Jim's Comments

Feld Thoughts : Lijit Is Hiring - Again

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 12:53:58 +0000

Note that a web developer is still called a "web developer" at lijit. Sounds like they are serious about tech. Being on the buy side of internet ads, I would be suspect of someone contacting me calling themselves a "catalyst".

MVictors.com: Michigan Football Blog : Everitt Rules

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:31:19 +0000

The man is a beast. I remember watching him wrestle with a friend Randy Stark, a backup LB, while in school hanging out at Randy's place. He tossed Randy around like he was a little kid and Randy was a good 6'4 240. Interesting to see a current picture of him. He looks a lot like I would suspect him to.

Feld Thoughts : Gloom and Doom - or Capital Efficiency

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 11:10:12 +0000

I am also concerned about all the rhetoric on "regulation" from Obama. With the US headed for its most liberal White House and Congress in my lifetime I am somewhat skeptical at the Dems ability to not over regulate and tax the "Wall Street fat cats" and "greedy CEOs" and it not trickle down to small and emerging businesses.

Feld Thoughts : My Relationship With Apple Is Like My Relationship With The Republican Party

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:13:14 +0000

iphone email is better but still does not beat blackberry. It is good enough for me to put my main phone number on it, but I still carry a blackberry for heavy email lifting when needed. Besides, task integration you cannot invite people to meetings on the iphone in the calendar. That is kind of stupid in my opinion, since the Blackberry has always done that.

Paul Kedrosky: Infectious Greed : Losing Money on Ever Home Sale, etc.

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 22:58:14 +0000

Not to sound like a snob, but its reads like a list of the 10 least desirable places to live. That might have something to do with it. Oh, not is it only undesirable, but the economy sucks really bad in most of those cities to boot.

Feld Thoughts : Why Do People Find Email So Difficult To Deal With?

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:12:30 +0000

I also leave everything in my inbox so I can search it when needed. Email for me is also a main method of communication. Along with IM/SMS/PIN. Everyone I am in business with owns a blackberry or email device which they use to respond quickly to most inquires.

My problem is that many emails require a good deal of work or thought to reply to so I often pass and dont get back til much later if at all. Often I store it in my memory bank and just address it personally (leaving inbox unfortunately). Email sometimes lends itself to ranting so its often better to bring up subjects in meetings / face to face conversation.

Mendelson's Musings : Why Start-up Lawyers Frustrate Me

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 21:28:19 +0000

Legal fees are a great way to burn much needed cash for startups and small businesses. Its hard to find, but if you can find someone that really gets your niche and doesn't work for a "prestigious", ie expensive, law firm you can cut your costs tremendously. Also be weary of attorneys with fancy office space in the best part of town. You are paying for that! I have found that there are some good highly experienced attorneys working for small firms or their own independent firm that have 30 years of experience and if its cookie cutter they first get that its cookie cutter, and then charge you cookie cutter.

We have such an attorney and even when we need to call in the "big guns", she screens them and calls BS on their big firm fees and gets us the services at a somewhat reasonable cost.

Paul Kedrosky: Infectious Greed : Age and the Entrepreneur

Sat, 3 May 2008 06:47:58 +0000

This made me think of one of Fred Wilson's biggest "companies"-- twitter. By your definition its not even a company. LOL. Its just a well funded website.

VC Adventure : Is Facebook replacing email?

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:17:50 +0000

I have quite a few employees under 25 and most have friended me on FB, but none have ever sent me a business email on FB. They have only posted casual or humorous comments on my wall or photos. Honestly after looking at the profiles with the risque college and some recent party pics I am surprised they friend me at all. :)

VC Adventure : Is Facebook replacing email?

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:09:25 +0000

My anecdotal experience supports this post. As a marketing company we "play" with facebook among our staff to look for and research facebook app and advertising opportunities and I have found that many of our "recent college grads (we have about 15) " had significantly slowed their facebook usage after college (You can see history of heavy use on their account). One had even deleted hers with several hundred friends because she was tired of keeping up with it, but able to get it back for our experiments. It seems once you get past hooking up, partying, and posting pics of parties, the value drops for at least some of the recent college grad crowd.

Seth I think you are so twittered/facebooked/web20ed out that you dont realize that for most of use these apps just dont have scale among people we care to communicate with. :-)

I personally think FB is a decent networking tool and it is also a good way to "market" yourself among peers by showing a more causal and personal side of yourself.

