» Solving the Peter Principle? One Word: "Darts"
03/07/09 23:19 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
There is a fun new working paper out from some Italian scientists that models the Peter Principle. The principle says, of course, that people climb in an organization until they reach their level of maximum incompetence. How would that hap..
» When is a Failure Not a Failure? When It's an Iraq Oil Auction
03/07/09 23:00 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
The failed Iraq oilfield auctions this week have become a litmus test for Iraq, for oil analysts and for the ever-nervous global oil market. Iraqi officials refuse to see the disappearance of most bidders and the completion of only auction..
» QOTD: Sampling the Future
03/07/09 22:05 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
The following innocuous sampling theory comment from Andy Gelman set me thinking in a bunch of dimensions today. The question had to with how to handle statistical analysis when your sample population is the entire population, and Andy's a..
» Farmworkers: Go to New York City, Young Man
03/07/09 21:59 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
I've been messing about with this tool that tries to compare supply and demand for various jobs by geography throughout the U.S. You have to be careful how you interpret it, as the following chart suggesting farmworkers (and animals (sic.)..
» Watching People Come of Age
03/07/09 21:38 from Feld Thoughts
One of the most satisfying parts of what I do is getting to work with people over a long period of time, starting early in their careers. It’s one of the things I love about TechStars , but it’s not limited to that as I have many oth..
» Wells Fargo Gives California July 10 Drop-Dead Date
03/07/09 20:50 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Nice to have a firm date for when California must have a budget and stop shopping IOUs. Here is Wells Fargo from a release yesterday: Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) said today it will accept registered warrants issued by the State of Cal..
» Gnip Is Hiring Software Developers
03/07/09 16:07 from Feld Thoughts
Yesterday I posted that Trada is looking for a Test Engineer . Gnip is also looking for software developers – three in fact: Senior Software Developer Senior System Adminstrator Senior Web Developer If you are Boulder-based and fit t..
» HeyZap's Looking For A Strong Software Engineer In SF
03/07/09 13:04 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
Our newest portfolio company, HeyZap , is looking for the fourth member of their team . HeyZap is a platform for game developers to get wide viral distribution for their flash games and monetize them. They are looking for: a talented engin..
» Trada is Hiring for a Test Engineer + Support
03/07/09 04:34 from Feld Thoughts
Trada, one of our portfolio companies in Boulder, is looking to hire. They’re looking for a tech-skilled individual who thinks they can do just about everything, because they might be asked to. Primary role is testing their online ad..
» The Unbearable Stupidity of Some Patents
02/07/09 23:17 from Feld Thoughts
If I told you that I had just filed a patent for “a system to sell equity in domain names”, I’d expect you to laugh at me. I haven’t ranted and raved against software (and business method) patents for a while because I got bored of d..
» Readings
02/07/09 20:16 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
There is some good stuff in the current issue of Foreign Policy: Thing again about Asia’s inevitable rise ( Source ) The end of finance is the end of macho ( Source ) The 2009 Failed States Index ( Source ) The collapse of the Baltic state..
» Venture Capitalists are Best Kept at a Distance
02/07/09 20:05 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
There is amusing (in an admittedly academic sense) new paper out seemingly showing that venture capitalists obtain a significant portion of their performance by investing in deals outside their local area. That, of course, runs contrary to..
» Hacker News and the NoSQL Movement
02/07/09 10:44 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
I love Hacker News (aka news.ycombinator.com). I read it at least once a day and it sends this blog more traffic than anything other than Google and Twitter. This is the refer log for AVC for the past month. But like every great web servic..
» Make Me Happy – There’s An App for That
02/07/09 00:06 from Feld Thoughts
I’ve been a delighted iPhone user since they upgraded the software to have mail / contact / calendar sync with Exchange. With the 3.0 version of the software, I’m even more delighted. I’ve had an iPhone 3GS since the day they c..
» Happy Canada Day
01/07/09 17:57 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
On a personal note, Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and family.
