The Germans Called Me Robin Hood

This was in early 2006. I was deep into the Nepal democracy movement work. We were a few months away from grand success, but we could not have known it at the time. And I got an email from a German reporter. She wanted to talk. So we talked over email and the phone, and she wrote up an article for some German newspaper. I used Google Translate to translate it into English to publish at my Nepal blog.

Me @ BBC

Her story had a fancy title: Robin Hood On The Internet. That story got picked up by the German radio people. They emailed me asking me to come to their studio in Manhattan so they could record an interview. They said they had requests from many local radio stations in Germany. And so we talked.

And although I have been rooting for Brazil and Argentina, they are both out. Now it is obvious to me that Germany is going to win this cup. And I am happy for them.

I am gladly rooting for Germany now.

Argentina Was Not A Team
Brazil: The Overconfidence Of A Soccer Superpower
Soccer And Latin America
Brazil
Walking On The Moon
Lionel Messi (2)
Lionel Messi
Young Folks
Walk In The Park
Freehand Exercise: 1,000 Push-Ups, 1,000 Squats, 1,000 Crunches
Brazil And Argentina: My Choices And Those Of My Favorite Actor
The Eyes Of Truth
Hey Now, Hey Now
Tomorrow
Samuel Eto'o

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Happy July 4 Fred Wilson, Brad Feld

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

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

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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.

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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.

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Soraya Darabi

Fractals: Mandelbrot
Fractals And FoodSpotting
FoodSpotting Is The Next FourSquare
Going Backwards: FoodSpotting, FourSquare, Twitter, Facebook

sorayadarabi on Twitter Half a million followers.
Soraya Darabi| Most Creative People 2010 | Fast Company based on her success as manager of digital partnerships and social-media marketing at the Times, where she was hired at 23. "Soraya was dazzling when she showed up at The New York Times, trying to tug the Gray Lady into Facebook and Twitter and all the social media," says columnist Nicholas Kristof. "I often travel to exotic foreign lands with a local guide and interpreter, and Soraya played precisely that role when she led me into the world of new media. The only reason I have nearly 1 million followers on Twitter and 150,000 fans on Facebook is Soraya's guidance." Darabi herself has nearly half a million Twitter followers, which means that when the Freelance Whales play at her friend's loft party, they wind up as a showcase band at South by Southwest, in Austin. She's earned a reputation among the digerati as someone who intuitively, if not effortlessly, understands where all this social-media stuff is going. "Soraya knows how media companies can take advantage of these practices -- if they're willing to take the risk," says Alice Marwick, a researcher at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. ...... Greenwood: "She's been one of my go-to people for what's going on in social media and how companies are innovating from a brand and marketing perspective." ...... "I get information from my peers," Darabi says simply. ..... Drop.io, with Nicholas Negroponte on the board ..... Presslift .... Now Darabi is working on a suite of similar verticals for fields including education and possibly entertainment. ..... Darabi's own entrepreneurial drive -- "We need more young women starting companies" .... "We're living in a world right now where the 26-year-old founder of a PHP platform [Facebook] has more power than the president of the U.S. in terms of his reach on a day-to-day basis," she says, dismissing talk of a social-media bubble. "I'm not sure social media has been overestimated yet." ......






