"At Zappos, Qualified Egotists Need Not Apply"

Great interview of Tony Hsieh over at Big Think:

Hsieh says he hires and fires people based on whether they fit with his company's core values—independent of their potential value or job performance.

The first question asked is "How do you create culture?"

Should Our Early Stage Company Take Money From a Strategic Investor?

This question was presented to me over at Peerpong:

"Should our early stage company take money from a strategic investor?"

My answer:

Strategic investors are usually difficult to work with if they have a strong influence as board member or major shareholder. They have their corporate interest and objectives that might not sync with your goals as a startup. I would just be very cautious and really discuss any areas of potential strategic conflict with that company before getting their money in.

The plus is obviously getting such an endorsement from a company within your space, potential "free" resources and industry connections and intelligence.

I would feel more comfortable if a strategic investor was an equal with another investor(s).

Taking Your Site From One to One Million Users by Kevin Rose

"At The Future of Web Apps London, Kevin shares the secrets to Digg.com and Wefollow.com’s explosive user growth. He covers ten unique strategies that turn passive users into passionate advocates.

You’ll learn:

1. How to encourage users to tweet about your app

2. The concept of "The Circle of Life" in web apps and how it affects you

3. Growing your userbase: What worked and what didn’t for digg, WeFollow and Pownce

4. And more ..."

Taking your Site from One to One Million Users by Kevin Rose

View more presentations from Carsonified Team.

News & Links List

"Why We Check In: The Reasons People Use Location-Based Social Networks" ReadWriteWeb

"Samsung unveils Galaxy S models for Sprint, Verizon, U.S. Cellular" CNET

"Apple responds to iPhone 4 reception issues: you're holding the phone the wrong way" Engadget

"An iPhone wish list looks more like an Android feature list" ZDNet

"Android vs. iPhone: How Google is winning hearts of developers" TechFlash

"Whoa! Google Android Activations Leap 60% In A Month" Business Insider

"Google: How We’re Making the Web Faster" Data Center Knowledge

"Google’s mismanagement of the Android Market" Jon Lech Johansen’s blog

"There is no spoon" Fake Steve Jobs

"Investors grab Tesla Motors IPO" CNNMoney

"Nine of the World's Most Promising Carbon-Neutral Communities" Popular Science

"Chicago is Not the Next Silicon Valley, But at These Prices, What a Shame" peHUB

"South Korea: An Asian Tiger That Can Stay the Course?" Knowledge@Wharton

"Tomb raiders unearth new marketplace (China)" USAToday

"FBI breaks up alleged Russian spy ring in deep cover" Guardian

iPhone 4 Reception Problems... Maybe It Isn't All AT&T's Fault?

Numerous reports are coming in about a couple major problems with the new iPhone 4:

"Apple iPhone 4 problems crop up: screen discoloration, reception issues" VentureBeat

"IPhone 4 users reporting reception problems when holding phone" SF Chronicle

"Some iPhone 4 owners report discolored screens" CNET

After reading these various stories, I think there is some validity to my friend's analysis that the dropped calls and bad reception isn't all AT&T's fault. He believes that it's also the issues with the iPhone itself. Whose ever fault it is, I'm so tired of having full bars on my iPhone and still getting poor reception that I'm switching back to Verizon when my contract expires.

News & Links List

"Motorola Droid X unveiled, 'made for video'" CNET

"Samsung Galaxy S Pro specs begin to emerge" Android Central

"Droid X versus iPhone 4" VentureBeat

"Exclusive: Motorola Droid X preview" Engadget

"Context Optional Acquires Facebook App Development Platform Buzzeo" TechCrunch
Congratulations to Josh and team!

