My answer to that is that Daring Fireball is decidedly not free. It’s simply a question of who gets charged. Readers don’t, but sponsors and advertisers do. What makes it work so well (so far) is that this makes everyone happy. I’m earning a nice salary. Readers get to read my writing in exchange for a small portion of their attention which I direct toward ads. And sponsors and advertisers are happy to pay a fair price to reach an audience of good-looking, intelligent readers such as yourself. But there’s nothing free about it.
— John Gruber (via chrisbowler) (via marco)
A few weeks ago I headed back to Boulder, Colorado - home of my alma mater - to participate in TechStars as a mentor. This year, they have a documentary crew working with a few of the startups to chronicle their story. Here’s a short video they put together of some of the happenings around the time that I was in town. Enjoy!
Dream Big.
“Filling little gaps in another company’s product lineup is snatching nickels from the path of an oncoming steam roller.” - Platform vendors - Joel on Software
Joel has some good things to say on developers choosing which products to work on in relation to Platform vendors.
I believe it is important to dream big when you’re considering building an application on any Platform. If you’re looking at Facebook Platform or the Apple iPhone Platform, dream big. There are many incredible opportunities yet to be explored in virtually every vertical.
Today, the common conversation is around the many gaming companies building great things and becoming very successful. But, always remember that the gaming vertical tends to be the first one to fill out when new platforms enter the scene. Over time, big ideas (including games) are built into wonderful businesses.
So, as they say in England - mind the gap - and dream big.
Beautiful sunset over San Francisco as viewed from the Berkeley Hills.
Blue Bottle on a Sunday morning.
Is Execution More Important than Vision?
Sarah Lacy: Is Execution More Important than Vision?
Sarah Lacy asks a solid question at a great time. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately as Silicon Valley moves into a period of conversation and new innovation coming down off of the wave produced through what some reluctantly refer to as “Web 2.0”.
Some ideas are commodities, others appear to be not. What is the difference between a truly “new” idea, or one which has been around for awhile and just happens to be executed upon at the right time?
Living and working in Silicon Valley and having had the chance to see a few ideas grow and take shape, and looking toward the future, these seem like interesting and important questions to ponder and have a conversation about.
I believe that both entrepreneurial approaches have a special and important place in society. And, that the tension between the two types of entrepreneurs is what creates innovation and sustainable improvement in our lives.
Sarah presents an interesting frame. But, it seems like there is a longer conversation to be had here, and her post is just the beginning. I’ve opened up this post for answers below. I’d be interested in hearing your opinion.
Are new ideas (vision) more important than execution? Is execution all that matters? Are they complimentary?
Doing some thinking about the future.
A nice night for some sushi.
