Indians in 90 seconds

July 17th, 2009


The Way I Work

June 12th, 2009

“Music helps me when I’m coding, which is still my priority. When you’re coding, you really have to be in the zone. I’ll listen to a single song, over and over on repeat, like a hundred times.” — Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress and Automattic

Funny, I do the same thing. It makes me more productive.

(source)


The New Startup Resume

June 5th, 2009

Came across this comment thread on Bijan Sabet’s blog today:

Tal: I’m hoping to join a tech company as a programmer or user experience designer, a small startup would be ideal.

bijan: do you have a blog or linkedin account. happy to send your contact info to a few of our portfolio companies. where are you located?

If you’re looking for a startup/any job, and don’t have a LinkedIn account — get one! Also recommend starting a blog if haven’t already.


The Evolving VC Business Model

June 4th, 2009

To give a fund’s investors a 20% annual return, the firm needs to triple the money raised within a six-year period, Kopelman said. For a $400 million fund, that means returning $1.2 billion to investors. Since VCs typically don’t want the risk of holding more than 20% of the companies they invest in, they have to help build a few companies with a total of $6 billion in market value. But in the past few years only a handful of companies have sold or gone public for more than $1 billion. “You sit there and say, ‘Holy crap, that model doesn’t work,’ ” said Kopelman.

What’s a venture capitalist to do? For Kopelman and other super angels, the answer is to get small. Super angels still aim for billion-dollar exits, but their model doesn’t hinge on home runs. Instead, they can profit by hitting singles and doubles and reducing their strikeouts.

Josh Kopelman, First Round Capital in a BusinessWeek interview.


Tribes, Commitment, Movements

June 1st, 2009

Shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change.