How Yammer Should Have Responded to the TechCrunch Ad Hominem
I can’t help but laugh at the TechCrunch gang’s corporate ad hominem last week. It seemed more of a personal attack than any real attempt to provide a product review. TechCrunch didn’t merely reproach their building mate, they reprimanded them. Stranger, most of the article really didn’t say anything at all, because they were not [...]
Fusion Garage (of CrunchPad-Joo-Joo Fame) Drops Grid 10 Price by $200 – Only $200 More to Go
Some things just can’t die. Like the zillionth incarnation of what was formerly known as CrunchPad…. then after a messy divorce from TechCrunch became the Joo-Joo (sold a few dozen units), and now it’s back as the Grid 10. I have a funny history with this device. I was a major advocate of the [...]
Of Kindles and Business Models and Stuff
Over at TechCrunch, MG Siegler’s 2 September post on Amazon’s new Kindle has generated quite a storm. All across the web, media, bloggers, pundits, analysts and the rest are pointing to MG’s post, getting terribly excited about a new tablet that might actually challenge the iPad; something that so many others have patently failed to [...]
What to do When a Tech Giant Decides to Eat Your Lunch
An edited version of this post originally ran on TechCrunch. This version has some additional details on a portfolio company I’ve invested in, which are disclosed below. WWDC. The annual Apple event where no real hints about what products they plan to release are floated in the public domain in advance. No private head [...]
The Future of Advertising will be Integrated
Banner Ads. They first started in 1994 and are therefore almost as old as the Web itself. They were very effective back then, with the original ad garnering a 78% click-through rate (CTR)! I guess from there we had nowhere to go but down. Nowadays banner ads get on average 0.2% CTR meaning for every [...]
What Should You Do with Your Crappy Little Services Business?
There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. You’re small fish.
Education Bubble maybe or maybe not – the siren call of Peter Thiel
I will agree with Peter Thiel that education as we know it is hard to justify the inputs versus the outputs, especially the costs of education. I have attended many colleges over the years, graduated from two of them, have an advanced degree and feel good about it. The degree has helped me with employment, [...]
This Post Has Nothing to do with #SXSW
This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. For the next four days if you’re in the tech industry you’re going to hear a non-stop stream of information about SXSW. It’s the time of year when many new startups are struggling to rise above all the noise and be heard. And when everybody is shouting it [...]
Silicon Valley > Boston (The Data)
I love Boston. I lived there for five of the best years of my life, when I was working at D. E. Shaw & Co., and then when I attended Harvard Business School. If anyone asks, I always tell them, “if Boston had the same weather and career opportunities for me as Silicon Valley, I’d [...]
How Many Investors are Too Many?
This post originally ran on TechCrunch. Lately I have seen a number of deals announced on TechCrunch in which 5 or more different VCs were participating in the deal. This always makes me chuckle because in my first company we had 5 investors in our first round and we picked up 5 more before we [...]
VC’s Gone Wild: Yes, Sometimes it is the Product
It’s not easy disagreeing with one of the most respected VC’s. In fact a lot of what Mark Suster writes in his Salespeople excuses post (also featured at TechCrunch) is accurate. But it’s what I call a Swiss cheese article. It looks good but is full of holes. Blaming the sales team is usually the [...]
What I *Would Have* Said at TechCrunch Disrupt
What do you get when you combine 7 panelist plus one moderator on to a stage for 30 minutes to talk about a serious topic? Answer: Not much. And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel.It’s a shame. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun [...]
Does Sprint Limit Using Google Voice?
(See update @ the bottom)Well, this did not take long. I’ve just speculated that Google & Sprint wanted testers before the commercial rollout of the Android-driven HTC EVO on June 4th – a few hours later I see that theory proven. I ran into trouble setting up Google Voice, and called the special number given [...]
The Benioff Coup. I Almost Got it Right
Watching Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff interview Mike Arrington @ Davos in January, I predicted the Big Marc was after a new job in media. It all felt confirmed when Benioff launched a series of posts at TechCrunch (although I suspected a fellow XXXXX blogger wrote his posts). But now it looks the other way around: [...]
I’m sticking with Disqus. Here’s Why
By Mark Suster on March 7, 2011
I’ve written before about my love for Disqus. I’m not an investor – I just love the product. So now Facebook has a new commenting system. They’ve been around for a while and when they first announced this initiative I knew the day would come when people would start saying, “should I replace Disqus?” [...]
Posted in Application Software, Featured Posts | Tagged blogging, commenting system, comments, disqus, facebook, Social network, Tech Market Analysis, techcrunch | 1 Response