Interviews with some of last years TechStars founders are up. It’s a short video but gives you a great feel for the experience.
We are hosting "TechStars for a day" in Boulder next Wednesday March 5th. Apply to TechStars by Monday March 3rd to be invited to come.
For those of you who read my blog, you know that I hate software patents. My partner, Jason Mendelson, began fighting me on this back in 2000 when we began working together, but a scant eight years later, he’s joined me in the crusade. In fact, he’ll be arguing this position on March 4th at the Silicon Flatirons event. Lawyers (oops, sorry Jason, ex-lawyers) are so quick to change their thinking.
Anyway, from the news of the absurd, Jason pointed out the EU court has determined that the word “Parmesan” is a protected name for cheese made solely in the Italian city of Parma. Never mind that the past 800 years of cheese production from this city hasn’t cause a stir, but evidently now, it’s big business.
And before you comment about Champagne / Sparkling Wine trademark decisions, yeah, these are stupid too.
At least the U.S. isn’t alone.
[]<-‘Foundry Group Raises $225 Million Early Stage VC Fund’
If you recognize the syntax above, you’ll recognize the first programming language I ever used.
10 PRINT “Foundry Group Raises $225 Million Early Stage VC Fund”
That would be the second language I coded in.
program FoundryLaunches(output);
begin
WriteLn(‘Foundry Group Raises $225 Million Early Stage VC Fund’);
end.
And that would be the third. These three examples are minor derivations of everyone’s first program – also known as “Hello World” – written in APL, Basic, and Pascal for the non-nerds among you.
Last year I co-founded Foundry Group with four partners – Seth Levine, Jason Mendelson, Ryan McIntyre, and Chris Wand. In the fall we closed our first fund – a $225 million fund aimed at funding early stage software and Internet companies in the United States.
We are now officially open for business. We’ve made a few investments which we’ll write about over the next few weeks. In the mean time we want to thank everyone – especially our new limited partners and the many entrepreneurs who we’ve worked with over the years – that have enabled us to be in a position to raise this fund.
/ContactUsAnytime
Email me at brad@feld.com
/*
clearscreen
page ContactUsAnytime
Bonus points to anyone that figures out the last programming language.
Eric Olson – who I got to know through FeedBurner – is bringing his TECH Cocktail event to Boulder on March 6th. If you are part of the Boulder tech / entrepreneurial community and around on 3/6, register and come to The Foundry (not our office – but the bar across the street) from 6:30pm to 9:00pm for a good time with a bunch of your local friends and colleagues.
Alan Shimel has a fantastic post up titled Do they have to grow up? As I read it, I thought of some of the great lessons my dad taught me when I was a little kid and how hard they must have been for him to carry out.
Amy and I have a regular discussion about whether or not it is helpful to tell a child "you can do or be anything you want." Amy’s reply is that she could never be an NBA center and neither could I. While the metaphor is a good one (e.g. "don’t let anyone limit your aspirations or dreams"), accomplishing things – especially amazing ones – requires a huge amount of hard work, perseverance, drive, skill, genetics, timing, and luck. Alan nails it:
"At some level I guess it is part of growing up and realizing that you are not the next Nolan Ryan or Josh Beckett. It is similar to a truth I come to grips with every day. That is as I get older with each day, there are going to be some dreams and hopes that are going to go unfulfilled in my own life. There are going to be mountains I am not going to climb. As I have gotten older I have come to grips with this reality and even accepted it. "
I must be brutal to be a father and have to teach this lesson to your child. My first reaction to Alan’s approach was probably similar to some of the parents in attendance – namely – "make the madness stop." But there’s a big part of it that is brilliant. It’s one thing to be told something, it’s an entirely different thing to experience it.
I’ve just read Alan’s post for the third time and it gets better with each read.
"But I felt I had to do this. I think they had to learn this lesson, I just wish it were not the hard way. After the game I gathered the team and told them baseball is a team sport. Each member of the team contributes in their own special way. They each possess a unique set of talents and skills that allows them to help the team, but not everyone is cut out to be a pitcher or a catcher. I think they all realize it now. Some of the kids accepted this and told me they did not want to pitch anymore. Other kids said they would practice and try to get better. "
I’ve had my share of lessons I’ve learned the hard way – say Interliant, my biggest failure and the source of some of my greatest lessons, or my first 8.01 (MIT freshman physics) test which I got 20 (out of 100) on. Failure is when you really learn things. I just keep practicing and trying to get better.
