You can only feel bad for them to a certain extent. You must be aware of your surroundings, and constantly be re-inventing yourself.
"Adapt to change, or be consumed by change. It's a choice and a challenge that everyone is given, yet a rare few choose and accept."
If being a leader or becoming successful was easy, everyone would be doing it. But it's not, it's hard work and tests the limitations of us as humans. I think that what drives the historically successful people is an innate necessity to change peoples lives. Of course documented success, money, and freedom all factor into this equation as well, but speaking from personal experience - it's the drive to know that you have changed an intricate part of someones life, whether business, professional, or consumer related -- and seeing the results of your work. That requirement of yourself, not sleeping until that void in you is fulfilled, is what truly drives success. So let's re-word our previous statement:
"Create change, or be consumed by not creating change. It's a requirement that not everyone feels, yet a rare few achieve."
Monday, July 7, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
A Venture Capital Firm That Justs "Get's" It:
I think we all know how much I love TechCrunch. So obviously I am concluding all of the following commentary from Mike Arrington's story today on the Matt Cohler - Leaving Facebook Interview. The Exit Interview was about 25 minutes, but extremely interesting and has received nothing but great comments on TC.
Bill Gurley, he is one of the partners at Benchmark Capital.
BG: No, we didn’t get any Facebook stock. Benchmark is a venture firm that has a rather unique structure that we talk about from time to time, it’s an equal partnership structure, so there’s not a lot of people in this office. Most importantly we don’t have what you would call a farm system for bringing talent on, so a lot of the other firms hire a lot of young people out of MBA programs, they develop them, they let them ride shot gun as they go to board meetings; they have a way to promote people
BG: But anyway, as a result we have to find an alternative way to create generational change and bring new partners on. You can’t sit around with the same partners forever if you want a venture firm to be successful year in year out. Plus, we have a very strong philosophy that young people are going to have a big impact on the industry, and always will.
Not only is Benchmark Capital one of the industry leading VC firms, but it seems they have a very unique way at continuing their long-term success. In a industry that predominantly requires "grey hairs" to be a VC, they are going after younger minds and splitting the pie with them equally off the get go.
Mind you, other VC firms are doing this as well, but I don't see anyone in that "space" quite like Benchmark Capital.
A great interview non-the-less, and I wish Matt all the best. Now if only I could get Mark to de-friend someone and accept mine. LOL!
Bill Gurley, he is one of the partners at Benchmark Capital.
BG: No, we didn’t get any Facebook stock. Benchmark is a venture firm that has a rather unique structure that we talk about from time to time, it’s an equal partnership structure, so there’s not a lot of people in this office. Most importantly we don’t have what you would call a farm system for bringing talent on, so a lot of the other firms hire a lot of young people out of MBA programs, they develop them, they let them ride shot gun as they go to board meetings; they have a way to promote people
BG: But anyway, as a result we have to find an alternative way to create generational change and bring new partners on. You can’t sit around with the same partners forever if you want a venture firm to be successful year in year out. Plus, we have a very strong philosophy that young people are going to have a big impact on the industry, and always will.
Not only is Benchmark Capital one of the industry leading VC firms, but it seems they have a very unique way at continuing their long-term success. In a industry that predominantly requires "grey hairs" to be a VC, they are going after younger minds and splitting the pie with them equally off the get go.
Mind you, other VC firms are doing this as well, but I don't see anyone in that "space" quite like Benchmark Capital.
A great interview non-the-less, and I wish Matt all the best. Now if only I could get Mark to de-friend someone and accept mine. LOL!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The "New Version" of CIO's:
I read a great article today, thanks to the Newsletter feed from The McKinsey Report (that my business partner Andrea forwarded to me, and I now have signed up for myself). The article that interviewed Marina Levinson the CIO of NetApp, which is a multi-billion dollar company in data storage "space."
Here are some excerpts that really got my attention:
"But 90 percent of our critical processes have IT implications, so we have to deal with business processes together with the IT that supports them. Our systems and processes are very tightly linked."
"Any system that allows us to be closer to our customers and partners is something that we want to invest in as part of our strategy, especially when it differentiates us from the competition"
"I have a very simple rule of thumb. For standard functions, like finance and HR—anything that is an important operational component but not strategic—we need to use standard technologies. We buy rather than build."
"There isn’t much innovation left in the structured world. If you want to innovate, you really need to look at collaboration and the creation of communities. Businesses are not as advanced as consumers in creating these communities, but I think there are a lot of opportunities for very interesting innovation that we haven’t seen yet."
"These days, in companies where IT can bring competitive advantage, CIOs should have significant business experience or have worked with the business, so they can clearly and easily understand the business strategy and translate that into IT strategy. You can always hire a chief technology officer or buy technology knowledge from third parties. That’s not as important as having a sense of the business strategy. And I’m a firm believer that anything that we do in IT has to be driven by business strategy. I don’t believe in technology projects for technology’s sake."
Here are some excerpts that really got my attention:
"But 90 percent of our critical processes have IT implications, so we have to deal with business processes together with the IT that supports them. Our systems and processes are very tightly linked."
"Any system that allows us to be closer to our customers and partners is something that we want to invest in as part of our strategy, especially when it differentiates us from the competition"
"I have a very simple rule of thumb. For standard functions, like finance and HR—anything that is an important operational component but not strategic—we need to use standard technologies. We buy rather than build."
"There isn’t much innovation left in the structured world. If you want to innovate, you really need to look at collaboration and the creation of communities. Businesses are not as advanced as consumers in creating these communities, but I think there are a lot of opportunities for very interesting innovation that we haven’t seen yet."
