreneurs Exchange Club
When: Friday, March 25, 2011 at 4:00pm 9:00pm
Where: Kaufman Management Center, NYU Stern, Room 1-100
Ticket price: $45 (Non-Stern Ticket)

1st Annual EEX Summit

Keynote Speaker: Seth Godin

Panelists
Chris Dixon, Co-Founder - Founder Collective (SEO Is No Longer A Viable Marketing Strategy For Startups)
Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder - Reddit, Breadpig, Marketing - Hipmunk (How reddit became reddit - the biggest smallest community online)
Eric Wiesen, General Partner - RRE Ventures
Ian Sigalow, Partner - Greycroft Partners
Brian Hirsch, Managing Director & Co-Chairman - Greenhill SAVP
Charlie O'Donnell, Principal - First Round Capital
Jason Finger, Founder - Seamless Web
Idan Cohen, Co-Founder & VP Product - Boxee
Sam Hamadeh, Founder - Vault
Soraya Darabi, Co-Founder & VP Business Development - Foodspotting
Jen Fleis, Founder - Rent the Runway
Mike Yavonditte, Founder, CEO - Hashable
Vin Vacanti, Founder - Yipit
Jesse Hertzberg, SVP Business Development - SquareSpace (former VP Operations & Business Development at Etsy)
Peter Shankman, Founder & CEO - HARO
Sean Black, Founder & CEO - SalesCrunch
Giff Constable, Co-Founder & CEO - Aprizi
Seth Berkowitz, Founder - Insomnia Cookies

Sleep More Important Than Food: But I Knew That

Image via WikipediaI have instinctively known these things. I am a good sleeper. Thanks for the confirmation. I am actually way up there with the violinists.

Harvard Business Review: Sleep is More Important than Food: When researchers put test subjects in environments without clocks or windows and ask them to sleep any time they feel tired, 95 percent sleep between seven and eight hours out of every 24. Another 2.5 percent sleep more than eight hours. That means just 2.5 percent of us require less than 7 hours of sleep a night to feel fully rested. That's 1 out of every 40 people. ...... When I ask people in my talks how many had fewer than 7 hours of sleep several nights during the past week, the vast majority raise their hands. ...... We've literally lost touch with what it feels like to be fully awake. ...... In Anders Ericcson's famous study of violinists, the top performers slept an average of 8 ½ hours out of every 24, including a 20 to 30 minute midafternoon nap some 2 hours a day more than the average American. ...... The top violinists also reported that except for practice itself, sleep was second most important factor in improving as violinists. ...... I go to great lengths to assure that I get at least 8 hours every night, and ideally between 8 ½ and 9, even when I'm traveling. ...... the overnight "redeye" from California to New York, but I'm asleep by takeoff — even if takes an Ambien. When I get home at 6 or 7 a.m., I go right to bed until I've had my 8 hours. What I've learned about those days is that I'd rather work at 100 percent for 5 or 6 hours, than at 60 percent for 8 or 9 hours. ..... Go to bed earlier — and at a set time. ..... Start winding down at least 45 minutes before you turn out the light. You won't fall asleep if you're all wound up from answering email, or doing other work. Create a ritual around drinking a cup of herbal tea, or listening to music that helps you relax, or reading a dull book. ...... Write down what's on your mind — especially unfinished to-do's and unresolved issues — just before you go to bed.

Zite: A Challenge To The Social Paradigm

Image via CrunchBaseMaybe social is like search. It is yesterday. The next wave is that of personalization. Search will stay. Social will stay. Both will stick around. In big ways. But perhaps the next wave in innovation is personalization. What if your service figures out ways to know you really, really well?

Food/Social = Physics, Coding = Mathematics
Amit Kapur Might Be Upto Something
Social Is A Pendulum Swing
The Next Big Thing In Social Networking

That would make room for all sorts of services that portend to be the Pandora of this, the Pandora of that.

2015: A Mobile Tech Company Will Storm The Room
2011-2015: A Mobile Stretch

Elbow: With Love

(Via David Noel)

HTML 5 And The Small Screen

I am a browser bigot. I have been suspicious of the native apps on the smartphones. They have always felt ad hoc and temporary to me. They have been like mosquitoes to the swamp. You drain away the swamp and the mosquitoes are gone. You make universal wireless broadband a reality and the native apps are gone.

I Am A Browser Bigot
The Browser Will Rule The Mobile Web As Well
A Boxee Browser
Mac App Store: Bullshit
Tim Berners-Lee: Long Live the Web
Fred Wilson On Android And HTML5

Dave McClure: Fighting Words For The Angel List

If you follow tech in the blogosphere, it is hard to miss out on Dave McClure. I read this blog post of his the day it came out, but only today found out he was one of the people behind something called the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network. This guy is of interest. I have been meaning to comment on his post about The Angle List.

