musings & critique about hi-tech, academia, building startups, and a journal to building eKita
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
This was sortof funny to see:
http://www.studentstory.in/2012/06/win-ipad-reviewing-worlddesk/?goback=%2Egde_1891552_member_128172718
This is StickyDrive 2.0
StickyDrive was a 2005 SV startup I was part of, founded by my cousin Sol.
"An operating system on a flashdisk"
Its funny to see things tried over again (in fact this is the fourth such project I've seen in the past years), when they either fail to execute or simply come out before their "time".
Ironically with Sol, he had alot of great visions and this wasnt the only startup he founded which was before its time. "Twitter Video" (12 sec video clips @ www.12seconds.tv) was also a thing he built after StickyDrive was acquired by DeviceVM, but it plateaued at about 150k users if I recall correctly - and they shut it down in 2010 I believe after it wouldnt grow past that.
Its always funny in this industry to see ideas and projects effectively "reanimated" as time goes by...
Sometimes its just about right timing, and a bit of skill in execution.
In any case - this WorldDesktop project is a bit past its time, IMO.
Flash disks are becoming a thing of the past, a less useful commodity, and cloud-based web storage is whats leading the path.
So I dont think this project will do much in this space either. It was a pretty hit-or-miss chance for this type of platform between 2004 and 2009 I'd say. Nothing really caught on. Kingston has their urDrive and Sandisk made one too... all of them relatively ineffective in the end as added value for either company.
http://www.studentstory.in/2012/06/win-ipad-reviewing-worlddesk/?goback=%2Egde_1891552_member_128172718
This is StickyDrive 2.0
StickyDrive was a 2005 SV startup I was part of, founded by my cousin Sol.
"An operating system on a flashdisk"
Its funny to see things tried over again (in fact this is the fourth such project I've seen in the past years), when they either fail to execute or simply come out before their "time".
Ironically with Sol, he had alot of great visions and this wasnt the only startup he founded which was before its time. "Twitter Video" (12 sec video clips @ www.12seconds.tv) was also a thing he built after StickyDrive was acquired by DeviceVM, but it plateaued at about 150k users if I recall correctly - and they shut it down in 2010 I believe after it wouldnt grow past that.
Its always funny in this industry to see ideas and projects effectively "reanimated" as time goes by...
Sometimes its just about right timing, and a bit of skill in execution.
In any case - this WorldDesktop project is a bit past its time, IMO.
Flash disks are becoming a thing of the past, a less useful commodity, and cloud-based web storage is whats leading the path.
So I dont think this project will do much in this space either. It was a pretty hit-or-miss chance for this type of platform between 2004 and 2009 I'd say. Nothing really caught on. Kingston has their urDrive and Sandisk made one too... all of them relatively ineffective in the end as added value for either company.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
ICT Spring conference in Luxembourg was quite a trip.
www.ictspring.com for those who missed it.
Now - I'll first say that I dont know alot about the startup events in Europe. I mean c'mon. Europe isnt very well known for startups - with a few exceptions (UK, budding Belgian scene, Holland, etc).
Regardless - as most of my background and my startup upbringing is in the southwest US / silicon valley area, my European startup knowledge isnt that of a local. (Despite the fact I've built one in Spain and one in Sweden: both of those places arent well known for startups either)
So - initially, I had been under the impression that this ICT Spring conference was indeed one of the pinnacle European startup events. They certainly branded it as such.
This was not so.
While the ICT Spring is indeed a fun event, with lots of great panelists & guest speakers, and located in a beautiful city.... Luxembourg itself, its culture, its business life, and the mentality is about as far from startup as one can get.
People in Luxembourg dont even understand what a startup is!
Its true. 100%
Even their governmental incubator program lists on its requirements for the seed stage startups it incubates:
They really do think a startup is simply a small version of a big company.
Suffice to say - their incubator stands empty.
Read more »
www.ictspring.com for those who missed it.
Now - I'll first say that I dont know alot about the startup events in Europe. I mean c'mon. Europe isnt very well known for startups - with a few exceptions (UK, budding Belgian scene, Holland, etc).
Regardless - as most of my background and my startup upbringing is in the southwest US / silicon valley area, my European startup knowledge isnt that of a local. (Despite the fact I've built one in Spain and one in Sweden: both of those places arent well known for startups either)
So - initially, I had been under the impression that this ICT Spring conference was indeed one of the pinnacle European startup events. They certainly branded it as such.
This was not so.