» Balancing California’s Budget: The Home Game
01/07/09 17:54 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Think you can balance California’s budget and save the nation’s largest state from issuing IOUs starting tomorrow? The L.A. Times has up an interactive graphic whereby you can try to balance California’s budget, albeit in broad-brush form...
» U.S. Carbon Emission Declines: Recessions Beat Cap-and-Trade
01/07/09 17:35 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Given the year-over-year economy-induced decline was saw last year in U.S. carbon emissions, maybe we should gun for a longer and deeper recession/depression. It would certainly outpace anything we’re likely to get from cap-and-trade and a..
» Debt, Class Warfare and Entrepreneurship
01/07/09 17:23 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
There is an uneasy relationship among debt, democracy and capitalism, as a new FT column ably makes clear. Here are some excerpts, starting with why debt in the U.S. has passed the levels of the Depression: The answer is capitalism’s dirty..
» Economic Imbalances, 101
01/07/09 17:15 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Great (wonkish) post by Brad Setser up putting U.S. economic imbalances in historical context, as well as explaining, in graphical form, the latest twists and turns. Highly worth reading. More here .
» Steven Chu on Energy Research: Very Nervous Times
01/07/09 17:08 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
White House Energy point man Steven Chu’s talk at MIT is worth watching. He rightly calls this “very nervous times” in the world of energy research, with innovation rabbits required, but none showing up in a timely way.
» More Samuelson
01/07/09 17:00 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
A few more quotable quotes from that new interview with 94-year-old economist Paul Samuelson: On Greg Mankiw and Ben Bernanke The 1980s trained macroeconomics -- like Greg Mankiw and Ben Bernanke and so forth -- became a very complacent gr..
» Newsflash: Economic History Matters
01/07/09 16:54 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Gosh, here is a surprise: Economist history matters. From an interview in The Atlantic with Paul Samuelson: Q: Very last thing. What would you say to someone starting graduate study in economics? Where do you think the big developments in ..
» TechStars TV: The Founders: Episode 5
01/07/09 12:44 from Feld Thoughts
If you need / want your weekly view into the world of TechStars Boulder, following is The Founders: Episode 5: Engaging Mentors . This week’s episode includes guest appearances from some of my closest friends, including Seth Levine , Jason..
» Lessons from Joost
01/07/09 11:53 from BeyondVC
I am not going to rehash Om Malik's excellent summary of "What went wrong with Joost" but I did want to dive deeper into a few points. As I have always said, raising too much money can be a curse and not a blessing . Here is an excerpt f..
» A Shorter Post Than I Planned
01/07/09 11:20 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
I just spent a half hour composing a longish thoughtful post on the art of saying no in the venture capital business. It was inspired by Brad Feld's post on the same topic a few days ago. However, when I hit save, Typepad forced me to re-l..
» The Hajj in 3 Minutes
01/07/09 04:36 from VC Adventure
In case you don’t have 12 hours to actually do the Colorado Hajj yourself, Walker has conveniently condensed the trip into a ~3 minute video. Enjoy!
» The SEC Has Got Your Back, the Bernie Madoff Edition
30/06/09 18:22 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
From a June 16, 2009 SEC release : Pursuant to Section 15(b)(6) of the Exchange Act and Section 203(f) of the Advisers Act, that Respondent Madoff be, and hereby is barred from association with any broker, dealer, or investment adviser. Go..
» QOTD: Beware of Waggling Bankers
30/06/09 18:15 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
There is a long tradition of bankers and regulators waggling their fingers at their fallen brethren in other countries and suggesting that their own practices are much better and should have been more widely copied -- just before they find..
» Malcolm Gladwell vs. Chris Anderson: Damn Technology Utopians
30/06/09 17:43 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
It’s always fun when one popular idea popularizer goes after another popular idea popularizer. This time we have Malcolm “Tipping Point” Gladwell writing critically about Chris “Free” Anderson in the current New Yorker . Read the whole thi..
