Learning by Blogging

Continuations: A Rational Internet Venture Valuations Bubble

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 23:30:29 -0500

Continuations: A Rational Internet Venture Valuations Bubble:

There is no doubt in my mind that venture valuations have become incredibly stretched. I have been thinking about why that is and what will come of it.

First off, here are the factors contributing to the stretching of valuations. It starts with the genuine potential for building hugely…

"House" and the Minimum Viable Diagnosis

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:30:00 -0600

Recently, while watching an episode of “House,” I realized that House’s unorthodox method is a pop culture manifestation of lean methodology. Lean Methodology, as espoused by Eric Reis, is a process of culling and refining ideas by determining product-market fit. A firm can determine product-market fit by a process of testing their product. Rather than incurring the high costs of developing a product and assuming that market demand exists for that product, lean methodology suggests minimal product development before deployment. Thus, lean firms keep costs low while assessing market demand for their product. This minimizes sunk costs and allows the firm to collect data on their target market. This data can be used to determine whether the firm should continue to refine their current idea or pivot and reiterate to find a better product-market fit. Some lean proponents have suggested that a lean approach allows firms to “fail fast” rather than wasting time and money on an unsuccessful idea.

The first iteration of a lean product is commonly referred to as a “minimum viable product.” It is designed to reflect the basic concept of the product without any “bells and whistles.” Each detail costs money to develop and build, and if the underlying concept has no product-market fit, that money would be wasted. Thus, the minimum viable product’s purpose is to generate data about the viability of the idea and the target market. I recently read an article from the founder of DropBox, who stated that the minimum viable product approach cannot be deployed where the product deals with “mission critical.”* The potentially disastrous results of a minimum viable product in a mission critical situation drives the drama and compelling story lines in “House.”

The plot of every “House” episode is the same. A patient comes in with a perplexing set of symptoms. Based on the available data, House and his team make a diagnosis and treatment plan. That treatment fails, but reveals a new symptom. The process is repeated, thus allowing the team to gather more and more information. As the patient approaches death (a process often accelerated by House’s incorrect treatments), House has an epiphany and the proper treatment is administered at the last second to avoid tragedy.

The initial diagnosis serves as a minimum viable diagnosis, designed to produce more information. If it fails, it will fail fast. Rather than spending time in medical books, wasting valuable time trying to determine the correct solution (a process which must yield the correct result to be successful, and offers no second chance if it’s wrong), House and his team iterate, assess, and reiterate to address multiple possible diagnoses. The tension, of course, derives from the fact that the lean approach, in this scenario carries significant costs of failure. In a typical startup, the cost of early failure is low. In dealing with a dying patient, the cost of early failure is potentially massive. Nonetheless, with the help of a team of writers, “House” has demonstrated the potential of the lean methodology in non-traditional contexts.

* His company deals with storage of potentially important documents and files, thus a minimum viable product that lacks perfect functionality may expose customers to a significant loss. DropBox’s minimum viable product was not a product at all. He produced a video that explained the concept and solicited reactions from potential early adopters, such as VCs and other web-native influencers. The data was valuable despite the lack of “user experience” that is so crucial to web companies.

Coolest way to find investors?

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:10:37 -0600

Coolest way to find investors?

Thoughts on the Joe Paterno Scandal

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:20:00 -0600

Since the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke on Saturday morning, the media has presented a veritable cornucopia of mock outrage and indignation while pandering for clicks on their websites. How do I know it’s “mock” outrage and indignation? Well, the name “Jerry Sandusky” and the phrase “damage to the children” have been used almost exclusively to preface articles about Joe Paterno, who occupies only a miniscule role in the sordid, disgusting affair. Sandusky was a pervert who perpetrated harmful and evil acts upon children who trusted him. He caused the most stomach churning sports story that I have ever witnessed, and he has been used almost exclusively as a contextualizing detail in the media witch hunt of Joe Paterno. Through a dogged insistence to redirect the conversation towards its most prominent figure, the media has changed the narrative from a heinous scandal into a debate about the morality and legacy of Joe Paterno. While I disagree with the diversion, allow me to give my thoughts on modern college football, Paterno’s culpability, and why I think the inclusion of Paterno into the story has refocused the discussion on a marginal detail.

Before I continue, I feel the necessity to clarify my thoughts. The media has somehow conflated support for Paterno with dismissal of the victims’ harm (hence the line around the block of normally audacious and controversial media members rehashing the same narrative in the same way). I believe that Paterno played a role in the scandal. I believe his role was marginal. I believe that he failed in his ethical and moral duty when he stopped pursuing the story and failed to bring the matter to the attention of the police. I believe that he had to be fired at the end of the year as part of a complete slash and burn of the Penn State athletic department. I believe that his immediate dismissal was defensible, but not necessary. I believe that his legacy remains more positive than negative. Finally, I believe that anyone expressing unadulterated outrage towards Joe Paterno OR the board of trustees that chose to end his long tenure as the head football coach has taken an unnecessarily simplistic view of the events.

