Monday, February 21, 2011

About Making Money


James Franco Told Frida Giannini He’s Making A Gucci Film









The March issue of Harper’s Bazaar just won’t quit…and it hasn’t even hit newsstands yet. In addition to pieces on Kim and Liz, Prabal and DVF, Daphne and Hillary,  the magazine also features an interview James Franco conducted with his friend Frida Giannini.


The Gucci creative director dished on all sorts of things with the actor/director/soap star/student/overachiever who had this to say about the designer: ”Frida and I have been in sync since we met. I love her work, and she supports mine. Creatively, I know we will always be in line with each other.” (Also, Franco joked that his next project is “making a documentary about you and Gucci.” But we just don’t know if he’s kidding.)



On Gucci’s pragmatism:


JF: When you see the clothes at a fashion show, sometimes they’re more extreme than what you see in the store, right?


FG: Well, not always at Gucci. I believe what we are showing on the catwalk needs to be in the stores. The big stores like in New York or London or Paris, the main flagships, they always have the entire collection–even the extreme pieces. There are people who are waiting for the extreme pieces from the fashion show. We are not the kind of company that thinks, Okay, I’ll do something for the runway, and I’ll make an entire new collection to sell.


FG: Chanel is always doing incredible sets, and they change it every time. We’d rather spend money on other things than make a big, spectacular thing you would see for 10 minutes because we are working for six months on a collection.


On fashion globalism:


JF: So then, because Gucci is all over the world and you’re thinking about people actually wearing these clothes, do you have to think slightly differently for each part of the world?


FG: I never think about it because I think people in the world, from the U.S. to Asia, love Gucci because it’s about aspiration. I don’t think if I made a speciic collection for a Chinese woman, she would be happy. They don’t want something speciic for them. I did a collection that was very Russian, inspired by the artists in Russia in the ’20s and ’30s who left and went to Paris. It performed very well all over the world–except in Russia.


JF: And why, do you think?


FG: I talked to the managers in Russia, and they said they didn’t like the reference to them. So this is an example that was quite strange. Maybe if I make a collection inspired by India, with the colors of India, people in India won’t like it.


On criticism:


JF: I know Harper’s Bazaar is here listening to us, but if you’re criticized heavily in a big fashion magazine, does that have any real effect on sales or what people like?


FG: The first couple of seasons, I was in shock sometimes because I had very mixed reviews, especially because it was right after Tom Ford. Can you imagine the pressure? I am a woman; he is a man. I am Italian; he is American. Very, very different. Now I am much more relaxed; sometimes I receive very bad criticism and read between the lines of the bad reviews.


Sometimes I have thought it was a good suggestion for me because I know that the journalist has a great mind and has much more experience than me. Generally speaking, I’m very open to criticism. I will never say, “I had a bad review from you; I don’t want to meet you anymore.” I believe in what I am doing, and I believe in my ideas, but I think it is very constructive to be open to understanding other thoughts.


[Harper's Bazaar]





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Of all the interesting new tech that seems poised to garner a lot of buzz in 2011, near field communication (NFC), is probably the most exciting. If it takes off, it will transform the ways we communicate, share, and make payments with digital devices. This will likely take years to happen, but the groundwork is being laid right now. And RFinity is one of those companies at the forefront.


While Google and Apple are responsible for generating much of the buzz about NFC at the moment, the technology goes far beyond simply having the right type of chip in your mobile device. For example, how do you handle different types of data transfers being made from one device to another? And how to you ensure that they happen as quickly as possible? And most importantly, how do you ensure that they happen securely? Those are the things that RFinity is thinking about.


The company has just raised $4 million from Horizons Ventures in Hong Kong. And the space has gotten so red hot, in fact, that we hear they’re already out raising another round.


And it’s an easy bet for investors to make not only because of the space, but because of where the project originated: The U.S. Department of Energy. Specifically, RFinity was born when a bunch of infrastructure security experts working for the government were assigned to find all the vulnerabilities in cell phones. Through software they came up with, they were able to quite easily eavesdrop, manipulate SMS messages, and even compromise LAN security. Then they set out to figure out a way to stop people from doing those very things. That work led directly to RFinity.


Work originally began in the person-to-person and person-to-vendor sales space by way of mobile applications that route transactions through RFinity’s own secure servers. But now that NFC appears ready, RFinity is making sure they’re ready for it. The idea is that their technology could cut out the middle man here: themselves.


Obviously, the company isn’t going to share all the details on how they secure NFC transfers. But the basic overview is that they verify an incoming NFC signal and ask for a user’s permission before taking any action. Further, if the action is a transaction, it requires a PIN, just as you might do an ATM withdrawal. That’s all pretty standard. But the key is one-time-use transaction codes that RFinity creates on the fly along with complex cryptographic signatures. These ensure that an transaction is secure since it means that every transaction can only happen once. Even if those numbers were intercepted by a hacker, they would be useless beyond the one-time payment.


