Thoughts from Silicon Valley
A lot of people are talking about the Facebook Platform lately, so this past weekend I decided to check out the Facebook Developer Garage, held at Facebook’s Palo Alto HQ, to find out what all the fuss is about.
The event packed a lot of geeks into a small room, and was fun and informative. […]
In the sky that is :) After a long hiatus I finally took flight again today. The last time I flew was back in January - and that was in Sydney. The last time I flew out of Palo Alto was almost a year ago!
When I arrived at the airport at about 3pm […]
There have been some VCs blogging lately about the dangers of taking an investment at too high a valuation. Despite the fact that VCs have an intrinsic interest in lower valuations (it gives them a larger share of your company thus a chance at making more money), these particular VCs argue that too high […]
A while ago I was toying with the idea of how we could use technology to do something about all the a**hole drivers on the road (hey, I live in California :)
I really like the idea of online reputation systems, as they provide a means for a community of peers to self-regulate (e.g. think of […]
There’s lots of stuff going on in San Francisco this week due to the web 2.0 expo. I checked it out on Monday and I was actually a little shocked at how small it was (even though a lot of other people seem to be saying they are impressed with how big it was […]
People generally seem to like when I post write-ups about events I have attended, so I thought I’d do another one. Today I attended the “I don’t know to CEO” conference at Stanford. Overall it was a good event with a variety of speakers. I decided I’ll just focus on one speaker here - Seth […]
Today I attended ’startup school’ which was held at Stanford - basically a Y Combinator event that is co-sponsored by BASES. I was surprised at the huge turn out - I would estimate around 500 people, and judging from those I talked to a lot had flown in from out of state for the […]
There is a lot of conventional wisdom out there concerning the characteristics and indicators of success for potential startup opportunities. I decided to see if I could quantify this wisdom, and come up with a method for ’scoring’ a startup opportunity. The score in itself probably doesn’t mean much, but by using a […]
Saturday marked the kickoff of National Entrepreneurship Week. I attended an ‘opening ceremony’ at Stanford that featured talks from:
John Hennessey, president of Stanford
Carl Scrhamm, president of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Steve Jurvetson, Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson
The talks were interesting with John and Carl focusing more at the ‘macro’ level - about why entrepreneurship is […]
There was quite a bit of coverage last week about the partnership between Apple and Cisco. A partnership between two large technology companies is not necessarily exciting news in itself, but I find the particular circumstances surrounding this partnership quite interesting.
The partnership was created in settlement of the trademark infringement suit Cisco brought against […]
Mixwit :: media playground Startup from Ground Zero (Riya) Essays by Paul Graham MS&E 472 - Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar Startup Review 
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early DaysFascinating stories of start-ups from ground zero - RJ
iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing ItProof that the some of the worlds best innovations are designed by one person, with a love of technology. - RJ
Atlas ShruggedA life changing study of philosophy, politics, business sex and power. The capitalists’ bible. - RJ
Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of FlyingMust read if you want to grok how to control your airplane -RJ
Yahoo! HacksSome useful tidbits if you want to create mashups using Yahoo! services -RJ
The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a LivingEntertaining and insghtful study of the reasons for starting a business -RJ
The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design FirmInsider’s view of a creative and fun organization - ideas you can replicate -RJ
The FountainheadThought-provoking character study of selfishness vs selflessness, and the power of the individual -RJ
