Silicon Bowery

What Happens When You Swear At Your Users?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:58:37 -0500

What Happens When You Swear At Your Users?

Absolutely incredible.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:00:05 -0500

Absolutely incredible.

Art in Bushwick

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:26:23 -0500

Art in Bushwick

David Lynch - Obsessed: Coffee

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:50:17 -0500

David Lynch - Obsessed: Coffee

Swap-O-Matic. This is such an amazing example of conscious...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:00:05 -0500

Swap-O-Matic. This is such an amazing example of conscious consumption in a world of exactly the opposite.

bijan: tedr: laughingsquid: Construction of the Golden Gate...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:28:25 -0500

bijan:

tedr:

laughingsquid:

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, 1933-1937

Even if it’s colorized it’s so helpful seeing color photos instead of only seeing the era in greyscale.

stunning.

Loving these movie posters from an alternate universe. Via...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:56:25 -0500

Loving these movie posters from an alternate universe. Via Behance.

"The office had TV screens with different feeds and games that were going on, but one of the screens..."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:24:56 -0500

“

The office had TV screens with different feeds and games that were going on, but one of the screens had the live feed from Boston Garden. So now it’s like 4:30pm, and the lights are not even on at the Garden, but Larry Bird is out there shooting, as is his pregame ritual. He would always be out there hours before anyone else, shooting a half an hour or an hour by himself. Not even anyone retrieving the ball.

So Mantle sits back and starts watching Bird shoot, and two minutes go by, and I notice Bird hasn’t missed a shot. Two more minutes go by; Bird still hasn’t missed a shot. And I see Mantle start to sit up, to get on the edge of his chair and get more and more intently focused on watching this. No joke, Bird has probably taken a hundred shots in a row and not missed one. Mantle is just totally amazed by what he’s seeing, and I’m watching him watch Bird. I’m getting a real kick out of this because I’m seeing this guy, one of the greatest baseball players of all time, watching one of the greatest basketball players of all time, all the while knowing that there are only two people in the world who are aware of what’s going on now, and it’s me and Mickey Mantle. I think Bird was shooting for close to ten minutes without missing a shot, and finally Mantle gets to the point where he has to say something. He’s just so amazed by what he’s been seeing that he looks at me and says, “This boy doesn’t miss.”

And I looked at him and I said, “Yeah, but you’re Mickey Mantle.”

”

- Bill Fairweather, from Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN. An awesome read for any sports fan…

Is Coachella Worth It

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:58:46 -0500

Is Coachella Worth It

I’m going. Are you?

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:00:05 -0500

I’m going. Are you?

Thoughts On Corporate Venturing

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:00:06 -0500

I’ve had the pleasure of being part of something these past 2 years that has tried to think long and hard about re-envisioning the corporate venture capital model and how corporations should interact with startups. Who knows if we have the right recipe (talk to our entrepreneurs) but I’ve had the benefit of synthesizing a ton of information from some of the best minds in the space and spent the past 2 years building a pretty distinct viewpoint. The interest in corporate venture activity is at fever pitch and with more and more corporations looking for perspective I thought it might be thoughtful to put pen to paper. What follows are how corporations might want to think about CVC, largely based upon our successes and failures these past 2 years. I’d note in advance that none of this is terribly novel, it focuses on internet/media investors and there obviously is a lot more here that isn’t written.

1) What Is Your Distinct Product? - At the end of the day you are attempting to enter a largely insular, highly competitive market with not a lot of differentiation. Most people offer the same product. Try hard to map the customer (entrepreneur) experience and think about ways that you can differentiate. That could be a re-invention of certain pain points that the customer has or it could be a better platform that drives more value or it could be something totally amazing that no one has thought about. The most important thing that drove us from the outset when starting AOLV was ‘what is the distinct product we are offering in the corporate venture market and why should an entrepreneur take our money?’ You will need to think about this or join the sea of sameness.

2) Staff Sergeants vs Generals - The military is run day-to-day by Staff Sergeants, not Generals. It is of paramount importance to know mid-level staff sergeants (top 100 right under execs) in your company as they are the ones who really drive decisions and can be your best friend or worst enemy. A start-up is obviously working with you partly because of your relationship with these folks. End of the day start-ups will happily take advice from your CEO, but they probably like a BD deal (por ejemplo) better that happens quickly because you know the right mid-level people and can drive the discussion, the deal, and help when it gets mucked up in legal (yes you even should know all the lawyers).

3) You Don’t Have to Lead - I’ve never been a big fan of corporations leading rounds of financing, especially at the early stage where I sit. Just doesn’t make any sense on a risk/reward basis to take a corporate as a lead and I don’t believe corporates can even really compete to lead rounds over Tier-1 investors. If your fund proves you can add measurable value you should be an active participant in a cap table and adding distinct value where you can like any other early stage non-lead investor (again it goes back to the product you offer). You do not have to have a ton of Board seats to be close to your entrepreneurs and can still own sizable pieces of good companies to earn a return for your parent by being a good life cycle investor that supports a company through it’s growth.

4) Bear Hug Your CFO - For the most part, if you think you can play the renegade, totally autonomous game that gives no benefit back to your parent company history will prove you wrong as far as I’ve seen and been told. Think about what you can do for your parent company beyond the obvious treasury play and make sure you have great inroads to the CFO function of your company, keep them updated like a normal LP (sometimes more) because at the end of the day they are the folks who meet your capital calls and determine your fate.

Fearless 3 Year Old!

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:16:34 -0500

Fearless 3 Year Old!

Handshake Awareness - Because Being Awkward Is Unacceptable

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:17:00 -0500

Handshake Awareness - Because Being Awkward Is Unacceptable

There are very few people I can listen to all the time. Sharon...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:51:48 -0500

There are very few people I can listen to all the time. Sharon Jones is one of them.

Good song to get work done. Or ride a bike. Or go for a walk.

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:50:46 -0500

Good song to get work done. Or ride a bike. Or go for a walk.

RIP Dobie Gray…

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:10:06 -0500

RIP Dobie Gray…

We’ve been pretty fascinated with the Occupy Wall St...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:23:21 -0500

We’ve been pretty fascinated with the Occupy Wall St movement in the office and also needed to place a fire extinguisher on a wall in our office. Hence, this.

Mike Brown Jr, In Case of Emergency, 2011, Acrylic + Fire Extinguisher on Sheetrock

Mini Cooper reminds me a lot of Virgin…

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:15:07 -0400

Mini Cooper reminds me a lot of Virgin…

It’s not that I don’t like Occupy Wall Street,...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:48:25 -0400

It’s not that I don’t like Occupy Wall Street, it’s just that this is too funny.

Very much into Brian Hart’s light paintings these...

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:37:43 -0400

Very much into Brian Hart’s light paintings these days…