The Angel List Controversy, Fred's Marketing Controversy

Dennis Crowley: Mayor Of Mars?

(Via TechCrunch)

This South By South West Thing

Image by David Berkowitz via FlickrI have to admit, it has started to tug at me a little. I just looked up and found out it starts on March 11. That's Friday.

Okay, Ron Rofe, put in the first 10K. Send me to South By South West. All I would need is a two way plane ticket. How would I do that? I have never bought a plane ticket in America. How would I go from the airport to downtown? I don't think the A train works there. Where would I stay? I guess by now it's too late to be making hotel reservations. If it is warm enough, I could sleep anywhere. I could sleep by the roadside.

I actually sent emails to three people I know. One bounced back. Another did not respond. The third said he was in San Antonio. Maybe somebody who already has hotel reservations will let me squeeze in. I don't need a mattress, no blanket. But I do sleep. I am one of those seven, eight hours kind.

Two AVC MeetUps Two Days In A Row

Image by placenamehere via FlickrAVC MeetUp Tomorrow

I thought I was headed to an AVC MeetUp tonight. I thought so yesterday. I still think so. But then I have an email this morning about an AVC MeetUp that is scheduled for a different day - tomorrow - and a different venue, although still near Union Square.

I did some digging. I have come to find out there are two AVC MeetUps two days in a row, and I don't think Fred Wilson is coming to either of them, which I believe is fine. The guy puts plenty of time churning out blog posts, and reading every single comment left at his blog.

So here's the update.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 7:00 PM

Olives @ W Hotel - Union Square
201 Park Ave. South
(@ 17th St.)
Gramercy

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 8:00 PM

Smyth Tribeca
85 W Broadway (Chambers St 1/2/3)
New York, NY 10007

Things Organized Neatly

(Source: Things Organized Neatly)

Michell Zappa: Envisioning Technology

Source

Vivek Kundra: Chief Information Officer of the United States

Tumblr Explore

Image by Julia Roy via FlickrThe new Explore feature on Tumblr has been a major time suck. A few days back I started following the tags animals, landscape and tech. Major time suck. So much so I started to ignore the 100 or so people I have been following on Tumblr.

David Noel created a list of techies and VCs a long time ago, and I think I ended up following pretty much everyone on the list. That is what got me started on Tumblr in the first place.

Like David Noel?

Today I started following the tag food, Amy Cao of FoodSpotting is the Top Editor. It's amazing what pictures of food can do to you. No, not make you hungry, that is not what I had in mind. It is the aesthetics of the appreciation.

AVC MeetUp Tomorrow

I think I RSVPd for the AVC MeetUp last week. I am going. It's tomorrow. Fred Wilson might or might not be there. The venue has to be right for him to show up. The MeetUp has to have its own separate space, perhaps the basement, perhaps a room. You can't just host it at an open bar where 20 different crowds are mixing up with each other and expect Fred Wilson to show up.

Sally Shapiro: He Keeps Me Alive

(Via Soraya Darabi)

The Raveonettes: Forget That You’re Young

(Via Fred Wilson)

Rich Kids

Cover of Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray]I have taken to dropping by Hacker News near daily after Fred Wilson made the point a few days ago. Today I came across this blog post.

Michael Church: Yes, rich kids already won the career game. Here’s why.: Americans like to believe that the modern workplace, like school, is a meritocracy........ Americans prefer to believe that, among those who do work, side-by-side in the same environment, it’s a fair competition. To their chagrin, they observe that their co-workers from wealthy backgrounds advance three times as fast ..... People in offices are out for themselves, not trying to preserve (or to combat) the social status quo. Rather, this is a subconscious and irresistible force, and it comes from one root cause: rich kids don’t fear the boss. ...... The middle-class kid spends the bulk of his time trying not to offend, not to behave in a way that might jeopardize the job he worked so hard to get and could not easily replace if he lost it. He doesn’t invite himself to meetings, avoids contact with high-ranking executives, and doesn’t offer suggestions when in meetings. Thanks to the fear he experiences on a daily basis, he’s seen as “socially awkward” and “mousy” by higher-ups. Nothing recommends him, and he will not advance. ...... Middle-class kids generally fuck up their first few years of the career game in one of two ways. Either they fear authority tremendously, which is crippling from a career perspective and renders them devoid of creative energy, or they show an open distaste for managerial authority, described by the wealthy as having a proletarian “chip” on one’s shoulder, and fail to advance on account of the dislike they thus inspire. ..... The rich kid, on the other hand, relates even to the highest-ranking executives as equals, because he knows that they are his social equals. He’ll answer to them, but with an understanding that his subordination is limited and offered in exchange for mentoring and protection. He views them as partners and colleagues, not judges or potential adversaries. Perhaps this is counterintuitive, but most of his bosses like this. (Most bosses aren’t assholes and don’t like to be feared, at all. In fact, they’d be happy to forget that they are bosses.) His career advances fast. ......He’s neither a cowering weakling
Image via Wikipediawho crumbles at the sight of authority, nor an obnoxious brat whose sense of entitlement and dislike for managerial authority limit his progress prematurely. He respects others and himself and has an uncanny air of effortless “coolness” (by which I mean freedom from anxiety) that enables him to actually get things done. ....... the majority of rich kids who are well-behaved and decent are valued more highly when their circumstances are discovered. ...... This advantage held by the wealthy, more prominent on the East Coast and outside of technology, is nearly impossible to compete against in most companies. ....... I would advise those who are sufficiently talented to work in technology, which tends to be more meritocratic than other industries, and to avoid old-style business. Beyond that, I know of no solution.