"Twitter at a crossroads once again" CNET

"Why Amazon’s Kindle Will Eventually Win the e-Book Wars" GigaOm

"Google Voice for everyone" Google Voice Blog


"Are Social Media Giving Contests Good for Non-Profits?" Mashable

"Blogger Template Designer Now Available To Everyone" Blogger Buzz

"Seven ways AT&T is failing its mobile customers" Ars Technica

"China Signals End to Yuan’s Peg to Dollar Before G-20 Summit" BusinessWeek

"Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse" WSJ, Arthur Laffer

"Mort Zuckerman: World Sees Obama as Incompetent and Amateur" U.S. News & World Report

"Blago and Rahm" Politco, Ben Smith

"I admit it: I was wrong to have supported Barack Obama" Telegraph, Daniel Hannan

"BP Oil Spill: Against Gov. Jindal's Wishes, Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard" ABC News

"Gates, Buffett Goad Peers to Give Billions to Charity" WSJ

"Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer" NYTimes

"The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In" NYTimes

"Study: Cartoon characters attract kids to junk food" CNN

"Business Ethics 2.0: Beyond Damage Control" Comment, David W. Gill

Jack Dorsey: The 3 Keys to Twitter's Success

Dorsey is the Co-founder of Twitter and currently the Founder and CEO of Square, and recently gave a great talk at the 99% Conference. Here's the overview:

Jack Dorsey outlines three core takeaways from his experiences building and launching Twitter – and more recently – Square, a simple payment utility. 1) Draw: get your idea out of your head and share it, 2) Luck: assess when the time (and the market) is right to execute your idea, 3) Iterate: take in the feedback, be a rigorous editor, and refine your idea.

Is Kobe The Greatest Laker? Please, It's Magic

As Legler says, it's Magic. Even Kobe's first three was under the shadow of Shaq. And some would argue the loss against Detroit was due to Kobe's ballhogging and not giving it to Shaq who was hot at times. My list? Magic, Kareem, Shaq, and then Kobe.



UPDATE: Some conversations happening with friends questioning putting Kobe fourth on the all-time Lakers lists, so here was my response...

Well, to be honest, I'm not a fan of Kobe or Shaq, but Shaq was so dominant during those first 3 titles that he could have won with a 2nd tier top ten shooting guard. He didn't need Kobe. Consider even older Shaq helping Wade win, who probably wasn't the 2nd best guard in the league during Miami's title run that he is today. So one take is that Kobe really only has 2 titles that he led and won to his name.

Oil on Louisiana shores

From The Boston Globe. Depressing. You can see the full slate of pictures here.

(REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

A dead Northern Gannet covered in oil. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner)

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

(REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

A shrimp boat is used to collect oil. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

TEDxTalk: Cameron Herold, "Let's Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs"

Great talk by Cameron Herold.

Bored in school, failing classes, at odds with peers: This child might be an entrepreneur, says Cameron Herold. At TEDxEdmonton, he makes the case for parenting and education that helps would-be entrepreneurs flourish -- as kids and as adults.

Ah, Twitter, Lucky You’re Not in Ecommerce!

Down for Days? No Problem for Asynchronous Communication Platforms.

How many times have Twitter users seen the white whale? Definitely more than Captain Ahab. Maybe we should all be called “Ishmael”? Once again users are going through an epic period of downtime and other random mishaps. Rob DeMillo, CTO of 4INFO, recently experienced missing five days of mentions, which I experienced a few times over these recent months.

Taking a step back, isn’t it amazing that we all still stay with Twitter? Sure, there are scarce alternatives, but even when a direct competitor, such as Pownce, was around there were seemingly more rounds of downtime but Twitter still grew. Are Twitter users simply sadomasochists? Of course not.

I believe Twitter users have a high tolerance because we know this is an asynchronous communications platform. Sure there is the importance of timing in tweets, but we also benefit from the ability to respond (and even ignore) to direct tweets or conversations at our own leisure. Twitter is an asynchronous platform in real-time clothing.

Imagine if Amazon or eBay suffered this much downtime? Their business would be toast. Even IM platforms, such as Meebo, would suffer a mass exodus if they had half the downtimes that Twitter goes through. Twitter is in a unique space of user forgiveness and frustration without consequences that has made me think about how to apply this model in other areas.

Fast casual foods? Not really fast, but very casual. Order your burger (a very kickass burger) with no set delivery time. Just a range of 1-2 days. The burger is so awesome that consumers would be willing to deal with the random delivery time. Hmmm, maybe not. Asynchronous online radio? Select hundreds of songs that will be streamed to a desktop application in random order but might present pauses in your listening for up to 2 hours. Definitely a “no”. It seems Twitter’s model is unique to its short-form of online communication. I guess we have to just suck it up and deal. Or maybe Six Apart can revive Pownce or Kevin Rose can build another competing platform?

