Some lingering thoughts from our trip to NYC last week: I love Locanda Verde. One of my favorite new restaurants. Partly owned by Robert DeNiro, my favorite actor. Even better.Some of SV Angel’s biggest “winners” will come from NYC. But I wouldn’t be surprised if our biggest winner in the next few years hails from …
Monthly Archives: May 2012
The Best Thing I’ve Read in 5 Years
I’ve read a lot on investing and startups since I started about 5 years ago. Along with Fooled by Randomness, this is my favorite piece that I’ve read on business and putting things in perspective: The Trap of Marginal Thinking by Clayton Christenson. Some excerpts: The language of the disruptive attackers was completely different: “It’s …
Have you thought about gaming Twitter?
This was stuck as a draft. In light of posts like this and this, it feels stale already. But, I thought I’d publish anyway. A prominent VC asked an SV Angel portfolio founder this question in a pitch. It was in the context of acquiring users. Now I’m no Mike Moritz when it comes to …
Getting Featured
Getting “featured” in the iTunes App Store or Google Play is a boon for any mobile app. It can lead to thousands or even millions of downloads in a matter of weeks. Even better, it can zoom an app to the top of the “Top” charts (most downloaded, most favorited, etc.). Therefore startups naturally covet …
Fit and Finish
Originally written on 1.3.12 I wrote earlier about how we observed virtually unprecedented exponential growth from companies in the past few years and how some start-ups in the consumer world leveraged the concept of the ‘atomic unit’ or ‘trivial gesture’ to achieve this growth. We also observed another common characteristic or trend in apps/services that …
Steve Jobs on Making the iPod
“We made the iPod for ourselves, and when you’re doing something for yourself, or your best friend or family, you’re not going to cheese out.”
Follow Your Interest
I talk to a lot of young people about career advice. I used to tell them to “follow their passion.” I now think that’s not the best advice. Or at least, not the most practical. I think it’s too stressful. There are very few people who are lucky enough to “follow their passion.” If I …
Getting Older
Originally written on 3/29/12. Source: gevisacri.blogspot.com.br via David on Pinterest I came across this great quote on Pinterest and it really struck a nerve with me. When I was 25, I had Hodgkin’s Disease, a form of lymphoma (or the “Good Hodgkin’s”, as Larry David once said). It has an unusually high cure rate but …