April 2012
1 post
Breaking Rules
I’ve always enjoyed breaking rules.
I received poor grades throughout most of my early schooling, not because I couldn’t do the assignments, but because I didn’t really care. And this disregard for the authoritarian nature of school affected my extracurricular activates as well: in eighth grade I vividly remember being suspended (and almost arrested) for climbing on the roof of...
February 2012
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Don't Go To Business School
I strongly believe that today, business school – even at the best institutions – is a complete waste of time and money for anyone with a bit of self-motivation. It’s not that the material is totally useless – though it has changed little in the past 100 years and is now largely available for free online –, but relative to the significant cost it’s just not worth it.
Here are some of the common...
January 2012
1 post
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Goals for 2012
Last year I set out some goals for 2011, and while I didn’t accomplish everything, I’m pretty pleased with the results. To recap, I set out to gain a better understanding of mathematics (fail), to drastically improve my handwriting (fail), to learn how to code (success!), to improve my understanding of learning & the education system (success!), to write more (success!), to drink...
October 2011
2 posts
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Lessons Learned in VC
I’ve had the privilege of working in venture capital for the past few years, starting at a very young age with little mentorship in the beginning. As a result I made a ton of mistakes – and learned a great deal making them. Below are a few of the more important lessons I wish someone had told me on my first day:
Don’t be a generalist (focus on a space you care about). Don’t be...
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Act II: Enterpoid
I’ve officially joined the Enterproid team this week, and I could not be more excited. I’ve worked closely with the founders over the past year since our investment, and have just been blown away. The technology is impressive, and the guys are among the brightest I’ve ever worked with. (Comcast, Qualcomm, & Google Ventures agree.)
While I’m moving back to the light...
August 2011
3 posts
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At Oxford, Avoiding Generalism
For the past nine months I’ve spent most of my time in Oxford, researching social policy and the Internet’s impact on access to higher education. While I’ve technically been working at Penny Black and BOLDstart full time as well, I’ve spent most of my time disconnected; reading, thinking, and wandering through the countryside. Here are a few of the more important...
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Investing in Internet-Enabled Education
There’s no reason why 30 students should sit in a classroom and be lectured on the same thing at the same time at the same pace when everyone learns differently. There’s no reason why the tens of thousands of algebra classes are each being reinvented right now across the country by teachers of variable skill levels. There’s no reason why college students should go into hundreds...
July 2011
1 post
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Networked Knowledge & the Ridiculousness of Exams
I hope this is obvious: forcing students to answer a series of questions under the clock is probably the stupidest way to test proficiency in a subject area. The ultimate goal of teaching is not fact memorization, it’s application. Exams under intense time pressure are useless: they are not at all a representation of the depth/breadth of a person’s knowledge in a subject area, nor how...
June 2011
6 posts
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Why Reading Deserves its Own Device
A month ago I bought a Kindle, and after a week of use I brought it back with me to Oxford, leaving my iPad in New York. It was a great decision. For the longest time I had dismissed the Kindle as silly, calling it a ’segue technology’ – a device that would just be around until the iPad or some other multi-function tablet squashed it. Who needs another media consumption device? I was...
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Teaching is Broken
The information age has fundamentally changed the job requirements of a teacher. A vast majority of the world’s basic knowledge is now ubiquitous – stored and easily accessible online from almost every computer and billions of mobile devices. Why, then, are we still forcing students to buy expensive textbooks and hiring teachers to lecture on subjects whose content is largely available from...
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Admissions Officers: True Early-Stage Investors
While angel investors and early-stage venture capitalists invest pre-revenue or sometimes even pre-product, university admissions officers are the true early-stage investors: they invest pre-idea! When you think about it, it’s actually striking how similar admissions officers are to VCs: they invest in people, they (the university) hope for large returns in the future (by way of donations),...
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Library 2.0: Reading in the Park
I was exploring the Brooklyn Botanic Garden two weeks ago, thinking about how nice it would be return with my Kindle for some grassy reading, when it dawned on me that we now have the opportunity to totally rethink how we use libraries, and what a ‘library’ actually is.
Libraries haven’t changed much since the Library of Alexandria in ancient Egypt - they still exist as physical...
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Teaching Focus
Lately, as I prepare for exams and trudge through my thesis, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of being able to focus. It’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time.
When I was in middle school I was given Retalin to help me focus. I don’t remember if it actually worked, but I do remember that the side effects were terrible, and I quickly stopped taking...
April 2011
3 posts
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March 2011
2 posts
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February 2011
9 posts
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January 2011
24 posts
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How to Pitch Irrational Investors
Venture capitalists are not rational: you have to be at least partly insane to believe you can pick the next Google, Fedex, Netflix etc. There are a lot of great resources out there to help startups create pitch decks for investors, but almost all miss the bigger picture: you have to emotionally connect with investors and appeal to that irrational part of their brain, while at the same time...
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Areas of Interest (v2)
Just under a year into my existence in the world of startups and venture capital I wrote a post on my areas of interest. Almost a year later, my perspective has just about completely changed. First, lessons learned:
There’s a ton I don’t know, and learning it is hard (if you don’t care). Gaining experience is a gradual process, and it’s best to start with what you know,...
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Startup Fundraising: Pet Peeves
As a follow up to a request from a friend, here are a few that immediately come to mind:
Pre-Investment
Insisting on meeting before sending a deck. I love meeting entrepreneurs, but often there are time constraints and it’s best if you don’t force a meeting without first establishing fit. Also, meetings are much more productive when we can dive into the materials ahead of time and...
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