» What VCs Are Worrying About
30/06/09 10:54 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
A survey of VCs by Polachi Inc. has been making the rounds of the internet the past couple days. I was asked to participate in this survey but did not (not for any reason in particular). I looked over the results (click on that link above ..
» Venture capital is dead! Long live venture capital!
30/06/09 04:37 from VC Adventure
Dan Primack sited a study on PE Hub today that found that over 50% of VC professionals believe that the VC industry is “broken”. My response: WHO CARES? Seriously. It seems like the venture industry these days spends more time lament..
» Sounds of silence
30/06/09 04:27 from VC Adventure
Years ago I wrote a post about M&A negotiations in which I stressed the importance of using listening in the negotiation process. Last week I was talking about the importance of listening with Micah (not in the context of M&A – just in the..
» How To Be Skinnier
29/06/09 19:14 from Feld Thoughts
As my endless effort to become skinnier continues, I carefully read Ian Rogers post “…look at me I’m skinny…” Diet, exercise, nature, and nurture . I’ve enjoyed getting to know Ian through our investment in Topspin and have had sever..
» Kaguya Spacecraft Crashes into the Moon
29/06/09 13:49 from Feld Thoughts
I was pondering what a tiny part of the universe we are on my ride this morning into Boulder from Keystone. The first hour of my drive was extraordinary as the sun came up over the Rocky Mountains and I cruised down I-70 at a high ra..
» Exports as a Percentage of GDP, Hither and Yon
29/06/09 05:34 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
In an otherwise only semi-interesting WSJ piece about Germany's struggle in reviving its export-led economy -- exports have tumbled, German consumers don't consume, and Germany hasn't engineered anything truly new since the 1960s -- there ..
» China's Dependency Ratio: As Good As It Gets
29/06/09 03:38 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Great chart reinforcing a point here I made some time ago about the implications of China's looming senility bubble, with the population set to age faster than any country in modern memory. Check where we are in China's trending dependency..
» Things We Can Learn From Sports TV
29/06/09 03:09 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Would anyone argue that professional sports on TV isn't generally improved by having former pro athletes as commentators? Take, for example, the case of John McEnroe, whose commentary on tennis is wonderful, or even Johnny Miller, whose go..
» The Trouble with U.S. Healthcare? Too Many Optimists
29/06/09 02:58 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
I've said something like the following before, but never so succinctly: The trouble with health care in America, says Muriel Gillick, a geriatrics expert at Harvard Medical School, is that people want to believe that “there is always a fix..
» The Mambo Bond Kings Play Songs of Yield
28/06/09 23:13 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
This is a funky animation of the U.S. yield curve swap spreads across various durations over the last few years. I dig the music. [via Nick Gogerty ]
» Skidelsky on the Dollar and Fixing Global Finance
28/06/09 20:26 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Columnist Martin Wolf's latest book on global financial markets -- Fixing Global Finance -- gets a close look from Robert Skidelsky in the current issue of the New York Review of Books. Like me, Skidelsky (the author of a magisterial Keyne..
» More Weekend Reading
28/06/09 20:11 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
A few links from my weekly Weekend Reading column: Goldman Sachs as global economic hazard ( Rolling Stone ) Want Deposits? It Will Cost You ( IDD ) London prepares for a bumper year of IPOs ( Times Online ) Why so many green jobs are spro..
» Saying No In Less Than 60 Seconds
28/06/09 17:00 from Feld Thoughts
I say “no” all the time. I could start keeping track of the number of times I do it a day , but I’d guess it’s a minimum of 10 and occasionally over 50 times a day. When I type that, my first reaction is “no way, there’s no pos..
» The Conversational Marketing Summit Interview
28/06/09 16:47 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
A few weeks ago, my friend John Battelle invited me to open the Conversational Marketing Summit with an interview. I've known John for over a decade and we backed him as CEO of The Industry Standard back in the Flatiron days. It was a fun ..
