Playbook of a different kind

I found out a great post of how to pitch to the venture capitalists. It is a known fact that many VCs have a short attention span and they want to know every thing in a second :-) They are so busy that they can't sit for hours on one presentation. They are quick decision makers and don't want to waste their time on boring presentations!

Right now, I am in school at Stanford. But, I am sure I will require the tips from this book Marketing Playbook: VC Pitch Tips soon. I am waiting impatiently to achieve my ambition - start my own company..... Let's see how long I have to wait for this !

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

Steve Jobs gave three gems during the commencement speech for the Class of 2005, Stanford University:

1. Believe in connecting the dots

... you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

2. You've got to find what you love. Don't settle

... Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

3. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

... Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

* Complete Text: 'Commencement Speech 2005'
* Video of the speech is available at this link
* Audio is available here

3D Web Browser : Innovative idea or welcome to the world of confusion??

Web browsing in 3 D Environment

Waiting impatiently to have hands-on experience on this browser....!

Hoover Tower at Stanford

I was playing with Flickr and Montager this weekend and came up with this image of the most famous landmark on Stanford campus - Hoover Tower. The unique thing about this picture is that it is formed from hundreds of small pictures of the various places at Stanford University. Click on the image to see the full size.

Hoover Tower serves as a landmark of Stanford to faculty, students, alumni and the local community. Completed in 1941 to celebrate the university's 50th anniversary, the 285-foot structure offers superb views of Stanford and the Bay Area from its observation deck. Atop Hoover Tower is a carillon of 48 bells cast in Belgium. The largest bell is inscribed, "For Peace Alone Do I Ring."

Knowing What You Don’t Know

Every entrepreneur is a first-time entrepreneur once.

How do VCs, then, evaluate first-time entrepreneurs? How can they garner the confidence to place both their money and time in someone who hasn’t started a company before? Of course, investors look at other past experiences as both a signal and substitute for an entrepreneurial endeavor.

A friend of mine at another firm told me that they also explicitly look for one intangible quality. For every entrepreneur who comes in to pitch they ask the question, “Does he know what he doesn’t know?”

Yes, entrepreneurs know the information that they know. It is this experience and comprehension that guides them, and gives them inspiration. But what about the information that they don’t know? Are they aware of their lack of knowledge in a certain area? Or are they (blissfully) ignorant of it?

“Knowing what you don’t know” means understanding where your knowledge-set is limited. If often suggests asking for help, guidance, and additional information when it is needed. This quality doesn’t preclude someone from being confident; quite the opposite, it demonstrates self-assurance to understand your own shortcomings and seeking assistance when appropriate rather than act upon a loose foundation of information.

Venture capitalists want to be assured that their money is in knowledgeable hands. But they also want to know that those hands will look to others when they aren’t fully capable. It is much better to admit that one doesn’t know something than to act blindly without it. And it takes a special person to even realize and perceive when an area of understanding is lacking.

You know what you know, but do you know what you don’t know?

Relating to Anomalies

Here's an entry submitted by John O'Leary of Tom Peters Company.

Reading responses to threads on various websites, I get a kick out of how attached we humans can get to our own viewpoints—which often have us in a kind of death grip when challenged! (Some respondents sound like they're having temper tantrums rather than exploring different points of view.) But a quality of leadership I admire and encourage is the willingness to reexamine one's belief in systems and mental models. To me an effective leader (or human being for that matter) is one who can deal with the cognitive dissonance that arises from confronting data that's inconsistent with cherished beliefs. This ability, so useful in a time of instability and disruption, seems underrated these days. Yet a leader's curiosity and interest with respect to ANOMALIES says a lot about the wisdom and maturity of that individual.

Thomas Kuhn, in his 1962 classic, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, speaks of anomalies as "violations of expectation" that can escalate to "crises," precipitating violence to our "paradigms." When we can't make anomalies conform to our current mindset, they can lead us to the "reconstruction of prior theory," an intrinsically revolutionary process." Hmmm. Sounds EXACTLY like what's needed in business in these crazy times. So how do you respond to data that don't fit your theories—perhaps the feedback you're getting from the market, your customers, your organization? How do you—and your company's leaders—deal with anomalies?