My friends at Lijit are looking for a Database Architect/Administrator, Java Developer, Web Developer, and a UI Web Developer. If you are interested, send a resume to jobs at lijit dot com. In addition to being at a super cool high growth place to work, you get to be one floor above me in downtown Boulder. If you end up getting a job at Lijit via this blog post, tell me and make me take you to Amante for a gelato.
I travel a lot. I always have. The ease of air travel runs in cycles – we seem to be at another low point where lines are long, planes are full, flights are late / delayed / canceled, and almost all travel personnel (except apparently those on Southwest) are somewhere on the spectrum between grumpy and rude.
But that’s just travel. You’ve got to get past the crazy TSA people before you can actually embark on your trip. The experience of standing in a long line, having to take your id out of your wallet so they can inspect it carefully, unpacking all your liquids and gels, listening to the same inane announcements over and over again, and having a completely random "inspect board pass as you go through the metal detector" algorithm gets old. Really old. Oh – and don’t forget to take your shoes and belt off. All in the quest to fly safer.
When Clear came out with their Registered Traveler program, I was immediately sold on it. For a mere $100 / year plus a one time $28 TSA vetting charge, they promised me that I could fly through security "faster, with more predictability and less hassle." Their PR machine has done a nice job of promoting their fast lane. I paid my money, got my retina scan, and now have my Clear card (actually – my second one – the first one was apparently lost in the mail – ah the secure irony.)
I’ve been using my Clear card regularly in the supported airports that I fly through (so far only DIA and SFO – but they promise many more soon.) And I can affirm Clear’s marketing pitch – I am flying through security much faster. But not because of a separate line or a reduction in "are you safe to get past the TSA people" algorithm based on my key biometric data matching up.
Nope – Clear has a simpler approach. They help me cut in line. I go to my special Clear line (there’s only one at DIA – you’ve got to find and it remember to go to "the other left" when you enter on the west side of the airport.) I show the Clear person my boarding pass and id (just like the TSA person, but this person says hi and smiles at me.) I go to the biometric machine and get asked for the Nth time if I’ve used this before (I say yes.) I put my card in the machine and do a retina scan (most of the time it works – sometimes it takes a few tries.) Once I pass, a nice person grabs my bags, helps me undress myself and my laptop into two TSA buckets, and leads me, shoeless – but with the two TSA buckets – to the very front of the TSA check line. The 126 people behind me in line sneer at me. The TSA person gives me a really dirty look and then proceeds to double check my boarding pass and ID. Once I’m cleared, the nice Clear person once again takes me to the very front of the line – this time the front of the metal detector / x-ray machine / whatever it’s called line.
Pause. The reactions here have generally been priceless. Last week the the woman that I cut in front of said "why are you cutting in line?" I explained that I had paid $128 to Clear (including pointing at the Clear line machine) to "get through security faster." She smiled a very cynical smile and said "ok – I was just checking to make sure you weren’t an asshole." And that was one of the nice ones.
Overall, I’m saving a ton of time getting through security with Clear. It’s easily worth the $100 to me since I get hit with a $40 change fee by United on a regular basis when I miss a flight (even though I’m a treasured 1k / Million Mile flyer with one of those fancy dark brown get out of jail free treat me nicely cards.) But it’s not because of any fundamental innovation or extra magic biometric security. It’s because I just paid $128 to cut to the front of the line.
On March 4th at the CU Boulder Law School, there is another great event on Innovation, Intellectual Property, and Entrepreneurship in the Information Industries. The panelists include folks such as:
Phil Weiser – who hosts these events – is really on a roll this year.
Also, the transcript on The Entrepreneurial University: What the University of Colorado has to learn from MIT and Stanford is up on the web. Read carefully and learn how 20% and one day out of six can mean the same thing.
While I’ve known Bill Flagg for a number of years, I had a chance to work closely with him and his partner Attila Safari on the sale of their company – RegOnline – to Active last year. RegOnline is one of those "sleeper companies" in Boulder – self funded, rapid growth, highly profitable, and a very impressive exit.
Bill, Attila, and all the folks that have worked at RegOnline over the years have created a great company. Bill is channeling some of his experience and insights into his new blog. I highly recommend you check it out and subscribe. Bill – no pressure!