April 2009
66 posts
WatchIf [the old] model placed the artist in the role of an employee, doing their part of the job and handing it off to the next team on the assembly line, then this new model requires them to step up to being an entrepreneur and taking ownership of the end-to-end business of delivering, not just creating, their content. The challenge is that many artists bristle at the mere mention of the ‘business’...
March 2009
44 posts
The Bit.ly Magic, via RWW
kortina:
Show us a service that can report in real time how many people are visiting millions of pages around the web and what those pages are about, that exposes that data in an API, and we’ll show you a platform we’re very excited to see work.
via http://bit.ly/YalWs
kortina’s bit: Bit.ly’s kind of like an EKG for the entire web, monitoring pulse and vital activity in real time.
Congrats...
“In the pursuit of knowledge, something is added every day. In the pursuit of...”
– Twitter / Zappos.com CEO -Tony: “In the pursuit of knowled …
Watchmsg:
The Laws of Constructive Capitalism presentation by Umair Haque
Strategy is a Commodity
Competition is Obsolete
There is Nothing More Asymetrical than an Ideal
Tomorrow is Today
Connections Not Transactions
People, Not Product
Creativity, Not Productivity
Outcomes, Not Incomes
Advantage is in the DNA
The Next Revolution is Institutional
Related Blogpost: Why Ideals are the New...
“In a similar way the structure of a building determines the activity of those...”
– Relationship Symmetry in Social Networks: Why Facebook will go Fully Asymmetric - Bokardo (via hiten)
I aboslutely agree with this. If fb does ‘man up’ to a full follow model, very powerful move.
“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge...”
– Kurt Vonnegut (via dominilucy) (via havent-got-a-prayer) (via jotterbook) (via ikeepitall) (via ambivalence)
Companies Exist to Develop Talent →
kareem:
The opportunity for professional development consistently outranks money in surveys of employee satisfaction. Only by helping employees build their skills and capabilities can companies hope to attract and retain them. Talented workers join companies and stay there because they believe they’ll learn faster and better than they would at other employers. But how, exactly, does talent get...
“If you want to do good work, what you need is a great curiosity about a...”
– Paul Graham, What You’ll Wish You’d Known (via kareem)
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it...”
– Bruce Lee (via kareem)
“The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of...”
– The Quiet Coup - The Atlantic (May 2009)
“Third, discover where your intellectual arrogance is causing disabling ignorance...”
– Peter F. Drucker (via jakelodwick) (via brevitic)
Again, the battle is to know oneself.
I Wanted To Change The World By Unknown Monk, 1100 A.D.
When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can...
Watchambivalence:
SuperNews! Twouble with Twitters.
“And now Mr. Obama has apparently settled on a financial plan that, in essence,...”
– Op-Ed Columnist - Financial Policy Despair - NYTimes.com
“Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so...”
– Doug Bowman, on his decision to leave Google (via kylebunch) (via peterwknox)
Startups in 13 Sentences
davemorin:
factoryjoe:
Pick good cofounders.
Launch fast.
Let your idea evolve.
Understand your users.
Better to make a few users love you than a lot ambivalent.
Offer surprisingly good customer service.
You make what you measure.
Spend little.
Get ramen profitable.
Avoid distractions.
Don’t get demoralized.
Don’t give up.
Deals fall through.
From Paul Graham
Simple,...
Watchkortina:
SXSW Keynote from Tony Hirsh, Zappos CEO. Highlights:
The telephone is one of the best branding devices of all time. (Zappos actually moved their HQ to Las Vegas because it was the best place to run a call center.)
“People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”
Your culture is your brand. Don’t try to be someone...
“With the old economics destroyed, organizational forms perfected for industrial...”
– Clay Shirky (via betaworks)
“Nothing will work, but everything might. Now is the time for experiments, lots...”
– Clay Shirky, again (via betaworks)
“When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are...”
– Clay Shirky is a lot smarter than you and I are. I still blame Denton! (via leitch) (via peterwknox)
WatchJim Cramer v. Jon Stewart | The Daily Show
brutal and beautiful polemic. if claire left me for jon stewart, I would understand.
“Today’s economy needs deep, foundational reinvention. Venture investors -...”
– Umair Haque (via catbird)
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched...”
– Reid Hoffman (via entrepreneurwisdom) (via hiten) (via rafer)
Social Media Basics
fred-wilson:
don’t connect your brand / topic to people, connect people to each other around your brand / topic. Originally posted as a comment by kevinprentiss on A VC using Disqus.
NYT's Article Skimming Interface →
cubicle17:
Last Friday, the New York Times released a prototype of an as-yet-unnamed interface for browsing the Sunday Edition online:
Think of it as an attempt to provide the Sunday Times experience anytime. Of course, there are parts we can’t replicate: the satisfying crinkle of the paper; the circular stain of your coffee; the smell of newsprint. […] Instead, our focus was on the...
THRU YOU | Kutiman mixes YouTube →
What you are about to see is a mix of unrelated YouTube videos/clips edited together to create ThruYou. In other words - what you see is what you hear.
Not only is the idea/execution mind blowing, all 7 tracks are fucking awesome. This Kutiman fellow knows a thing or two about music theory.
Entrepreneurs, make time to watch this
kareem:
It’s about why redesigning how your company is organized and figuring out what you stand for will help your business succeed when conventional strategy is proving to be increasingly ineffective. A choice quote from this talk on constructive capitalism:
Companies that are governed by ideals, not strategies, are 21st century companies. Companies that put these new ideals at the heart of...
“If you have an idea.. “Jump off the cliff and start building the plane on your...”
– Web 2 0 Startup Story (via hiten)
tedr says: I like it. Nothing like the pressure of an immutable deadline to put yourself into overdrive. However, make sure the damages will be manageable if the plane doesn’t get going and don’t drag anyone along with you that doesn’t have their own chute.
(via...
What are you good at? →
kareem:
Domain knowledge is important, but it’s (often) easily learnable. Process, on the other hand, refers to the emotional intelligence skills you have about managing projects, visualizing success, persuading other people of your point of view, dealing with multiple priorities, etc. This stuff is insanely valuable and hard to learn. As the world changes ever faster, as industries shrink...
Desire for Meaningful Work Triumphs Over Pay,... →
kareem:
Money has diminishing returns once you’ve got your basic needs met. Instead, people want to do meaningful work to be fulfilled:
Approximately half (51 percent) of those surveyed are prepared to accept a lower wage or a lesser role if their work contributes to something ‘more important or meaningful… One overriding trend is that people want their jobs to provide a degree of emotional...
“There is no such thing as a quantum leap. There is only dogged persistence - and...”
– James Dyson, inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner (via kareem) (via tedr)
“Seeking approval from others is a full time job with no vacations or benefits.”
– @karmakorrupt via Twitterholic extraordinaire @sacca: via Tim Ferris (via welikeitraw)
“the most challenging trials you’re facing today are prerequisite to your...”
– Bryce Roberts (via tedr)
Behold, (un)classes!
unclasses:
Ever wish you had the option to get up off the couch and spend the afternoon learning to rock climb, cook, or maybe juggle? Well, we have and that’s why we came up with (un)classes. (Un)classes are to continuing education what BarCamps are to conferences — a lightweight, low-pressure, and most of all fun way to explore topics that interest you without having to make a big up-front...