Bloomberg Moves Closer to Running for President – New York Times

A well-timed, well-messaged article from Bloomberg. Bloomberg is as credible an independent candidate as we’ve had in a long, long time.

Also his message of pushing to break-through on gridlock is a powerful message that the Dems and GOP will need to address. Interestingly, I think his most powerful impact is to Obama, who claims that he’s the guy who can best change the tone in Washington. Bluntly, I think Bloomberg takes that brand attribute away from Obama.

The one area I’d want to learn more on Bloomberg is his approach re: national security.

[From Bloomberg Moves Closer to Running for President - New York Times]

Filed under: politics

Ross Mayfield’s Weblog: Collapse: How Startups Choose to Fail or Succeed

Great article with a simple framework on thinking through maximizing opportunities to succeed.

[From Ross Mayfield's Weblog: Collapse: How Startups Choose to Fail or Succeed]

Filed under: business, entrepreneurship, free stuff for startups, technology

Feld Thoughts – F*** The Packaging

Feld’s rant on how difficult it is to open consumer packaging is right on.  CDs, DVDs, many toys, as well as the things Feld rants on have packaging that are a safety risk to the people trying to open them.

I am very opposed to class action lawsuits, but I’m surprised that there have not been any on packaging of this sort that’s unsafe to the people opening them.

There does indeed need to be a better way. 

Feld Thoughts – F*** The Packaging

Filed under: technology

Buffett to Start A Bond Insurer For Cities, States – WSJ.com

Speculation has been rife since the sub-prime crisis from the past summer on what Buffet would do, sitting on an awesome cash position and of course a superb credit rating.

This drove BRKA from the low 100K$ per share up to near $150K by early December.

This move is a shrewd one–where Berkshire has a clear short-term defensible competitive advantage. It will be interesting to gauge it’s long-term defensibility.

I also like the move, as its an organic-growth strategy to take advantage of the mess in subprime. I prefer this far more than purchasing some Wall Street bank, e.g., Bear Stearns, which has been speculated on elsewhere.

[From Buffett to Start A Bond Insurer For Cities, States - WSJ.com]

Filed under: investing

Happy Holidays

Filed under: fun

(Next to) Free Stuff for Start-ups: top reads

More in the series of stuff I’ve found useful in starting a company.  These are the key books that I go back to again, and again, and again, whenever I need to think things through.  You can get these at the library if you’re cheap.  I’ve bought mine and the dog-ears, notes and underlines in them definitely argues that I got my money’s worth.

A disclaimer–I usually hate business books.  I find them usually little more than ego-strokes for the author or filled with advice that’s really pretty obvious.  (Be ethical, have a vision, etc.)  Given that perspective, here’s the books that I think of as essential references. 

Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start.  This is a mother-lode of practical, concrete tips and advice.   I’ve gone back to this book dozens of times.  No matter what you might start, go buy this and read it.  Keep it near by as you proceed with whatever you do. 

Jerry Weissman’s Presenting to Win. If you’re an entrepreneur, you need to be able to tell people what you’re doing.  Whether its in an elevator pitch, in a car ride, or in a boardroom, your ability to communicate crisply, clearly and in an engaging way will have a huge determination on your ability to succeed: whether its hiring, raising money, getting the product built, et.  Mr. Weissman’s book focuses on how to ‘present,’ but the concepts I find are universal in structuring my ability to communicate effectively.  Must read.

I know, I know, you can outsource accounting, why have an accounting text book included?  The simple answer is that if you’re an enterpreneur, you can’t afford not to understand accounting at a basic level.  You’ll be accountable at the end of the day for how the numbers come together.  Start-ups, like all of life, require a bit of luck to turn out well.  Luck favors the prepared. 

One obvious reality that I saw when I became an entrepreneur–you negotiate *everything*.  Get into that mindset, practice it, and learn.  Getting to Yes is one of the better guides to structure your thinking on this.  I keep it close if for no other reason than to remind me to negotiate something. 

Filed under: entrepreneurship, free stuff for startups

New Jersey Governor Signs State Death Penalty Ban

I abhor the death penalty and applaud Governor Jon Corzine and New Jersey’s step to ban it there.

It is of course tragic for parents, friends and colleagues of victims of any crime, and my sympathies are with them. 

