Make original mistakes
“Make original mistakes.” Someone (Brad? Wendy? I can’t remember) said this in a board meeting about a month ago. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and have been carrying it around with me ever since. The concept is right on and meaningful no matter what you do. For me it is a reminder of two important things: First, we all have mentors and peer groups. As a venture capitalist, for example, I have the partners and principals at my firm; I have partners at other venture firms with whom I have worked with closely; I have the CEO’s and executives at the companies I work with; etc.. These are great resources for me to tap when I’m faced with challenges. Whether you work for a venture backed company, a large organization or a non-profit you there are people you can turn to for advice and counsel. Second, don’t be afraid to share your challenges with others. It’s only natural to celebrate our successes and dig in and think harder about where we’re coming up short. By all means, share the good news; but also share the not-so-good news and the challenges. Share them with your board, share them with your peers, share them across your executive team. Ask for help. Find people who have faced similar challenges. …
May 19, 2005· 2 min read
The days of yore
Credit to Brad for this one – I had completely forgotten about it when he sent it to me (I waited for him to blog it, but he’s been out of town so I thought I’d put it up). Remember the wayback machine? www.waybackmachine.org. It lets you search for old versions of web sites. Want to know what Yahoo’s site looked like in October of 1996 – here you go . …
May 3, 2005· 1 min read
Taking 100% responsibility one step further
Sandy Hamilton (one of the key execs at Newsgator) did a nice follow-up post to the note I wrote about taking 100% responsibility. In it he talks about what that actually means – how we present ourselves and the importance of taking responsibility not just for what you are saying, but also for what other people are hearing. What a powerful concept. Thanks Sandy for taking this to the next level. In case the link above isn’t working, here’s the full URL of his post: http://sandyhamilton.blogs.com/sandy_hamilton/2005/04/did_i_say_that.html
May 1, 2005· 1 min read
Becoming a verb
You’re on the right track when your company becomes a verb. Just add a “d” to your name and you’ve got an idea what I’m talking about. Google is the best example of this – as in “Have you Googled that?” A couple of the companies I work with are on their way (at least in the markets they play in). I take it as a good sign that they are becoming important enough with their customers as to actually enter their lexicon (as in “Have you Quova’d this IP address?”).
April 18, 2005· 1 min read
Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
I was reminded (again) today of the importance of clear, open and honest communication. There’s no substitute for it. There seems to be a 1:10 rule about communication such that it takes about 10 times the amount of energy/effort to communicate something after the fact (i.e., after a communication break-down) than doing it up front. Not to mention the potential hard feelings, bad karma, etc. With all the ways to get in touch these days (e-mail, phone, cell phone, sms, etc.) it seems like this should be pretty easy. …
April 7, 2005· 1 min read
Moving right along
Fred Wilson had a great post recently on the problem of analysis paralysis. I completely agree. One of the challenges of business (and entrepreneurship) is that companies constantly have to make decisions based on incomplete information. That’s just part of the game. Successful entrepreneurs recognize that, take in as much information as makes sense, make a decision and then move on. While it’s helpful to look back at these decisions, I completely agree with Fred’s assertion that it’s not really fair to second guess them (although its important to learn from them). So, how do you avoid the analysis paralysis trap? Here are a couple of thoughts …
March 23, 2005· 2 min read
Jarbarish
Fred Wilson has done a very amusing series of posts on VC Clichés (see the latest here) Terry Gold takes this to another level with what he has termed Jarbarish (a blend of jargon and gibberish). Here he posts an absolutely hilarious bit that he used at a recent company meeting. Thanks Terry for lightening the mood
March 17, 2005· 1 min read
The Last Days of Enron
The New York Times is running a series of articles on the last days of the Enron crisis (actually excerpts from Times writer Kurt Eichenwald’s forthcoming book on the subject). It reads like a soap opera (by both design and because that’s really what this story amounts to). The amazing take-away for me was just how far Enron had strayed from the most basic forms of financial management (they didn’t track their cash balance, nor did they track when their debt came due – so they had no idea either what they owed or how much they had available to cover that debt). Take a look at the article here (in case the link doesn’t work the url is http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/business/yourmoney/13enron.html?) . It’s worth a read.
March 15, 2005· 1 min read
Google News
In case you haven’t noticed yet, Google has made their news page customizable (see the “customize this page” link on the right of the screen). Not all that surprising a move (what took them so long?) . . . they are a media platform after all – even though they want us all to think they’re really just focused on search . . .
March 10, 2005· 1 min read
Paying for what you get?
Ever notice that the nicer the hotel you stay in, the more you have to pay for? It seems to me that the more I pay for a room, the more likely it is that I have to pay for local phone calls, internet access, breakfast, gym access, etc. I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago. I was in San Francisco and staying at a reasonably nice national chain hotel and paying over $200/night for the privilege. On top of that I had to pay forInternet access ($9.95 for crappy 200kps throughput), local calls ($0.75 a pop) and access to their gym ($10/day). Not so when I stay at cheaper hotels(particularly down on the peninsula, but I’ve found this to be true all over the country) – I rarely pay for this stuff. On one recent trip to Palo Alto I stayed at a hotel that was less than $100/night, had fee internet access, free local calls,a descent work-out room and provided me with a nice continental breakfast (also for free). …
March 1, 2005· 1 min read