There's Airbnb and Uber. Add spotty cellphone service, higher cost of living, higher cost of supplies, crumbling infrastructure, substandard internet as well as JFK/LAX/ORD airport.From the hype I've been hearing about, big American cities should be the innovative beacons of the world but they aren't. The most relevant example of this? Silicon Valley (Hint: Apple is named Apple for a...
Bill Gates is now doing his best to eradicate diseases around the world. Before Steve Jobs died, he revolutionized mobile technology for the common people.Now the technical co-founders. Paul Allen. Last time I heard, he's collecting rich kid toys. Steve Wozniak? I'm not sure what he's doing. Neither, I believe, seem to be working on anything technical anymore.
I'll define traditional hiring as getting a job via the "Career" or "Jobs" section of a company's website or going through a staffing firm (except for small startups which is a completely different category).Personally, as one data point, I've never found a good job by this system. To be fair, I've been offered jobs but the jobs offered have been less than stellar. Often times, I'm told I'm...
If so, how did you do it? Was the old team still there or did it need new people?
There's the Google Bus, the Apple Bus, the Facebook Bus, etc. How about startups?
One obvious one is a suit and tie policy. I'm curious what happens to people who "disobey" norms like this.
Even if that person is well known for being the best of the best? Even if their everyone knows that other companies out there would love to grab them because they are that good?
For the old timers here, what was is it like in the suit and tie culture of the past? Do you know or have you been fired for choosing not to wear one?Any stories of employees firing their best employees or passing over a really great candidate because they refused to follow dress code?
Quite frankly, I'd say more than 70% of the stuff customers want end in a product up being worthless and useless to their core business yet they DEMAND IT to the point it's eating up their business.So, what's someone to do when they know more about their customer's business then their customers do?Example: Selling your awesome open-ended music and video distribution platform to records and...
I'm used to knocking at a lot of doors and hearing the word "no" or "your idea needs major work". I'm a nobody - that's expected. I use the information they give me to self-improve and figure out what's wrong with the world.For those successful people out here, what's it like hearing the word "yes" or "your idea is brilliant" all time? Even when you tell them your worst idea, they tell you...
Steve Jobs. He had full control over Apple and could tell it to build whatever he wanted. He worked for a big company. From what I've read, he was happy working there.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, they seem happy working for a big company.
Larry Ellison loves working for Oracle. I have yet to hear any disappointment from him about working for a big company.
All in all, I think many entrepreneurs would love working at big companies - as long as they are in the top 1% of the company who have control over the rest.
Let's try this example.Think about navigation websites before Google Maps. Think about it after Google Maps.Look at Node.js. Build a time machine, go back to the past before Google Maps. Tell people about Node.JS. Now go think what their response would have been.Javascript has pretty much existed for a while. People knew about the language. They had a chance to test it. The major...
No, not the companies in Silicon Valley but the region itself. I'm reading articles about how CalTrain almost ran out of money, how VTA is underfunded, and articles upon articles about how the region can't build any new public projects anymore.What's going on over there?
I keep asking myself "Why did I just do that?" and do whatever it takes to find out that why.
From what I've read, the standard way for a startup to cash out is to sell it to a bigger company.Here's the problem, I've watched many my favorite startups slowly die after they were sold. Except for a few rare ones, the service they provided was never the same again - if it still exists.You want to cash out because you would like to do other things but you still care a lot about the quality...
I'm in hardware. I like hardware. I like Apple. I'm in awe in what they do. I like Steve Jobs philosophy on hardware and design. I look at the designs. I like what I see. I want to create something like that.The problem? I'm in hardware.It might be my bad luck but let's just say that the highest priority in many hardware companies is NOT BEING APPLE. Whatever philosophy Apple shows,...
I don't know if it's me getting wiser or if the Internet is just becoming worse. A decade ago, I could find good, somewhat reliable advice from the Internet. It wasn't always true but it was easy to separate good from junk. A quick search would find the hardcore enthusiasts of whatever I was looking for. Sometimes I couldn't find anything and that was fine.Today is a different story. What...
Uncontrolled complexity is dangerous. It causes things to collapse on itself. Contained complexity is useful. It allows unimaginable things to be built.You could say the result of contained complexity is this phrase "why of course, that's obvious" (after seeing that contained complexity).In general, what techniques has anyone discovered in containing complexity to prevent it from hindering...
Do they? Is that why so many A players are banished to spend the rest of their lives in specialized communities like Silicon Valley?
I have a bunch of ideas but no money to implement them.I'm looking for unrestricted cash to try out a few of those idea. I have an idea on how to build it but the idea uses such "eccentric" business methods that it would give anyone who believes their MBA class or have typical financial knowledge a heart attack.What options do I have besides moonlighting? Where can you find people who aren't...