My opposition and hopes around the future abolition of the death penalty can be summarized by the Justice Brennan’s quote below:

“One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity. . . . The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by emulating his murderer. Capital punishment’s fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded. . . . One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty. Permanently.”

–William J. Brennan, Jr., retired Supreme Court Justice, 1996 [1]

Filed under: news, politics

Berkshire Hathaway Shares Down 5% As Barron’s Says Sell, But Bulls See Buying Opportunity – Warren Buffett Watch – CNBC.com

Barron’s says Berkshire stock will probably move higher over the next few years, but it predicts some financials, and even the S&P 500 stock index, will do better, “especially if Buffett’s glorious tenure ends.”Source: CNBC.com

It’s interesting that this statistic from the BrkHath Chairman’s letter is not reprinted.

• Since 1965-2006 (41 years) Berkshire has outpaced the S&P500 by 11% per year on average. (21.4% CAGR versus 10.4% CAGR)
• Less risk / std deviation in return over time than the S&P 500.
• In same span, BrkHath’s Book value was down 1 year on an absolute level : 2001. S&P had 10 down years during same span.

Several points that I think about.

• Investment firms unlike say software firms can be more driven by the top few people. This argues that after Buffett and Munger leave that the firm’s growth will slow.
• On the other hand, having a firm that’s only had shrinking book value once in 40 years is a big, big achievement. That’s the kind of thing that gets at discipline and gets at an organization–not just a few individuals–being oriented and well-structured in their approach.
• Similarly to do it again and again at lower risk than the S&P 500 is a testament to a discipline and approach that given it’s long time horizion, I’ve got to think spans beyond the two key leaders there.

A final note. Even after the past week’s Barron’s sell off, check out this chart comparing BrkA to S&P500 on YTD basis. BRK.A 23% v. S&P 3%.

Disclaimer: I am a shareholder, so bias may exist.

Berkshire Hathaway Shares Down 5% As Barron’s Says Sell, But Bulls See Buying Opportunity – Warren Buffett Watch – CNBC.com

Filed under: investing

Free, useful legal thinking at Startup Company Lawyer

Here’s one more in my series on free stuff for startups: check out Yokum Taku’s blog.  Yokum’s a partner at venerable Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.  In his blog, he ‘open sources’ a bunch of practical, concrete legal strategy important for people starting companies to read and process.  

This won’t enable you to forego hiring an attorney.  However, it will make you much more concrete and efficient when working with one.  In my mind, it helps you save money, as you’re having fewer ‘do overs’ and can give better direction to your legal team. 

Read Startup Company Lawyer and prosper.

Filed under: free stuff for startups

Need a Name? Try Igor! (More free stuff for start-ups)

As I worked on starting Moonshoot, one of the challenges was coming up with a name for the company. My sense, having met up now with plenty of companies that have flat out useless names from a branding point of view, is that this challenge is shared across the land of start-ups. Kind of like many things in business where if you don’t do it often–e.g., firing, hiring, building an advertisement–you’re not naturally inclined to do it well.

Naming something isn’t something I think only start-ups struggle with. Big companies struggle with this all the time too. I’ve seen the process done badly in both places, and I think it’s generally done in the same manner. That is, it tends to put a lot on hope that a good name will launch out of the creative sinews of someone associated with the start-up, product, or feature, and then which has to survive the scrutiny of whatever corporate chucklehead or muckety-muck is going to stand in the way of approval.

If you’re working on naming something–at a start-up or at GE–I’d recommend you visit Igor (www.igor.com). I found them through a Google search, and I loved the tone and personality with which they present themselves, lots of practical, intuitive advice.

But wait, there’s more, oh, much much more, especially for you start-up guys who can’t pay Igor or anyone like them for their creative consulting services. Igor has taken the unique path of describing in detail their philosophy, approach and process in a PDF doc, that you can get for free right here.

It’s an amazing read–it’s funny, it makes sense, and it’s probably worth about $20K in naming consulting and you get it free. I read this in an hour, worked on the name for 3 hours, and had a brand that I both love and that objectively reinforces the key strategy that I’m looking for it to drive.

There’s nothing more useful for naming that I’ve ever seen. So if you need to name a product, company or feature, I’d say push your browser to Igor ASAP.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Igor International, I’ve never paid for or received anything other than their free PDF described above.

Filed under: free stuff for startups, moonshoot