» QOTD: Renewables Investing Passed Fossil Fuels in 2008
28/06/09 04:35 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
You can take this as further evidence of economic derangement in 2008, or of an energy transition inflection point, or something screwy because of oil’s roller-coaster, or even just a back-door sign of outsized stimulus, but this quote fro..
» Why Do Indians Hate Grey Cars (and Black Ones Too)?
28/06/09 01:17 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
There is chart in the FT comparing the popularity of car colors around the world. For the most part everyone dislikes the same colors – brown, yellow, green and pink – but there are some discrepancies. For example, North American and Europ..
» Why Do Indians Hate Grey Cars (and Black Ones Too)?
27/06/09 19:34 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
There is chart in the FT comparing the popularity of car colors around the world. For the most part everyone dislikes the same colors – brown, yellow, green and pink – but there are some discrepancies. For example, North American and Europ..
» Paul Romer on Technology and History
27/06/09 19:22 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Good talk by economist Paul Romer on technology and history:
» Weekend Reading: Placeboes, Drought, Running, etc.
27/06/09 01:05 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Four articles I've been mulling and that are worth reading this weekend: How Drought Promotes Entrepreneurship ( Aguanomics ) Surprising and brief bursts of human innovation 70,000 years ago ( American Scientist ) The fastest runner ..
» Most Expensive Real Estate Markets in the World
26/06/09 22:33 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
New eye-opening chart showing the incredible prices for residential (!) real estate in the top ten markets around the world. I'm sure that will work out just fine. Right? [via REIDIN ]
» The Black Swan of Savings
26/06/09 22:24 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
People love to talk about outlier events as black swans, pace Nassim Taleb, but they tend to fixate on negative ones. Check the (mostly) positive black swan in the U.S. savings rate, with May personal savings rate touching 6.9% (according ..
» China to Hummer: Too Wasteful
26/06/09 21:41 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
This is one of those stories that remind you the mirror world we currently live in. A Chinese regulator is apparently set to kibosh a domestic bid for U.S.-based, gas-guzzling, Smart-car-crushing Hummer. So much for the idea that the Chine..
» This is the Way the World Ends, Not With a Bang, But with The Simpsons
26/06/09 21:31 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
You had to know it would be The Simpsons that did in TV. According to a story on Bloomberg, advertising rates on top shows like The Simpsons on Hulu now outpace the ad rates that the same shows gets on that flat-panel thing in the living r..
» Do VCs Take The Summer Off? Entrepreneurs Say Yes. The Data Says No.
26/06/09 14:53 from Seeing Both Sides
With the 4th of July approaching, the unofficial summer is about to begin. In almost every board meeting with portfolio companies and other entrepreneurs who are raising money, I'm hearing the same refrain: "The VCs are about to shut dow..
» Gigaton Throwdown
26/06/09 13:04 from Cleantech Investing
Cleantech investor Sunil Paul doesn't just invest his time and effort into startups, he and a lot of volunteers have also now launched the "Gigaton Throwdown" , an effort to answer a huge question: What would it take to reduce CO2e emissio..
» Aggregate, Curate, Publish To Create Local Media
26/06/09 10:53 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
If I was starting The Village Voice today, I would not print anything. I would not hire a ton of writers. I would build a website and a mobile app (or two or three). I would hire a Publisher and a few salespeople. I would hire an editor an..
» Bookend Your Dream
26/06/09 04:02 from VCball
As my friends and colleagues know, there are few times I am truly speechless. One is when the SEC orders it to be so during a "quiet period". The other is when I remember why I got into this entrepreneur backing VC business in the first ..
» Denver to the top of Mt. Evans take II
26/06/09 00:21 from VC Adventure
Last year was my first joining Walker on his annual "Colorado Hajj" trip riding from the state capital building in Downtown Denver to the top of Mt. Evans (a 14,000ft mountain west of town) and back. It's a pretty insane ride, but extremel..
