A recent Nielson/NetRatings poll (story here) showed a huge gap between the have’s and the have-not’s. Specifically they asked respondents about their usage of RSS and found that 66% either hadn’t heard of RSS or didn’t know what it was used for and that only 11% of web log readers used RSS to monitor blogs (less than 6% of users overall use RSS according to a Pew Research study from January). There are definitely some implications for those (increasing number) of us who are investing in and trying to grow RSS related businesses (and we’re clearly still in the early stage of the adoption curve for RSS enabled technologies – see Bill Burnham’s great post on the subject here) That…
Archives / August, 2005
Josh King and the corporate development perspective
HHere’s today’s shocker – VC’s don’t have all the answers. Those of you who are not VC’s have known this all along, but for people on the inside it’s a slow process of realization (I think I’m on about step 8). Seriously, though, as much as its amusing to poke fun at VCs (and our increasing propsnsity to blog), I do really like to see new non-VC folks throw their hats in the ring to talk about the world of operating growing businesses. Because of my background, I’m especially fond of reading what people in the corporate development world have to say (which is in part why I encouraged Daniel to write a guest post for my M&A series). Josh…
Fun or Funny
I’ve had a few frustrating things going on this week and my attitude around them forced me to remember an old adage that I used to use when I was guiding back-country hiking trips (when inevitably we’d get rained on or someone would have forgotten something and people would get upset). It’s either fun or funny. Choose. Depending on my mood my response can range from laughter to “fuck you – it’s neither and I don’t want to play this game” (talking to myself, of course). Of course most times it really is either fun or funny (or feels better when put in one of those categories) and when forced to choose it typically puts me in a better mood.
Lost in translation
I love playing around with Google Translate – mostly to look at web sites or read blogs that are written in other languages. I’m also a big cycling fan and after this year’s Tour I decided to write to the German cyclist Jan Ullrich – one of my favorite riders and the third place finisher in this year’s contest. I wrote my note in English but also translated it into German using Google. I had forgotten about this note until a few days ago when I actually received a note back from Jan (I’m actually pretty sure it was really from him – it certainly made my day!). I translated it back to English also using Google, but decided that…
Putting a stake in the ground
Back from vacation and quite refreshed . . . One of the things we did in Maine was visit the LL Bean outlet (ok . . . we’re tourists . . .). Going there provided an example of making your threats real – in this case a positive one. LL Bean is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. No exceptions. They are so serious about this that they actually don’t have locks on the doors to their store. Pretty powerful example of putting a stake in the ground about something they believe strongly in.
Zero. Zip. Nada.
The US personal savings rate fell to zero in June – its lowest level since the latest spending binge started (post 9/11) and the 2nd lowest since the Great Depression. You can read the full government report here (be sure to check out some of the tables – very interesting information). Yes, the economy grew at a healthy annualized rate and clearly the Fed is still worried about inflationary pressure (we still have 50-100 basis points left to move in the fed funds rate) . But still – personal savings rate of 0%? We already lag behind the rest of the world in our ability not to spend pretty much all of what we earn (see here for a chart…
We still have a long way to go
I’m leaving for a week’s vacation tomorrow (see my vacation curve post – I’m past the inflection point again) and I’m not planning on checking my e-mail regularly. To keep down on e-mail clutter, my secretary is going to monitor my mail and delete or move things out of my inbox that are not important or that don’t have immediacy. To make sure the right stuff stays and goes, I’m making a list of things that I would like her to keep and things that she can move or throw out. This process has highlighted for me how many things I get delivered to my inbox that should be sent via RSS – all the updates, tech dailies, vc weeklies,…