And even if your phone is lost or stolen, a thief couldn’t do anything without your PIN. And you can remotely shut down your NFC capabilities via RFinity. It’s enough to make me wish I could throw out all my credit cards right now. “Today’s identification and transaction systems are based on what? A magnetic strip on the back of a card, based on a 1950’s technology that relies on a base station to read the information embedded as a series of simple magnetic markers in plastic tape,” writes Josh Jones-Dilworth, who is working with the company to bring them to market.


Again, NFC as a technology is great and potentially game-changing. But the software is still needed to make it actually work. And some of the big guys began realizing that early on as companies like PayPal, Bank of America, and even Subway have been testing out different things with RFinity for some time. In fact, RFinity has actually been doing field tests of the software end of their technology since 2009 in places like Idaho, well before most people in the U.S. had ever thought about NFC.


But now people are starting to care. And soon, they could be caring a lot more. NFC is already built-in to Google’s new Nexus S device — and the company has put out a call for developers to start using the tech. Rumors have the next iteration of the iPhone gaining the technology as well. In other words, I suspect we may be seeing acquisition rumors starting to fly around RFinity in about six months or so. Provided their technology proves up to the NFC challenge, of course.



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Thursday, February 17, 2011

web site promotion internet marketing

SEO in the niche of web hosting and domain name registration


In this article we`ll try to generalize our practices in promotion of companies that provide web hosting and domain registration services.


We will talk about such questions:



  • Analysis of hosting / domain name registration market and finding potentially advantageous promotion directions;

  • Features of keywords selection in the conditions of SEO-pressure

  • Definition of promotion strategy

  • Methods of getting links

  • Features of different queries groups conversion depending on geography

  • Typical problems that interfere sites conversion and ways of their solution


Market analysis and competitive researches. Finding potentially advantageous promotion directions


First of all, it is necessary to note that a large traffic in the niche of web hosting is deceptive. If you look at Google AdWords Keyword Tool data you will find out the following picture:



In fact, there are about 400-500 visits from the 8th– 9th place for a query “hosting” per month. It`s necessary to consider this and other points while planning hosting project promotion, because information about a large amount of queries in the Google AdWords Keyword Tool is “stuffed” with endless positions checks. As the market of hosting projects and domain name registrars is extremely competitive, you have a great chance to invest money, work and time in promotion of such queries that are stuffed and do not bring traffic and sales, and after all you can incur losses and even remain disappointed in the search promotion at all. The same can be said about domain name registration.



In fact, there are about 500-600 visits from the 5th – 6th place for a query “domain” per month.


That`s why, in our opinion, it`s better to begin promotion of hosting project or domain name registrar with finding active competitors in the search marketing niche and define their strategies.  For this purpose we can recommend a wonderful tool – SemRush.


So, we need to find competitor sites in our niche, which are actively engaged in the Internet marketing. We just type highly competitive query corresponding to the topic in SemRush and find sites that are ranked well for it:



Now we need to make cleaning, i.e., remove irrelevant sites from the list. In this case, obviously, Wikipedia must be removed from the list. After checking a few queries important for you in the same way, we will receive a “crossed” list of sites. Sites from this list have good rankings for many queries in this subject, so they should be examined primarily.


Lets take a site hostgator.com as an example:



The example shows that, firstly, the number of search queries for which the site “hostgator” is shown has an explicit trend to growth. It reflects the efforts made by the owners of this project to increase its visibility in search engines.



After selection of queries that bring maximum traffic to the project according to SemRush, we get an approximate keywords list which can be used to start promotion.


Making the list of necessary keywords, let’s see whether it is a good idea for us to «meddle into a fight» for these keywords. You should consider such factor, as SEO-pressure, for this purpose.


Features of keywords selection in the conditions of SEO-pressure


You can use different tools to estimate a competition for the selected query. A plug-in for FireFox called SeoQuake is one of convenient free instruments.


Let’s type a relevant query interesting for us, e.g., business hosting:



You can see that some strong sites are present in SERP, and some of them have got from several hundreds thousand to millions of backlinks and even more. The competition in SERPs is about to be really strong, so I would like to repeat: you should select a semantic core very carefully. Moreover, there are sometimes artifacts in SERPs, and learning them is possible only from experience. Let’s take the query “ecommerce hosting”. This query is high frequency in subtopic «hosting for ecommerce sites», it has about 12 thousand searches per month in exact match worldwide:



We can see that the trends of search don’t show any sudden jumps or drops.



The target audience for these queries is in the U.S. and UK – the most creditworthy regions in general. However, traffic for such query from the American Google Top5 – Top6 is about 1-3 persons a day, with natural drops on weekends; it gives us about 40 people a month. A conversion rate for these queries is extremely low. Of course, promotion for this queries is acceptable only with the purposes of improving positioning and brand awareness, but as for sales it isn`t effective.


