Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 22, 2010
On why you should be an entrepreneur, “A lot of people do what they have to do. You want to get yourself to a position where you can do what you want to do&# (Chamillionaire). Last night I co-hosted a dinner at Soho House in Los Angeles with some of the most senior people in the media industry with executives from Disney, Fox, Warner, media agencies and many promising tech & media startup CEO’s.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 4, 2010
Wow… So, where to begin? This year’s @shakeshack event, nextNY’s third annual party in Madison Square Park, was undoubtedly the best ever. There are so many people to thank and there’s so much to say about it. First off, we had a fantastic crowd. From regulars to newbies—to local goverment celebs like City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Taylor Davidson provided photos of many of the notables as our on-site photographer.
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Berkonomics
OCTOBER 26, 2010
Give one percent equity to each outside board member vesting over four years of service. Many early stage CEOs and board members have asked for some guidance regarding pay and time commitments for board members. Here is my best advice, based upon many boards and many years. Pay early stage board members of companies that are not lifestyle businesses one percent of the fully diluted equity in the form of an option that vests over four years of service.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 12, 2010
A while back I wrote a bunch of posts on Sales & Marketing and have been meaning to get back to that theme for a while. Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. So I hope these posts will be useful to all and not just those who need road warriors.
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Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 29, 2010
I’m often asked by people, “how do I get into VC?&# and I normally respond by saying, “there is no easy path. It’s often a combination of luck, relationships & timing. Often these jobs aren’t even publicized.&#. Well, I know 3-4 VC jobs that are publicly available. GRP Partners is looking to hire two analysts (maybe even three) to join our practice in Los Angeles.
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Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 17, 2010
Anyone who works in the venture business or frankly just lives in Silicon Valley will be used to hearing a buzz word rise up out of nowhere to capture the technology zeitgeist and find its way into every entrepreneur’s product development plan or every aspiring entrepreneur’s pitch deck. I call this “the puck at your feet&# because it’s not where the industry is heading but rather where the industry is today.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 24, 2010
You probably didn’t hear about Brooklyn Beta before Fred wrote about it : “This is my kind of conference. There was one other VC in the room, Charlie O'Donnell, who makes it a practice to be everywhere something is interesting happening. The rest of the room was filled with designers, coders, and especially designers who code. That last group is a special breed and the heart and soul of many of our best companies.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 6, 2010
I obviously don’t speak for all investors. But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. And they’re easy to remember because they all begin with an M: management, market, money and above all else momentum.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 19, 2010
Attending a FOO Camp last week that focused on the open web got me thinking a lot about data and interoperability. This came up again yesterday when discussing the network effects of a business. I realized that network effects are inherently the products of closed systems--a setup whereby being the 100,000,000th user of one service provides more utility than being the 10th user of another, even if the latter is an otherwise superior.
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Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 13, 2010
You know the type. You see them on Twitter, Facebook or Plancast plotting out their next 12 conference. You see their Tweets from airports across the globe. Look at me! I’m in Spain! Now I’m in France. Next week I’m speaking in Cabo San Lucas! They are professional conference attendees. They are CEO’s addicted to the schmoozing.
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 4, 2010
Perhaps this is the natural conclusion from the several insights previously explored. While the CEO and management offers the vision, strategies and tactics as well as the proposed budget, it is the board that controls with its votes the execution of strategy, the expenditure of cash, the taking on of debt or new equity, the very direction of the company as well as its ultimate health.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 10, 2010
Every business person with a dollar and a dream these days thinks they’re a technical co-founder away from interweb stardom. It’s great if you can find one—but even if you can, I’m not sure it’s always the best move. That’s counter to what I used to think before, but I’ve done some more thinking about it. The reality is, a lot of the stuff being built now isn’t rocket science.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 21, 2010
If you live in New York City, one of the skills you hone over time is avoiding people who approach you on the street trying to hand you a flyer, distract you for a bump and run pickpocket scheme, or tell you their life story for some change. It’s not because you’re mean or unsympathetic—it’s just that there are so many of them, that if you stopped and gave everyone their due time, you’d never get anywhere, and you’d wind up with a fistful of random coupons you
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Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 26, 2010
I’m working on a larger series on “scaling sales&# that will drop this weekend or early next week so I thought I’d go for a more light-hearted topic today. I’ve always thought about writing a few posts on features in products that drive me nuts. I have a short list of what I consider the worst UX offenders and Bcc has got to top the list.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 15, 2010
Consumer web services rarely win on features. In fact, it hardly even makes sense to think about them in that way. Did any of Facebook's 500 million users do a side by side feature comparison of Facebook and MySpace to decide where they were going to spend their social time online? I doubt it. Yet, the product that is Facebook is an amalgamation of a set of feature implementations that clearly amounted to more than the sum of its parts.
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 11, 2010
I first heard this in a governance seminar for a non-profit higher educational board upon which I sit, years ago. It made an impact and stuck with me through the years. I have repeated it often to boards deliberating action and to individual board members seeking to get their hands dirty inside the corporation by giving advice and helping at levels beneath the CEO.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 5, 2010
I have often complained how much I hate sitting on panels. The reason is that conferences usually pack them up with speakers to maximize the number of high profile guests in attendance to sell more general admission tickets. So with a panel of 5-6 people and 30-45 minutes it’s hard to have a real conversation. Every speaker wants to get their points in so the conversation often lacks rhythm.
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Berkonomics
OCTOBER 18, 2010
Plan 10% of your time for board relations. Most all leaders new to the CEO position underestimate this time requirement. It is good for the company when the CEO shares concerns, threats and opportunities with the board. The rule of “no surprises” works well for the longevity of a CEO. But there are always surprises. CEO’s should communicate with members of the board if not a committee of the whole as soon as possible when threats to the corporation arise.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 10, 2010
Yesterday I went to see the film Waiting for Superman. It’s the story of what’s broken with the education system in the US. It’s an important film and the most important topic of our generation if we as a country want to remain competitive in a world that has globalized. It’s a documentary including personal stories of people caught in the system.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 19, 2010
Dana Settle & I are hosting a dinner tonight (10/20/10) with some of the biggest companies in entertainment to talk about the future of television, film & digital media. Michael Ovitz , the co-founder of CAA will be the keynote speaker. Nobody can predict 100% what the future of television will be so I won’t pretend that I know the answers.
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