» Sarychev Peak Volcano in Stereo
25/06/09 13:08 from Feld Thoughts
The web (and the universe) is an amazing place. My sister-in-law Laura turned me on NASA’s “Astronomy Picture of the Day” website. I bookmarked it and put it in my Daily folder so I get a cool new picture from NASA every day. W..
» California Eight Days From IOUs
25/06/09 01:40 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
From Bond Buyer: Unless lawmakers act quickly to solve the state’s budget and cash crises, California is eight days away from issuing IOUs to many of its creditors, state Controller John Chiang announced this morning. Without such action, ..
» The Seven Habits of Highly Suspicious Hedge Funds
24/06/09 22:42 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
From Rick Bookstaber, the Seven Habits of Highly Suspicious Hedge Funds: No independent risk reporting A change for the worse in the critical risk numbers Increased use of derivatives High level of secrecy Growth in headcount and lifestyle..
» The Green Revolution and Iran
24/06/09 21:36 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Good Tom Friedman column on the right way to depose the bearded old men in Iran: Lessening our dependence on oil. In a 2006 speech entitled “The Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia,” Yegor Gaidar, a deputy prime minister of Ru..
» Three Oil/Energy Graphs That Made Me Go, "Hmmmm"
24/06/09 21:29 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
[via The Oil Drum ] [via Goldman Sachs] [via Goldman Sachs]
» Financial Filing Follies: Dead Frogs Edition
24/06/09 19:48 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
From Expeditors International of Washington’s Form 8-K filed June 23, 2009: When you come from a frame of reference, as we do, where $0 spent on legal expense would be the most preferred alternative, having to predict anything beyond that,..
» Readings
24/06/09 19:25 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Behavioral finance redux, including an interview with Richard Thaler ( CBC ) Graphing real-time foreclosure data: Data Mashups in R ( Revolutions ) The Net Hubbert Curve: What Does It Mean? ( TOD ) Missing Governor Was in Argentina ( WSJ )..
» Boxee App Dev Challenge Winners
24/06/09 09:37 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
As a follow up to my post last night about the big Boxee announcement , here are the winners of the App Dev Challenge that were announced last night: Video Winners: Popular Choice - BBC Live (Ian Tweedie) ..
» TechStars Episode 4: Skills & Persistence
24/06/09 05:59 from Feld Thoughts
Episode 4 of The Founders: TechStars Boulder is up on the web. This week’s episode includes a special guest appearance from Greg Cohn at Yahoo, a poker party with KKO , thoughts on why startups play poker while big companies play che..
» A Bunch Of New Stuff From Boxee
24/06/09 02:30 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
Image via CrunchBase Our portfolio company Boxee is announcing a bunch of new stuff tonight (Tues night) in San Francisco. I blogged about this event last week and I hope some of you were able to attend as I could not. Here's some of the h..
» Readings
23/06/09 21:22 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Demand: The other side of the oil coin ( Calgary Herald ) Email patterns can predict impending doom in corporations ( New Scientist ) Cardiac events during sport on TV ( SoS ) The best ever Clarkson,Hammond and May Quotes ( FinalGear ) Cre..
» Foggy
23/06/09 19:26 from VC Adventure
Clear announced last night that they had shut down. The note on their website says the following: Clear Lanes Are No Longer Available. At 11:00 p.m. PST on June 22, 2009, Clear will cease operations. Clear's parent company, Verified..
» Deep Calm
23/06/09 12:04 from Feld Thoughts
I’m sitting in the early dawn light in a cabin in Tabernash, Colorado drinking a cup of coffee and getting ready to go for a run in the mountains. I’ve just spent the last 18 hours with my Foundry Group partners at our quarterly retr..
» Need Some 15 and 30 Second Spots? Hire Your User Base.
