The next time you (assuming you are American) find that you are trying to figure out what the heck your friend from Australia, Canada, Ireland or England is actually saying, check out this site to get the answer. Given that I have friends in all of these countries (two of them are staying with me right now), it will certainly come in handy.
If you’ve been watching new news on Google today and want to hear the earnings call for yourself, a free podcast recording is available at EarningsCast.
Ted Rheingold (Dogster founder) sent an email out today talking about a new firefox extension he’s built to enable quick searches on people. Description below. This is cool.
Hello!
Are you using Firefox? If so, I recently posted a handy little extension
that should save you some time. It’s called “Who Is This Person?” and it
will query popular networking, news and people sites against a person’s name
you highlight in Firefox.The download URL is here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1912Once installed it adds a right-click sub-menu which gives you the option
of immediately searching a highlighted name against LinkedIn, Wikipedia,
Technorati, Google News, TailRank, Yahoo People Search, ZabaSearch and Google.“Who Is This Person?” is great to quickly see how LinkedIn you are to someone,
if they are important or newsworthy (or neither, where their home base
is, or even find a phone number.If you put it to use, please let me know what you think. “Who Is This Person?”
is just a little extension that is certainly not going to save the world,
but it could definitely save you a couple seconds ;>Happy searching,
Ted Rheingold
I hear that interesting things are afoot at vast.com, which is nothing more than a password protected site right now. Anyone have any details on who’s involved? The word is that it’s a classifieds play of some sort.
Someone needs to take this and build it in Ajax. Thanks, Orli Yakuel, for the link.
Dave Winer wrote a post today called “How to Reform the VC Industry” Robert Scoble and John Roberts of CNET follow up with their own thoughts.
I agree with the premise – that venture capital is broken (at least as it applies to new web startups), but I diverge from the line of thinking on why, and what to do about it.
Dave’s arguments in my words:
1. venture capital is broken because they are middlemen and they make bad decisions (lots of online pet companies in the nineties)
2. and people really need less capital now to start companies, and they need it later in the cycle
2. so companies should go right to the users, who often have money
3. but Dave ends his essay by saying that some companies will still need capital, and suggests forming a publicly held venture fund to supply this capital
Scoble generally agrees, and points out that venture capital is tight exactly when companies need it the most: in tight economies.
John Roberts main point is that ideas are easier than execution (I think he’s right that execution is really, really hard).
I agree with a lot of what Dave writes, but not the key parts. And Dave takes the time to say that VCs don’t add enough value as middlemen, but his solution is to create a…venture fund. The only difference is that it will be publicly held instead of privately held. Presumably this is to get “users” directly into the investment flow. But it seems to me that Dave is suggesting the insertion of a new middleman to take the place of the old.
Publicly held venture funds have already been tried, by the way. There’s 3i in the UK, and DFJ tried a similar experiment called MeVC back in the bubble that ended up a complete mess. In general, publicly held venture funds don’t work because they don’t provide the predictability of earnings, the visibility and the liquidity that the public markets require. Furthermore there is the whole issue of disclosure regarding companies in a VC portfolio that would be very damaging. That’s why endowments and retirement funds that decided to disclose VC returns are being being kicked out of their allocation, even when long term relationships existed. So not only does the idea of a public venture fund not really work, private funds don’t even want publicly held investors to participate in their funds. (Thanks to Jeff Clavier for discussing this with me and filling in gaps in my memory).
In my opinion, venture firms provide a valuable service. They are asked to make investment decisions very early in a company’s cycle – often before launch and almost always before it’s clear that the risk of user adoption has been overcome. That’s hard to do – and the hyper-competive vc market, flush with cash, ensures that only the best survive.
So what do I think is wrong with funds today? Many of them are too big. They need to make big investments to justify fund size and the associated management fees. But companies can create a lot with much less in the way of resources compared to a few years ago. They don’t need as much money. But they take it anyway…and this may be a reason that valuations have risen. Clarence Wooten, who’s starting a venture fund with this in mind, wrote about this late last year and put it perfectly:
The average venture capital fund size currently stands at $280 million, which presents a problem for VCs focused on investing in early-stage software companies. Generally speaking, the larger the fund, the more money it must invest on a deal-by-deal basis in order to justify the time commitment by the fund. But significant venture funding is not what today’s capital-efficient, Web 2.0 startups need—especially those that leverage the LAMP -stack, open-source frameworks and blog-fueled promotion. The old style of venture capital just doesn’t work for the type of company generally seen profiled on TechCrunch.