Let`s take a query “reseller web hosting” which has next data from Google KeyWord Tool worldwide, for comparison:




The query brings twice more traffic from the 4th-5th places having twice smaller amount of searches in exact match according to Google KeyWord Tool! Conversion rate of this query is also quite high. At that, Google Insights give the following data:



At the same time the great part of traffic and transactions comes from the U.S. and UK users despite of the fact that the site holds comparable positions also in Google.co.in.


All of these patterns are also true for domain name registrars.


It’s impossible to know this information without experience in promoting a site for such queries or without trying PPC advertising in exact match. There are a lot of keywords like these, so you should constantly monitor all queries in the aggregate estimating of the effectiveness of each one.


You can also “pull out” perspective keywords making the analysis of the backlinks text anchor to sites of competitors who are actively engaged in search marketing. You can use special tools, for example, CS Yazzle or SEO SpyGlass by LinkAssistant, either manually using Yahoo! Site Explorer.



To estimate a real traffic on a query you may also try PPC in exact match.


The following method can be used to estimate keywords efficiency. The initial necessary data is:



  • Position for a keyword;

  • Traffic on it;

  • Estimated number of searches from Google Keyword Tool in the exact and phrase match for the world and top regions;

  • Quantity of page views;

  • Time spent on a site;

  • Bounce rate;

  • Conversion rate.


Microsoft Excel counts a parity of all these factors with the help of formulas and allows realizing efficiency/inefficiency of each keyword visually.



Perspective traffic, quantity of searches per month (data of Google AdwordsKeywordTool) and conversion data for each query are marked with green color. Indicators exceeded the average indicators for the site to the worse are marked with red (bounce rate, number of pages reviews).The percent of conversion which vastly differs to better from the average indicator for the site is marked with yellow color in the last column (Conversion rate).


Using this technique allows tracking the most convertible requests and receiving greater outcome from a client’s site.


Selection of promotion strategy


Based on our experience in promotion of projects in the niche of hosting and domain names registration we can say that the most high-frequency, convertible and competitive queries are in these topics exactly.


Shared vs VPS vs Dedicated


If to compare an earning power of dedicated servers sale (VPS) and earning power of shared hosting sale you will come to the conclusion that in general virtual (Shared) hosting sale is more profitable: one dedicated server sale brings around 200$ of income, at the same time sale of the same server “cutted” on virtual (Shared) hosting allows to earn much more (~100×5$), even with the consideration of the increasing load on a support.


However, traffic in Shared hosting subtopic is much less than in dedicated server subtopic. People interested in such things, according to our observations, come by queries like “cheap hosting”, “cheap web hosting”, and the quantity of such searches is very small because Godaddy and Hostgator take away the lion’s share of these customers, mainly due to type-in traffic.


In this case, it seems to be a good decision to perform promotion in the VPS and Dedicated sector.


Many companies, apparently, have come to the same conclusion: promotion for queries of “shared” group is much easier, than for queries related to dedicated servers.


Specialized kinds of hosting


As we have noted above, low-frequency traffic brings rather small part in general traffic and conversion; therefore, in our opinion, it`s better to begin promotion for high-frequency keywords with addition low – and mid-frequency keywords, which give a great bulk of sales and target traffic on a site. However, if your hosting site sells “exotic ” types of hosting, such as hosting with support of Zen Cart or Django, then such low-frequency, long-tail keywords can justify themself at the initial stages of promotion.


A cost of their promotion to the Top-10 is small, and similar “exotic hosting” is usually searched by people who understand the subject well and thus type long queries in search bars.


Eventually, when the site starts to rank well for competitive queries, it makes sense to “collect” low-frequency “long tail” of queries in subjects, not to miss this small piece of the market.


Also I would like to notice that promotion for keywords like “hosting” and “web hosting” is extremely difficult process due to high competition (though these keywords begin to “sell” beginning from top-20!)


Methods of getting links


The basis of search optimization are at the moment:



  • keyword research;

  • texts and meta tags optimization according to the keywords;

  • adding backlinks with correct “anchors” (with right reference texts).


As we have already noted, hosting sites have a large number of backlinks. How do they receive so many backlinks? This is obvious, that reviews and comments at forums will never help to collect tens thousands of links. Four main methods used in this theme should be picked out. Some of them are typical for other niches and some of them have unusual “boom” exactly in hosting and domain subjects.



  • Link exchange (the proper way)


  • Links buying (the smart way)

  • Getting links through its own affiliate program.


