Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
Tim O’Reilly, the founder of the O’Reilly media empire, published a great longform essay recently titled, “How I Failed”. http://oreil.ly/19ouE72 It’s a phenomenal read which covers a wide variety of topics, including how O’Reilly sold GNN to AOL for $15 million in stock, sold that stock as soon as the lockup expired for $30 million, … Continue reading Finance Should Be a First-Class Discipline for Startups
I’ve previously written about why Asians love real estate. At the time, I mentioned the Chinese Landlord principle, which has much broader implications for how to approach life. The basic Chinese Landlord principle is this: The best tenant is one who sends a check every month and never calls. I learned the Chinese Landlord principle … Continue reading Leveraging The Chinese Landlord Principle
This is a golden age for entrepreneurs–if you build a sustainable business. The costs of starting a business are lower than ever before. Social media makes it easier than ever to spread word about great products and services (note that I said easier, not easy!). There’s more transparency in the startup ecosystem (AngelList, VentureHacks, HackerNews) … Continue reading Why This Is A Golden Age For Entrepreneurs Who Follow This Approach
Going all the way back to 1995, I’ve speculated that promising young people should be able to sell a claim against their future income stream. Back then, I called it the Personal IPO. The original idea came to me after rock star David Bowie sold the infamous “Bowie Bonds,” backed by the royalties from his … Continue reading From the Archives: Personal IPO