Good Taste Is Mightier Than The Supply ChainOver the years, Michael Dell and Steve Jobs have taken some shots at each other. Nine years ago, Michael Dell said he’d shut down Apple and give the money to the shareholders. I remember being at the HBS alumni dinner when Steve got the Entrepreneur of the Year … Continue reading Good Taste Is Mightier Than The Supply Chain

MLK For A DayThe folks at DDB Worldwide have created a special memorial site in honor of Martin Luther King Jr‘s birthday. This site has gotten a lot of attention for the way it simulates segregation by asking white and colored people to click on separate links. The language of segregation truly is chilling, and … Continue reading MLK For A Day

The Science of Crazy Eddie MarketingRamit sent me this awesome link. While this page is intended as a joke, it does a great job of cataloging and breaking down all the things those crazy ebook and newsletter marketers do. Just check out the following example: “The time’s come for you to be Convinced. And for … Continue reading The Science of Crazy Eddie Marketing

A Million Litle Refunds Random House will be honoring refund requests for copies of James Frey’s alleged “memoir,” “A Million Little Pieces.” Random House hastened to add that this was standard policy. Of course, they didn’t defend Frey’s work either.

Welcome to the Blogosphere!In an odd convergence of my offline and online lives, my old friend and CEO, Hon Wong, has started blogging. Even better, he has a unique style all his own. As Hon put it, “As long as I find the right picture, the posts just write themselves. There aren’t a lot of … Continue reading Welcome to the Blogosphere!

The Great Lie DetectorI haven’t read James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces,” but if it’s even remotely as interesting as The Smoking Gun’s careful analysis of how Frey’s best-selling memoir is actually a pack of egregious and unsupportable lies, it’ll be worth a read. Just wait until you can pick it up at the bargain … Continue reading The Great Lie Detector

What’s Your “Number”?Lee Eisenberg’s new book, “The Number,” is about the number we carry about in our heads for the amount of money we think we want or need.I’ve thought about my number a lot over the years. When I first started working, it was all about financial security. During the heady days of the … Continue reading What’s Your “Number”?

Virtual Words And Third World Countries At the end of today’s Silicon Valley Junto meeting, Valerie Cunningham asked me for my opinion on the craze for virtual real estate. My response was that most of our wealth is imaginary, and that investing in virtual real estate is just like investing in real real estate. Even … Continue reading Virtual Words And Third World Countries

Buying Stock In People Remember when I talked about personal VC? Eric Allam is now selling shares in himself for $1. There are 1 million shares authorized, but Eric plans on retaining a 51% stake. Alas, owning EA stock doesn’t entitle you to anything other than a stock certificate, which may be why he has … Continue reading Buying Stock In People

Shhhh…Writers & Marketers Wanted For Founding Team Of A Secret ProjectYou just knew that I couldn’t watch all the excitement in the Web world without doing something to get in on the action.While I’m now a boring enterprise software guy, I haven’t forgotten my Internet roots, and am advising and working with a number of … Continue reading Shhhh…Writers & Marketers Wanted For Founding Team Of A Secret Project