Soraya Darabi Leaving NYT For Drop.io's New PressLift | Mediaite Big move in the social media world: Soraya Darabi, manager of digital partnerships & social-media marketing at the New York Times, is leaving the Gray Lady to join real-time sharing and collaboration site Drop.io as product lead for their new PR tool, PressLift....... behind the NYT’s multimedia Inauguration Day Facebook campaign, which won first prize at the INMA Awards for excellence in marketing (and encouraged excellence in hipster patriotism). Darabi’s department grew in prominence last May when the NYT appointed a full-time social media editor ....... PressLift, a new tool for PR professionals to share multi-media materials (without annoyingly clogging inboxes)..... a tracking tool to measure penetration and use. ....... couldn’t pass up the chance to join a savvy NYC start-up: “The New York Times was my home for over two years. I loved every bit of of the job. I’ve had the itch to work for a start up for a short while. ......uniquely positioned to understand the features and benefits of this user community .... Vindu Goel: “Soraya, what are we going to do without you?” ..... Dropio’s .... millions of users ..... Time named it one of the year’s 50 best websites .....
Soraya Darabi - LinkedIn named one of AdAge Magazine's "25 People in Media to Follow" on Twitter.com and was listed at #2 on "The Silicon Alley Insider 100" at the end of 2009. ..... B.A. in English Literature at Georgetown University .... B.A. , English, Art History , 2002 — 2005 ...... a consumate professional ....Her business acumen, enthusiasm, and generous spirit will light up the darkest of conference rooms. Not only does she have extensive technical expertise, but she's also an accomplished communicator and social network builder - a rare combination. ........ enterprising, hardworking, and smart ....... a deep understanding of the landscape of social networks ...... detail-oriented, responsive and full of energy ........ smart, dedicated and self starting ...... always positive and ready for new innovative tasks ....... a team player ...... will be a success wherever she is ....... creative, energetic, and so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about buzz marketing/social networking that I've found myself quoting her on the subject whenever it comes up ........... generous with her ideas ...... plain fun to talk to: she's smart and funny as well as sensitive and kind, but disarming because she somehow projects both a crazy confidence and a sweet modesty at the same time ......... an incredible person to get to know in the fast-evolving culture of New York digital media. ...brings all sorts of innovative ideas ....... Soraya has been lending her strategic advice, relationships and expertise to my non-profit for close to two years now. She is fabulous at what she does, is very knowledgeable, proactive and is able to think creatively. She is one of the most dedicated and hard working people I know and is a pleasure to work with .. April 6, 2009 ........Soraya will blow you away. She's ferocious and enterprising, and she finds solutions where others only see problems. While being extremely conscientious and professional, she is also visionary--with the patience and practicality to realize those visions. ........always one step ahead of everyone else and always at the ready to help the rest of us catch up. I can't help but learn something from her every time we're together. Her infectious charm helps her to get things done while gaining supporters and fans along the way ....... an ambitious young woman eager to succeed. ..... a blow when she left our company. ..... was the best manager and mentor that I could have asked for. I consider her a social media and marketing genius and a role model for young professionals starting out in the corporate world. She is extremely intelligent, organized and poised. As her direct report, I was constantly amazed at how she managed to dip her fingers into just about every pot of honey out there! World traveler, marketing maven, trustworthy confidant and witty joker -- she wears all the hats on the rack! If I could have stayed longer with NYTimes.com, I would have begged to stay with Soraya. ........ stunningly cutting-edge in every arena I've encountered her ...... consistently on the cutting edge of the online community, both professionally and socially ..... a networking wonder, and seems to know and have befriended virtually any and all movers-and-shakers within the online media world.Her web-savvy and creative vision are surpassed only by her drive and unrivaled work ethic ... April 6, 2009 ........ tireless in her pursuit to be all knowing on digital strategies. ....... succeeds at every turn ..... has an ear to the ground a hand on the key board and her brain hotwired to wiki-pedia of all these is to know in the rapidly changing world of digital strategies. ....... consistently energetic, competent and willing. She never hesitates to help out a friend (or colleague) and she exudes hard work and ambition. ....... a friendly and enjoyable personality in the office.
My Life in Beta (Tumblog)

Five Questions for Soraya Darabi of drop.io's PressLift ‹ Social Media Week
contributing to Social Media Week’s board .....
Flickr: Soraya Darabi's Photostream
Soraya Darabi | Guest of a Guest
The 2009 Silicon Alley 100: Soraya Darabi one of the reasons the New York Times became so Facebook-and-Twitter-savvy this year
Silicon Angle: No, Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t More Powerful than the President

My Comment

I don't know who you are, my first time at your blog, but you are so missing the point. You start with the nuclear button. How many times has a POTUS pressed that button that you know of? The number one way a POTUS exercises influence is not even through the veto power. That number one thing is media attention. Keyword: media. Have you heard of the term social media? Facebook has half a billion people. Obama does not have that many voters. Do you think everyone in America, or every voting citizen, or everyone who voted for Obama spends every waking minute trying to figure out what exactly Obama will order them to do at that very moment? No, stupid. So Obama has no power over them at all, right? But that would be trying to figure out the logic behind what you are getting at. And that would be a mistake. Because you conclude by revealing you have an ax to grind. Here is a person who is on the cover of a magazine that has had, well, Mark Zuckerberg, and Barack Obama, on its cover before, also Steve Jobs, if that means anything to you, and she is on the cover when Lady Gaga is on the list, Fred Wilson is on that same list she is on. Last year she was on a similar list put together by the Silicon Alley Insider: the AOL CEO was also on the list. I find that remarkable. Actually her Zuck remark was the most eye catching for me when I was reading the Fast Company profile on her. I am like, wow, I had not thought of it that way, but wow. Although I have heard of other respectable people in tech talk of Facebook as quite literally a country, like VC Brad Burnham of USV. I think Soraya and Brad are up to something, you are not.

