He also visited my friend, Jimmy Kim, who I co-founded my first two startups with:
Showing posts with label jimmy kim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jimmy kim. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2008
"The Instant Web"... Loic Le Meur, Jimmy Kim and Open Web Asia
More from Open Web Asia. Loic Le Meur, founder of Seesmic, posts his thoughts after our conference here and his presentation:
He also visited my friend, Jimmy Kim, who I co-founded my first two startups with:
He also visited my friend, Jimmy Kim, who I co-founded my first two startups with:
Monday, March 10, 2008
MIX08 Follow Up
Last week's Microsoft MIX08 was a pretty good conference for Innotive and my friends. Jimmy was on the following panel discussion and was good enough to be invited to another conference to speak. Outside of a business setting, he's hilarious. Anyway, some of his major points are at 27:00, 43:10 and 53:15 (here he gives a pretty good Hugo Boss analogy) of the video.
How Design Impacts the Bottom Line
Is good design good business? Listen to these customers discuss how good design helped them:
- Reach the market faster with lower development costs
- Increase the revenues and retained earnings of their products or services
- Increase market share.
You'll hear how design has created real competitive advantage for businesses across the spectrum from consumer to business brands. Hear from the design professionals who did the work, and the customers who hired them.
Here is their main presentation:
Effective User Interfaces in Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Silverlight
(yeah, the title is lame and not really descriptive or catchy)
Come see how customizable user interfaces were created by extending XAML in a way that integrates various content formats into a single consistent UI. Learn how to build an effective UI, extend XAML, build a Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Silverlight application that can consume extended XAML, and much more.
How Design Impacts the Bottom Line
Is good design good business? Listen to these customers discuss how good design helped them:
- Reach the market faster with lower development costs
- Increase the revenues and retained earnings of their products or services
- Increase market share.
You'll hear how design has created real competitive advantage for businesses across the spectrum from consumer to business brands. Hear from the design professionals who did the work, and the customers who hired them.
Here is their main presentation:
Effective User Interfaces in Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Silverlight
(yeah, the title is lame and not really descriptive or catchy)
Come see how customizable user interfaces were created by extending XAML in a way that integrates various content formats into a single consistent UI. Learn how to build an effective UI, extend XAML, build a Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Silverlight application that can consume extended XAML, and much more.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
"VC Primer From An Entrepreneur's Pov"
Tom Evslin has a great series on fundraising from an entrepreneur's point of view. All three of his posts are below.
Since I wrote about my ViewPlus days in the post prior, I'm cracking up recalling some of our fundraising experiences. My co-founder Jimmy was pitching our startup in front of four general partners, and one of them asked, "Why should we invest in you guys versus your competitors?"
Jimmy looked at him sternly and emphatically replied, "Look, do you want to drive a BMW or a Hyundai?..." After that meeting, our funding was approved and we got a signed term sheet of $33 million. I was still laughing for a few days afterwards because of what Jimmy said in his typical animated manner.
VC Primer from an Entrepreneur’s POV – Source of Funds
If you’re an experienced entrepreneur who’s had venture funding, skip these posts. If you’re a VC, please read on and tell me if I got anything wrong but remember that I’m writing from an entrepreneur’s point of view. If you’re an entrepreneur who hasn’t had VC funding – even a wannabe entrepreneur – read on. These posts are for you. (full post)
VC Primer from an Entrepreneur’s POV – The Funds
Most venture firms are general partners running one or more funds whose money is supplied by limited partners (aka investors aka LPs). In a previous post, I talked about three other types of types of VC fund you might find yourself dealing with; but, in this post, we’ll concentrate on this type because, if you’re an entrepreneur raising VC money, you’re almost sure to deal with a firm like this. You need to understand how their funds work. (full post)
VC Primer from an Entrepreneur’s POV – What About Angels?
Angel investors go where venture capitalists fear to tread. That’s an oversimplification but it’ll do for starters.
You’re a wannabe entrepreneur. You have a great idea. To go any further with your idea you need some money. Let’s say you’re gonna need to quit your day job but that you did build a prototype of your great idea on nights and weekends. You figure you need somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000 to live on, to hire come contractors to do some programming, and to do a little bit of marketing. These being the days they are, you don’t think that hosting or Internet access bills will be significant until your service really grows and starts to bring in business on its own so you’re not worried about those bills. You already own all the computers you’ll need for a while and you’re planning to work at home so no office space to worry about. Your spouse is OK with all of this… sorta. (full post)
Since I wrote about my ViewPlus days in the post prior, I'm cracking up recalling some of our fundraising experiences. My co-founder Jimmy was pitching our startup in front of four general partners, and one of them asked, "Why should we invest in you guys versus your competitors?"
Jimmy looked at him sternly and emphatically replied, "Look, do you want to drive a BMW or a Hyundai?..." After that meeting, our funding was approved and we got a signed term sheet of $33 million. I was still laughing for a few days afterwards because of what Jimmy said in his typical animated manner.
VC Primer from an Entrepreneur’s POV – Source of Funds
If you’re an experienced entrepreneur who’s had venture funding, skip these posts. If you’re a VC, please read on and tell me if I got anything wrong but remember that I’m writing from an entrepreneur’s point of view. If you’re an entrepreneur who hasn’t had VC funding – even a wannabe entrepreneur – read on. These posts are for you. (full post)
VC Primer from an Entrepreneur’s POV – The Funds
Most venture firms are general partners running one or more funds whose money is supplied by limited partners (aka investors aka LPs). In a previous post, I talked about three other types of types of VC fund you might find yourself dealing with; but, in this post, we’ll concentrate on this type because, if you’re an entrepreneur raising VC money, you’re almost sure to deal with a firm like this. You need to understand how their funds work. (full post)
VC Primer from an Entrepreneur’s POV – What About Angels?
