Mike Elgan helped explain why I think Google+ is a game changer. “Instead of saying, “I’m going to write a blog post now,” or “I’m going to send an e-mail” or “I think I’ll tweet something” you simply say what you have to say, then decide who you’re going to say it to.” -  If [...]

I have lived in Dallas since 1996 and over the years I have started more than my fair share of startups. I have been a big proponent of living and working in Dallas, but over the past few years it has become very apparent to me that my decision to locate my startups here in [...]

If you said, “Investing in bad deals” you would be dead wrong. Mike Arrington asked Sequoia partner Roelof Botha the same question and Botha explained that missing winners was the biggest risk. Botha explained that it is a MUCH bigger problem to miss winners versus investing in too many losers. Botha and his team passed [...]

In late March we hired an investment banker to help us run a process to sell one of our startups. One of the last things a potential acquirer conducts (after the term sheet) is the on-site visit to meet the broader team. We have been through a few of these meetings – the last one [...]

Yahoo, which is considered by some a holding company for Chinese internet companies, learned in late March that Alibaba Group (they own 43% of the company) sold one of the company’s most valuable assets Alipay without notifying or seeking approval from Alibaba’s board of directors. The CEO, Jack Ma, of Alibaba owns the company that [...]

I got this summary of business ideas/models that persistently fail from Quora. Got an idea that solves one of these ‘problems’? Don’t bother pitching me (or anyone else). Here is the answer summary: Social recommendations and/or Recommendations based on what your friends like Why? 1) too much noise/low priority, lack of personal relevance 2) Forced [...]

When I was raising money for my first startup in the late 90s and I caught myself explaining how “I” was doing this or doing that. That “I” had the best this or the best that. Finally someone pointed this out to me and I realized how arrogant I sounded. Not only did it make [...]

Back on April 19th I wrote a ‘scathing’ post against ShopKick and their CEO Cyriac Roeding. I alleged that ShopKick was promoting their app by inserting comment spam in market reviews for ShopSavvy. I assumed they were paying a firm to insert this comment spam as it was VERY plentiful. Cyriac responded by explaining it [...]