Blogging Works Wonders: Here's An Example

Image by Newton Free Library via FlickrSo I put out this blog post yesterday. Yes-ter-day.

Very Much Would Like To Go Into Bihar

And someone left a comment a few minutes back. Here's a team that is already doing microfinance in the part of the world that is of greatest interest to me: Mithilanchal in Bihar. Mithilanchal is two words, just like Paramendra is two words. Mithila + Anchal (Zone) = Mithilanchal. Param (The Great) + Indra (King of all the 300 million gods and goddesses in the Hindu mythology) = Paramendra.

GroupOn, Zappos, And The Non Tech Components

Image by David Berkowitz via FlickrGroupOn Did Not Launch At South By South West

I dig these two companies for their emphasis on non tech components. Zappos does not sell shoes, it sells phone calls. The emphasis is on customer service. Tony has told his people, talk to the customers for as long as they will talk to you.

GroupOn has boots on the ground. That army of sales people is integral to how GroupOn rolls.

GroupOn Did Not Launch At South By South West

Image via WikipediaGroupOn has grown like crazy. But it was not launched at South By South West. And I have an observation to make.

GroupOn has this very clear offline component to it. It has hired thousands of sales people. And its customer base is your very average person, the Walmart types. They want to save money. They want to save money on haircuts.

That is why you do not hear GroupOn and South By South West in one sentence. I never have. Because GroupOn's early adopters were not the kind of people who end up at South By South West.

Overall I feel good about South By South West. But I also have a word of caution for the crowd. You don't want to end up in some kind of an echo chamber where you are only hearing each other. It is possible to collect too many business cards. What are you going to do with them? Networking is a good thing overall, but too many business cards can also mean a lack of focus.

Like the Kayak.com CEO likes to say, I don't go to events.

A Life Of Poverty

Image via WikipediaI have had my double cheese burger super sized. It was like a six month disappearance - they had Wael Ghonim disappear for 12 days in Egypt, they had me disappear for six months in America, cost me two major victory parties, I guess it is a bigger deal to put a black man into a White (WHITE) House than it is to kick an Arab out - plus the Great Recession - all my investors walked away - plus the Great Immigration Humiliation. But I have not so much as flinched.

Bundling Investors

Image via CrunchBaseFacebook not going IPO is real bad news for the average investors, people who might buy 10 or 20 stocks at $100 each. The growth in wealth that Facebook might see as it moves from a $10 billion valuation to a $50 billion valuation and beyond, all that is going to rich individuals and institutions. If Facebook had gone IPO at a billion dollar valuation, the 50 billion in wealth creation might have gone to average people.

Mobile Phone Banking: Major Boon To The Last Mile Of Microfinance

Image via WikipediaOf all the technologies that I see that can be put to use for microfinance - and I see a lot - the one that most stands out is mobile phone banking, the m-Pesa kind like has spread like wildfire across Kenya.

It is because the last mile is the most complex in the business. And mobile phone banking comes across as this gold standard that can help cut through the thick of all sorts of social, cultural, and bureaucratic issues. This is a case of simple technology beating human flailings to the dust.

Mobile phone banking reduces banking to simple transactions. You do it one simple transaction at a time. And the chips fall in place just fine. Mobile phone banking is like a machete with which you cut through the green thicks as you wade through a tropical forest.

The mobile phone is in a unique position to deliver all sorts of other goodies that will help transform the business. This decade belongs to the mobile phone.

Chris Dixon Is In The Big Leagues Now

Chris Dixon Just Impressed Me Like Never Before
Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook
Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited

EatUps Don't Seem To Have A Monthly Rhythm

Image via CrunchBaseToday has been my day for New York City, for Microfinance, for Greplin.

Chris Dixon Just Impressed Me Like Never Before
Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook
Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited
Very Much Would Like To Go Into Bihar
Some Serious Biking
TED Talks: Wael Ghonim, Bill Gates
Passion For Microfinance, Passion For Social Media
Walking/Running: Putting One Foot After The Other
Love Is A Symbol
Going High Tech: Selfish Reasons
Microfinance Alone Can't Cure Poverty
Focus, Focus, Focus
I Love This City

But last night I was at the First FoodSpotting First Friday. I was surprised by how many people showed up. At one point I counted 31 people.

Chris Dixon Just Impressed Me Like Never Before

Image by Zach Klein via FlickrFor Chris Dixon to have been an early investor in Greplin, I mean I am mighty impressed. You have to have been party of some kind of an inner circle, you have to have earned your way to being part of that inner circle. Being part of that inner circle was not enough. I mean, the Y Combinator companies present in front of lots and lots of angels and investors. To be able to spot Greplin for the winner that it is, early on, I mean, I am impressed.

Take this for a compliment Dixon. You are even more impressive than I already thought you were. You just earned your Super Angel title in my world. Super Angels pay super attention to the really, really early stage companies. They go straight to the source. They put their ears to the ground. And then listen. For the horse hooves.

Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook
Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited

Screw Twitter, Screw Facebook

My number one gripe with both Twitter and Facebook - services I love - has been that - fuck it - I can't even search through all of my own tweets, I can't even search through my own Facebook wall.

Looks like they both needed an outside party to come along and take care of the problem. Daniel Gross, you are a billionaire for doing this.

Greplin



Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited

Greplin: The First Y Combinator Company To Get Me Excited

Image via CrunchBaseDon't get me wrong. I am and have been huge on Paul Graham and Y Combinator. Recently I read the name of a friend - 19 years old - in a magazine article. She apparently had graduated from Y Combinator and had just raised a million dollars in funding. I emailed her. Hey, is that you? Yes, it is me, she said. You should also raise money, right now is a great time to do so.

Paul Graham, Brad Feld, Me, BBC

But I have said at this blog a few times that I don't see any iconic company emerging out of Y Combinator. Y Combinator has had a propensity to produce middling companies. A $200 million exist is not impressive.

Greplin

And let me make it very clear I have not been reading up on Y Combinator companies. There must be gems being spewed out every few months. But I only read about companies that show up in the news.