Angel investors go where venture capitalists fear to tread. That’s an oversimplification but it’ll do for starters.
You’re a wannabe entrepreneur. You have a great idea. To go any further with your idea you need some money. Let’s say you’re gonna need to quit your day job but that you did build a prototype of your great idea on nights and weekends. You figure you need somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000 to live on, to hire come contractors to do some programming, and to do a little bit of marketing. These being the days they are, you don’t think that hosting or Internet access bills will be significant until your service really grows and starts to bring in business on its own so you’re not worried about those bills. You already own all the computers you’ll need for a while and you’re planning to work at home so no office space to worry about. Your spouse is OK with all of this… sorta. (full post)
Monday, June 30, 2003
Boom Time Memories... Masayoshi Son Was The Man
Recently, my friend Jimmy and I were talking about the crazy days of the boom times and some of the funny experiences we went through. Jimmy is one of my closest friends and we have been in the trenches of entrepreneurship along with our friend and former colleague Peter. We've gone through starting a company on credit cards, savings, and the FM Fund ("Father Mother Fund" as we liked to call it); pitching hundreds of investors through two startups; dealing with the typical boom time dealmakers that can "wow" you one day and disappoint you the next; and the highs and lows of trying to establish partnerships and agreements.
We've been blessed to have great chemistry between the three of us and I look forward to starting another venture with them in the near future. Of course, we like to think our chemistry was due to the fact that all of us are relatively easy to work with and good-natured. Though we might have even yelled at each other in the board room, in the end the right decision was made and nothing was taken personally.
Anyway, one story we were talking about was when HeyAnita was securing its first round of financing from Softbank. Jimmy provided the initial introduction for the four ex-Microsoft guys, who founded HeyAnita, to Masayoshi Son. Though it was towards the tailend of the tech boom, Son's company, Softbank, was still flying high. At the time, Masayoshi Son was the second richest man in the world, after Bill Gates, with a value at more than US$60 billion (now he's around 10th with less than $10 billion).
Jimmy was in the meeting along with our colleague, who recruited us to HeyAnita, and the first member outside of the Microsoft guys. Our colleague was leading the pitch and asking for $30 million to startup this new voice technology company. After the demonstration, Son must have been impressed as he began to draw out a map of the world and continued to divide up the regions between HeyAnita and Softbank. When I heard this, I assumed this was something similar he did with Yahoo! when he made that investment that allowed the company to sky-rocket.
After some discussion of the terms, he said, "I will give you $5 million now and $25 million by the end of May."
Our colleague responded, "But we need the whole $30 million to start buying the necessary equipment."
"What type of equipment? And how much is it exactly?" Son asked.
"Servers, boards, etc. from Intel and some other companies. We definitely need at least $20 million."
"No. I will give you $5 million now. And then you tell Intel that Masayoshi Son backs your company and your credit and that will be good enough."
Our colleague couldn't say anything else but, "Ok."
Jimmy afterwards was saying, "Wow. He the man. He is the man!"
Our colleague just said, "I just got my ass whooped. Shut down and silenced."
Maybe it's sheer power. Maybe it's sheer arrogance, but at that time it was impressive the power and command people like Masayoshi Son had. Those outside of the business world might just see this has uneventful or silly idolatry, but I don't see it as either one. For me, it is plain respect in what the man built and amusing how lopsided it sometimes was at the negotiating table during those times.
We've been blessed to have great chemistry between the three of us and I look forward to starting another venture with them in the near future. Of course, we like to think our chemistry was due to the fact that all of us are relatively easy to work with and good-natured. Though we might have even yelled at each other in the board room, in the end the right decision was made and nothing was taken personally.
Anyway, one story we were talking about was when HeyAnita was securing its first round of financing from Softbank. Jimmy provided the initial introduction for the four ex-Microsoft guys, who founded HeyAnita, to Masayoshi Son. Though it was towards the tailend of the tech boom, Son's company, Softbank, was still flying high. At the time, Masayoshi Son was the second richest man in the world, after Bill Gates, with a value at more than US$60 billion (now he's around 10th with less than $10 billion).
Jimmy was in the meeting along with our colleague, who recruited us to HeyAnita, and the first member outside of the Microsoft guys. Our colleague was leading the pitch and asking for $30 million to startup this new voice technology company. After the demonstration, Son must have been impressed as he began to draw out a map of the world and continued to divide up the regions between HeyAnita and Softbank. When I heard this, I assumed this was something similar he did with Yahoo! when he made that investment that allowed the company to sky-rocket.
After some discussion of the terms, he said, "I will give you $5 million now and $25 million by the end of May."
Our colleague responded, "But we need the whole $30 million to start buying the necessary equipment."
"What type of equipment? And how much is it exactly?" Son asked.
"Servers, boards, etc. from Intel and some other companies. We definitely need at least $20 million."
"No. I will give you $5 million now. And then you tell Intel that Masayoshi Son backs your company and your credit and that will be good enough."
Our colleague couldn't say anything else but, "Ok."
Jimmy afterwards was saying, "Wow. He the man. He is the man!"
Our colleague just said, "I just got my ass whooped. Shut down and silenced."
Maybe it's sheer power. Maybe it's sheer arrogance, but at that time it was impressive the power and command people like Masayoshi Son had. Those outside of the business world might just see this has uneventful or silly idolatry, but I don't see it as either one. For me, it is plain respect in what the man built and amusing how lopsided it sometimes was at the negotiating table during those times.
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