Netizen

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Happy July 4 Fred Wilson, Brad Feld

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 28: Iranian-Americans ...

Hello VCs.

I am about 15 months away from a green card, and about that far away from launching my startup, which right now I think will be something to do with the last mile of the ISP business. I think the best use of my time from now till then would be to pour myself fully into the democracy movement in Iran. I have done this before, I can do this again. I did this for Nepal in 2006. This is what I have had to say about that:

There is a concrete mathematical theory called the butterfly effect. A butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon forest could be the reason a cyclone hit Bangladesh. What happened in Nepal in April 2006 was a political cyclone. I was the butterfly flapping my wings in New York City. In April 2006, over a period of 19 days, about eight million people out of the country's 27 million came out into the streets to shut the country down completely to force a dictator out.

This work will help me keep polishing my two strengths that I would bring to my startup: vision and group dynamics. Internet access is the voting right for this century, the Internet Century, and to do well in that business you have to be able to deeply care about masses of people like those that have been thronging into the streets of Iran.

Iran is a low hanging fruit. The hardest part of a democracy movement is getting people to come out into the streets. Well, that has been happening in Iran. This world is connected enough by now that one Digital Ninja/Commando based out of New York City could make that fundamental difference. Everyone I need to meet in person for this work is right here in New York City, primarily members of the Iranian diaspora. All I would need is a laptop, a smartphone and a monthly metro pass. And me.

I need you guys to sponsor this work out of your own pocket. Put in 5K each, and find me 18 other VCs who will put in 5K each. I ask for 100K and 15 months. That would be enough time. If I succeed, you get to put in another 2.5K each for a 50K bonus to me. This 5K you might put into this is the equivalent of 5 million you might put into Kiva. Democracy is the ultimate fishing net you can give to a people. Once they have a modern democracy, they can help themselves.

Looking forward to it. Happy July 4.

Paramendra.

Me @ BBC
An Immigrant Story For Brad Feld

An Offer To FourSquare

FourSquare: $20 Million At $95 Million Valuation

To: Dennis Crowley, Naveen Selvadurai, Fred Wilson
Sent: July 4 @ 4:16 PM (email)

Hello Dennis, Naveen, Fred.

I believe I have an offer for you that you can't refuse.

Towards Threaded Conversations On Twitter
Farmville Farmer's Market: My Idea

I am really, really good at the vision thing, vision and group dynamics, but right now I want to talk about the vision part. You have done well at scaling and monetization, but your weakness so far has been in the features department. In a recent quote in a news article Dennis has expressed a hunger for "engineers." That tells me he is bursting at the seams in terms of where he wants to take FourSquare. Naveen was throwing lops of mud on the location space wall even before he ever met Dennis. Fred is a rare visionary VC. I think you guys are swell, but I think I can help.

Price Tag: $6,000
Duration: 4 weeks
Output: An average of three posts per week at my blog, Netizen

There will be no need to worry about the public nature of my work because when you walk into a Walmart store you have seen their entire business model and so far noone has been able to copy the most successful business in the history of humanity.

I will mostly be scouring the web, thinking, and I will need to spend 30 minutes each with the five key people on the team, and perhaps an hour each with the two founders, that perhaps during the third week.

I think my work will help speed up the burn rate for the $20 million you just raised, and that is what you want. FourSquare as a company is in that sweet spot where it does not have to worry about how it will raise its next round of funding. Burn the 20 million fast and go on to raise 30 million at a 300 million valuation or something. That speed is one of the things you need to do to cement the lead you have.

I hope this makes sense and sounds like a good investment.

Looking forward to it.

Paramendra.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Argentina Was Not A Team

Image by Andrés Moncayo via Flickr

Brazil: The Overconfidence Of A Soccer Superpower

Either that or it was a team that melted in the face of a superior team: Germany. But my parting thought for the team I was rooting for is that Argentina has many great players, including Messi who is widely touted as the greatest player in the world. But soccer is not golf. This is a team sport.

Diego Maradona gets to take responsibility. The best soccer player of his generation was not that great a coach. Martin Scorsese could not act if his life depended on it. My favorite actor likes to say, "I don't know direction."

Brazil And Argentina: My Choices And Those Of My Favorite Actor

Diego kept saying to the last minute that Messi and one other player were the only players guaranteed spots on the Argentinian team. That attitude can boost your ego but it can be hugely detrimental to the team's morale. And Diego did not give enough respect to Messi himself.

This is like how Bill Clinton never really got over the fact that it was Hillary not him who was running for president. After Hillary lost in South Carolina, they gave him the microphone and he started talking about his foundation and how that work is "important." You saw Diego on TV as much as Messi.

Argentina fell like a house of cards today. How the mighty fall!

Brazil has a Pele hangover. Argentina has a Maradona hangover. I do too. That is why I picked those two teams.

There is always next time.

Right now it is looking like Germany will take the cup. They have done it many times before.