23/06/09 09:53 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
Our portfolio company Etsy has set aside $10,000 to produce some video spots promoting Etsy. That doesn't sound like very much money and it isn't. But they are not spending it with agencies and production companies. They've started the Ets..
» What Has the World Bank or IMF Ever Gotten Right?
23/06/09 08:07 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
I ask this question in all seriousness: What non-trivial has the World Bank or IMF ever gotten right in their respective forecasts about global financial markets? Assuming we can't come up with anything, it's worth wondering, is it not, wh..
» China vs the U.S.: The Two "C"s
23/06/09 07:52 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Some interesting comments from Atlantic writer/editor James Fallows on his return from living in China. Here are his first impressions, which can be reduced to the two "C"s: cellphones and clean air. Even in a downturn -- and, yes, in Wash..
» News from 1930 -- Yes, That 1930
23/06/09 01:13 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
This is an interesting idea (and apologies if I'm late to it): Someone is writing a regular blog summarizing the economic and market news from today's date in 1930 in the Wall Street Journal. For example, here is a recent post with a quote..
» Word of the Day: Verschlimmbessern
23/06/09 01:02 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Today's Word of the Day: verschlimmbessern (German) vt insep to make worse, to disimprove
» Say Everything: How Blogging Began
22/06/09 23:01 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
I just finished reading an advance copy of Scott Rosenberg's new book on the history of blogging, called, appropriately enough, Say Everything . It is excellent, and I'm not just saying that because I made the index with my long-ago foray ..
» Burning Down the House: Wildfire Dynamics
22/06/09 22:35 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Most people have an over-simple idea of how wildfires burn into urban areas. To this way of looking at it, fires cross open land -- whether treed or scrub -- making their way forward as a so-called "flaming front". If such an advancing fro..
» Widgetbox Hits 100m Uniques
22/06/09 15:40 from Will Price
Widgetbox recently hit an important milestone - 100m monthly uniques as measured by Quantcast. To put 100m into perspective, Widgetbox is now the web's 19th largest network. It is tremendously rewarding to work on a technology platform that..
» OpenPogo – Hacking Your Pogoplug
22/06/09 12:19 from Feld Thoughts
Last night I sent the Puttermans (the co-founders of Cloud Engines – the makers of Pogoplug ) a note with a few ideas about features I’d like to see in the product. Included were requests for drop-dead simple integration with a few o..
» Michael Lewis on Charlie Rose
22/06/09 08:09 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Not to make this site "All Michael Lewis, All the Time", but finance/fatherhood writer Lewis's appearance on Charlie Rose last week is worth watching. And if you're not interested in any of the parenting chatter, skip ahead to 21:10 or so ..
» Don Coen – Prairie Rattler
21/06/09 21:56 from Feld Thoughts
I have three major hobbies – reading, running, and collecting art. On my run today, I realized that I occasionally blog about reading and running, but I rarely blog about art. I’m pretty sure this idea got lodged in my head yes..
» Weekend Reading
21/06/09 19:45 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Some links from my weekly weekend reading column: iPhone 3G S teardown comparison chart ( RapidRepair ) Credit default swaps and all those arrows ( LRB ) Swine flu 'could infect up to half the population' ( The Independent ) Federal Reserv..
» Michae l Lewis on Father's Day
21/06/09 17:16 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Some amusing Michael Lewis perspectives on fathers and Father's Day: Any big plans for Father's Day? No. I try not to celebrate Father's Day; it's my wife who insists on doing it. If she can ratchet up Father's Day, it means Mother's Day i..
» Friday's Chat With Howard
21/06/09 12:23 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
My friend Howard Lindzon asked me to show up at 9am and do a live chat while the market opened on Friday morning. It's part of the Stocktwits video channel. We covered a wide range of topics, including TheStreet.com, my best and worst inve..
» Advice For Working With Mentors
20/06/09 20:58 from Feld Thoughts
I had a great week last week. Most of the companies I’m an investor in are doing well and are having strong Q2s. A few, like Zynga , are absolutely killing it (see the Zynga video on CBS News titled SF-Based Startup Thriving, H..
