September 2009
24 posts
OnlyOnce Blog: Closer to the Front Lines, Part II: Closer to the Front Lines, II Last year, I wro.. http://bit.ly/4gHkLl
Why can’t you use a wireless mouse on planes? There’s wireless internet on planes…are we really supposed to believe mice mess up nav?
The Gift of Feedback, Part III Last week, I posted about my new development plan. I thought I’d also share a “team development plan” that we crafted this year for the entire Executive Committee at Return Path (basically me and my direct reports), coming out of all of our 360 live reviews taken as a whole.
Push each other harder and be continuous in our effort to provide the...
Coolest place for an Internet conference ever - glad I was able to peel out for two hours of sightseeing in Istanbul http://pic.gd/13658b
Mentoring at Seedcamp in Lobdon today. Same as Techstars…only different
Mentoring at Seedcamp in London today. 4 minutes is not a long time to explain your company, especially in a foreign language. #seedcamp
Quote of the day from #Seedcamp yesterday - “Software is like sex. It’s better when it’s free.”
Great opening line of a sales pitch at #Seedcamp - “Hello, I’m John, and I’m about to show you something you desperately need.”
OnlyOnce Blog: How Deliverability is Like SEO and SEM for Email: How Deliverability is Like SEO an.. http://bit.ly/PthT1
How Deliverability is Like SEO and SEM for Email
I admit this is an imperfect analogy, and I’m sure many of my colleagues in the email industry are going to blanch at a comparison to search, but the reality is that email deliverability is still not well understood — and search engines are. I hope that I can make a comparison here that will help you better understand what it really...
Another Only Once Moment, Sort Of
I’ve never handed over the reins of a company before (no, I’m not leaving, and we aren’t selling Return Path). But I did the other day, for the first time. As many people know, last year we reorganized the company to focus entirely on deliverability and whitelisting and spun out Authentic Response, a company in the online market research...
OnlyOnce Blog: Another Only Once Moment, Sort Of: Another Only Once Moment, Sort Of I’ve never han.. http://bit.ly/uQ9mf
Odd mix of features in this Hertz car — Sirius satellite radio, Garmin GPS, roll-down manual windows
The Gift of Feedback, Part II I’ve written a few times over the years about our 360 feedback process at Return Path. In Part I of this
series in early 2008, I spelled out my development plan coming out of that
year’s 360 live review process. I have my new plan now after this year’s process, and I
thought I’d share it once again. This
year I have four items to work on: ...
Dinner with @bfeld and @abatchelor ad Mariquita - 00/09/09 00:09:09:09 - very satisfying
Scaling Frustrations Two things have come up in spades lately for me that are
frustrations for me as a CEO of a high growth company. These are both people related — an area
that’s always been the cornerstone of my leadership patterns. That probably makes them even more
frustrating. Frustration 1: Worrying that I don’t get completely candid feedback from deep in...
At the US Open - killer Women’s match - Men’s match won’t start until crazy late
Suburban etiquette question: when you invite people over for a cookout and they’re bringing their dogs, do you have to feed their dogs?
Enjoying a supremely productive day in the office - gave the company a bonus day off, so it’s quiet here!
OnlyOnce Blog: Ten Characteristics of Great Investors: Ten Characteristics of Great Investors Fred.. http://bit.ly/4uEmAI
Ten Characteristics of Great Investors
Fred had a great post today called Ten Characteristics of Great Companies. This link includes the comments, which numbered over 70 when I last looked. Great discussion overall, especially for Fred’s having come up with the list on a 15-minute subway ride. Fred used to write a series of posts about VC Chiches, and I would periodically write a...
New iPhone - can’t decide if I can tolerate the typing yet.
Book Short: Go Where They Ain’t
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne isn’t bad, but it could literally be summed up by the title of this post. I think it’s probably a better book for people who aren’t already entrepreneurs.
That said, there are two chapters that I found pretty...
Great to be back in NYC after 5 weeks - and looks like fall is coming early, a serious bonus