Like it or not, since last night’s announcement of Paterno’s immediate termination, Paterno is now a topic independent of the scandal that forced his ignominious exit. The story of Joe Paterno’s tenure casts an upsetting light on the nature of coaching in modern college football. This article from the Baltimore Sun explains that as Paterno’s career progressed, he lost sight of the noble goals of college athletics. In his younger days, Paterno edified the notion of well-rounded student athletes. During the end of his tenure, he stopped aspiring to produce admirable young men and started producing football machines at all costs. While it’s appealing to attribute his transformation solely to changing personal beliefs and standards, I believe that Paterno’s metamorphosis reflects changing values within the college football landscape. Winning has always been a major priority in college athletics, but in the money-laden BCS era, winning is the only priority. Enormous coaching salaries and the twenty-four hour news cycles have dramatically sped up the time table for coaches to win. They no longer have time to mold the leaders of tomorrow. It might prevent them from molding the Cleveland Brown’s starting strong safety of tomorrow.

In the early 2000s, Paterno experienced the shift first hand. Penn State stunk, and Paterno’s intangible value to the community was losing importance when compared to his paltry win totals. Paterno was faced with a choice: adapt or perish. He adapted. He became a modern football coach. He scoffed at disciplinary issues within his program, turned a blind eye to the “higher mission,” and started winning football games. The narrow, laser-like focus on football necessary to succeed in the modern college game does not allow a coach to deal with administrative matters or mentor athletes. Football becomes two full-time jobs (coaching and recruiting), so any and all distractions are delegated or ignored.

In the end, Paterno delegated his responsibility poorly and thoughtlessly, and it cost him his job. While, hopefully, we will never have a chance to test this hypothesis, I’m not sure that every other head coach around the country would have acted differently in the same circumstances. Social responsibility and ethical decision-making are not highly sought-after traits in a modern football coach. The ability to ignore or delegate every non-football issue, however, permeates the coaching fraternity. This separation of personhood from coach-hood, a product of the ever-growing emphasis on on-field virtues at the expense of off-field ones, gives me the ominous impression that this scandal could have occurred at several programs.

In order to assess the impact of the scandal on his legacy, it’s important to step back and look at his role in the scandal. While he has become the focal point of the media coverage, shockingly supplanting Jerry Sandusky at the center of the controversy, Paterno did not rape any little boys. Sandusky remains responsible for the harm to the boy in the shower and his other victims. Paterno’s major error was passing the story along to the AD and the head of campus police, and then moving on to his job. If Curley had done his job by investigating and reporting the incident to the proper authorities, Paterno would never have been embroiled in this mess. Critics claim that Joe Pa, as a result of his influence, must have conspired with Curley to effectuate the cover up, but that conclusion is simply not supported by the available facts. Paterno failed to grasp the magnitude and gravity of the situation and simply followed the chain of command rather than taking the extraordinary action demanded by the situation. He did the bare minimum in a situation where more was required, but he did do the minimum, which is more than you can say about any other participant in this story.

To borrow terminology from tort law, Paterno was an actual cause, but not the proximate cause of Sandusky’s extended jaunt from justice. Paterno’s actions were in a long chain of causation that allowed Sandusky to walk free, but the actions of subsequent parties, namely Curley, Spanier, and Shultz were the proximate cause of injuries caused after Paterno reported the charges to Curley. Proximate causation determines whether a person’s role in a tort should serve as a basis for liability. The chain of proximate causation is broken if subsequent injuries are caused as a result of intentional conduct by another bad actor. Paterno cannot, and to the media’s credit, has not been blamed for Sandusky’s actions prior to 2002. Thus, his culpability relates solely to the children placed in harm’s way after Sandusky was exposed and before he was arrested and charged. His failure to report Sandusky to the police caused a brief delay in the process of effectuating justice. He reported to Curley, who was tasked with investigating the allegations and reporting them to the police. Paterno was responsible for any of Sandusky’s acts that took place between the time he discovered the transgressions and the time the athletic department should have reported Sandusky to the police. Given the obvious nature of the charges and the eye-witness account, I would estimate the lag in justice attributable to Joe Paterno to be about two days. After that, the blame lies solely with Curley and Shultz who engaged in a deliberate cover-up, thus breaking the chain of proximate causation arising from Joe Paterno’s inaction.

The argument exists that Paterno turned a willfully blind eye towards the cover up for ten years. While that may be partially true, Paterno occupied a high profile job that demanded 100% of his attention. Again, Paterno was certainly guilty of a failure of perspective, but my guess is that he rarely even thought about the scandal once he reported it to Curley. He was fighting for his job and immersing himself in his football team, as is necessary for success in the modern world of college football. He treated this incident like he treated all non-football matters: he did not allow it to distract him from his job. He should have realized the exceptional nature of this situation and acted appropriately, but I think his failure to do so stems from mere negligent, rather than willful, blindness.