I found this blog post amusing. I am someone who has never had a "job." You know, where you show up eight in the morning wearing a tie? I have never done that. I did note the ode to the technology sector. In a startup, it is not about if you are rich, it is about if you are hungry. For me rich and poor is a global thing. For me it is about dollar a day people and self made billionaires.

Facebook Comments: First Impressions

Image via CrunchBaseI got excited about Facebook Comments right away, long before it got rolled out. I am very much for using real names with comments. When you leave a comment at my blog, I want the option to be able to click over to your Facebook profile if I want to. I want you to stand by what you have to say. I want to meet real people. To me that's the whole point behind the internet, that geography is irrelevant. The blogosphere's appeal is that it allows for a meeting of minds. Facebook Comments takes that to a whole new level. It is more than meeting of minds, it is also meeting real people.

Farmville's Got Competition

Image by haikugirlOz via Flickr

ReadWriteWeb: Look Out Farmville: Angry Birds is Coming to Facebook: The game - in which you fling a variety of birds at things in hopes of knocking them over - is a complete blockbuster with more than 75 million downloads. Several different gaming blogs have reported that Angry Birds' creator, Rovio, has told Wired UK that it is working on a social reinvention of the game for Facebook...... Will Angry Birds take over as the number one game on Facebook? Can it compete with the crack-like qualities of games like Farmville and Cityville?

I'd be curious to know as to how the game reinvents itself for the Facebook platform. I do think they are capable of giving Farmville some serious competition.

Identity And Collective Identities

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeOne of the highlights of Obama 08 for me was this conversation I had with Barack's sister Maya at the downtown Manhattan headquarters late in 2007. I talked to her about a very personal connection I felt with the guy. I asked her about her name. It is an Indian name, Maya, I said.

It was Maya who articulated it for me. She said, "He walks between worlds." That captured it for me. It was then I realized why I connect with the guy so very personally.

Barack Obama walks between worlds.

Chaiyya Chaiyya

Prabhu Deva: Muqabala Muqabala

SXSW: Not Going

Image via WikipediaI was on the phone with a friend earlier in the day. She is going to South By South West for the first time and she is excited. SXSW is in the air.

I have never bought a plane ticket in America. I guess she was trying to convince me to come along. I guess it is too late to sign up for panels and things. But you can go to the parties in the evenings, she said. They are free.

I get the impression South By South West is the Kumbh Mela of tech. More than 10,000 people show up. From all over the country.

Maybe next year. This year it's a pass.

Sean Parker, Billionaire, Was Really Poor Once

“You have got to be willing to be poor [as an entrepreneur]. There was a time when I was living out of a single suitcase. I had a rule that I wouldn’t stay on one person’s couch for more than two weeks because I didn’t want to become a bother.” - Sean Parker

Blogging Works Wonders: Here's An Example

Image by Newton Free Library via FlickrSo I put out this blog post yesterday. Yes-ter-day.

Very Much Would Like To Go Into Bihar

And someone left a comment a few minutes back. Here's a team that is already doing microfinance in the part of the world that is of greatest interest to me: Mithilanchal in Bihar. Mithilanchal is two words, just like Paramendra is two words. Mithila + Anchal (Zone) = Mithilanchal. Param (The Great) + Indra (King of all the 300 million gods and goddesses in the Hindu mythology) = Paramendra.