"These days, in companies where IT can bring competitive advantage, CIOs should have significant business experience or have worked with the business, so they can clearly and easily understand the business strategy and translate that into IT strategy. You can always hire a chief technology officer or buy technology knowledge from third parties. That’s not as important as having a sense of the business strategy. And I’m a firm believer that anything that we do in IT has to be driven by business strategy. I don’t believe in technology projects for technology’s sake."
There is an awful lot you can learn from listening to others in your industry, in your "space" or other business ventures in general - and I find it strikingly odd that many people, from Top Executives to ground-level interns refuse to even open their ears to truly absorb what other enfluential people have to say. I think a lot of great information, lessons, and truly phenomenal business conversation goes unheard. I guess the internet is partially to blame, what with all of the different avenues to get your information (yes even I find myself checking www.mlbtraderumors.com) more than I should www.ectnews.com sometimes - but hey, can you blame a Cubs fan?
Friday, June 6, 2008
Understanding the social network construction landscape:
Zach Hurst made a great post on FB yesterday. The link is above, but here is an excerpt I particularly fancy:
The old adage “Two heads are better than one” can be applied greatly to the white-label model. In this scenario, every company on the network is continuously coming up with new creative ideas for features. À la carte feature purchasing is made available, so every time the platform develops a unique feature for one of its sites, you are notified and can make a decision to also have that feature. These are features that you may have never thought of having, made available instantly to you, that could better monetize your site. The other advantage is collaboration. If you can synergize with another site on the platform, the contact is immediately made available. You could be sharing users by leveraging ads for your site on other platform partner sites, and vice versa.
I couldn't agree with Zach more whole-heartedly, and I think he is quickly becoming a expert on the issue. In the dog-eat-dog world of social networking, speed to market can be crucial (ask Friendster and Connect U). For whatever reasons (they can be debated for days), like Zach says the days of being covert and secretive for a year before launch are over.
Quality Speed is crucial in this space now...I'm glad we have an amazing team and network to help us with ours!
The old adage “Two heads are better than one” can be applied greatly to the white-label model. In this scenario, every company on the network is continuously coming up with new creative ideas for features. À la carte feature purchasing is made available, so every time the platform develops a unique feature for one of its sites, you are notified and can make a decision to also have that feature. These are features that you may have never thought of having, made available instantly to you, that could better monetize your site. The other advantage is collaboration. If you can synergize with another site on the platform, the contact is immediately made available. You could be sharing users by leveraging ads for your site on other platform partner sites, and vice versa.
I couldn't agree with Zach more whole-heartedly, and I think he is quickly becoming a expert on the issue. In the dog-eat-dog world of social networking, speed to market can be crucial (ask Friendster and Connect U). For whatever reasons (they can be debated for days), like Zach says the days of being covert and secretive for a year before launch are over.
Quality Speed is crucial in this space now...I'm glad we have an amazing team and network to help us with ours!
Per Andrea's Blog: The barriers are being dismantled
The DOJ ruled that the National Association of Realtors must give access to the MLS to brokers that discount their commission. This is a huge victory for iEnfluence because one of our main roadblocks would have been getting access to the MLS. To read more about this, go to this link http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/05/28/doj-strikes-deal-with-realtor-group-how-will-it-affect-consumers/?mod=homeblogmod_lawblog. Never mind what they say about it not affecting the consumer. It will affect the consumer and in the long run, it will save the consumer money because Web 2.0 based real estate companies will become more popular and more Enfluential!!
What is amazing from this ruling, is that NAR is still somehow claiming a victorious ruling in their favor. Uggggggggggghh, ok. The fact remains that NAR has to be worried that this ruling, will be cause and concern for many related rulings to come in the near future. With that said, it makes one of the quotes from Laurie Janek, the GC for NAR in the WSJ article above:
“I don’t think they’ll see anything different,” she said. “This lawsuit never had anything to do with commission rates, or discount brokerages.”
I would ademantely disagree with that. It may not of been what the lawsuit was about (this one at least) - but you would be remorse to incorrectly assume that the issue of commissions and discount brokers where not the heart and soul of NAR's current fight.
It's a lot like watching a fish fight out of their fish bowl. You can only distract the consumer so long with your gyrations, before your source of life dries up.
What to know more about iEnfluence and social community real estate? Email me: rcox@ienfluence.com
Cheers!
What is amazing from this ruling, is that NAR is still somehow claiming a victorious ruling in their favor. Uggggggggggghh, ok. The fact remains that NAR has to be worried that this ruling, will be cause and concern for many related rulings to come in the near future. With that said, it makes one of the quotes from Laurie Janek, the GC for NAR in the WSJ article above:
“I don’t think they’ll see anything different,” she said. “This lawsuit never had anything to do with commission rates, or discount brokerages.”
I would ademantely disagree with that. It may not of been what the lawsuit was about (this one at least) - but you would be remorse to incorrectly assume that the issue of commissions and discount brokers where not the heart and soul of NAR's current fight.
It's a lot like watching a fish fight out of their fish bowl. You can only distract the consumer so long with your gyrations, before your source of life dries up.
What to know more about iEnfluence and social community real estate? Email me: rcox@ienfluence.com
Cheers!
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June 20th, 2008 at 2:11 am
No value to add with these comments and similar to most of the above comments but great interview. You guys should do more interviews like this. It was pretty good watching Bill Gurley on an inside sort of way about startups.
You should do a weekly video series with guys like this.