Paterno acted inappropriately to the magnitude of the situation, but the media has refocused the scandal so squarely on him so persistently that he has become a scapegoat. The depth of the depravity in the story elicits a guttural reaction from even the most hardened, unemotional sports fan, and the level of outrage that has followed the story has been appropriate. Somewhere along the way, though, the outrage spilled over and infected Paterno disproportionately to his role in the story. Cynically, I believe that the sports media saw an opportunity to generate clicks by concocting headlines about Paterno’s role in the scandal. In reality, Paterno played a marginal role in the story, and should have been a footnote in articles about how Sandusky gained access to dozens of children and the impact and prevalence of sexual molestation in our society. Instead seizing the opportunity to create important pieces of investigative journalism, the media’s outrage boiled over and, rightly or wrongly, covered every individual implicated in the scandal. Paterno has been vilified as if he was openly sanctioning Sandusky’s activities or, in some cases, raping the children, himself.

This story has always been about protecting children and raising awareness about sexual abuse, but somewhere along the way, the media felt compelled to force a square peg into a round hole by injecting Paterno into the heart of that narrative. Strangely, the media felt no such compulsion with regard to Mike McQueary, the graduate assistant who witnessed Sandusky performing a sex act on a pre-teen. Like Paterno, he simply reported up the chain of command, and abandoned his role in the story as soon as he had fulfilled his minimum legal obligation. Paterno’s failure, however, was exaggerated to the point of absurdity, and the pressure created by the media ultimately led to his immediate dismissal. The disparate treatment of Paterno and McQueary, who failed as much or more than Paterno in his ethical duties, demonstrates that Paterno’s profile drove the media onslaught more than his actual culpability.

My opinion that Paterno was scapegoated does not affect my opinion of the students rioting at Penn State last night. Their lack of perspective was startling, even compared to the lack of perspective exhibited by the sports media in the last five days. Paterno did (or in this case, didn’t do) enough to get fired from any university in the country. While his immediate dismissal was catalyzed by a misguided media frenzy, it was not wrong or unjustifiable. The error lies in singling out Paterno for dismissal, not the policy to dismiss him. I believe that every person associated with the scandal should have been fired as soon as the game ended last Saturday. The school should have elected to either forfeit the remaining games or donate all proceeds to a child abuse awareness foundation. The problem was larger than Penn State football, and those students that put Paterno’s role with the football program ahead of the impact of the scandal on victims and the Penn State student community should be ashamed of themselves.

I am more sympathetic, however, to the students that went to Paterno’s house last night to express their support and appreciation. While Paterno is leaving under the black cloud of unfathomable scandal, he should be remembered for his positive contributions at least as much as his small role in the disgusting Sandusky saga. Paterno may have sunk into the sludge of modern, football-centric coaching, but for the majority of his career, he really did believe in mentoring young men and producing well-rounded, productive members of society. He believed in the dual mission of college athletics. As my roommate from college would say, “he rooted for the laundry, not the name on the back.” He cared about Penn State in a way that most current college football coaches couldn’t imagine. He didn’t chase money. He remained loyal to Penn State and has espoused the virtues of that institution for 50 years. He won more games than any other coach in college football history, and created one of the greatest programs in the country. Paterno should not be excused from his role in the Sandusky scandal, but it absolutely should not define his legacy.

Getting "Technical"

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:54:00 -0500

I recently read a blog post by Fred Wilson entitled “Program or Be Programmed” that suggested that in today’s world of rapid technological innovation, we should educate ourselves on the framework underlying the web. In his post, he quoted Douglas Rushkoff, a proponent of technological education:

When human beings acquired language, we learned not just how to listen but how to speak. When we gained literacy, we learned not just how to read but how to write. And as we move into an increasingly digital reality, we must learn not just how to use programs but how to make them. In the emerging, highly programmed landscape ahead, you will either create the software or you will be the software. It’s really that simple: Program, or be programmed.

I fall into the group of technological illiterates. Although I consider myself fairly informed about the web ecosystem and emerging information technologies, I have never taken a programming course and have no knowledge of how to “hack” or “code.” As you can imagine, Wilson and Rushkoff’s message startled me as someone seeking to begin a career in the tech startup sphere.

Within his blog post, Wilson discussed recent USV investment Codecademy.com. Codecademy provides a series of interactive, educational exercises for computer illiterates. I didn’t have any other plans (shocker), so I figured that I would give it a shot. Before I give my synopsis of my experience using the site, I cannot overemphasize my lack of familiarity with coding and programming. I almost irreparably ruined this very blog trying to insert some code to track reader activity…on that occasion, Google Analytics provided detailed instructions on how to insert the code, and I still managed to temporarily disable Disqus comments and my ability to create new posts. So yeah, I was not technically literate by any stretch of the imagination.