"U2 And The Soweto Choir : Amazing Grace"

Random video from ESPN. I guess it's related to the World Cup. Anyway, I'm a big U2 fan.

News & Links List

"China: The new Silicon Valley?" CNN

"How the Chinese Internet Needs to Up Its Game" TechCrunch

"Not Waving but Drowning? China's Internet Mavericks Face a Deluge of Data" Knowledge@Wharton

"HTC Evo 4G problems pile up" VentureBeat

"How Apple Tricks You" Gawker

"Apple's Worst Security Breach: 114,000 iPad Owners Exposed" Gawker

"Use Bing Social to search Facebook and Twitter" Bing blog

"In the Age of Mobile Networks, E-Commerce Gets Personal" Knowledge@Wharton

"Die Me, Dichotomy" Notes From The Rocket
Rob DeMillo's take on how Google and Apple got to the same place.

"The Genius Behind Minority Report's Interfaces Resurfaces, With Mind-blowing New Tech" Fast Company

"Android Steals Market Share from iPhone" ReadWriteWeb

"Announcing Google Earth 5.2" Google Lat Long Blog
For all you hikers, bikers, and runners.

"World Cup Fever: Internet Has Busiest News Day as Tabulated by Akamai" Beet.TV

"Countrywide's Foreclosure Scam: It's Not the Only Lender Ripping Off Homeowners" BNET

"The End of Home Ownership" Big Think, Richard Florida

"BP Crisis: What President Obama Can Learn From Bobby Jindal" BNET

"Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina: Why Ex-Tech CEOs Make Dangerous Politicians" BNET

"ACLU chief 'disgusted' with Obama" Politico

"Lakers' Kobe Bryant has no use for teamwork" LA Times

Indy Inc, A Non-Profit Incubator

Very cool, organization I came across. Indy Inc is a new non-profit incubator that helps new causes for free. Yes, FREE. So if you're a trying to jumpstart a new cause-based organization or a non-profit, world-changing organization, I would consider applying to this incubator. More from their site:

Indy Inc. is a non-profit incubator that supports non-profit visionaries and social entrepreneurs with exciting, scaleable ideas to make the world a better place. Groups supported by Indy Inc. range from orphanages and charities to private companies with social missions. We look for ideas with the potential to change a field, work on an unknown cause or issue, or simply do something better than most. Supported fellows can be individuals who haven’t yet started an organization, a group of friends who are moving towards a foundation, or an early-stage non-profit or corporation.

Even in difficult economic times, there is always money out there for non-profits and social ventures with solid ideas, honest methods and transparent accounting. However, most foundations look for a track record of at least a few years, and expect to support existing work. And in a world where everyone wants to fund programs and no one likes funding overhead, it’s rather difficult for non-profits and organizations to get off the ground and running. It’s always been hard for non-profits to find support in the earliest stages, often before they have enough resources for even a single full-time staff member or a physical office.

Indy intends to bridge that gap – to identify new ideas and candidates and support them through the beginning stages, however long it takes, until they are ready to “graduate” and reach the next stage.

TEDTalks: Michael Sandel on The Lost Art of Democratic Debate

I like Professor Michael Sandel a lot. I heard him speak a few times and enjoyed every one of his presentations. I even referenced one of those talks in one of my articles for InsideWork ("Communicating to Connect").


Democracy thrives on civil debate, Michael Sandel says -- but we're shamefully out of practice. He leads a fun refresher, with TEDsters sparring over a recent Supreme Court case (PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin) whose outcome reveals the critical ingredient in justice.

Social Media Marketing: 27 Awesome Stats, Soundbites and Slides

Social Media Marketing: 27 Awesome Stats, Soundbites and Slides

View more presentations from HubSpot Internet Marketing.

