Chris Yeh
VP Enterprise Marketing for PBworks, first investor in and previously interim CEO of Ustream.TV. Chris is an active angel investor and the founder and Chairman of the Harvard Business School Technology Alumni Association (HBSTECH). Chris earned two degrees from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. His personal blogs are Adventures in Capitalism and Ask the Harvard MBA.
Book Summary: "StandOut" by Marcus Buckingham
I’ve been a fan of Marcus’ work since his original breakthrough book, “First, Break All The Rules.” His core message of the importance of casting people in the proper roles has stuck with me.Where Marcus’ previous books focused on the role of managers,…
Want my time? Fight cancer!
Seven years ago, Jennifer Goodman Linn, the wife of my old HBS classmate and basketball buddy Dave Linn, was diagnosed with with a rare soft-tissue cancer. Most people, when facing such a challenge, turn inward to focus on fighting the disease.Instead…
What Startups Can Learn From Tim Tebow
The Tim Tebow phenomenon has become the biggest story in the NFL, exceeding the routinely remarkable perfection of the Green Bay Packers and the quietly dumbfounding turnaround of the 49ers under Jim Harbaugh.For those who aren’t sports fans, Tim Tebow…
Don’t Confuse Signifiers and Substance
When it comes to startups, its easy to confuse signifiers and substance. The truth is hard to know, especially with early stage companies. If you don’t have a product or customers, it’s hard to have substance. Yet whether you’re a startup or investor, you’d be wise to focus on substance rather than signifiers. Not because [...]
Bought vs. Sold (Why Jive is a dinosaur & Dropbox is the future)
Both Dropbox and Jive are successful companies that are much in the news recently. Jive just filed its S1 for its IPO, while Dropbox raised its first major round of funding at a $4 billion valuation. What’s most interesting to me is that they represent polar opposites in terms of business models. They illustrate the [...]
The Robot Menace Is Real
Longtime readers know that one of my greatest fears is of the inevitable robot rebellion. Check out these blog posts from over the years: USAF Continues Its Push Towards A Terminator Future (2009) Pentagon Turns To Robot Soldiers (2008) I, Robot (2005) (The most recent post even includes the following opening line: “Longtime readers know [...]
Reverse Demo Day (Thursday, September 29)
By now the rituals of Demo Day are familiar. The opportunities are great both for startups to tell their story, and for investors to see a lot of deals in a very short time. So why wouldn’t the reverse be true? Introducing the Valley’s first Reverse Demo Day, where the investors sell themselves to entrepreneurs. [...]
The Long, Strange, Inspirational Trip of Dave McClure
Photo courtesy of toprankonlinemarketing
I first met Dave back in 2002, at an SDForum (now SVForum) volunteer dinner. I was one of the chairs of the Startup SIG (special interest group), while Dave was one of the chairs of the Venture Finance SIG (th…
It’s The Information, Stupid
Marc Andreessen (who is both richer and smarter than I’ll ever be) recently caused a stir with his Wall Street Journal op ed, “Why Software Is Eating The World.” Marc is a good writer, and it’s a good editorial that helps explain the increasing importance of software. But I can’t help but feel that he’s [...]
How To Fix The Inbox
I’m notorious for the amount of email I receive and the difficulties I have keeping up with it. My best estimate is that I receive about 200-300 emails each day. On those few blessed occasions when I do get my inbox into single or double digits, I feel both enormously productive and focused. (Alas, the [...]
Talk With Everyone
Reading Mark Suster‘s excellent post, “Why You Need To Take 50 Coffee Meetings” brought to mind one of my personal corollaries: Talk with everyone. I’m a relatively small-time investor. It’s a documented fact, and I don’t try to hide it. But that means that I need to deliver value beyond money if I’m going to [...]
Permanent Portfolio Investing
I learned about Harry Browne‘s “permanent portfolio” from Josh “Personal MBA” Kaufman’s blog. If Harry’s name sounds familiar, you might remember him as the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000. Browne wrote extensively about investment topics, starting with his first book, 1970′s “How You Can Profit From The Coming Devaluation”. In his 2001 [...]
The Lesson of Dropbox: Usage = Value
Word on the street is that Dropbox is about to raise a major round of financing at a $5 billion+ valuation. While some will cry “Bubble!”, I think there’s a different lesson we can learn: Usage = Value. Let’s face it–Dropbox isn’t the most complicated business or technology. It’s a relatively simple storage app that [...]
The Power of Love (And Investors)
In this post, I’ll argue that the power of love comes mostly from stuff that doesn’t happen, and for bonus points, explain how my theory of love impacts how a startup should choose its investors. My life is filled with love. I have family, friends, and last but not least (okay, maybe least) you, my [...]
How to Sync your MyTouch 4G with your Outlook Contacts
I recently bought a MyTouch 4G Slide to use as my primary phone. Since I’m a T-Mobile customer, I wanted to lock in a new plan and phone before AT&T can do something to screw it up. And since I’m a physical keyboard enthusiast (I hate losing half the screen to the virtual keyboard–a big [...]