While the ICT Spring is indeed a fun event, with lots of great panelists & guest speakers, and located in a beautiful city.... Luxembourg itself, its culture, its business life, and the mentality is about as far from startup as one can get.
People in Luxembourg dont even understand what a startup is!
Its true. 100%
Even their governmental incubator program lists on its requirements for the seed stage startups it incubates:
Startups we incubate must be funded, have initial revenue, and user growth with an established product in their target market.Yup. Seriously.
They really do think a startup is simply a small version of a big company.
Suffice to say - their incubator stands empty.
Read more »
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
[Full Credits: OnStartups.com]
Dont agree with every single tidbit, but the majority of it - couldnt agree more!
My favorite part:
-Dharmesh
On May 20th, either right before midnight or right after midnight, I can't remember, I posted my rendition of what it feels like to be a startup CEO to a question on Quora. 1124 votes later and one last glance at a notification of an up vote from, Jia Liu, a social game maker from Zynga, I'm going to close the Quora tab and at the recommendation of Dharmesh, write what this last few days have been like, some of the cool things I've heard and some of the great people I've met as well as what I've realized.
With that said, here's the original post that sparked such a fantastic response.
What It Feels Like To Be The CEO Of A Startup
Very tough to sleep most nights of the week. Weekends don't mean anything to you anymore. Closing a round of financing is not a relief. It means more people are depending on you to turn their investment into 20 times what they gave you.
It's very difficult to "turn it off". But at the same time, television, movies and vacations become so boring to you when your company's future might be sitting in your inbox or in the results of a new A/B test you decided to run.
You feel guilty when you're doing something you like doing outside of the company. Only through years of wrestling with this internal fight do you recognize how the word "balance" is an art that is just as important as any other skill set you could ever hope to have. You begin to see how valuable creativity is and that you must think differently not only to win, but to see the biggest opportunities. You recognize you get your best ideas when you're not staring at a screen. You see immediate returns on healthy distractions.
You start to respect the Duck. Paddle like hell under the water and be smooth and calm on top where everyone can see you. You learn the hard way that if you lose your cool you lose.
You always ask yourself if I am changing the World in a good way? Are people's lives better for having known me?
You are creative and when you have an idea it has no filter before it becomes a reality. This feeling is why you can't do anything else.
You start to see that the word "entrepreneur" is a personality. It's difficult to talk to your friends that are not risking the same things you are because they are content with not pushing themselves or putting it all out there in the public with the likelihood of failure staring at them everyday. You start to turn a lot of your conversations with relatives into how they might exploit opportunities for profit. Those close to you will view your focus as something completely different because they don't understand. You don't blame them. They can't understand if they haven't done it themselves. It's why you will gravitate towards other entrepreneurs. You will find reward in helping other entrepreneurs. This is my email address: paul[at]ecquire.com Let me know if I can help you with anything.
Your job is to create a vision, a culture, to get the right people on the bus and to inspire. When you look around at a team that believes in the vision as much as you do and trusts you will do the right thing all the time, it's a feeling that can't be explained. The exponential productivity from great people will always amaze you. It's why finding the right team is the most difficult thing you will do but the most important. This learning will affect your life significantly. You will not settle for things anymore because you will see what is possible when you hold out for the best and push to find people that are the best. You don't have a problem anymore being honest with people about not cutting it.
Read more »
Dont agree with every single tidbit, but the majority of it - couldnt agree more!
My favorite part:
"You begin to realize that in life, the luckiest people in the World only get one shot at being a part of something great. Knowing this helps you make sense of your commitment."The following is a guest post from Paul DeJoe, founder at Ecquire and EIR at Fairbridge Venture Partners. This article is adapted from an answer on Quora that Paul left responding to the question “What does it feel like to be the CEO of a startup?” I reached out to Paul for permission to share his thoughts with the OnStartups.com readership. At the end of the article is an epilogue with additional notes. It's worth reading too
-Dharmesh
On May 20th, either right before midnight or right after midnight, I can't remember, I posted my rendition of what it feels like to be a startup CEO to a question on Quora. 1124 votes later and one last glance at a notification of an up vote from, Jia Liu, a social game maker from Zynga, I'm going to close the Quora tab and at the recommendation of Dharmesh, write what this last few days have been like, some of the cool things I've heard and some of the great people I've met as well as what I've realized.
With that said, here's the original post that sparked such a fantastic response.
What It Feels Like To Be The CEO Of A Startup
Very tough to sleep most nights of the week. Weekends don't mean anything to you anymore. Closing a round of financing is not a relief. It means more people are depending on you to turn their investment into 20 times what they gave you.