Conversion of search traffic


Let’s look at the comparative analysis of search traffic conversion in various regions (sample of more than 90.000 sales for “domain names” and more than 2000 sales for the “hosting” market):



When I went into marketing/communications in the 80’s, things were simpler. I spoke 5 languages, which pushed me into this field. What else could I do, be a translator? Not on your life. Not when I could be creative, come up with quantitative studies and research why / how people buy.


It seemed simple, right? You have a product and you have to figure out a way to sell said product. You had magazine ad space, TV commercials, newspapers… every day, everywhere you looked, you’d see some form of advertisement. Eventually, we became desensitized to print and TV marketing – the traditional ways.


The Internet wasn’t used as it is today (although it still had some traction). The World Wide Web was the Wild Wild West. It was a “small” little marketplace, with a minor audience for client product promotion.


And Then Internet Entered the Scene… Fast Forward in Time


Advertising is more sophisticated now… but then, so are consumers. Way back when, we could survey the consumer, create charts, crunch numbers… it was all about data. Anymore, however, you have to understand consumer psychology.


Marketing has gone holistic. Yes, quantitative and qualitative data is still important, but we’re not looking at real numbers anymore. We’re looking at the consumers themselves.


What makes buyers buy? Is it the way a site looks? Does having the sidebar on the left gain a greater response than having the sidebar on the right? Are blue links more “clickable” then, say, green ones? Is “buy” more active than “act”?


What Are the Click Triggers?


With all the Google changes lately, you really have to pay more attention to your site. Of course, if you’re a regular reader, you know I push site attention anyway, no matter what Google’s doing. However, with all the vertical marketing possibilities, you want to make sure you get all the bang for your buck you can from any top listing you get.


So you study the click triggers – those beautiful little differences that cause people to click through: through to your website, through to your buy page, through to your “thank you”. It’s a step-by-step process, and you have to guide them every step of the way.


Ask yourself:



  • Is my content sticky? Does it have good information worth reading?

  • Are my headlines well written? Do they grab readers’ attentions?

  • Do I let others (those who will tell me the truth) read my content before I put it up? Do they like it? Do I listen when they offer suggestions?

  • Is it easy to navigate through my site? Does my site create a pleasant user experience?


Are You Ignoring the Individual?


This is the most serious question, and you need to really give it some thought. If your content completely targets consumers (i.e. all product/service focused) rather than having helpful bits of information, you could be losing out.


You can’t appeal to everyone; not everyone is your target market. You don’t want to get so busy trying to reach everyone that you miss those who might convert. Build your site, images, writing, etc within the context of your specific target, and then experiment.


Experiment….?


Yes, experiment. Human behavior and relevance is a beautiful thing. Being able to associate one with the other will have half your online battle won. However, you can’t just pull knowledge out of the air. You have to be willing to experiment – to test. Plenty of tools are readily available for just this purpose, such as…


Google Website Optimizer


A/B testing is in; guessing is out. If you think you might know why a page isn’t converting, that’s all well and good. However, there’s a difference between thinking you know, and really knowing. With a little A/B testing, you can find out what areas really are the problem and fix them.


Usabilla


Take a screen shot of your page and put it up on Usabilla. Let people know what questions you want them to answer and then send out the link. This little goodie can give you some very valuable insights in terms of layout and design.


4QSurvey


Very nice, very short survey. You can find out why people came to your site, whether they found what they wanted (giving you visitor satisfaction ratings) and get suggestions from them, all in the same program. Again, this is a very useful goodie.


The three above are just a few. There are, literally, tons of usability testing tools out there. Many are free; some cost, but are worth it.


You’re not going to get through today’s marketing world by guessing. You’re not going to make it with traditional marketing tools. You have to be willing to use everything at your disposal; you have to be willing to expand.


What changes have you made to keep up with online marketing and technology?


Post image via BDoughertyAmSchool




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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Making Internet Money



I am looking at a picture snapped this week in Tahrir Square, the now-famous stretch of land in central Cairo where so many hopes and dreams of a new Egypt have been voiced over the last 12 days. In the picture, a young man, maybe 20-years-old, is holding a simple handwritten sign that reads: "Dear Tourists, Don't Leave. We'll Protect You."



It's an arresting image that is already ricocheting around the Internet. And not only because the sign-holder is so young, but because of what it captures: a plea from the next generation to the international community not to abandon their economy. This sign is also a proclamation: we are not going to let our country fail, if you will only trust us.



The simple request begs a question. What moves are the leaders of the Arab nations and their private sector partners making to ensure that these brave citizens will get the support they need? In a world where the global business community is the new consensus-builder and FDI is the modern credibility index, it's time to act.



It is an understatement to say that the Arab World is amidst radical change -- political, economic, and social. We still don't know where the unprecedented popular uprisings started in Tunisia, followed by Egypt, and now posing a risk of the 'domino effect' in Yemen, Sudan, Jordan and possibly even Gulf states, will ultimately lead.



