Category Archives: Startups

Coke’s API and the Outsourcing of Innovation

By Adam | Published: July 19, 2010
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 [...]
Also posted in Economics, Strategy, Technology | 2 Comments

“Should I Get an MBA?” and Why It’s Not about the (any) Degree

By Adam | Published: May 31, 2010
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 [...]
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Open Graph is Facebook’s Beacon Pivot

By Adam | Published: May 8, 2010
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 [...]
Also posted in Strategy | 5 Comments

One Way to Join a Startup and “Try Before You Buy” Hiring Practices

By Adam | Published: April 10, 2010
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 [...]
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