Codecademy currently has three lessons. The first is a general introduction to programming that establishes some key vocabulary and concepts that exist within all programming languages. The second lesson was created by Albert Wenger, a venture partner at USV, and it focuses on functions in JavaScript. The final lesson serves as a broader introduction to JavaScript. It took me about a day and a half of intermittent work to complete all three lessons, so the time commitment was certainly manageable.

If total mastery of coding is literacy, the lessons on Codecademy will teach you the alphabet and how to spell a couple three letter words. I can now tell you what a “string” is and how to define a variable. I can even write little smidgens of JavaScript code. The best thing about Codecademy is that it’s actually fun in a completely nerdy way. The site creates a tangible sense of accomplishment when you finish an exercise, and it’s frustrating as hell to get stuck on a piece of code. Like any good product, Codecademy created instant engagement. That’s no mean feat for a product that essentially transcribes a 100-level college course onto the web.

If I had a complaint, it’s that lessons are short and lack opportunities to repeat and refine recently learned skills. It’s tough to really learn how to use new skills without an opportunity to experiment with their function. To provide the ideal learning environment, I would include practice questions at the end of each lesson. These questions could range in difficulty and integrate several sub-lessons. In the spirit of math homework with answers in the back of the book, I would provide links to correct solutions; a proof reading function to highlight flaws in code; and a “Provide Next Line” function for students that are stuck, but not hopeless. I also think it would be cool if the site provided a “freestyle” terminal to just experiment with new skills.

Like learning the alphabet in order to eventually read (or even write) a novel, the early lessons on Codecademy provide little context. Hopefully as the lessons become more sophisticated, I will learn some of the context necessary to become more “technical.” Until then, I’m just enjoying the ride on a cool new educational web service, and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in technology and a little spare time.

Manifesto

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:00:00 -0500

Note: I wrote this post as a sort-of manifesto for myself rather than as a blog post for my readers (all zero of them). I have spent a lot of time thinking about my career, and in order to organize my thoughts, I wanted to put them into writing. I figured, why not do that on my blog where I could potentially receive feedback? This post is probably the most intimate articulation of my frustration with my employment situation.

My depressing, and seemingly never-ending unemployment has had one benefit: I have had an inordinate amount of time to ponder and plan for my career. I have applied for jobs in several sectors, and I would love to work directly for a startup investment fund or early stage company. My background, however, seems to dictate that I will ultimately land in the legal world. My interest in entrepreneurship dictates that I will build my legal practice around the startup world. Assuming that I will end up working in the legal sphere, and assuming (more precariously) that my legal career will revolve around entrepreneurs and venture capital investors, I have developed a plan that will allow me to build a strong, meaningful, and sustainable legal practice. Ben Horowitz’s post yesterday about lead bullets and silver bullets immediately inspired me to organize my plans in a completely new framework.

Lead Bullets

Lead bullets are practically, rather than strategically, focused, substantive solutions to problems. Lead bullets don’t involve a change in direction or strategy or marketing; they are simply refinements and improvements to the substantive aspects of a product.

Formal Education

I have explored the possibility of attending Duke’s Law and Entrepreneurship LLM program next year. Obviously, I would prefer to find a great job and begin substantively building my career, rather than going back to school. Given the current legal job market, however, that opportunity may not arise within a reasonable amount of time, and having another high-level credential can only help me in my search to find an entry point for my career. If I cannot find a job during the next few months, I am prepared to detour to Duke to learn skills necessary to effectively serve the needs of entrepreneurial clients. The narrow focus of the Duke program will allow me to focus specifically on learning relevant skills for my ideal future legal practice.

Informal Education and On the Job Training

My “product” is my competency to perform legal work, and in order to be successful, I will build the skills and knowledge necessary to provide high quality legal services to entrepreneurial clients. A law firm with a large and diverse corporate practice would offer the ideal environment to build the crucial core competencies. More specifically, I hope to do work in the following areas early in my legal career:

Securities, specifically focused on private placements and regulatory compliance
Mergers and Acquisitions, specifically building drafting, due diligence, and negotiation skills
Fund formation, specifically experience forming the general and limited partnerships that form the structural base of venture capital funds
General entity formation, to advise very early-stage entrepreneurs on choice of entity and initial formation issues

Building technical legal skills, however, will not constitute my entire training for a successful career. Engagement with the underlying industry is crucial to establishing a successful entrepreneurial legal practice. During the past several years, I have read blogs and articles about the tech startup and investment communities. By spending time each day reading and learning about the startup community, I will be able to offer guidance to early stage clients.

Work, Hard Work

Ultimate success, regardless of the environment, will depend upon my willingness to work my ass off and devote myself to building the necessary skills. I am more prepared to work hard than I have been at any other point in my life. I have never experienced failure of the magnitude of my persistent unemployment. This lack of failure has occasionally led to complacency and underachievement. The experience of begging and pleading for an chance to prove myself has taught me that having the opportunity to work hard each day is a privilege rather than a burden. I will never take that opportunity for granted again. Hard work is the ultimate lead bullet, and it will serve as the foundation for my career.

