Steve Jobs: Nobody wants to Die

A timely piece from Steve Job’s famous Stanford commencement address…. 

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Read or watch the full address here

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Best Press Release Ever!!: Woot Gets Acquired by Amazon

Nice job Woot. On getting acquired and making the best press release. This is the way to not take yourself too seriously and let your customers know – you are going to be the same company, even after you get bought by the man.

Kind of funny though how time flies. When did amazon become the man? Zappos and Woot in the same house – that’s kind a awesome.

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After a Weekend with the New iPhone 4

I usually buy the new iPhone every time it comes out. So it’s not a big deal that I got this one the first week it was available. My logic is $200 for something that I use about 5 hours (or more!) a day is almost free. The same with my computer – which I’m on all the other hours I’m awake. Anything that makes me more efficient and better at work – I’m in on. So, I usually get a new phone every year and a new computer every 2 years. Thats also pretty easy when you use Macs – cause they’re always coming out with cool new stuff. Actually it’s hard to wait two years on the computer side – but anything sooner than two years is kind of silly.

For the phone, there have always been enough new features each year to make it worth it. And most of the time I don’t anticipate the ways that those new features are going to make an impact in my life until they happen. Then I almost feel like I couldn’t get along if my phone didn’t do that.

So, I’m always pretty satisfied with my new phone each year and glad I bought it. But after a weekend with the new iPhone 4, this is a different upgrade. I still have my old one – I’m basically turning it into an iPod touch for my kids – better driving trips this summer!  Going back and forth between the two phones is a stark difference. The old upgrades had new capabilities added in. This is just a whole new phone. It is just better on every front. Faster, Wickedly Clearer – Wickedly, longer battery – I’ve only charged it once since I got it on Friday, and I shot a movie of my kids, edited it, added titles and emailed it to the grandparents all from the park.  And I haven’t even used the whole face time thing.

Anyway – that’s my take – lovin’ the new iphone 4 over here.

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MBA Mondays from Fred Wilson on his AVC.com Blog (it’s like a cheat sheet for entrepreneurs)

One of the blogs I read the most is AVC.com.  AVC (I assume stands for A Venture Capitalist) is written by Fred Wilson (who is guess what – a venture capitalist).  And from the looks of it – a very good one.  He (actually his firm – Union Square Ventures) has funded all of the coolest things like Twitter, Boxee, Etsy, Foursquare, Meetup, Tumblr, Zemanta.

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All that’s good and stuff – but the big reason I try and read his blog everyday is that he is real.  He loves his company, he loves technology and he loves his family.  And he shares real stuff about it all.  All the way from his frustration with not being able to find an email client that he really likes (can’t we all relate) and how he and his wife can finish each other’s sentences so much that sometimes they don’t even start them, to all of the inspiration he finds on a daily basis from his technology portfolio companies and their courageous founders and the love and commitment he makes daily to his wife (who refers to herself as the Gotham Gal – he probably gave her that name?) and his kids (who blog too – Emily and Jessica).

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Not to often you get to see inside success and all that makes it and all that it comes with – ALL.

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On to the topic.  Earlier this year the AVC blog started running something called MBA Mondays.  The series lasted for 21 weeks – I think he missed one or two – go figure.  But they covered all the topics that any startup business would ever need to know, from things, like the difference between cash flow and an income statement, forecasting, budgeting (in a small, growing and big company), Pricing, Metrics, and on and on…..

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This series is like a cheat sheet for anybody about to or in the middle of getting a business off the ground.  They are things that I mostly knew about and all the definitions of – but had never really heard (or listened to) the meanings straight from an honest investor who is writing the check and getting involved.

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Anyway – good stuff – both the blog and the MBA Mondays.  Check em both out.
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Jack Dorsey on Drawing, Luck and Reiteration

I don’t know if Twitter is going to beat Facebook – even though I like Twitter way better. But, the one thing Twitter has over Facebook is the coolest founder names. Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Fugitaboutit.

Anyway this is a great talk by Jack Dorsey on drawing your ideas, sharing them, recognizing luck and Reiteration – all at the right time I would assume.

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The 10 Golden Principles for Successful Web Apps from Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures

Fred Wilson is one of the most informative and entertaining VCs on the web to follow. He lets you into not only his business thinking but the underlying personal drivers that makes him tick.

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