Author Archives: Adam
Coke’s API and the Outsourcing of Innovation
While he may not have realized it at the time, Asa Griggs Candler helped pioneer the “platform” business model used by thousands of web companies today. But Chandler wasn’t a tech startup guy, he was the founder of The Coca-Cola Company. Coke became a platform company almost by accident. Beginning in 1886, Coke was principally [...]
Posted in Economics, Startups, Strategy, Technology 2 Comments
What a 100 Year-Old Race to the South Pole Teaches Us About Design
Design informs most of what we come in contact with whether it be architecture, mobile devices, cars, software and web services, or a school’s curriculum. Sentences are designed, edited down so they convey meaning with efficient elegance. “Good” design delights with its simplicity, its flexibility and ease of use. Design was on my mind while [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Leave a comment
“Should I Get an MBA?” and Why It’s Not about the (any) Degree
There has been a lot of discussion about the best educational background for founders and for those who want to join startups. Earlier this month, TechCrunch ran an article from Vivek Wadhwa which argued in favor of an MBA education. Similarly, Vinicius Vacanti (a former banker) wrote a great post, “5 Reasons Why I-Bankers Make [...]
Posted in Startups Leave a comment
Open Graph is Facebook’s Beacon Pivot
Facebook Beacon was the company’s much-maligned initiative that captured and broadcast off-Facebook browsing activities to one’s Facebook friends. Signing up for a service, purchasing a product, adding an item to a wish list – all of these actions were automatically shared. The way it worked was that the affiliate would call a JavaScript snippet from [...]
Posted in Startups, Strategy 5 Comments
One Way to Join a Startup and “Try Before You Buy” Hiring Practices
Earlier this week Bijan Sabet at Spark Capital wrote a post, “An inspiring way to join a startup“. The post describes how a couple of companies in Spark’s portfolio had individuals offering to work for free in exchange for the possibility of a full-time position. I don’t know what the exact circumstances were for each [...]
Posted in Personal, Startups Leave a comment
Thoughts on Hiring a VP Sales and Why Rolodexes are Usually BS
Hiring a VP of Sales at a startup is challenging. While others have written eloquently about when to hire a VP Sales, I will focus on what type of person to hire. Having run a sales team, worked under a VP Sales and Business Development, hired a VP Sales, and served as an adviser to [...]
The Data Storage Conundrum & Oscar Wilde
The Economist is a great “newspaper”, my favorite. A couple weeks ago they did a special report on “The Data Deluge” which explored the recent and rapid expansion of data, and how to handle it. There were two parts of the report that caught my eye because they seemed contradictory. The first was an 1894 [...]
Will Apple Bet the Farm on Quattro Wireless?
Apple‘s recent purchase of mobile ad network Quattro Wireless may signify a much more significant shift in Apple’s business model than it would otherwise seem. So, why did Apple buy Quattro (Apple earlier sought to buy market-leader AdMob, but ceded the purchase to Google once the price became too rich)? Apple has always focused on [...]
Posted in Strategy, Technology Tagged admob, advertising, Apple, Google, iphone, Mobile, quattro wireless 1 Comment
How Square is Building a Two-Market Platform One Market at a Time
The innovation in mobile is really getting exciting, especially as it relates to advertising and payments. My last post touched on this but I wanted to dig a little deeper. The experience of paying for things now, particularly face-to-face transactions, leaves a lot to be desired. When I frequent a local business, I’d like them [...]
Posted in Strategy, Technology 3 Comments
Deconstructing The Economist