Taxation is the source of revenue for city-states. It happened in Roman times, it happened in Egyptian times, it happens today. Why, then, do so many online communities insist on letting outside institutions buy real estate on their local billboards as the main form of revenue? Facebook and Twitter didn’t have to be advertising companies. They had a critical mass of loyal citizens who ostensibly would be willing to pay for services the same way […]
This is certainly a #humblebrag, but this is also certainly why I do what I do.
Let’s take a moment with the word pursuit. Its most famous application will serve as an interesting case study for its use, and for our understanding of it. The goal of government, so famously wrought by the framers of the United States in the Declaration of Independence, is to protect the “unalienable rights” of Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness. This trio of rights serves as the standard upon which political theorists plant their flags. […]
Application infrastructure is making everything cheaper to build Lately, application infrastructure has made it easier than ever to launch a prototype on the internet. Browser-based IDEs are in a race to develop tools that make programming fast, easy, and faster and easier. Guilds, to borrow Dave McClure’s term, of entrepreneurs are gathering in hubs like Techstars, YCombinator, and 500 Startups to draw support from their fellow classmates, share brand value, and supplement their own skills […]
Refrain is a fascinating word. Taken as a noun, it is a technical musical term referring to that melody to which you always return. In literary terms, it is the familiar, sometimes nagging phrase from your lecturing dad, or needy spouse. It’s a return, something you come back to. Taken as a verb, however, to refrain is to keep from – to avoid. It carries the suggestion that you might have done something, but managed to […]
I really enjoyed this University Ventures newsletter, which provided a fresh perspective to the conversation over the rise of online education. It analogizes beer drinkers to future post-secondary students, breaking them up into “Buds” and “Sams”. The former, according to this analogy, drink beer to get drunk. The cheaper the better, so long as it gets the job done. The latter drink beer because they love the taste of beer. They drink artisanal microbrews primarily […]
I want to make a quick comment about a problem which has been hounding me for the last two or three years, reaching a breaking point this year. This problem is that of scheduling. We all have to do it, we all hate it, and we’re all patiently waiting for someone to fix it. For those of us who cannot afford for someone to do it for us, scheduling tends to go something like this: […]
swaaanson: Nick O’Neill recently wrote a post titled Silicon Valley Is Filled With Liars that detailed the ways that entrepreneurs and VCs stretch the truth: using vanity metrics that distract from more fundamental business drivers, touting acquihires as successful exits, pretending that a CEO transition… Jonathan Swanson tellin truth. Been on both sides of this, admittedly. Entrepreneurs: Stop Lying To Each Other
collaborativefund: If I wanted to raise $1,000,000 for a start-up fifteen — even ten — years ago, I might do something like this: 1. I would prepare a powerpoint presentation 30 slides long, with an appendix and financials. 2. My team would rent a car, and drive down to Sand Hill Road. We would meet with… Collaborative Fund: Social web is changing how we back startups
I am a South African, by birth and citizenship. I’ve been in the United States nearly three decades, but my language, culture, and family are all South African. I am an immigrant working in high-technology entrepreneurship. I have created a dozen jobs, and intend to create as many more as possible in the coming months and years. My maternal grandmother, Rosyln Peteni, is a nonagenarian: she is in her nineties. She was born and raised […]
Musings 