Category: Random
Jason and I were at an Oblong board meeting last week and spent the entire day at the company. It’s grown a lot over the past few months and it was fun to spend time with a number of folks we hadn’t met before. The first Oblong baby was born while we were all eating lunch which resulted in lots of good cheer, karma, and the revelation from another member of the Oblong team that his wife recently found out that she was pregnant.
But the best part was playing with a bunch of the new cool shit that Oblong is working on. It’s one thing to look at what Oblong is building (as in the TED Video below); it’s a whole different experience to actually get your hands on it. Fortunately they are driving hard toward that and we expect a Q3 product release that will start bringing Oblong’s g-speak spatial operating environment to the masses.
In the mean time, if you are interested in a job helping reinvent the graphical user interface at one of the most creative and technologically challenging startup that I’ve had the pleasure of working with, Oblong is hiring. They are specifically looking for a senior programming team lead, an application programmer, a javascript / html stud or studette, and a QA lead, but if you are excellent at what you do on the software development side, I’m sure they’d love to talk to you. You can email me or send a note to jobs@oblong.com.
I’ve always had a knack for quickly finding bugs. It’s not hard with most software / web services as the bugs are everywhere, but they like to emerge from the shadows when I tickle my computer.
I’ve been running Outlook 2010 for a few weeks since it shipped. Now that I’m used to the new ribbon UI, I find it much improved over Outlook 2007. I particularly like the Conversations view which was long overdue (and works really well) and am amused that most of the memory leaks / shut down issues are gone. Given the amount of email I jam through on a daily basis, my Outlook workflow is particularly well tuned and while I’ve tried to switch to Gmail, it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe I’ll try again when Gmail gives me an option to not have a conversation view.
I ran into a surprisingly lame Outlook 2010 bug the other day. I run an inbox zero drill although I fought to get there for about ten days after my week off the grid in May. When I got there the other day, I was stunned to see that apparently no one tested for a classic off-by-one error – namely what happens when you have no messages in your inbox after you delete the last one.
They got half of it right.
Note the “There are no items to show in this view” in the left mail items list view. However, not the remnant message – the last email that I was reading that I recently hit delete on – in the right reading pane. Since there are no items in the mail item list view and nothing selected (since there is nothing to select), the right reading pane should be blank. It’s obviously not.
Through the magic of email I was able to test this several times. Specifically, inbox zero is a condition that doesn’t remain for long in my world. As a few new messages came in, I read, responded, and deleted. The error persisted.
It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft fixes this in a quick patch or, if like the Snipping Tool close error, it persists – well – forever.
I just finished up spending the past two days at Google I/O. On one of the panels I participated in yesterday (VCs Who Code), the endless discussion about open (e.g. Google) vs. closed (e.g. Apple) came up with Dave McClure stating “Open is for losers.” We had a short but spirited debate about a topic that could easily consume an entire panel before Dick Costolo (our moderator) quickly moved us on. Of course, we got bogged down again later in “native apps vs. web apps” question (which I think is irrelevant in the long run, and said so.)
When I woke up this morning I was still thinking about the open vs. closed thing. I’ve been using a Droid for a week (Google gave one to everyone that came to I/O) and I’ve been loving it. I’ve been an iPhone user for several years and while there are a bunch of things about it I love, there are several that I hate, including the pathetic AT&T service, major limitations in some of the applications such as email, the restriction of Flash, lack of tethering, lack of statefulness, lack of multi-processing, and the unbearable shittiness of iTunes for Windows. But, I never really considered an alternative until I started playing with Android 2.1 on a Droid on Verizon.
I’d basically decided to switch to the Droid. The keynote on Day 2 was split between Android 2.2 and Google TV. I was completely blown away by Android 2.2. It doesn’t merely address each of the issues I have with my iPhone, it demolishes them. Google wasn’t bashful during the keynote about taking shots at Apple, which was fun to see. And as I sat there, I kept thinking about how far Android has come taking an entirely open approach.