But what I do know, having organized dozens of high-level gatherings in the MENA region including the Middle East Peace Summit in Jordan and multiple summits in Sharm El Sheikh, is that there is an equally unprecedented opportunity right now for the region to come together in an inclusive way to make changes that will have an impact on many generations to follow.



As the demonstrators across the region have shown, the world is impatient for change. There is no more time to think and talk; it is time to act. And the most important question being faced across the Middle East today is not who will lead, or which party will rule -- but how will we survive?



Tourism revenues have bottomed out, with some estimates stating that Egypt has already lost $1 billion in tourism dollars since January 25th, and this represents but one strategic sector. Investors are fearful and hesitant to inject any more money into the market until it demonstrates political and economic stability.



The time is now to bring together all parties that will contribute to the future of the Arab World, including political and business leaders, academics, social scientists, constitutional law specialists, youth leaders and women's groups, as well as the foreign investment community. While it is clear that the Arab World must carve its own path, in this globalized world, it is essential to now involve friends that can help provide support them as they navigate to a new era.



And unlike previous summits, this is not an occasion for speeches and platitudes. It's time for to roll up sleeves, bring in the very best strategic advisors, and create a special fund to back an immediate action plan that supports political reform with the help of great institutions, promotes economic reform based on informed analysis and expertise, and initiates social reforms with the supports of worldwide experts and strategic firms.



The global marketplace needs confidence in the region, and there is still much to believe in. In their DNA, we see a deep reservoir of talent, education, natural resources, and open borders to FDI. But even more -- as the young man in the picture demonstrates -- the people are the greatest asset. There is a global culture present in the Arab world populated by citizens that are worldly, informed, speak perfect English and know what's happening around the world, from Brazil to China.



We have a responsibility to these people. Don't Leave. Come together.



Richard Attias, Chairman of the Columbia University Center on Capitalism and Society and creator of the New York Forum, has spent his career developing some of the most influential gatherings of global leaders in the last 20 years.







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CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.


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What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Heptastic science <b>news</b>

The full list: The Twitter 100 - Its 200 million users share 110 million messages a day - and if ...

CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.


bench craft company me

What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Heptastic science <b>news</b>

The full list: The Twitter 100 - Its 200 million users share 110 million messages a day - and if ...

CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.


bench craft company reviews

What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Heptastic science <b>news</b>

The full list: The Twitter 100 - Its 200 million users share 110 million messages a day - and if ...

CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.


bench craft company reviews

What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Heptastic science <b>news</b>

The full list: The Twitter 100 - Its 200 million users share 110 million messages a day - and if ...

CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.


bench craft company reviews

What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Heptastic science <b>news</b>

The full list: The Twitter 100 - Its 200 million users share 110 million messages a day - and if ...

CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.


bench craft company me

What Apple&#39;s new subscription policy means for <b>news</b>: new rules <b>...</b>

That means news organizations will be incentivized to convert customers they already have relationships with — a.k.a. print subscribers — into tablet-only or tablet-also readers. If you're a newspaper and you can convince your 20-year ...

Heptastic science <b>news</b>

The full list: The Twitter 100 - Its 200 million users share 110 million messages a day - and if ...

CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

















Friday, February 11, 2011

foreclosure investing

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DC Fawcett Forclosure Investing by DC Fawcett Short Sales


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Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/11/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.

Former Employee Call Fox <b>News</b> A &quot;Propaganda Outfit&quot; | <b>News</b> One

A former Fox News employees has sat down with Media Matters and revealed what many have been thought to be true for years, that Fox News is a partisan driven propaganda outfit.


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DC Fawcett Forclosure Investing by DC Fawcett Short Sales


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Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/11/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.

Former Employee Call Fox <b>News</b> A &quot;Propaganda Outfit&quot; | <b>News</b> One

A former Fox News employees has sat down with Media Matters and revealed what many have been thought to be true for years, that Fox News is a partisan driven propaganda outfit.


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Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/11/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.

Former Employee Call Fox <b>News</b> A &quot;Propaganda Outfit&quot; | <b>News</b> One

A former Fox News employees has sat down with Media Matters and revealed what many have been thought to be true for years, that Fox News is a partisan driven propaganda outfit.


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Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/11/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.

Former Employee Call Fox <b>News</b> A &quot;Propaganda Outfit&quot; | <b>News</b> One

A former Fox News employees has sat down with Media Matters and revealed what many have been thought to be true for years, that Fox News is a partisan driven propaganda outfit.


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DC Fawcett Forclosure Investing by DC Fawcett Short Sales


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bench craft company

Nokia and Microsoft form mobile partnership | <b>News</b>

Nokia and Microsoft have announced plans to form a partnership in the mobile space that the companies hope will help it c...

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks - 2/11/11 - Mile High Report

Horse Tracks -- Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee.