Silver Bullets

Silver bullets, for the purpose of this discussion, are strategic, rather than practical, ways to add value for clients and employers. These plans revolve largely around business development, marketing, and “product” differentiation. These solutions are designed to add value outside of the actual provision of traditional legal services.

Newsletter for Clients/ Fellow Attorneys

The venture capital industry, particularly in the tech sector, have committed to transparency through an active community of influential bloggers. These bloggers include prominent venture capitalists who have chosen to share critical aspects of their investment process and strategies. These blogs give critical and valuable insight into the investment process and current trends in the tech investing world. A newsletter that consolidates the most insightful blog posts and news items each day would be a useful reference for both attorneys working within the entrepreneurial community and entrepreneurs seeking to build investment-worthy products. Providing that resource will set me apart from other attorneys working in this sphere and create value outside the narrow confines of providing legal services.

Bring IdeaBounce to Birmingham

While I owned Wash U Wash, I had the opportunity to work with the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Each month, they hosted events (called IdeaBounce) in which aspiring entrepreneurs could pitch their companies in front of a panel of “experts.” Over time, this has evolved into a web service which allows entrepreneurs to “pitch” their ideas via a short paragraph and solicit help building their product. The service allows others to contact the entrepreneurs with feedback and suggestions. The ability to create an online database of entrepreneurs in the area and more visible public “IdeaBounces” could be a tremendous resource for sourcing potential entrepreneurial clients and integrating the firm into the local startup ecosystem.

Volunteer at Innovation Depot

Birmingham’s successful startup incubator, Innovation Depot, provides access to some of the most promising early stage ventures in the area. By performing pro bono legal work for these companies, I will develop relationships that could ultimately lead to paid legal work and valuable connections with local entrepreneurs. Additionally, it would be a productive and rewarding experience to foster the growth of great local companies that could improve the local economy.

Creating a Network for Entrepreneurial Clients

Several early stage VC firms, First Round Capital and True Ventures, have added value for their portfolio companies by integrating them into collaborative networks with their other portfolio companies. For instance, First Round hosts founder roundtables, created an equity exchange program to allow for diversification, and creates mailing lists that allow founders to seek input from other founders. The ability to create resources and facilitate valuable communications between clients would differentiate a law firm from its competitors in the emerging companies industry.

By combining lead bullets (improvements to substantive legal services) and silver bullets (extra-legal, value creating activities), I hope to forge a successful legal career. There are hundreds of lawyers in every market that have the lead bullets to be valuable representatives for early stage companies. The traditional nature of the legal industry, especially in the South, however has led to a legal market that does not cater to the unique needs of startup companies. I hope to offer service in excess of traditional billable-hours-only legal services. Now I just need to find an entry point…

"Get up early, stay late, work hard, speak the truth, learn your craft, be nice to people. Learn,..."

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:47:12 -0500

“Get up early, stay late, work hard, speak the truth, learn your craft, be nice to people. Learn, learn, learn.”

- From user JLM on avc.com

Foreign Owners Seek to Change Rules of the Game

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:20:00 -0500

Richard Bevan, head honcho of the League Manager’s Association, has revealed this week that several foreign owners in the Premiership oppose the traditional promotion/ relegation system.

“If you take, particularly, American owners, without doubt there have been a number of them looking at possibly having more of a franchise situation. That would mean no promotion or relegation. That would obviously not be good news for English football.”

Richard Bevan

Having spent the majority of my life rooting for American sports teams, I understand why American owners flinch at the prospect that their club will sink to the Championship, rather than languishing profitably at the foot of the Premiership table. If you buy an NBA team that underperforms, then at the end of the day, regardless of its success, you still own an NBA franchise. American sports owners buy franchises for a variety of reasons including the psychic benefits of owning a sports team, the financial benefits of owning a professional sports team, and surprisingly rarely, the opportunity to achieve on-field success. The system in the US rewards, or at least tacitly allows, bad owners to plunder their franchises for personal and financial benefit without penalty. As a result, poorly managed franchises remain in a state of perpetual profitability… and competitive mediocrity.

In England, however, the relegation/ promotion system creates a meritocracy that rewards overachievers in lower divisions and punishes underachievers. Under the promotion and relegation regime, the bottom three teams in each league are replaced by the top three teams from the division below. The revenue differences between leagues serves as a huge incentive for owners to invest in the success of their club. Thus, the English FA punishes owners that refuse to commit to the success of their club.

I support Mr. Bevan’s opposition to changing the traditional promotion and relegation system for two major reasons.

The Clippers don’t have a Premiership analogue. Let’s keep it that way.