Instead of VCs changing their model to invest smaller amounts, we are seeing an increase in Series A valuations. It’s not that startups have suddenly becoming more valuable, it’s that funds need to deploy larger amounts of capital. Considering the movement towards less capital and competition by the likes of Google, VC’s are increasing the valuations of young companies. The valuation increase enables the fund to deploy enough capital to make the investment worth their time.
Entrepreneurs giddy that their company has just been valued at a significant multiple often take the bait and raise more capital then they need.
The way to fix this: boutique firms are already being formed that will invest smaller amounts in web 2.0 startups. Angel investors (Dave’s “users”) also fill in the gaps (and always have). Let the big firms focus on more capital intensive ventures. In the end, people with lots of money want professionals to make investment decisions for them.
Steve Gillmor published a new Gillmor Gang today. And I am totally excited to say that Steve asked me to participate (and he only disagreed with most of what I said). This was the most fun I’ve had on a podcast, and I hope to do many more.
Participants: Steve Gillmor, Dan Farber, Dana Gardner, Doc Searls, Mike Vizard, Michael Arrington
Topics: Disney/Pixar, Allchin Dinner, Live.com strategy, future of content & DRM, Will Microsoft buy Yahoo?
Rachel Cunliffe created a really cool index of all TechCrunch profiles (written about here). She just added a link to the OPML file for all of these links as well. This will allow others to manipulate this data and include it in their blogs or applications as well.
Simply Hired and Dogster have teamed up to create and promote job searches at companies that allow dogs in the office. As a proud dog owner, I think this is great.
Stephen Bryant at Ziff Davis interviewed me briefly for his weekly column at publish.com. Some of this is around the Tello mess earlier this week, which I am going to write about this weekend.
I saw a ton of new Live.com services today at the SearchChamps event. Many of them are under NDA but a bunch are bloggable and pretty interesting. I’ll be writing them up in an hour or two on TechCrunch.
Update: Post is here.
I’ve had a few random, semi-connected, somewhat emotional things happen over the last few days. It’s all jumbled up in my head, but tomorrow I fly to Seattle for the Microsoft Search Champs event, and the time “offline” will hopefully allow me to bake everything and settle down. But for now, it’s 2:30 in the morning, I’m exhausted but I can’t sleep. Here’s some of it:
1. A good friend today told me that someone told him to “watch out for Arrington” because “he clearly has an agenda”. I normally have a pretty thick skin (ok that’s a lie), but this really hit home. I’ve also gotten a few nasty comments thrown my way on techcrunch lately that suggest the same thing.
It seems that people don’t understand why someone could just write a blog about companies and leave it at that. They assume I have some outside influence that affects what I write about or what I say.
All I can say is: I love companies and the people who start them. I am passionate about them in a way I can’t describe. I love it. I have no agenda other than that.
2. I have a bit of a problem around a company I’ve gotten to know recently. I like their product a lot and think that they are doing something that’s interesting and good for the web. But one of their founders is a really bad person. I know this person from years ago and witnessed him doing some incredibly evil stuff. Not go-to-jail kind of stuff, but seriously deranged, selfish behavior and I suspect that there is a lot of ugliness and potential violence just beneath the surface. The other founders seem great. For now, I am not writing about the company, but its really bothering me.
3. On a happier note, I had lunch today with a whole bunch of really smart people. Dave Winer, Steve Gillmor, Sylvia Paull, Carleen Hawn (who I’ve run into twice in the last two weeks), Laurence Toney, Ted Cho and Tom Maddox. There was some incredible brainpower there and an interesting discussion around blogging/journalism. Steve wrote some really nice things about me. And this got me thinking – just a year ago most of the people at that table were celebrities to me – people who I knew through their writing but never really thought I’d “know”. They are my friends now, they include me in their conversations and occasionally ask for my advice. It’s thrilling, and I still feel a bit overwhelmed by it. It’s like, when are they going to find out I’m a total nobody and stop talking to me?