Former Employee Call Fox <b>News</b> A &quot;Propaganda Outfit&quot; | <b>News</b> One

A former Fox News employees has sat down with Media Matters and revealed what many have been thought to be true for years, that Fox News is a partisan driven propaganda outfit.


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It is no surprise that with the wide spread failure of the housing market and the collapse of the economy that followed, there are still people who stand to make a fortune in real estate investing by taking advantage of the properties that have been foreclosed upon. There are, however, some things you should keep in mind if you are going to make the leap in to foreclosure investing, especially if you have never really done much real estate investing to begin with. If you are new to the real estate investing market, it is highly advised that you really do your homework when it comes to foreclosure investing because with all the legal aspects involved of a foreclosed property, it can really end up negatively if you are not careful in how you approach the investment and you could find yourself without any more investment capital to spare.

There are 3 different ways foreclosure investing can take shape, each as distinct as the difference between night and day. You can purchase pre-foreclosures -- this is when a home owner has been given notice that foreclosure proceedings are beginning because they have missed 3 or more payments and the proper documents have been filed with the proper city (or county) department; you can purchase a ta foreclosure auction -- this is a good way to pick up properties, but keep in mind that homes sold during a foreclosure auction are sold "as-is" and often require quite a bit of repair before they can be inhabited again, plus you will need to have quick access to the funds for the property upon close of auction; and then there are homes that have gone through the foreclosure process and could not be sold at auction, these are bank owned properties. Bank owned properties are often in the worst state of repair out of all the foreclosure types because often times the previous homeowners will lash out at their misfortune by destroying part of the home, but bank owned properties might be the easiest to negotiate in foreclosure investing because banks are not in the business to own homes and they usually want them off their books.

You should not be dissuaded by the hard work it will take to participate in foreclosure investing because by doing things right and by doing your homework at the onset, you stand to gain some good properties for not a lot of money that you can then fix and turn in to quite a considerable profit.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Whos Making Money



Heard, or read, not long ago someone (frmr congresscritter? Brain blank) saying they thought part of the super-partisan hatefulness on Capitol Hill today, compared to say 15 – 20 yrs ago, was that most no longer bring their families with them. Instead they travel home every weekend (also to campaign/raise money/see constituents) and are not around to socialize with each other, therefore never really get to know people in other party. When they had more social contact evenings and weekends, they were less likely to demonize the “other” side the way they do today.


So, living in office because they’re maintaining the family back home, instead of selling the district home and buying/renting in DC, bringing the family and settling them in. Even on $200k, at DC prices, handling 2 mortgages could be difficult.


Not saying I approve; when I took my job in rural Okla and noticed the shiny new (renovated storefront) office had a shower, I had a bad feeling about expectations… As it happened, we opened at height of gas patch boom of the early ’80′s, housing was tought to find, and our new paralegal (we were all new, it was a newly opened office) did live there several weeks til she found an affordable place.



Editor’s note: Guest author Chris Yeh is an independent angel investor and VP of Marketing for PBworks, one of his investments. He has been involved with Internet startups since 1995. His Twitter handle is @chrisyeh.


Update: This post originally referred to DST as the investor in Start Fund when it actually is Yuri Milner personally investing, along with Ron Conway’s fund SV Angel.


Update II: This has been corrected below.


The big news this morning is Yuri Milner’s announcement that he and Ron Conway will be investing $150,000 in *every* Y Combinator startup on a no-discount, no-cap convertible loan.


Many people have already weighed in with instant reactions—”It’s a bubble!” “It’s the greatest thing to happen to the US economy!” As usual, these off-the-cuff reactions focus on a single part of the story, rather than looking at the big picture.


Let’s walk through the news, step-by-step, and see what it really means. Ultimately, my take is that it’s good for Y Combinator and Milner, but bad for the rest of Silicon Valley.


1) “Yuri is a fool who believes he can sell to a greater fool.”


Many people mocked DST when it began investing in companies like Facebook at “outlandish” valuations. DST invested in Facebook at a $10 billion valuation; with the valuation now above $50 billion, I’d say Yuri is having the last laugh (for now).


If Milner is investing in YC companies on these terms, it’s because Milner believes it can make money on these terms (more on this later).


2) “I can’t believe all the money going into YC’s dipshit companies.”


Once upon a time, Y Combinator’s companies were features masquerading as companies. But anyone who still thinks that isn’t paying attention. The quality of YC companies has risen considerably; the companies graduating from YC these days are much more polished and accomplished. And with monster successes like Dropbox and AirBnB (along with Heroku’s exit), YC’s company quality is looking better and better.


3) “Finally, someone who’s willing to take risks, unlike today’s pantywaist angels and VCs!”