Gmaps hack shows effects of high-yeild explosive detonations

Here's a haunting Gmaps hack: "The High Yeild Detonation Effects simulator maps overpressure radii generated by a ground-level detonation; these radii are an indicator of structural damage to buildings. No other effects, such as thermal damage or fallout levels, are included in this tool. Note that the displayed rings are "idealized"; that is, no account is taken of terrain, urban density, ground type, weather conditions, and so on."

Link

Outlook for Blogs

Michael Parekh writes about a service he'd like:

There are seven key features that this "Outlook for Blogs" should have:
1. It should be web based, not client software based. This way it's accessible via any PC, mobile device, phone, or other new internet-based gizmo that may come along down the pike.
2. The next key feature, especially if the service is offered by any of the four portal horsemen (YAGM, in no particular order)...MAKE SURE the service is NON-PARTISAN from a portal point of view. It needs to work and play nice with the major offerings from all the blogging services.
3. The user name to the "uber-blog" should be personalizable, accessible, from anywhere on the web and/or blog directories, if the user chooses. This is likely going to be their identity on the web, and a "personal-portal" for others to connect to them, again, if they so choose.
.......
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India - the Next Big Player

Perception and reality are two different things, of course, but they do influence each other. How India is perceived by the US (and vice versa) matters.

A significant shift in that perception is clearly visible, going by the writings of observers of the developing India-US relationship. John Mauldin’s Thoughts from the Frontline carries an analysis by George Friedman titled India the Next Big Player.

 

 An anonymous reader writes

 

"I've been working for a small development company for 6 or 7 years. My boss has always been a bit nuts but overall it hasn't been a bad experience. I recently accepted a great job offer for a technology position in a different industry. I gave my boss my notice this week, and while he initially was understanding, he has since starting making accusations of conspiracy, deceit, and has otherwise attempted to make me look bad in front of employees and long-time clients. (who, thankfully, also think he is nuts) I don't like to burn bridges, but I'm pretty sure he's already burned it to the ground, even threatening to withhold my final paycheck if I don't find a replacement before I leave. Is it worth sticking out the few weeks I already told him I worked or should I just cut my losses and leave early?"

Watch out Uncle Bill's next moves

 

theodp writes "The NY Times looks at Microsoft's newly acquired passion for patents and wonders: What would Thomas Jefferson think if he were around to visit Microsoft's campus, seeing software patents stacked like pyramids of cannonballs? Jefferson might also be shocked by Microsoft's summer crop of patent apps, which includes Creating a note related to a phone call, Adding and removing white space from a document and Identifying when baseball is exciting. Gotta meet that quota of 60 fresh, nonobvious patentable ideas a week!"

Why Bill Gates Wants 3,000 New Patents

 

 

Skyped

PBS | I, Cringely . July 28, 2005 - Skyped

Can't believe that Skype was valued at $3.0 billion by Newscorp!... seems that bubble is coming once again.

Napsterization

Napsterization

Good comparison between different blog tacking websites like Technorati, Feedster, Bloglines etc.

tompeters!

tompeters! management consulting leadership training development project management

This is a must read for anyone thinking of starting a business!

Ageless Marketing

Ageless Marketing: The Day of the �bermensch Is Near

I like it!

Why do we work on Sunday?

Comments Requested.....why do we work on Sunday? Why don't we just chill and relax?

Make No Little Plans

Make No Little Plans: "

Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will …

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Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race Photos

Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race Photos: "

YetAnotherName writes "Tom Jones again has coverage and plenty of eye candy of the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race, where engineering prowess converges with a sense of humor. Check out what bizarre contraptions for 2005 won awards for Best Engineering, …

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Veer Zaara

Just watched Veer Zaara ... it's really nice to see such a refreshing view of Indo-Pak relations!

The delicate treatment by Yash Chopra is excellent...I hope the future of India & Pakistan is as good as shown in the movie. As usual, the acting by Shahrukh, Rani and Preeti is heart touching!

Few minutes to the land of dreams...Hollywood 

With a mysterious person in Universal Studios, LA 

Neighbours Envy!! 

Beautiful Roots ...!