Matt's comments

Glad you find it helpful. There's a notion in the venture capital world that to get virality, you have to appeal to at least one of the seven deadly sins. That of course is meant tongue-in-cheek, but there's a lot of truth to it. Another reason to be glad that more venture capital is moving away from media and consumer plays and towards healthcare and greentech.
on How to manufacture game addiction

Gary--another good one to awaken teen boys to the corporate machines that shape their tastes is the Frontline documentary "Merchants of Cool." I know of one kid who marched to his bedroom after watching it and threw out all of his CDs. May need a bit of editing (esp the MTV Spring Break scenes), but I can't recommend it highly enough.
on How to manufacture game addiction

At your service.
on Battery Ventures raises $750 million

Dave, online shopping is not "outperforming" brick and mortar at all. It is growing faster, which is inevitable given that it's a brand new market, but it's still only 5% of retail sales, compared to 95% in-store. That is not outperforming.
on Milo, the anti-Amazon, spurns online shopping

I agree re: Holidays--shopping then is about checking names off the list. If I need to get something for some more immediate, acute need, though, I'd much rather know the best price locally.
on Milo, the anti-Amazon, spurns online shopping

Thanks Eilif. Great State of the Virtual Worlds Address last week.
on Virtual worlds are not dead; they're waiting

Thanks Leonard. I'm looking forward to the day I don't have to try out scary test software to see this stuff.
on Virtual worlds are not dead; they're waiting

Thanks Lorenzo. Would be interesting to see how Liquid Scenarios values the mid-stage greentech crop.
on Mid-stage cleantech braces for bloodbath

Shai, thanks for the clarification. You're right, my wording wasn't vague enough to whitewash the fuzzy math.
on Ja-ching: Telefonica buys Jajah for $207M

Agree. One possible read: Get-rich-quick bankers generate pro-regulation sentiment that yields all-too-blunt legislation.
on New tax legislation could push VCs to China

Thanks Gail. I'll definitely follow up. What's the latency like? Is a partnership with MusicianLink (you do software, they do hardware) possible?
on You are now free to rock, online

Update: Scott Austin at WSJ refines these numbers, and graphs the time to liquidity since 1999: http://blogs.wsj....
on Ancestry.com: oldest VC-backed IPO in '09

Michael, That figure is based on conversations with VCs. Let me track down the actual numbers. I've got some of them here, but need to do a bit more research: http://vator.tv/n...
on Congress considering Sarbox relief for SMBs

Twitter Lists is a solution to a problem already solved by TweetDeck--but it IS a bit ridiculous that you have to download a third-party app to make Twitter useful. However, I don't think lists will be as useful as search--I've found searching for keywords MUCH more useful than the feeds from people I subscribe to. By keeping open a search column for certain keywords I often come across people asking questions for which I am the best answerer.
on Twitter CEO admits slowdown, now what?

Silicon Valley glitz can be a bit like Hollywood. There's a danger of "Brittney Spears-ifying" someone with too much flattery, diverting their attention from their work to themselves. I hope that doesn't happen to our boy from Indiana. He's built an awesome company with his own and many other peoples' hard work, and I hope he continues building these services, which are doing a lot of good. Granted, they won't save the universe, but they can free people up from accounting concerns so as to focus on the more meaningful aspects of their lives--and that's a positive contribution.
on Mint CEO unveils global expansion plan

Tatyana's follow-up to the WSJ story (sorry, our system doesn't allow for line breaks / html): "I am one of the students who was interviewed in this article and would like to clarify a few things. Matthew Stevenson is definitely correct about the OHS being a very academically rewarding environment. In fact, that is one of the main reasons I chose to come back after taking time off last year. However, one of the other reasons I decided to return is because of the wide range of bright and unique students I have met during my time at the OHS (keep in mind the OHS is an international school).********************** When I commented about my personal experience at the OHS it was not my intention for it sound as if there were no opportunities for social interaction in all online schools (or even this particular one). But rather, that despite what is currently offered socially, I was still left feeling alone at times and searching for more interaction with my peers.********************** Some of the wonderful social activities currently offered at our school include summer programs where the students come live and study in the dorms together for weeks at a time and online extracurriculars such as clubs or student government. This year, we have also started to arrange offline gatherings around the country.********************** So while the social environment may not be what I was used to at a brick and mortar, I feel that the OHS is certainly doing it's best under these circumstances. I think that trying to figure out how to provide ample social activity for students is one of the challenges that many innovative online institutions like ours face today.********************** Also, I understand that we can socialize outside of the school and take part in a number of extracurriculars inside and outside of my online school. However, I primarily want to socialize with the students I have had the privilege to meet through the OHS. Therefore, at times, it can be both frustrating and lonely because of the distance between us.********************** On that note, I would like to leave you with something to consider. Is it possible that the current debate on high school education should not be concerned with how socially limiting an online school can be but rather, how it can turn students into global citizens with simplicity and ease?"
on Nostalgia hampers online education progress