» Building Successful Long Term Relationships
20/06/09 14:45 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
Twenty-two years ago today, the Gotham Gal and I were married. I've learned a lot in the twenty-seven years that we've been living together and much of those lessons have spilled over into my business life. I also have to say that observin..
» Why is Golf So Fragile?
19/06/09 21:54 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Coming into the U.S. Open Tiger Woods was looking unbeatable. He had won the Memorial, hitting 14 out of 14 fairways. He had a great week of practice, he says, then some good rounds at Bethpage this week. And now, with the first day of pla..
» Moody's on California: Nice Weather, Shame About the Insolvency
19/06/09 21:32 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
Meant to post this sooner, but here you are, your moment of California bond-rating zen: Moody's Investors Service has placed the State of California's A2 general obligation rating, as well as the ratings for lease debt and other state-back..
» Paul Tudor Jones on Failure
19/06/09 21:05 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
The following is a recent speech by renowned fund manager Paul Tudor Jones to a ninth grade class. The topic? Failure. Paul Tudor Jones - Failure Speech June 2009 [via ILB ]
» Defenestrate your assumptions
19/06/09 15:36 from Cleantech Investing
If one is to go by what cleantech VCs are saying these days, it seems like we're at a time where some of the core assumptions and current patterns in cleantech venture capital might be about to see some changes. This is all within the cont..
» Why I'd Like To Be In SF On June 23rd
19/06/09 10:10 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
If there was one event I'd like to be at next week it would be the "people's choice awards" on Tuesday night at 7pm at Mezzanine in San Francisco. It's actually not called "the people's choice awards", it's called the Boxee Dev Challenge ...
» Notes from Fiji on the Recession/Depression
19/06/09 09:10 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
From a friend who just got back from a surfing trip to Fiji, this is a snippet of a conversation he had about the economy with a fellow surfer there: Him: "Was there not some type of recession dude?" Me: "Yes, in fact there was." Him: "Hea..
» Recession's Over? I'm Outta Here
18/06/09 22:48 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
I can't testify to the quality of the underlying data, but the findings in this employee survey are worth sharing: More than half (54%) of employed Americans report that they are likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around.&#..
» Banknotes, Scientists and Mathematicians
18/06/09 20:15 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
I loved this collection of banknotes containing pictures of famous scientists and mathematicians. I'm particularly fond of the German one sporting Carl Friedrich Gauss: Interestingly, despite the U.S. arguably being the foremost country in..
» More on VC, Risk and Leverage
18/06/09 20:01 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
For those of you who just can't get enough of the whole venture capital, world destroyer theme , I have a somewhat more expansive post up about the subject over at Growthology .
» Getting to getting to
18/06/09 18:27 from VC Adventure
I was reminded once again this week of the importance of the deliberative process vs. outcome. Or perhaps better put, I was reminded that sometimes the best outcome is simply the deliberation itself. In business one is often extremely focu..
» My 140Conference Talk
18/06/09 14:48 from A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
» Crude Oil Prices: 1861-2008
18/06/09 13:22 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
From the recent BP dump of energy data, a graph of oil prices from 1861-2008:
» Readings
18/06/09 13:13 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
The Madoff Chronicles, Part III: Did the Sons Know? ( VanityFair ) Highly bullish oil presentation from Currie at Goldman Sachs ( FT ) ‘Bubble of Belief’ in China Economy Seen Bursting ( Bloomberg ) China, trade and the myth of a U.S. sudd..
» The Young Entrepreneur Myth
18/06/09 12:06 from Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed
My colleagues at the Kauffman Foundation are on a roll. Following up fast on the heels of a paper last week on Fortune 500 companies, recessions, and startups, Dane Stangler at Kauffman is releasing a new paper today on entrepreneurs and a..