While Google “had me at Android 2.2”, they sealed the deal by giving every attendee a brand new HTC EVO 4G (running on Sprint). There have been plenty of complaints about Android handsets; the Droid was good although I have had a Droid Incredible on order. But, now that I have my HTC EVO, I’m completely hooked. The physical device is magnificent, the Android implementation is awesome, and it is still only running Android 2.1 so it get even better when the over the air update is released and automatically upgrades.
I’m now in a position where I can dump my Verizon MiFi since can use my HTC phone as a hotspot. One less $60 / month bill, one less thing to schlep around. And I never have to use iTunes for Windows again. Apple just lost me – again.
The most amazing thing to me when I reflect on this is how much of a complete non-event Microsoft in this discussion. Before the iPhone, there was a different discussion and Windows Mobile (or whatever it was called) was regularly in the middle of it. Not only is it no longer in the middle, it’s no longer in the discussion. Google focused their sights directly on Apple and – with an open approach – is now in a position where it can legitimately threaten the iPhone’s long term position.
I love this stuff. Plus I now have two cool new phones.
If you are a senior Java developer anywhere in the US and are interested in moving to Boulder, I’d like to hear from you.
There was a nice article in Bloomberg Businessweek last week about Why Boulder Is America’s Best Town for Startups. With the combination of the new startup activity over the past few years combined with the rapid growth of a number of medium sized companies and renewed hiring from some of the outposts of major tech companies based here, we’ve clearly entered another cycle in Boulder where talent is tight and demand for senior folks is once again at a high point.
Of course, if you are living in Boulder or Denver and aren’t happy with your current job, feel free to reach out to me. But I’m also game to talk to people that are interested in relocating to what I think is the best small city in America.
Standing Cloud, one of the Boulder-based companies we seed funded last year, is hiring a Java Developer. They are a provider of software and services that facilitate deployment and management of application software, using on-demand cloud servers from providers such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Cloud, GoGrid, and others.
The role is to build, maintain, and support client code that interacts with third party cloud services and virtualization APIs. You’ll be deep in the weeds with the various emerging cloud services and part of a young team of eight other people.
If you are interested, send a resume to jobs@standingcloud.com.
I’ve been a long time practitioner of having “random meetings” where I meet with whomever wants to get together with me. Some amazing things have come out of this over the years, including my first meeting with David Cohen which turned into TechStars.
I’ve decided to try something different for the next few months. Rather than having random days in my office, I’m going to have “community hours” in the Bunker (the TechStars office) once a month. The TechStars space is big enough for people to hang out and mingle (unlike my office) so it’s easier for groups to hang out and meet each other, in addition to spending time with me. I’ve always loved the idea of “professors office hours” – this is the closest I could come to simulating it in my little section of the universe.
We’ve set up a self-service wiki for my Community Hours. The rules for signing up are simple – just set up an account and then pick a date and time slot. Put your name, email address, and a brief description of the meeting. Given my ever changing schedule, there’s always a chance that we’ll have to move one of the dates around so having a valid email address is critical for us. More extensive instructions are on the wiki.
My partners Seth Levine and Jason Mendelson are also giving this a try, as is David Cohen. If it works, we’ll do more. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
I had a dream last night. In it, I was sitting in front of an old PC. I typed:
c:
cd\
copy con config.sys
files=255
buffers=32
<ctrl-z>
I can’t remember much more of the dream. But – I do remember typing this. My dream must have been about something in 1991.
Or were you recently fired or laid off? Or are you an analyst (especially someone in the typical two year pre-business school programs) at a consulting firm that hates your job? One of my investments – Zynga – is hiring like crazy and wants to talk to you – we’ve hired a few folks like you and they’ve worked out great. The job spec follows – if you are interested email your resume to jobs@zynga.com.
Zynga’s Product Manager will be responsible for creating a list of features to one of our hit games! This person will have to work independently to provide a detailed roadmap on the implementation process. The implementation process should include designing, executing, and optimizing the feature(s).They’ll own the outcome of these new features by working with our talented team of engineers to get the features implemented.
Required Skills:
- We are looking for an enthusiastic, performance-driven self-starter and team player
- Demonstrated capacity for developing and understanding strategy
- Strong aptitude for determining the optimal way to position products in the market
- Strong passion for games
- Strong organizational and analytical skills & attention to detail
- BA/BS degree – CS/EE/Engineering degree preferred
- 2-5 years of experience in product management in consumer web or game development OR another extremely analytical workplace!
- Passion for creating fun, compelling and addictive user experiences
- Passion for writing product specifications, white papers
- Outstanding written and oral communication skills
- Previous start-up experience is a strong plus, especially in social networking
And – if you need someone high level in your mafia, I’m now level 163 – just friend me on Facebook with “mafia wars” in the subject.
Last week I did an interview on Rally Cafe with Chris Spagnuolo. Some of the questions came from real time tweets to the show but we didn’t get to a handful. Chris just emailed them to me – I figured I’d do a quick job of picking them off for those that asked or were following the show.
@jordanmuela What does Brad view as common themes in the investments (companies) that have failed? My failures have several common characteristics (note that these are applicable only to me – plenty of other entrepreneurs and investors have made plenty of money in these areas.) I’ve consistently failed when I’ve invested in companies (a) in markets / segments that I know nothing about, (b) founded / run by people that I don’t like / enjoy spending time with, (c) that are “rollups” – where the company is trying to consolidate an industry focused on “rolling up” a bunch of small companies into one larger business, (d) based in Europe. What “didn’t work” is one of the things that informs our thematic approach at Foundry Group.
@ksowocki What are Brad’s thoughts on the Lean Startup methodology coming from @ericries / IMVU ? I saw Eric Ries present his Lean Startup ideas a month or so ago and really enjoyed it. I’ve been a big fan of his blog and think he’s gone some great ideas. I particularly like the notion of continuous deployment. If you are interested, Eric is coming to Boulder on 8/19 and 8/20.
@ktinboulder Interested in hearing a bit more about the "Protocol" theme. I wrote a post about Protocol recently on the Foundry Group blog titled Theme: Protocol. Our current investments in this theme include Gist and Lijit.
@theagent How would "GLUE" companies become monetizable and how far is the horizon line for that activity. ie. GNIP. I’ll give two examples from our portfolio: AdMeld and Gnip – as both are generating revenue today. AdMeld runs an “Ad Network Optimization” platform for premium publishers (they “glue together” ad networks.) They take a percentage of the revenue they increase above a baseline amount determined with the publisher. They now have 140 million Quantcast-verified unique users, so you can imagine the revenue they are generating. Gnip provides a data transport service for the real-time web (they “glue together” data between systems publishing data and systems consuming data.) They charge a monthly fee for use of their service – think of them as “middleware software – delivered via a SaaS model – for the real-time web”.
@chadalbrecht What does Brad think are some of the most important leadership characteristics in an entrepreneur? I only have generic answers for this one as I’ve seen and worked with so many different types of successful entrepreneurs. Leadership – especially in an entrepreneurial context – is a complicated thing.
@GEOpdx Does Brad generally find himself dispensing advice on what he would need to see for him to be interested in a project? Sometimes, although most of the time I’m pretty binary. Within our firm, we filter very heavily on our themes. If something doesn’t fit in our themes, I try to say No in less than 60 seconds. If it’s within our themes, I then spend a lot of time trying to decide if I want to be partners with the entrepreneurs.
@brijacob How important is pre-money evaluation? I’ve never thought that pre-money valuation is that important in an early stage company. I’m playing for huge outcomes so I don’t over-optimize on the margins. Rather, I focus on a “fair deal” at the early stages for everyone involved.