Billy Downing // ESM
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bijan sabet: Developing Chrome Extensions
I’ve been using Google Chrome as my default browser since the day it was released. I have firefox purely as a backup for the extensions that I count on.
But more of those extensions are coming to Chrome everyday and new ones are actually coming out on Chrome first.
One of my favorite Chrome…
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”So let’s talk traffic. We’ve got people who love this goddamn phone so much that they’re living on it. Yes, that’s crushing your network. Yes, 3% of your users are taking up 40% of your bandwidth. You see this as a bad thing. It’s not. It’s a good thing. It’s a blessing. It’s an indication that people love what we’re doing, which means you now have a reason to go out and double or triple or quadruple your damn network capacity. Jesus! I can’t believe I’m explaining this to you. You’re in the business of selling bandwidth. That pipe is what you sell. Right now what the market is telling you is that you can sell even more! Lots more! Good Lord. The world is changing, and you’re right in the sweet spot.
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : A not-so-brief chat with Randall Stephenson of AT&T
Fake Steve Jobs on fire with this post.
(via bijan)
(via fred-wilson)
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Google to Start Selling Own Phone Without Wireless Partner by Next Year - WSJ.com
Its about Google shakes up the mobile market
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Creating an operating plan for 2010
This time of year, many venture backed startups have created or are putting together their operating plan for 2010.
Few suggestions for early stage/pre revenue companies:
1. Start with the ending. What do you want to accomplish by the end of next year and why?
2. Set quarterly objectives
Quarterly objectives help your board identify what’s going well and not well at the company. Are the goals realistic? Are we understaffed? Do we have the right people in the company? Does the company execute well? Is the product on track?
Some early stage companies are hesitant to create quarterly objectives. I know it can be challenging for a few reasons: (a) some entrepreneurs are worried that they will look bad if they miss their objectives and (b) startups have to be flexible at times and priorities may need to change
My response to concern (a) take the time to pick your investors wisely. The best ones will help you and your company be successful. The worst investors suffer absentee landlord syndrome which is a nightmare.
In response to 2nd concern: have an open communication style and culture amongst your board members. Don’t wait until the board meeting to propose a big change in the plan or priorities. Early stage investors and board members understand that things will change. That’s part of the deal so don’t sweat it.
3. Operating Budget
For early stage/pre revenue companies, i suggest that you operate the business assuming you are going to miss your 2010 revenue forecast entirely or significantly. You can always spend more if revenue (or user engagement) grows nicely. But cutting is painful at best.
4. Fund raising
If you need to raise additional capital in 2010, assume you will need 4-5 months to raise money. Clearly there are exceptions but for most companies that is the general rule. Get some feedback from your existing investors what they want to see to support the next round.
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”Last night I was speaking with a man whose son just graduated from Stanford Law School. 30% of the graduates from last June do not have jobs yet. 30%. I mentioned this to Fred last night and he said “if they knew Java, they’d have a job”.
Gotham Gal (via fred-wilson)
Exactly. I have one good friend who isn’t formally educated but one of the smartest people I know. I keep telling her to teach herself how to program and she’d make a very comfortable living. When I was at Foocamp I gave a talk entitled “Where are all the minorities at Foocamp?” There were three people of color out of about 200 people. My basic argument was that we need to teach programming at a very young age in the inner city schools to let children know that they don’t have to be just users of the technology they love so much, but creators of technology they’d like to use and have the ability to make a very comfortable living. It still blows my mind how difficult it is to find high quality designers/programmers. I mean, I think the internet is going to be a big deal and quite possibly an area of growth.
;)
(via jayparkinsonmd)