VC Adventure : Twitter is my instant messanger

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:43:48 +0000

I have been a twitter user for sometime now, but I find it useful for little more then opting into blog or web publishers i care to get updates from. Almost like an email list. Most of the stuff is trivial, however. Do I care that Brad Feld is "going for a run"? Not really and I feel a bit stalkerish reading that to be honest because I don't know him personally.

Feld Thoughts : How Do I Fly?

Sun, 6 Apr 2008 19:28:41 +0000

I have more flexibility then most these days, but I never do day trips anymore, I always upgrade (90%+ success rate), and I don't skimp on the margins because conveniences and not wasting time makes the biggest difference to me, ie saving $200 but increasing door to door time 2-3 hours = NOT worth it for me. I also stay loyal to a hotel chain so I get nice comfortable rooms.

If you are a business owner and travel a lot I recommend putting as much as you can do reasonable on mileage earning credit cards. That and earning and maintaining status is th biggest reasons I rarely fly in coach.

Check out flyertalk.com for more good tips and tricks for making your travel life easier.

VC Adventure : Sharing practical experience

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:53:31 +0000

I also have an iphone burning $70 a month waiting for sync.

Feld Thoughts : Twenty-Five Square Miles Surrounded by Reality

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:04:28 +0000

I kind of get tired of the Boulder cliche's, ie liberal rich pot smoking prius driving millionaires, blah blah blah. Its a nice place to live period. Some of us drive big SUVs and could care less about the prairie dogs. Oh, and a few us might even vote Republican from time to time. Based on many of the large gratuitous homes, Cayennes, and Land Rovers I see there are plenty of Yuppies / non cliche Boulder people here too just like anywhere else that is nice / high end.

We happen to have a internet company here in Boulder with 30 employees and over half the people own SUVs and not one drives a hybrid. A couple do care about the environment, but we do tolerate them :-)

Feld Thoughts : Heathrow Travel Hell

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:50:55 +0000

DIA is a dream compared to LHR. Been through there 8 times in past year.

Feld Thoughts : I Could Have Been A Card Counter

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:12:52 +0000

I dont know about MIT inaccuracies but there were many Casino moments that were Hollywood-ized. For one, they only played at two different casinos in the movie, and if they were worried about being discovered I think they would have played all over, like in the book.

Also, they seemed to mostly be playing in the regular BJ pits where the limits are always low. To sit down and play $10-$100k you would usually need to go to a high limit sections where there is much less flow and more scrutiny.

I think the most interesting book was the one where they used a different system where they would spot and track the spit card and didn't rely on counting.

VC Adventure : Sharing practical experience

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:29:51 +0000

The best part is that you were still on your call via bluetooth. Can you reveal the model of phone you lost?

Feld Thoughts : I Don't Believe in COO's

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 10:09:14 +0000

This post hits home. In my first company (under 30 people) I hired a person to "run the operations and finance" because I sucked at it. The person, with big company experience, eventually worked himself into the COO role and positioned himself with the investor to have everyone report to him and then he reported to me (the naive CEO). As it ended up when I wanted stuff done the COO didnt agree with, I had a fight on my hands that I would have to argue to the whole management team, and the company was effectively run by the COO or by committee.

Needless to say I got out of the situation and now have another company with 30 employees and a very capable "director of operations". :)

Oh and the company I left now has 50ish employees with the investor as the CEO, the Sales guy head became President, and the COO still runs everything that matters. LOL

Colorado Startups : Stop the Junk Mail. Please. Somebody!

Mon, 4 Feb 2008 10:27:41 +0000

I believe the FBI works with them too because they know more about people then the government can figure out on their own.

Colorado Startups : Stop the Junk Mail. Please. Somebody!

Mon, 4 Feb 2008 10:14:05 +0000

I do know that DMA members are supposed to honor the DMA opt out list when sending to people they do not have a "relationship" with.

Direct mail also works on a CPM. It is where the term started, not online. Based what I know about the list business here are some reasons you may get a lot of mail:

1. You buy a lot of stuff with a credit card. This is bad because it flags you as a "buyer". Its also good if you are a "recent" buyer. This puts you into a "hotline" category. Also they now know you have a credit card. Also people in your zip code (which you gave them for shipping) make a certain amount of money and fall into desirable demos. They may have also appended other desirable lifestyle characteristics from companies such as Equifax or Axciom. things like: presence of children, homeowner, skier, etc. Its really surprising what these companies know about people.

These lists rent for $50-$300 CPMs too. sometimes higher based on selects.