Reverend, What Do You Do?

Image via Wikipedia

A black comic once asked Jesse Jackson on national television, "But, Reverend, what exactly it is that you do!"

Let me try and answer that question for my well wishers.

Me and my small team are exploring the idea of a microfinance tech startup, one a microfinance junkie currently at Wharton, another a techie. Clean tech, bio tech, nano tech, microfinance: microfinance might be at the bottom of that sexy ladder in some ways, but I believe it is in the same league. It is one of the next big things. And it is very real. Education, health, credit: all of humanity deserves to have access to those three things. The term computer has not meant the same thing year after year, decade after decade. The term microfinance is not stagnant either.

Sleek Data Centers

All Things Digital: Apple Reaching for the Cloud With MacBook Air and N.C. Data Center

Will Online Ads Rise To The Occasion?

Image via WikipediaA New York Times that is completely digital, completely global, completely social, completely mobile and completely ad driven should make more money than the New York Times that is about to be its ancestor. If not the web is a chimera. And I don't believe it is. On its part the New York Times has made the mistake of not fully converting. On the other hand the ad platforms are not really there yet. The ads on display don't make as much money as they should. And the New York Times has not exhibited the Gawker aggression of going out there and getting your own ads at much higher prices.

Cure For The Common Cold, Aka The Great Recession

Da iPad

(Via Change The Ratio)

Event At Hunch: Gender Talk (2)

Image via WikipediaThe first step is to just be able to bring up the topic: gender. A lot of men get defensive about the very topic. There are two types of men: good men and bad men. Those men who get defensive are not good men.

The second step is to have honest conversations. There will be many, many rounds to such conversations. There will be a lot of back and forth. It is important to not abruptly stand up and walk away. It is important to make people feel like they are being listened to, they are being heard.

The third step is to try and identify problem areas and possible solutions. That also will take place in more than one sitting.

Event At Hunch: Gender Talk (1)

Event At Hunch: Angel, Super Angel, VC

Image via WikipediaFred Wilson and Chris Dixon remind me of each other, although I met Chris only for the first time yesterday, and it was my second time meeting Fred in person, although it feels like I meet him near daily since he blogs daily, and I drop by when I can. I greeted him at the very outset - "Hello Fred, so very good to see you" - and then pretty much left the space for the crowd. It felt like an AVC community thing to do. We already meet you most days, let others have a go at you now.

A Facebook Browser? A Facebook Operating System?

Image via CrunchBase

TechCrunch: Another Chrome OS Engineer Defects To Facebook In The Build-Up To Launch: 99.99 percent of my working day is currently spent in Chrome ...... a mildly worrisome trend occurring leading up to the launch of Google’s first desktop operating system: defections. Also interesting: what does Facebook want with these guys? ..... the talent continues to pour into Facebook — and much of it from Google

TV's Future

Mark Suster: The Future of Television & The Digital Living Room: Video will be inextricably linked to the future of the Internet and consumption between PCs, mobile devices and TVs will merge...... with the introduction of Apple TV, Google TV, the Boxee Box & other initiatives it’s clear that this battle will heat up in 2011

First and foremost it is about bandwidth. There is need for faster broadband at cheaper prices that competition will bring. This is a public policy issue. Then it is about the shocks to the old guard industries that the new technology will bring. Old business models will get toppled. New business models will come into play. Content creation will get vastly democratized. Movie production should not be a Los Angeles or New York thing. Movies should be made where the people are, and they are everywhere.

Big Churns In The VC Industry

Image via Wikipedia

Paul Graham: The New Funding Landscape: After barely changing at all for decades, the startup funding business is now in what could, at least by comparison, be called turmoil..... the previously sharp line between angels and VCs has become hopelessly blurred. .... Super-angels compete with both angels and VCs. .... most of the changes will be for the better.

To those who have been regular readers of the blogs of the major venture capitalists, this churn is not news. The fact that there has been some major churn has been talked about for months. But what people make of the churn, now that's a different story. The best minds have been overall positive with the developments. Looks like entrepreneurs now get to shop around more. There is much more early money available. And that money is not blind money. Early stage investors tend to be more hands on.

Fractals: Mandelbrot

Fractals And Foodspotting
FoodSpotting Is The Next FourSquare
Fractals: Apple, Windows 95, Netscape, Google, Facebook, Twitter

Change The Ratio: Fred Wilson, Rachel Sklar

Hunch
54 W. 21st Street
Suite 1001
New York, NY 10010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET)

Tech, Women, Diversity