Shots Fired In Terminal C
Or, How to deal with being the non-CEO Co-Founder. Understanding founder roles and defining responsibilities for leadership.
Things I've written
This is a collection of writing I’m putting in one place. Some of it is helpful memos and emails I’ve written, some were newsletter attempts at Substack, and some are new and posted here.
Questions or comments? Please email or reach out on Twitter.
Topics
founders
Co-Founding is not a Marriage
Or, How to find a co-founder, part 1. How did Greg and I find each other and vet each other. Also, why Xobni didn’t go so well.
personal
My First Earthquake
As I attempt to return to blogging after a three-year hiatus, I’ll start with something simple. I finally went through an earthquake – the 31 Oct 2007 earth...
Memorex and Harry Potter
During my junior year at Clear Creek High School, I had an AP US History teacher named Ms. Cash. One of the vivid memories I have of that year is sitting in...
Random Advice on Finding a College
A friend of a friend contacted me through email today asking some questions on college. In case this is helpful for others, I thought I’d put it up on the w...
The Brilliance of Starbucks
I’m sitting in a Starbucks right now, and it has been packed all day. Why? Because the company is giving everyone who voted a free coffee today. All you h...
My Journey with LASIK Eye Surgery - A 20-year Retrospective
Or, cautionary tales from a satisfied LASIK patient
pif
Why do a Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF)
Or, why in the world did you work for the federal government? What giving back to your country means along with my selfish reasons for the timing.
Applying for the Presidential Innovation Fellowship
Or, warnings and considerations as you apply, interview, and join. Things I wish I’d known.
What did you do as a Presidential Innovation Fellow?
Or, what did you accomplish? What did you get out of it?
pitching
Bessemer’s Dropcam Memo Annotated
Or, a few random memories now in color. Bessemer shared their Dropcam memo on Twitter, and I added my own recollections from that time in 2009.
Bad positioning in your startup pitch
Or, the one thing your pitch needs to communicate for investors
pricing
How should I price my startup product?
Or, how to justify that magic $100,000/year annual contract to customers
startups
Thinking about a Job Hop
I recently switched companies, moving from PowerReviews to Xobni. At some point, I’ll detail my thought process, but I think this article by Jack and Suzy W...
Positioning a Business
Lance Weatherby had a post on positioning last week that summarized some ideas from Crossing the Chasm. Consider the following template when thinking about ...
Funding Tips and Random Advice from STIRR’s DealHacks
Sanford Barr and the folks over at STIRR held another Founders’ Hacks night back in May. I finally got around to seeing the DealHacks writeup on their websi...
Naval Ravikant’s Things to Look For in a Startup
Startup2Startup hosted a talk by Naval Ravikant, one of the guys behind Venture Hacks and the original founder of Epinions, a precursor to the PowerReviews i...
The Four Things You Cannot Do as You Leave a Startup
Due to some recent work drama, I was privy to a list of key things you can’t do when you leave a startup. Here’s the list: Don’t poach people (including ...
Which angel should I talk to?
Crunchbase is a TechCrunch property that has a bunch of information on companies and startups. It’s user-edited (and based on a lot of TC’s posts). They al...
What are the death magnets when building a business?
I finished Guy Kawasaki’s book Rules for Revolutionaries yesterday, and there is one chapter in the book I wanted to highlight because it summarizes some com...
Why blow bubbles when you can grow a company?
I read Growing a Business last week, a book by Paul Hawken of Smith & Hawken. The book is pretty old, from 1988, so there is no mention of the Internet,...
Starting Up: What type of funding should I look for?
One of the big questions we faced while going through a fundraising round is determining how much to raise.
Starting Up: What is the two-crime rule?
We went through a lot of iterations and tweaks while working on our pitch for Dropcam. One thing that friends, family, and investors liked is the initial ma...
How does good/better/best apply to my product?
While at National Instruments a few years ago, I got to see a large company clean up and simplify its product lines. The company wanted to move from a huge ...
technical
What are A records? How should I plan domains?
Or how am I supposed to point parts of my website/web app to different places?
technology
I’m now a Mac not PC
I finally bought a new MacBook this month. After a year of waiting for the rumors to come true, I took the plunge and bought the middle-tier white one.
How do you know if your code is fast enough?
One of the big pains I’ve seen while at PR and X is dealing with customers, managers, and critics who go off on performance. When you click here, it takes...
A Super Quick Guide to Using Git
While thinking about how to organize projects on my home machines, I decided to look into Git, a version control system like CVS and Subversion (SVN). Unlik...
What are the main usage contexts on the iPhone?
Fraser Speirs describes the three mobile contexts he noticed after developing for the Apple iPhone. He cites a stat from Rubicon Consulting.
What are typical usage and pricing trends for an iPhone app?
Andrew Chen pointed out an awesome iPhone presentation by Pinch Media, which covers some really useful insights you should use if considering whether to make...
How Apple’s Approval Process Actually Helps Users
Paul Graham wrote an article on how Apple alienates its iPhone developers. He has a good discussion about developers iterating and needing to get a new prod...
Is Chrome OS the future of home computing?
Google announced its Chrome OS last week, and it’s focused on the cloud. You basically get a browser and web-based applications to replace all the stuff you...
venture capital
The Rules of the (VC) Game
Or, how do investors make money in VC? And how do VCs make money? Basics for other posts.