I’ve been re-reading Ron Chernow’s excellent book – Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. This is a wonderful book in every respect – but during this time of Financial Crisis it is also very illuminating to see the parallels between the period of 1870 – 1900 and the last 30 years or so.… Continue reading The Lessons of History & The Financial Crisis
Tag: financial crisis
A few thoughts on “Mortgage Rescue Plans”
Slightly off topic for me… but what the heck. In May of this year I left my lucrative position at Intuit (hey – that is the first time I’ve ever mentioned where I worked) to start my own company. At the time it seemed I had all my ducks in a row. My wife is… Continue reading A few thoughts on “Mortgage Rescue Plans”
Value = Signal, Cool = Noise
Great post today from John Furrier on Furrier.org. He points out – rightly – that: I fully agree that it is the best time to start a company both for entrepreneur and the venture capitalist. In fact the angels are out there. I ran into one yesterday (granted I live in Palo Alto and you… Continue reading Value = Signal, Cool = Noise
Pandora joins the 15% club (layoffs)
Pandora announced today that they have laid off 14% of staff in reaction to the state of the economy. Via TechCrunch: Music-streaming service Pandora joins the growing list of startups laying off employees to survive in a worsening economy. The company let go 20 people yesterday, or 14 percent of its staff. Founder Tim Westergren… Continue reading Pandora joins the 15% club (layoffs)
Paul Graham’s Advice to Startups
TechCrunch published a post referencing Paul Graham’s (of Y Combinator) advice on why you should start a company now. He makes some great points. I would argue that Mr. Graham’s advice should apply in any economic environment. A financial nuclear winter may be upon us, but many startups will still survive and even thrive in… Continue reading Paul Graham’s Advice to Startups
Can we please stop talking about monetization?
I can’t take it anymore – I just can’t. NOTE – this post was triggered by a fine post (and subsequent FriendFeed discussion) by Mark Evans – which you can find here. The idea that you can create a “cool” service, attract massive numbers of subscribers, and then monetize the subscriber base is insane. Always… Continue reading Can we please stop talking about monetization?
Only 55 VC Funds Raised Money In The Third Quarter (Down 29 Percent).
From TechCrunch. This pretty much speaks for itself. The important note is that all of this happened before the last 3 weeks during which the dow has fallen ~ 3000 points. This is not about doom and gloom for startups – it is about understanding the environment you are operating in. The third quarter saw… Continue reading Only 55 VC Funds Raised Money In The Third Quarter (Down 29 Percent).
The financial crisis – Finaly a levelheaded assessment: Fareed Zakaria GPS – Interview with George Soros
This morning I watched Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN. He interviewed George Soros who presented the most intelligent and balanced view of the current financial crisis I’ve seen yet. Soros – a free marketeer – points out that free markets are human constructs, just like governments – as such both are imperfect. His stance is… Continue reading The financial crisis – Finaly a levelheaded assessment: Fareed Zakaria GPS – Interview with George Soros