4. TechCrunch has taken a bit of a turn to the dark side recently with some fairly harsh posts on companies like Ning and Tello. In the past I’d just not write about stuff like that, and focus more on the positive. I don’t know if this is making me a more balanced writer, or if it’s an unhealthy trend that needs to be addressed.
5. Edgeio is almost ready for private testing. It’s exciting but stressful. Also, I am trying to figure out what role TechCrunch should play in getting the message out about edgeio. The conflict is obvious, but edgeio is something I would write about if I weren’t a founder. I need to figure this out soon, and make sure I’m very clear on the conflict.
6. There is someone new and incredibly important in my life and I’ve been smiling more than usual.
7. I hung out with Steve and Dave after the lunch today, and then drove Steve home and spent more time with him. He’s so smart he makes my head hurt. And he talked about some self-defeating tendencies people we know have…and I realized I also have every one of these bad habits. More stuff to fix…
Richard Ball just sent me an email telling me about his TagMan, a hangman-like game for Flickr tags.
Tara Hunt, Chief Blogger and Marketer at Riya, gives free marketing advice to startups. Theory is always good, but Tara is folding theory into reality. Good stuff.
Edgeio, my startup, is rolling forward and we are preparing a private testing period in the next week, followed by a public launch. We are at 6 employees now and this is definitely the “fun” stage where things evolve so fast. We need a key software engineer to round out the early team. If you are a star, and want a lot of responsibility right away, consider applying. Details are below, and we will be happy to email additional information about the company and the position to applicants:
Software Engineer
Edgeio is a recently funded startup based in Silicon Valley (Palo Alto) that
is just beginning to expand beyond its founding team and we are seeking an
experienced software engineer that can play a pivotal role in building a
great company. The ideal candidate combines strong PHP programming skills,
experience building complex web applications using JavaScript, and a
thorough understanding of XHTML. Furthermore, this candidate is interested
in working in a fast paced, dynamic, startup environment where flexibility
and initiative are highly valued.
Responsibilities:
You will be responsible for implementing, unit testing, debugging,
documenting, and maintaining web based applications and tools. Success will
be measured by your ability to take designs and rapidly implement production
ready applications that connect to the Edgeio backend. Edgeio is a small
collaborative organization and you will be working closely with the entire
team.
Required Skills:
. BS in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience
. 1-2 years experience developing complex web applications using
JavaScript
. 2-3 years professional experience with one or more of PHP, Python,
Ruby, Java, Perl, or Python
. Experience using XML, XML DOM, and manipulating XML using JavaScript
DOM interfaces
. Thorough understanding of XHTML or alternatively HTML 4
. A passion for creating intuitive, easy-to-use, graphical interfaces
Desirable Skills:
. Basic to intermediate XSL knowledge
. Experience with C++ and / or Ruby
Working at Edgeio
This is a full time contract position that will transition to a permanent
position with a comprehensive set of benefits and stock options. We are
looking for someone who is excited about working in a startup environment
and who will “do what it takes” to get the job done. If you’re interested
in working at Edgeio, please send your resume and cover letter to the
following email address and include “SOFTWARE ENGINEER” in the subject of
your email:
jobs [at] edgeio.com
Hugh Macleod’s “top ten reasons why nobody reads your blog” is funny and it’s dead on. No’s 3 and 4:
3. “Passion & Authority” are just buzzwords to you.Yeah, I’ve read the Cluetrain as well. So has my pet canary. Get back in line.
4. A secret cabal of A-Listers got together and decided that you should be excluded from the conversation.Yeah, they sit around sipping champagne, eating caviar and laughing about you.
I just received the email below. If anyone has suggestions, please leave a comment. Also, it looks like these guys are looking for Ajax help, so if you are an individual who is interested I’m happy to pass on your email.
Hi Mr. Arrington. I am a student at the University of Southern California. I am working on a revolutionary web2.0 site along with 2 PHD students. We are currently facing some technical difficulties. I was wondering if you can recommend any web2.0 discussion boards or chats where I could discuss the problems we are facing with other expirienced web developers to see if someone out there has a solution. I am looking for a way to connect with individuals who are truly AJAX experts. We have substantial resources to pay for the solution if neccesary. Can you provide any direction or advice on the matter? Thank you for all your help.
Stowe has started a new blog that is a “must read”: /Message. Good luck Stowe, it will be fun to watch this grow.