Now we’re getting to something more substantive. There seems to be a feeling among entrepreneurs that investors are no longer willing to take risks, and that no one is willing to invest in ideas any more. My response to that is simple—if startups are really so low-risk, why is it that only a tiny fraction of the companies that do get funded (which are presumably “no-brainer” investments for all the cautious VCs) actually return any money to investors?


Of course I try to invest in companies that I expect to be “sure things,” but I also know that history predicts that at least 60% of my investments are going to be complete financial failures. The reason Milner is willing to take on such risk is simple—in addition to the actual investment, it’s also buying option value.


Option value is what makes the VC system work—by investing in stages, investors are able to abandon companies that don’t look likely to succeed. This is why startups are so much more effective than big companies at innovation—a big company’s internal politics make it difficult to try lots of things that will probably fail. Milner has additional option value available to them that traditional angels do not because of its ability to invest at later stages. By investing in the seed round, Yuri – and DST – gets the inside track on any future financings.


Let’s say that I was lucky enough to invest in Facebook’s seed round (I wasn’t). As the company raised further rounds of funding at $100 million and $10 billion valuations, I would have to come up with increasingly large checks to maintain my ownership position. Buying 0.1% of the company is pretty easy at a $5 million valuation (that’s just $5,000). It gets harder at $100 million ($100,000) and $10 billion ($10,000,000).


For Milner, however, investing a few million in YC companies is well worth it if it gives him the inside track to do a $100 million expansion round in the future. Moreover, is Milner really making it easier for entrepreneurs to raise money? I was not under the impression that YC grads were having difficulties raising money. It’s not like Milner is giving $150K to anyone who asks—the investment is reserved for companies which pass YC’s rigorous screening process.


4) Okay, Mr. Smarty-Pants, why is this bad for Silicon Valley then?


In the TechCrunch comments, Ted Rheingold of Dogster fame says simply, “This is not going to be healthy for the ecosystem.” I think he’s right, but the reasons he’s right are subtle. Allow me to explain.


a) Independent angel investors need to be able to invest at reasonable valuations.


As I explained in (3) above, folks like me need to be able to invest at reasonable valuations. That means either priced rounds or convertibles with valuation caps, and seed round valuations of $1-3 million. We don’t have the money to stay in the game with the VCs and DSTs of the world, so if seed funding shifted to a model of no-cap convertibles, we would be priced out of the ecosystem.


In today’s environment, many companies skip straight from a seed round to $20 million+ valuations, and angels simply won’t get rewarded for the extra risk they assume without priced rounds or caps.


b) The Milner/YC partnership could end up upsetting this delicate balance


As I’ve argued in the past, angel investing is a fragmented game. No one has enough power to collude on valuations. However, someone who is influential enough can influence what is and isn’t considered “standard.”


Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a convertible note with a cap. There were convertible notes, and there were priced rounds, and nothing in between. Then a few years ago, a number of prominent players in the ecosystem (YC included) began pushing the concept of a capped convertible. Today, even though there are plenty of angels who despise any kind of convertible note, capped or not, the capped convertible is pretty much the standard seed financing instrument.


Now imagine the impact of YC, the most influential incubator, standardizing on uncapped, no-discount convertibles. It’s not difficult to envision a scenario in which the entire industry moves in this direction. The problem is that this shift eliminates the incentive for independent angels to participate in the ecosystem.


Angels play an important part in the ecosystem because we are willing to take on more risk than the VCs. Some of that is non-economic behavior, but some of that is also due to the fact that we get compensated for that risk-taking with much lower valuations. Eliminating that compensation will surely reduce the number of independent angel investments.


The irony is that the Milner/YC deal didn’t have to cause problems for independent angel investors. If Milner committed to providing $150K to every YC company, at whatever terms were determined by the lead investor in the syndicate, he wouldn’t be pricing the angels out of the ecosystem.


c) Removing independent angel investors from the ecosystem is a bad idea


Naturally, angels like me will be upset about getting shut out of the ecosystem, but why is that bad for Silicon Valley? After all, between YC, TechStars, the Founders Institute, and all the other incubators and quasi-incubators, who needs us? Let the incubators pick the winners, and let the DSTs fund them.


The problem is that the chaotic, fragmented, Darwinian nature of Silicon Valley is an integral part of what makes it great. We need those random mutations to generate innovation, especially breakthrough innovation.


If we concentrate the decision-making on who does and doesn’t get funding in the hands of a small number of institutions, we hurt Silicon Valley as a whole, no matter how smart those institutions are.


I tell many people that Paul Graham is a genius. He saw the opportunity to start YC, and he’s done the Valley a huge favor by broadening the pool of company founders. But I don’t want Paul to be one of a small group of people who decides which companies get funding—not because he isn’t smart (he is) or a great guy (he is). When it comes to innovation, central decision-making is bad, no matter how good the decision-makers are.