GroupOn, Zappos, And The Non Tech Components

Image by David Berkowitz via FlickrGroupOn Did Not Launch At South By South West

I dig these two companies for their emphasis on non tech components. Zappos does not sell shoes, it sells phone calls. The emphasis is on customer service. Tony has told his people, talk to the customers for as long as they will talk to you.

GroupOn has boots on the ground. That army of sales people is integral to how GroupOn rolls.

GroupOn Did Not Launch At South By South West

Image via WikipediaGroupOn has grown like crazy. But it was not launched at South By South West. And I have an observation to make.

GroupOn has this very clear offline component to it. It has hired thousands of sales people. And its customer base is your very average person, the Walmart types. They want to save money. They want to save money on haircuts.

That is why you do not hear GroupOn and South By South West in one sentence. I never have. Because GroupOn's early adopters were not the kind of people who end up at South By South West.

Overall I feel good about South By South West. But I also have a word of caution for the crowd. You don't want to end up in some kind of an echo chamber where you are only hearing each other. It is possible to collect too many business cards. What are you going to do with them? Networking is a good thing overall, but too many business cards can also mean a lack of focus.

Like the Kayak.com CEO likes to say, I don't go to events.

A Life Of Poverty

Image via WikipediaI have had my double cheese burger super sized. It was like a six month disappearance - they had Wael Ghonim disappear for 12 days in Egypt, they had me disappear for six months in America, cost me two major victory parties, I guess it is a bigger deal to put a black man into a White (WHITE) House than it is to kick an Arab out - plus the Great Recession - all my investors walked away - plus the Great Immigration Humiliation. But I have not so much as flinched.

Bundling Investors

Image via CrunchBaseFacebook not going IPO is real bad news for the average investors, people who might buy 10 or 20 stocks at $100 each. The growth in wealth that Facebook might see as it moves from a $10 billion valuation to a $50 billion valuation and beyond, all that is going to rich individuals and institutions. If Facebook had gone IPO at a billion dollar valuation, the 50 billion in wealth creation might have gone to average people.

Mobile Phone Banking: Major Boon To The Last Mile Of Microfinance

Image via WikipediaOf all the technologies that I see that can be put to use for microfinance - and I see a lot - the one that most stands out is mobile phone banking, the m-Pesa kind like has spread like wildfire across Kenya.

It is because the last mile is the most complex in the business. And mobile phone banking comes across as this gold standard that can help cut through the thick of all sorts of social, cultural, and bureaucratic issues. This is a case of simple technology beating human flailings to the dust.

Mobile phone banking reduces banking to simple transactions. You do it one simple transaction at a time. And the chips fall in place just fine. Mobile phone banking is like a machete with which you cut through the green thicks as you wade through a tropical forest.

The mobile phone is in a unique position to deliver all sorts of other goodies that will help transform the business. This decade belongs to the mobile phone.

Chris Dixon Is In The Big Leagues Now

Chris Dixon Just Impressed Me Like Never Before
Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook
Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited

EatUps Don't Seem To Have A Monthly Rhythm

Image via CrunchBaseToday has been my day for New York City, for Microfinance, for Greplin.

Chris Dixon Just Impressed Me Like Never Before
Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook
Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited
Very Much Would Like To Go Into Bihar
Some Serious Biking
TED Talks: Wael Ghonim, Bill Gates
Passion For Microfinance, Passion For Social Media
Walking/Running: Putting One Foot After The Other
Love Is A Symbol
Going High Tech: Selfish Reasons
Microfinance Alone Can't Cure Poverty
Focus, Focus, Focus
I Love This City

But last night I was at the First FoodSpotting First Friday. I was surprised by how many people showed up. At one point I counted 31 people.

Chris Dixon Just Impressed Me Like Never Before

Image by Zach Klein via FlickrFor Chris Dixon to have been an early investor in Greplin, I mean I am mighty impressed. You have to have been party of some kind of an inner circle, you have to have earned your way to being part of that inner circle. Being part of that inner circle was not enough. I mean, the Y Combinator companies present in front of lots and lots of angels and investors. To be able to spot Greplin for the winner that it is, early on, I mean, I am impressed.

Take this for a compliment Dixon. You are even more impressive than I already thought you were. You just earned your Super Angel title in my world. Super Angels pay super attention to the really, really early stage companies. They go straight to the source. They put their ears to the ground. And then listen. For the horse hooves.

Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook
Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited

Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook

My number one gripe with both Twitter and Facebook - services I love - has been that - fuck it - I can't even search through all of my own tweets, I can't even search through my own Facebook wall.

Looks like they both needed an outside party to come along and take care of the problem. Daniel Gross, you are a billionaire for doing this.

Greplin



Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited