Search and the social graph

2009-12-14

Google has created a multibillion-dollar economy based on keywords.  We use keywords to find things and advertisers use keywords to find…

Why did Skype succeed and Joost fail?

2009-12-08

Skype and Joost are interesting companies to compare – they are about as close as you can get to one of those sociological studies that…

Does a VC’s brand matter?

2009-12-05

Suppose you are in the enviable position of choosing between offers from multiple VC firms.  How much should you weigh the brand of the VCs…

Some thoughts on SEO

2009-12-01

“SEO” (==”Search Engine Optimization”) is a term widely used to mean “getting users to your site via organic search traffic.”  I don’t like…

The importance of institutional redundancy

2009-11-20

Every system built by a single institution has points of failure that can bring the entire system down.  Even in organizations that have…

Pitch yourself, not your idea

2009-11-14

There is a widespread myth that the most important part of building a great company is coming up with a great idea.  This myth is reflected…