News & Links List

"Sprint Says Evo 4G Phone Breaks One-Day Sales Record" BusinessWeek

"iPhone 4: The Definitive Guide" Gizmodo

"An Android User’s Take On Yesterday’s iPhone News" TechCrunch

"Ex-Twitter Employee Didn’t Want to Work for an “Ad Company”" Mashable

"Yahoo Wants HuffPo Badly" TechCrunch

"iPhone OS Still Triples Android's Market Share" Gizmodo

"Bradford: Demand Media Will Take Out AOL First, Yahoo Later" Advertising Age

"The New York Times Fights Back against Foursquare and Yelp" The Next Web

"AOL Isn't Negotiating A Search Deal, It's Negotiating A Sale To Microsoft" Business Insider

"Is Steve Jobs Repeating His Past Mistakes?" Steve Berlin Johnson

"TC Teardown: Chegg Is A Money Machine" TechCrunch

"Study: $42 billion worth of PSP, DS games pirated" CNET

"Dispatch From Startup Land: Zuckerberg and Contest Economics" The Huffington Post, Nicholas Baily

"White House Columnist Helen Thomas Resigns After Telling Jews 'Go Home'" ABC News



"Hey Peter, There’s a Reason Why “Free Gaza” Doesn’t Help Shalit" Commentary Magazine

"Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation discusses entrepreneurship and education" Charlie Rose (video)

Teen Sleeping at Obama's Speech

Amusing...

T.H.I.N.K. (Topple Hunger in North Korea) Conference

The Korean American Coalition (KAC) will be hosting the THINK (Topple Hunger in North Korea) Conference on June 25th & 26th, at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. You can read more about the conference here. The speakers include:

Cheol-Hwan Kang (North Korean Defector; current Journalist in Seoul, Korea)

Dr. Ae-Ran Lee (North Korean Defector; 2010 International Women of Courage Award recipient)

Sang Man (Sam) Han-Schneider (founder of the Han-Schneider International Children's Foundation)

Professor David Kang (USC Korean Studies Institute Director)

Dr. David J. Karl (President of the Asia Strategy Initiative)

Dr. John S. Park (Senior Research Associate at the United States Institute of Peace)

Suzanne Scholte (President of the Defense Forum Foundation)

"With the T.H.I.N.K. Conference, KAC hopes to garner support from the community as well as to educate the general public about the dire situation of the North Korean people. We will be focusing on both the humanitarian crisis within the country in addition to North Korea’s prospects in the near future as well as next few decades. We anticipate over 400 attendees for the conference with expert panel members and experience on North Korean issues."

StarCraft II Beta: Who is BetaWorks?

I never have seen this happen before in the hundreds of Starcraft games I've played. During a 3v3 match, my own player attacked and killed my base. I did a sneak attack with cannons and then my own ally attacks my base and then leaves the game. What the frick was that? I've never seen such odd behavior. Some player named "Betaworks", which will obviously change now or after the beta period. Maybe I was attacking his frirend? Random act to amuse himself? Just a complete idiot? Who knows.

News & Links List

"D8 confab brings out the bigwigs (roundup)" CNET

"D8 Video: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Google" D8 Conference

"Five things Facebook can do to rebuild trust" VentureBeat, Jason Calacanis

"Mark Zuckerberg Gives Awkward, Sweaty Interview at D8: Touches on Privacy and Scandal" Fast Company

"Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg: Step Down" Shel Israel

"HauteLook Just Raised $31 Million, Here’s How It’ll Use the Money" Fashionista

"French E-tailer Vente-privee Designs an Expansion" BusinessWeek

"Yelp and OpenTable Join Forces" NYTimes' Bits

"Five myths about how to create jobs
With unemployment hovering just below 10 percent, job creation is now priority number one in Washington. But America’s jobs challenge is a marathon, not a sprint." McKinsey Quarterly

"The Five Basic Stories That Can Give Your Speeches Power" Forbes

"Leadership Development" Special from Forbes

"It's Your Turn To Speak: Apply to be a Nomad" @LiNK!

LiNK (Liberty in North Korea) is looking for summer interns. Pretty cool program targeting college students and recent graduates, which is called "LiNK Nomads". It's a three-month commitment from August 30th to December 10th. More info from LiNK here:

"Nomads are different; everything is done in a wild way."

