Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
Today, I got a chance to meet a very impressive entrepreneur, and I learned a new way to find a great idea. John-Thomas Marino was a software engineer when he and his co-worker Daehee Park decided that they wanted to start a company. But rather than just build an app, they took a very different … Continue reading The Hate List
The great Eric Barker has another informative post up on his blog. The dilemma we all face is that saying “Yes” makes us happy, but we have to say “No” in order to stay focused and accomplish anything of note. So how does one do both? Eric cites a number of accomplished experts: http://bit.ly/1nUBFrs “So … Continue reading How To Protect Your Time (20 minutes at a time)
This afternoon, I left the office early to attend the memorial service for my old professor, Ron Rebholz. When I was at Stanford in the early 1990s, Ron was already a legendary teacher, with his Shakespeare course considered one of the top “bucket list” courses at Stanford (along with other legendary classes like ME101 and … Continue reading Lives Well Lived
The popular belief is that entrepreneurs are “hungry” because they come from modest backgrounds. Here in America, we love a great “rags to riches” story. Of course, it should be noted that America’s two richest men, Bill Gates (son of a wealthy attorney) and Warren Buffett (son of a stockbroker/Congressman) don’t exactly provide validation for … Continue reading Wealth and Entrepreneurship (why the rich get richer and why we should help the poor)
Venture Capital legend Tom Perkins stirred up quite a bit of outrage with his letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1aGMGJy In this editorial (which Perkins presumably dashed off without showing it to any competent public relations professional), he criticizes what he perceives as a rise in unfair criticism of the wealthy. … Continue reading You can be a dick and be right
Entrepreneurs are frequently admonished to “stay hungry.” These words are almost like scripture, having been cited by Steve Jobs himself in his legendary 2005 Stanford commencement speech. Intuitively, these words seem to be true across a host of domains. Starving artists of all types feel the curse of the sophomore slump; going from hungry unknown … Continue reading Don’t Stay Hungry
As I’ve written in the past, a writer is someone who writes: http://bit.ly/KvOCIK While this definition seems simplistic and circular, it has the advantage of being correct. Here is a long list of things you can do that don’t make you a writer: 1. Think about what to write. 2. Read what other people write. … Continue reading Write or do not; there is no try
Think back to your last long weekend (perhaps even the one that just concluded). In your mind, you probably had a long list of things you wanted to get accomplished. How many of them did you complete? If you’re like me, most long weekends and holidays end up as a “lost weekend,” where you accomplish … Continue reading Doing more by aiming lower
In the startup world, many make the assumption that being demanding means being mean. We read stories about Steve Jobs making people cry, or Jeff Bezos screaming at people in one of his “nutters.” I get the sense that most people decide that Leo Durocher was right–nice guys do finish last.* * The actual quote: … Continue reading Demanding But Nice
One of the perils of living in Silicon Valley is the way it encourages us to develop a fixed mindset. Our vocabulary uses the language of traits. Someone is a “Rockstar Engineer,” or an “A Player.” Companies like Google scrutinize candidates’ resumes, discarding those who didn’t attend the right universities. Even successful entrepreneurs aren’t exempt. … Continue reading I Am Not My Talent