Facebook IPO Lessons
Like most people, I had the opportunity to review Facebook’s IPO filing yesterday and admit that, like Apple’s recent earnings announcement, this is pretty damn impressive. Here are a couple of lessons worth reinforcing: 1) People’s view of what is normal and acceptable in emergent online activities is constantly evolving. What Facebook deserves a lot [...]
Tech Diversity, Yes Let’s Look at the Real Issue
Mitch Kapor says we should looks beyond the kerfuffle between Arrington and CNN, and yes let’s do that. I wrote this 2 years ago and nothing has changed: Why does this matter, especially coming from someone like me who has a gag reflex about the words “affirmative action” and repulsion at the idea that we, [...]
Smallcompanyitis: Death by a Thousand Committees
I realized something recently that in all my years had thus far escaped my attention and it is direct commentary on the distinction between large and small company culture. A common belief is that small companies (startups in the Valley vernacular) are nimble because they can’t afford to waste time. This is quite true but [...]
A Well Intentioned Bad Idea That Should Not be Stopped
Like everyone who has looked at the issue of immigration, I came to the conclusion long ago that it is a broken and outdated system. Just consider that every H1-B visa is snapped up within 12 hours of becoming available and you see how not only demand outstrips supply but an industry has grown up [...]
Lunarr Is Going Dark . . .
Like Tom, I am also a big fan of the team at Lunarr and over the last year and a half have become good friends with Hideshi Hamaguchi, who is one of the most interesting and generous of heart people you will have the good fortune of meeting. I’m a big fan of the team [...]
Is a Recession the Perfect Time to Start a Business?
Received an email today pitching services for a “renowned business expert” who would like to be interviewed. The pitch was that a recession is the perfect time to start a business because: * First, everything costs less! “Start up costs are much lower than 3 years ago,” explains business startup expert, Danielle Babb. “Things like [...]
Building Feedly, An Altnerative Approach
There is something really important in this post on the Feedly blog about how they launched their company and approach to building out the product. Along with the succinct description of what it means to develop and launch a product using an agile process is the indictment of the stealth-and-hype approach startups have embraced in [...]
Why the TechCrunch Economy Will Falter
Reading yesterday that AppLoop has apparently shut down impressed upon me a fundamental flaw in the startup economy promoted by a wide swath of pundits and proponents, that starting is more important than sustaining. Now, we’re hearing rumors that the startup is in trouble, and they appear to hold some truth. For one, the company’s [...]
TechCrunch 50
I’m up at Techcrunch 50 today, along with a gaggle of other folks from the media, startup, and investor community. Lot’s of companies, but truth be told not a lot that I find that interesting. I sat in on some of the sessions, which are a Demo-style “pitch then sharpshoot” format featuring a panel of [...]
The Death of Stealth Mode
Stealth mode is pointless because everyone has figured out that it’s faux scarcity with a PR objective. Just go into alpha release and skip the whole stealth mode shtick. If you’re starting a company and want to stay in “stealth mode”, make sure you understand the impact of your Form D filing and factor that [...]
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About
My name is Jeff Nolan and I write Venture Chronicles. I am the VP of Product Marketing for Get Satisfaction and I write about a range of topics that interest me, including public policy, technology, entrepreneurship, finance, and global issues.
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