Once on board, you'll make your entrance in traditional wild fashion – living at the Nomad house and LiNK office, making your tour a reality by booking your route solid. You'll also get a crash course on North Korea, meet other trailblazers and discover a new family and part of yourself. You'll then pack your van with LiNK merchandise before you go out to incite a generation to rise up and investigate this issue for themselves. Tour is another story. One adventure will turn into another as you get a country excited about what they can do, turning that fire into something that will spread. The road won't be without bumps as you grow, but you will look back in appreciation and marvel.

The Nomadship is a three month commitment, August 30th and the new end date will be December 10th. Travel dates are September till early December. Housing will be provided during training, and on the road with your "contacts" who will soon become new friends. We’ll also help you raise your food and living stipend prior to your Nomadship. With this note* If these dates conflict with your school end date please email jobs@linkglobal.org.


It's Your Turn To Speak: Apply to be a Nomad from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

So if someone you know is interested, remember that:

- Deadline is July 23, 2010
- Limited spots available
- Rolling application process. The sooner you apply, the sooner you'll hear a response from LiNK. You can APPLY here.

Why do you think startups fail? (Namita Bhasin's Answer at Quora)

A follow up to my prior answer at Quora and repost here. I liked Namita Bhasin's answer, so I'm reposting it here:

I did a research project on this in SJSU's MBA dept a few years ago. The short version of my findings:

- Human Capital
Given the choice between a team of rockstars or a less-proven team that works well together, you're better off with the latter. No matter how brilliant people are, if they can't work together, your startup is going nowhere. The synergy between people that collaborate productively can lead to amazing success.

- Social Capital
Weak ties are more useful than strong ones. When you are closely connected to someone, you tend to have many resources in common; when you are more loosely related to someone, they tend to have more resources (connections, money, expertise, etc) that you don't already have access to.

- Financial Capital
Too little money is an obvious problem - but so is too much. You risk spending your money too freely, shortening your runway (seductively high salaries for the aforementioned rockstars) and/or you may spend on the wrong things (logo t-shirts and laptop bags are not the best marketing tools).


Namita's answer also overlaps with my old article on "Building the Perfect Team" for startups, which emphasizes team chemistry and trust.

News & Links List

"Tesla’s Elon Musk: 'I ran out of cash'" VentureBeat

"Facebook CEO’s latest woe: accusations of securities fraud" VentureBeat

"Facebook's Culture Problem May Be Fatal" Harvard Business Review

"Palm loses mobile design guru Matias Duarte" CNET

"Ex-Fortune trio aims to spark new dialogue" CNET

"The reason Robbie Bach was fired" Asymco
Theory on the firing of this Microsoft executive.

"Google I/O 2010 - Native Client, Unity, & Chrome Web Store" Gamasutra

"GeeksOnAPlane In Korea: 12 Demos From Local Startups" TechCrunch

100531 goap seoul_pub

View more presentations from chang1.

"The Regulatory Threat To Web Video" Forbes, Bret Swanson

"Brand New Cities: The Pearl in Qatar or Songdo in South Korea could be your next vacation spot." Forbes

"Time will tell on BP's 'top kill' plan for capping oil leak" USAToday

"Sloppy Reporting from The NY Times on Carried Interest Debate" peHUB, Jeff Bussgang

"The Millionaire Cop Next Door" Forbes, Rich Karlgaard

"ObamaCare vs. Small Business
Why the National Federation of Independent Business supports the constitutional challenge to the health-insurance mandate." WSJ

"Bill Clinton has evolved into Obama's Mr. Fix-It" The Washington Post

"Barack Obama's credibility hits rock bottom after oil spill and Sestak scandal" Telegraph

"Venting Online, Consumers Can Find Themselves in Court" NYTimes

"iPhone apps lets users earn cash for small tasks" Springwise

Tony Hsieh's Standing-Ovation Speech

At the Vator Splash event, Tony Hsieh supposedly gave an incredible speech, which you can read about here, where he explained why online retailers are there to serve the customer.