Donald Sterling, the owner of the Clippers, serves as a beacon for all other potential owners that value franchise ownership solely for the inherent psychic benefits. He has presided over a perennially mediocre franchise that sacrifices a competitive team for a healthy bottom line. Sports teams are not prudent investments for rational consumers. Mark Cuban declared that he considers the Mavericks a “consumption good” rather than an “investment.” It would be crazy to suggest that all owners should ignore the investment characteristics of their franchises like Cuban, but it seems eminently reasonable to suggest that they should also be required to also pursue competitive success. The promotion and relegation system creates a strong correlation between protecting investment value and fielding a competitive team, thus incentivizing success much more successfully than American sports leagues.

Club owners invested in the clubs under the current regime. They paid for clubs that might be relegated, not perpetual Premiership teams.

The current owners knew the rules when they decided to invest in their clubs. The fact that the environment is not conducive to eternally high valuations of their assets does not validate their current argument. In response to their concerns, I only have one thought: caveat emptor. The purchase prices of Premiership clubs presumably incorporate the risk that the club will suffer the ignominy of relegation. The high valuations of clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United reflect not only the value of their tangible assets and current revenue streams, but also the small likelihood that they clubs will suffer catastrophic short-term failure and subsequent relegation. A fundamental change in the “rules of the game” would allow owners to invest at a level that incorporates the risk of relegation and sell at a risk free price. That sounds like nothing more than an attempt to create an arbitrage opportunity through systematic collusion among owners. That type of self-serving behavior cannot be condoned or sanctioned by the FA.

The English promotion and relegation system has created an environment that discourages the type of lazy ownership that plagues several major sports franchises in the US. Good ownership of a sports team requires both a financial commitment and a commitment to competitive success, and any rule that reinforces that two-pronged mandate should be commended rather than abolished.

Have you ever ordered something online and wished that you could...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:01:26 -0500

Have you ever ordered something online and wished that you could just print it out and use it? Yeah, well that’s a thing now.

A New Way to Interview

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:35:00 -0500

Yesterday, I applied for a job. I also applied for a job on Monday. And one on Friday. And two last Thursday. Yesterday’s experience, however, differed dramatically from other job applications. Instead of simply requesting a static cover letter and resume bundle, the company requested that all applicants record themselves answering two interview questions on a new website called www.taketheinterview.com. Yesterday was my first experience using Take the Interview, and I thought I’d post some thoughts on the experience and the site, in general.

Pros:

The tutorial video when you log onto the site for the first time gives good ideas about how and where to set up your computer to get the most professional recording possible.
The website is super easy to navigate and use, providing step by step instructions for each stage in the interview process. I can’t imagine that anyone could get to the site and not be able to create a video recording.
There is a practice question that the interviewee can answer as many times as they want. This may not seem like a big deal, but it definitely takes some practice to acclimate yourself to the experience. Without the ability to retake the practice question, I probably never would have attempted the actual interview recording.
The software allows interviewers to also post a question requiring a written response, which could offer insights not found in traditional one-on-one, in-person interviews.
The best, and most useful feature of the site for me going forward, is the mock interview feature. Taketheinterview.com has compiled question banks for multiple types of interviews (legal, consulting, finance, etc.), and users can record themselves answering random questions from these question banks. The potential for self-critique and ultimately improved interview performance in both video and live interviews is a huge plus for someone, like myself, on the job hunt.

Cons/ Challenges:

This experience differs tremendously from sitting down across a desk from someone and having a conversation. My interview really highlighted how much information I take from non-verbal cues during a traditional interview, and not having a conversational partner makes it tough to get into a comfortable speaking rhythm.
While you answer the questions, you can see yourself on screen. Interviews are nerve-wracking enough without wondering if you look goofy when you speak. This is where having the unlimited practice questions was helpful, because I eventually acclimated to seeing myself on screen.
I knew the questions before I took the interview. This posed a much bigger problem than I thought it would. When the interviewer originally posted the job, I jotted some thoughts and went to the site to do the interview. My first experience trying to answer the questions (in the practice question space) went horribly. I sounded rehearsed, disingenuous, and very self-conscious. I ultimately decided to delete my notes and spend some time just thinking about the interview questions. I thought of my answers for brief periods each day during the following week, and by the time I went back to take the interview, I was able to answer coherently and (somewhat) articulately without sounding like I was reading a soap opera script. The desire to work off of notes, however, came from…
The permanent nature of a video interview adds pressure to create a polished product. In a traditional interview, the discussion occurs in the flow of conversation. In a conversation, people say “uh” and “um” from time to time, and it does not leave a lasting impression. On film, however, each verbal stall is memorialized in a permanent recording that can be viewed again to glean information about the interviewee’s rhetorical prowess. I struggled to speak naturally, knowing that each “uh” would be forever memorialized. Again, the unlimited practice questions were the solution to this problem, but the hyper-awareness of each verbal miscue never totally disappeared.

Overall, I had a positive experience with the site, but it definitely required time to become comfortable with the medium. From an employer’s perspective, I would expect this type of interview to eventually replace first round screening interviews and resume collections. The preponderance of my interview experience is in the legal sphere, where law firms fly lawyers around the country to conduct on-campus screening interviews. This costs the firm airfare, lodging, and hours of attorney time to get a fleeting initial impression of candidates. That same process can be replicated through taketheinterview.com at a fraction of the monetary and opportunity costs.

Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address in 2005

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:11:00 -0500

Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address in 2005

A little response goes a long way...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:33:00 -0500

I vividly remember responding to an e-mail from Marcia, a parent of a prospective Wash U Wash customer. I called her at the phone number provided in the e-mail, and spoke to her about our service. We spoke for about 30 minutes about our service and Wash U, in general. I remember that conversation, because I was speaking to her during my family vacation at the beach… on my 21st birthday.

While Zach and I owned Wash U Wash, we learned the value of providing personal and timely responses to customer questions and concerns. During the summers, we fielded 10-15 e-mails per week from prospective incoming freshman customers (and their parents, like Marcia, who purchased the service for her daughter, by the way). We learned that responding quickly to those e-mails engendered good will, and ultimately yielded more subscriptions to our service.

During the past several months, I have been desperately searching for a job. As part of that search, I have sought advice from hundreds of lawyers, and recently several venture capitalists. The response rate hovers around 60%. For months, I justified the non-responses by telling myself that the lawyers were barraged by so many e-mails that many were passed over, unread, and unreplied. I have recently changed my mind.

My latest round of e-mails went out to roughly ten attorneys and two venture capitalists, Jason Mendelson of Foundry Group and Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures. I received return e-mails from several attorneys (I’d guess around 60%, shockingly) and both VCs. That’s right, 100%.

I thoroughly appreciate the attorneys who responded. I know that they are busy and that I offer no value to them at this point. That point remains equally, and especially, true for the VC’s. Fred Wilson’s blog receives hundreds of thousands of views per month, and he is an important figure in the VC world. He responded. Jason Mendelson just published a book, and was on the road promoting it when he received my e-mail. He responded, too. Furthermore, I received a greater percentage of responses from attorneys at Cooley, the top rated venture capital law firm in the country, than attorneys in Birmingham.

The VCs aren’t successful by accident. Neither are the attorneys at Cooley. Their success is built on a plethora of factors. One of those factors is their understanding that taking a few minutes to respond to a stranger engenders good will and positive perceptions. If I ever have an opportunity to help Mr. Wilson or Mr. Mendelson, I will do it in a heartbeat. I can’t say the same for the attorneys in Birmingham that were too busy to take a minute and shoot me an e-mail.

I may never reach a point in my career where I can offer value to these people, but you can be sure that I am not the only one who has benefitted from their responsiveness. In the aggregate, they are creating networks that may someday offer value. If you are not making the effort to respond to e-mails, you risk alienating a potential network of people that may offer value in the future. It’s no coincidence that the lawyers at Cooley and the VCs occupy a lofty perch at the top of the VC industry.

Bonus note: The Funded has a review of Shasta Ventures that supports this theory. Shasta Ventures will bolster their reputation by taking the time to be responsive to their potential investments.

Blogging Again...Again

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:05:56 -0600

I began this blog as a way to demonstrate my writing skills and demonstrated interests to employers. My increased web presence, however, has not made me a hot commodity among legal and/or other employers. Consequently, the newest iteration of my blog will focus on more personal, non-professional aspects of my life.

Wash U Law SBA Blog: A Message from your SBA Secretary of Media

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:26:30 -0500

Wash U Law SBA Blog: A Message from your SBA Secretary of Media:

The new SBA blog is up and running. For the zero of you regular readers, check it out.

wulawsba:

Hello fellow Wash U Law students. As some of you are aware, SBA has begun an aggressive initiative to connect with you over the internet. Facebook, twitter, and this blog are all aimed at giving you greater access to the SBA, and giving us a greater access to you.

Why, you ask? Because we crave…

Equity Dilution by Fred Wilson

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:02:26 -0500

Equity Dilution by Fred Wilson:

Discussion of the equity dilution process that occurs as a natural corollary to the fundraising and employee recruitment activities of an early stage company.

Sally is A… Shwayze Sally is a Hippie girl one day Sally...

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 21:43:45 -0500

Sally is A…

Shwayze

Sally is a Hippie girl one day
Sally is a Rock chick the next
Sally is a Hiphop Baby then a drip pop lady
But there’s one thing Sally says everyday, its
She loves me, She loves me just the way I am (yeah)
She loves me, She loves me just the way I am
(Hey, hey, hey)

I got a girl named Sally, she like to keep it trendy
One day its hippy chic, next day its gucci fendi
She got a gold chain, like it was 1980
She buys 3 magazines a week, just to see who I’m datin’
I been to Paris, London, & still.. i come back to Sally
Cuz’ I know how she feels

Sally is a Hippie girl one day
Sally is a Rock chick the next
Sally is a Hiphop Baby then a drip pop lady
But there’s one thing Sally says everyday, its
She loves me, She loves me just the way I am
She loves me, She loves me just the way I am
(Just the way I am)