Hi Tatyana, Honored by your response, and thank you for pointing me to the additional comment. Do you mind re-copying it here for our readers? I especially find your conclusion poignant: "Is it possible that the current debate on high school education should not be concerned with how socially limiting an online school can be but rather, how it can turn students into global citizens with simplicity and ease?" Agree. I taught at inner-city schools in the Bronx and Hunters Point, CA, for three years, and think the discussion should also include how online education can help promising students break out of straight-jacket that is the inner-city public brick-and-mortar.
on Nostalgia hampers online education progress

Gary, I think your last point--continuing growth opportunity either way--is all Ellison is saying. If Oracle can keep producing the fastest databases, they'll maintain dominance, and as the biggest single employer of MIT and Cal Tech engineers in the world, they shouldn't find that too hard.
on Ellison reveals strategy behind Sun buyout

Ellison's responding to the confused notion that Cloud Computing will do away with a company's need for a database, ie, if a company can do all their computing "on the cloud," on some web-based service, no more need for Oracle databases and systems! In reality the "Cloud" is just another level of connectivity of one computer to another. The database still exists, just somewhere else. This broad connectivity started with the Internet; SaaS and Cloud Computing are simply consequences of it.
on Ellison reveals strategy behind Sun buyout

Thanks Bambi. A colorful speaker makes writing easy :)
on Ellison reveals strategy behind Sun buyout

Emil, agree it's not PE / HF's fault, it's just the nature of the game. PE is a riskier bet. If the economy does better than expected, PE rocks, if worse, it takes a big hit. Endowments are down because everything's down. Harvard is down hard for the same reason it rocked in recent years: PE.
on Harvard, Yale endowments nose dive

Rereading makes me think... could I have possibly used the words "video" "online" and "advertising" more? Let me know if I missed any opportunities. sheesh.
on Spotmixer-Google deal fattens the midtail

Glad you both found the summary useful. I loved the format--chillin in the living room, chompin on Cheetos. Kudos to Dealmaker & First Round for a nice setup.
on What angels want

@portfoliomonkey tweets: "Nice summary of the Dealmaker Media event last night...but you've brutally pinned Rob Hayes forever to his "2 asses" comment." It was a beautiful moment. Even Rob was taken aback by his own spontaneous genius.
on What angels want

Correction: Prof. Ola Bengtsson transferred from Cornell to the College of Business at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this year. He will begin teaching electives on entrepreneurial finance, venture capital and private equity at UI in the spring 2010 semester.
on Illinois Prof backs Adeo Ressi's term sheet

Movie marketers should put 95% of their budget into making trailers to go viral. I think the promise of a trailer is just about the only thing that would get me to click a display ad (its the quintessential example of where marketing needs to go--high entertainment value). As for listings... isn't there an app for that?
on When will newspaper movie listings go 'poof?'

I can see why they'd invest so much--this is the beginning of connected recreational devices. If Nanover has all the pieces in place, there's a whole new industry ready for birth. I'm envisioning connected subglasses that both track the movement of your eyes and use image recognition to identify objects in your field of vision, project images augmented-reality style to your retina... and deliver have an awesome MMORPG Matrix/ reality hybrid... while driving, if you want. This could be cool.
on Smith & Tinker raises $29 million for Web toy

Agree. As soon as Fred Wilson (whom I think is pretty close to being an "entrepreneur's investor") and Chris Dixon started talking about of standardization, Adeo jumped in and invited them to put their money where their mouths are. I think he was just giving the sheet to CEOs in the institute before that. Both Wilson and Dixon (wow--that sounds like a song... or a lattitude line) have responded on their blogs. Dixon mostly agrees, but takes issue with single-trigger and offers what I think is a reasonable compromise: a 12-month buffer to keep CEOs at the helm during acquisition transition.
on Illinois Prof backs Adeo Ressi's term sheet

It's interesting to watch Rhapsody's public negotiating with Steve. "If a user decides they actually want to buy and download whatever song they are listening to, instead of linking to Rhapsody's own music store, users will be taken to the iTunes store, where they can make the purchase there." Good example of coopetition.
on Rhapsody iPhone app on the way

Smart move--grab 'em while they're cheap. Seems to me Zuck is judging this to be the bottom of the recession in the Valley... a good sign, and probably right.
on Facebook to increase staff by 50%