See this video on Vator.tv »

Some of Bambi's notes are here:

1) Because Zappos believes so much in its unique company culture, it is allowed to run autonomously from Amazon. The pre-requisite for being purchased by Amazon was to be able to "remain independent."

2) One brand that Zappos looks up to is Virgin

3) The philosophy about marketing is that the money that would typically go toward marketing should go toward fulfilling customer service

4) Seventy-five percent of orders come from repeat customers. In Q1 2010, revenue grew 50% quarter-over-quarter.

5) What is customer service?

a) Free shipping both ways

b) 365-day return policy

c) 1-800 number prominently visible on all pages (even though only 5% of orders come from the phone)

d) Call center operators don't have scripts

e) Call center operators are not allowed to upsell

f) Call center operators much check up to three competing Web sites for items if Zappos is out of stock

g) There are no limits on customer service calls. Longest customer service call lasted six hours

h) Customer service isn't just a department, it's the whole company

i) Surprise upgrades to overnight shipping

j) Warehouse runs 24/7

6) If companies get the company culture right, delivering great customer service happens naturally.

7) Zappos has an annual culture book made up of employee feedback about Zappos' company culture. Post a comment here if you want a culture book, and we’llget you a free culture book from Tony.

8) What ties this altogether is that Zappos is about delivering happiness

9) Go to 23:33 where Tony talks about the company’s corevalues.

Ktown Cowboys Episode 4

Amusing short about life in LA Ktown. Episode 4 was recently posted, but I'm also posting number 3. All four can be found on their website here. Credits:

Directed By: Daniel DPD Park
Written By: Danny Cho
Produced By: Lillian Ng, Liah Kim, Ellen Ho

Starring: Lanny Joon, Peter Jae, Sunn Wee, Danny Cho, Bobby Choy, and Shane Yoon
Executive Producers: Ginam Lee, Daniel Kim, Jay Hong
D.P. Paul Sun / The Social Trust
Edited by: The Mighty Fifty
Composer/Orchestrator: Jonathan Wandag

News & Links List

(Lots to catch up on since I was in Beijing last week)

"How Google Voice got me out of a bind" CNET

"Android beats iPhone in China" Fortune

"Google Tries To Prove Its Economic Value, but Fails" BNET

"Study: Pac-Man on Google wasted 4.8 million hours" CNET

"The Tragic Cost of Google Pac-Man – 4.82 million hours" The Rescue Time Blog

"Carol Bartz To Michael Arrington: “F*ck Off!”" TechCrunch

disrupt on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

"Google Now Activating 100,000 Android Devices A Day — 50,000 Android Apps" TechCrunch

"Google Android smacks down Windows Mobile in latest Gartner data" ZDNet

"Android 2.2 'Froyo' beta hands-on: Flash 10.1, WiFi hotspots, and some killer benchmark scores" Engadget

"Nvidia's Android Tablet: Okay, I Could Want This" Gizmodo

"Android Gets Facebook Graph API Before the iPhone" All Facebook

"Four Reasons Google Needed to Be in TV" BNET

"Did Google Just Kill Boxee, Roku and TiVo?" NewTeeVee

"Google v Apple can only have one loser – Microsoft" Telegraph

"'F--- those motherf---ers': YouTube/Viacom suit gets nasty" Ars Technica

"Google finally reveals AdSense cut: 68% on content" BuzzMachine

"Study: 60 Percent of Facebook Users Mulling to Quit" PCWorld

"Sayonara, iPhone: Why I'm Switching to Android" Newsweek

"Mayor Bloomberg Calls For More NYC Startups At TechCrunch Disrupt (update: transcript)" TechCrunch

"Forbes buys self-publishing news site True/Slant" VentureBeat

"Immigration Is U.S.: Immigrants confirm America's status as the one great global power not just in its trade and influence but in its people and culture." Forbes, Joel Kotkin

"Warren Buffett Is All Wrong About Goldman" Forbes, Shaun Rein

"Stealth Legislation to Federally Fund Human Cloning" Center for Bioethics & Culture, Wesley J. Smith

"Landis admits doping, accuses Lance" ESPN

"Head of Lab That Landis Criticized Feels Vindicated" NYTimes