I got a girly girl, but she’s a tomboy
She like to go nuts, my little almond joy
I try to make her blush, but she’s just way too tough
Yeah she’s so emo with her makeup and her haircut
She’s a rich girl but she could careless; American Apparel
With her dads American Express. She’s a college girl

Lettin’ lose at night In a mini skirt, sippin’ goose and sprite
Shes all around the world, she ain’t your average girl
And everytime I leave, I’m comin’ back to her

Sally is a Hippie girl one day
Sally is a Rock chick the next
Sally is a Hiphop Baby then a drip pop lady
But there’s one thing Sally says everyday & its
She loves me, She loves me just the way i am
She loves me, She loves me just the way i am
(Just the way I am)

To all my Sally’s out there, put your hearts in the air
tell me where you wanna go and i take you there
i take you there, girl i take you there i take you there
To all my Sally’s out there, put your hearts in the air
tell me where you wanna go and i take you there
i take you there, girl i take you there i take you there

Sally is a Hippie girl one day
Sally is a Rock chick the next
Sally is a Hiphop Baby then a drip pop lady
But there’s one thing Sally says everyday & its
She loves me, She loves me just the way i am
She loves me, She loves me just the way i am
(Just the way i am)

Great mash-up of “The Scientist” by Coldplay and...

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:55:28 -0500

Great mash-up of “The Scientist” by Coldplay and “Forever” by Drake, Lil’ Wayne, Kanye, Eminem.

Tumblr Lead Developer Steps Down (UPDATE)

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:35:07 -0500

Tumblr Lead Developer Steps Down (UPDATE):

Two days ago, I posted the resignation note of Marco Arment, former lead developer at Tumblr. Today, the New York Times brings news that Arment has not only landed on his feet, but has actually launched his own startup, Instapaper. Instapaper allows users to save articles from their web browsers and access them later on other computers, phones, or iPads. The project has been funded entirely with its own revenues, thus, Arment actually owns 100% of the company. Instapaper allows users to save articles from their web browsers and access them later on other computers, phones, or iPads, and already boasts 800,000 users. Not a bad post-resignation plan, if you ask me.

“California Riots” by Jamey Johnson. Well I pulled...

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:09:20 -0500

“California Riots” by Jamey Johnson.

Well I pulled off the Gravel, with my California dreams. Leaving everything I ever loved behind. Well I left Alabama, but it
never once left me. And it’s still the only refuge in my mind.

Where you gonna be when half of California riots, where you gonna run to when the lights go out. Well I won’t be hangin’ out
in California, I won’t try it. Buddy I’ll be up and headed south.

All the women here look perfect, and it hardly ever rains, and for some folks here I’m sure it’s paradise. Well I’ll dabble
with the fortune, rub elbows with the fame. But I’ll be damned if this is where I’m gonna die.

Hey where you gonna be when half of California riots, where you gonna run to when the lights go out. Well I won’t be hangin’
out in California, I won’t try it. Buddy I’ll be up and headed south.

I never thought I’d get to see the inside of a limousine or a beauty shop on south Rodeo Drive. Or being sucked into a world
where things are seldom what they seem, makes you wonder how you’ll make it out alive.

Yeah where you gonna be when half of California riots, where you gonna run to when the lights go out. Well I won’t be
hangin’ out in California, I won’t try it. Buddy I’ll be up and headed south.

Oh buddy I’ll be up and headed south.

Zuckerberg Makes Huge Gift to Benefit NJ Public Education

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:51:00 -0500

Zuckerberg Makes Huge Gift to Benefit NJ Public Education:

Mark Zuckerberg made a $100,000,000.00 donation to Newark public schools today. In honor of this incredibly generous philanthropic act, I’ll take the day off from criticizing America’s foremost young billionaire asshole. That means I won’t talk about his refusal to collaborate with his fellow tech entrepreneurs in the startup community, his tendency to steal the best new ideas and incorporate them into Facebook (again, rather than collaborating), or the fact that he generally seems like a scumbag. I mean, even Hollywood, a town filled to the brim with scumbags has recognized the sinister undertones of his meteoric rise…whoops, got a little carried away. To quote Cosmo Kramer, “startinggggg….NOW!”

On a more serious note, this contribution represents a small step in the right direction in addressing one of the true plagues of American society, a failing public education system. Zuckerberg will be rightfully recognized by Oprah for the extraordinary donation, and hopefully this story will generate some much needed momentum for the cause of American public education. Despite his obvious foibles, Zuckerberg should be applauded for contributing to a cause that legitimately deserves more attention. This is, by no means, a political blog, but the issue of the public education deserves a hell of a lot more attention than the majority of the raging political debates that populate the front pages of newspapers and teaser portions of nightly news broadcasts. Check out this piece and this trailer for “Waiting for Superman,” a new documentary from the director of “An Inconvenient Truth” about the shortcomings of the current public education system. Hopefully this movie will bring this issue to the forefront of the national consciousness where it deserves to be.