It's very difficult to "turn it off". But at the same time, television, movies and vacations become so boring to you when your company's future might be sitting in your inbox or in the results of a new A/B test you decided to run.
You feel guilty when you're doing something you like doing outside of the company. Only through years of wrestling with this internal fight do you recognize how the word "balance" is an art that is just as important as any other skill set you could ever hope to have. You begin to see how valuable creativity is and that you must think differently not only to win, but to see the biggest opportunities. You recognize you get your best ideas when you're not staring at a screen. You see immediate returns on healthy distractions.
You start to respect the Duck. Paddle like hell under the water and be smooth and calm on top where everyone can see you. You learn the hard way that if you lose your cool you lose.
You always ask yourself if I am changing the World in a good way? Are people's lives better for having known me?
You are creative and when you have an idea it has no filter before it becomes a reality. This feeling is why you can't do anything else.
You start to see that the word "entrepreneur" is a personality. It's difficult to talk to your friends that are not risking the same things you are because they are content with not pushing themselves or putting it all out there in the public with the likelihood of failure staring at them everyday. You start to turn a lot of your conversations with relatives into how they might exploit opportunities for profit. Those close to you will view your focus as something completely different because they don't understand. You don't blame them. They can't understand if they haven't done it themselves. It's why you will gravitate towards other entrepreneurs. You will find reward in helping other entrepreneurs. This is my email address: paul[at]ecquire.com Let me know if I can help you with anything.
Your job is to create a vision, a culture, to get the right people on the bus and to inspire. When you look around at a team that believes in the vision as much as you do and trusts you will do the right thing all the time, it's a feeling that can't be explained. The exponential productivity from great people will always amaze you. It's why finding the right team is the most difficult thing you will do but the most important. This learning will affect your life significantly. You will not settle for things anymore because you will see what is possible when you hold out for the best and push to find people that are the best. You don't have a problem anymore being honest with people about not cutting it.
Read more »
Sunday, June 3, 2012
...of how fragmented and rediculous the edu-tech market is.
This Professor just released an e-book on how to use all the various non-edu-tech built tools...for educational purposes.
His e-book outlines TWENTY (20) different tools, all of which (or - most of which) you've probably heard of or already use - and how to use them for your educational needs. Together. In Tandem. To get the minimal features of what you probably, actually, DO need.
Thats 20 different logins, 20 different sites, 20 fragmented different places storing your data and means of connections.
Its a damn good book too - thats the sad thing.
The more sad thing is that its actually dubbed "a minimalist approach". As in: You JUST need these 20 tools! Only 20! --- the world wont know what hit it when eKita comes out.
Enjoy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/95039625/Web-2-0-Research-Tools-A-Quick-Guide
This Professor just released an e-book on how to use all the various non-edu-tech built tools...for educational purposes.
His e-book outlines TWENTY (20) different tools, all of which (or - most of which) you've probably heard of or already use - and how to use them for your educational needs. Together. In Tandem. To get the minimal features of what you probably, actually, DO need.
Thats 20 different logins, 20 different sites, 20 fragmented different places storing your data and means of connections.
Its a damn good book too - thats the sad thing.
The more sad thing is that its actually dubbed "a minimalist approach". As in: You JUST need these 20 tools! Only 20! --- the world wont know what hit it when eKita comes out.
Enjoy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/95039625/Web-2-0-Research-Tools-A-Quick-Guide
Saturday, June 2, 2012
OK...
Thanks to a new "acquaintance"...I've just started investigating these new platforms:
https://simperium.com/
http://www.meteor.com/screencast
I implore any techies to watch this video especially:
http://www.meteor.com/screencast
especially the part at 4:10+ where he shows how a database pointer dynamically updates and sorts web-content in real-time!
Yes.
That alone was worth a blog post.
I cant stop smiling after seeing that.
Thank you very much, have a good night.
We're building eKita on this, btw.
mmmhmmm...damn straight.
Thanks to a new "acquaintance"...I've just started investigating these new platforms:
https://simperium.com/
http://www.meteor.com/screencast
I implore any techies to watch this video especially:
http://www.meteor.com/screencast
especially the part at 4:10+ where he shows how a database pointer dynamically updates and sorts web-content in real-time!
Yes.
That alone was worth a blog post.
I cant stop smiling after seeing that.
Thank you very much, have a good night.
We're building eKita on this, btw.
mmmhmmm...damn straight.