Fast Company: Is Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg More Powerful Than the President? their power, at least in terms of reach of voice, is not so different.
Most Creative People event
Fast Company: Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn: Multiple e-dentity Disorder





Soraya Darabi - The Daily Beast
Amazing Women Rock - Soraya Darabi (Internet RockStar) Darabi recently made the cover of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in business, falling between the likes of Lada Gaga (No. 1) and Andrey Ternovskiy (No. 100), the teen founder of Chatroulette....... says she'd "give anything to go back to college and double major in computer science." "Women are simply not taught to think technology and programming are cool and worth exploring until it may be too late," she says. ...... So how does this savvy non-engineer get a leg up in the Internet world? By harnessing the power of her social network, of course. "It's all a game of online telephone, and I'm tapped into a network that probably hears the message first."
Soraya Darabi - mediabistro.com
NYT Social Media Wunderkind Moves To Marketing New App "Next Tuesday will be my last full-day at The New York Times...It must go without saying that I will miss the beautiful brainy faces of my work family so very much."
Soraya Darabi on Hot Potato

Video: The Moment Project - Drop.io product lead Soraya Darabi shares her favorite movie moment

Soraya Darabi and Drop.io Want to Supercharge Social Media She's earned a reputation among the digerati as someone who has intuitively understood where all this social-media stuff is going
Soraya Darabi | CrunchBase Profile
When Your Profession's Landscape Changes - Shifting Careers Blog
NextGen:Charity : a conference on new strategies in non-profit and ... Speakers .. Seth Godin .. Soraya Darabi

Watch live streaming video from internetweekny at livestream.com

Events / Goods 4 Good
soraya darabi (sorayadarabi) on Vowch "She knows everything about launching products and campaigns with the social web, specializing in Twitter, Facebook, and digital media. She's incredibly passionate about using the power of technology to change the world for the better, and has successfully harnessed this power to launch successful campaigns to feed millions of hungry people and provide clean water for countless communities. Extremely bright and articulate, she is the go-to person for social media strategy."
Foodspotting | About Active Advisor .... loves food, photography and emerging tech so naturally ..... In 2010 she shared a spot on The Daily Beast's "Women Who Rule the Web" list alongside Alexa.
CatchAFire
Internet Week party report: It never stops | The Social - CNET News This one was the work of The New York Times social media marketer Soraya Darabi and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who invited a few people to the outdoor bar at the Standard. Guests "checked in" to mobile networking site Foursquare, their friends dropped by, and soon the place had snowballed to such an extent that the guests decided to give the bar staff a break and relocate to the notably less highbrow Hogs & Heifers Saloon across the street..... some of the well-off dot-commers in attendance at the Standard, including billionaire Mark Cuban.
SorayaD's Music Profile – Users at Last.fm
2008 December « everydaytrash Soraya visited Brigitte in Malawi last November and took the photo above while accompanying her on a round of visits to G4G partners. On that day, in addition to pads of paper, the girls brought a couple jumbo bags of lollipops for the students at this school. What you see are a bunch of kids who have never had a lollipop. The reason they’re all looking in different directions is becaues they’re not quite sure what to do with them. I so wish I had video of this cross-cultural encounter!
SheFinds.com: Going Going Gone: Get The Last Vince Draped Dress Before It’s Sold Out Usually we don’t shop from the cover of business magazines–that us, until we spotted this drapey Vince dress ($285) on Soraya Darabi, social media guru, on the cover of Fast Company. We figured it’s perfect for work and nights out, and since we’re perpetual shoppers, had to ask her who made it. We tried to buy ourselves one, but it turns out, we weren’t the only ones coveting the dress–now, it’s almost sold out. Hurry, and get one of your own while it’s still available.

This Is Not Happening: King Dennis
Paul Graham, Brad Feld, Me, BBC
Me @ BBC
I Have Been Quoted In Fast Company