For all our flaws, independent angels serve the important role of enabling the “genetic diversity” of the startup population. That diversity is at the heart of Silicon Valley’s success, and that’s something we don’t want to lose.






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BOOM! NBC Nightly <b>News</b> Posts Highest Ratings In 6 Years

NBC's coverage came out 1.471 million viewers ahead of ABC "World News" and 3.944 million viewers ahead of CBS "Evening News" -- which isn't that much of a surprise, considering "Nightly News" has come out ahead of those two for the ...

CBS <b>News</b> Restructures Management Team : TVBizwire : TVWeek <b>...</b>

CBS announced a number of changes today among the top management team for CBS News, with Jeff Fager taking over as chairman of the division, a newly created position. The company is also bringing in a new face, David Rhodes, ...

OFWs claim jail beatings - Arab <b>News</b>

Monterona told Arab News in an email that he has received several messages from jailed OFWs asking for assistance. One such message was from Farouq Hadji Malik Bayabao, who claimed that he and his fellow inmates had been heavily beaten ...


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Heard, or read, not long ago someone (frmr congresscritter? Brain blank) saying they thought part of the super-partisan hatefulness on Capitol Hill today, compared to say 15 – 20 yrs ago, was that most no longer bring their families with them. Instead they travel home every weekend (also to campaign/raise money/see constituents) and are not around to socialize with each other, therefore never really get to know people in other party. When they had more social contact evenings and weekends, they were less likely to demonize the “other” side the way they do today.


So, living in office because they’re maintaining the family back home, instead of selling the district home and buying/renting in DC, bringing the family and settling them in. Even on $200k, at DC prices, handling 2 mortgages could be difficult.


Not saying I approve; when I took my job in rural Okla and noticed the shiny new (renovated storefront) office had a shower, I had a bad feeling about expectations… As it happened, we opened at height of gas patch boom of the early ’80′s, housing was tought to find, and our new paralegal (we were all new, it was a newly opened office) did live there several weeks til she found an affordable place.



Editor’s note: Guest author Chris Yeh is an independent angel investor and VP of Marketing for PBworks, one of his investments. He has been involved with Internet startups since 1995. His Twitter handle is @chrisyeh.


Update: This post originally referred to DST as the investor in Start Fund when it actually is Yuri Milner personally investing, along with Ron Conway’s fund SV Angel.


Update II: This has been corrected below.


The big news this morning is Yuri Milner’s announcement that he and Ron Conway will be investing $150,000 in *every* Y Combinator startup on a no-discount, no-cap convertible loan.


Many people have already weighed in with instant reactions—”It’s a bubble!” “It’s the greatest thing to happen to the US economy!” As usual, these off-the-cuff reactions focus on a single part of the story, rather than looking at the big picture.


Let’s walk through the news, step-by-step, and see what it really means. Ultimately, my take is that it’s good for Y Combinator and Milner, but bad for the rest of Silicon Valley.


1) “Yuri is a fool who believes he can sell to a greater fool.”


Many people mocked DST when it began investing in companies like Facebook at “outlandish” valuations. DST invested in Facebook at a $10 billion valuation; with the valuation now above $50 billion, I’d say Yuri is having the last laugh (for now).


If Milner is investing in YC companies on these terms, it’s because Milner believes it can make money on these terms (more on this later).


2) “I can’t believe all the money going into YC’s dipshit companies.”


Once upon a time, Y Combinator’s companies were features masquerading as companies. But anyone who still thinks that isn’t paying attention. The quality of YC companies has risen considerably; the companies graduating from YC these days are much more polished and accomplished. And with monster successes like Dropbox and AirBnB (along with Heroku’s exit), YC’s company quality is looking better and better.


3) “Finally, someone who’s willing to take risks, unlike today’s pantywaist angels and VCs!”


Now we’re getting to something more substantive. There seems to be a feeling among entrepreneurs that investors are no longer willing to take risks, and that no one is willing to invest in ideas any more. My response to that is simple—if startups are really so low-risk, why is it that only a tiny fraction of the companies that do get funded (which are presumably “no-brainer” investments for all the cautious VCs) actually return any money to investors?


Of course I try to invest in companies that I expect to be “sure things,” but I also know that history predicts that at least 60% of my investments are going to be complete financial failures. The reason Milner is willing to take on such risk is simple—in addition to the actual investment, it’s also buying option value.


Option value is what makes the VC system work—by investing in stages, investors are able to abandon companies that don’t look likely to succeed. This is why startups are so much more effective than big companies at innovation—a big company’s internal politics make it difficult to try lots of things that will probably fail. Milner has additional option value available to them that traditional angels do not because of its ability to invest at later stages. By investing in the seed round, Yuri – and DST – gets the inside track on any future financings.


Let’s say that I was lucky enough to invest in Facebook’s seed round (I wasn’t). As the company raised further rounds of funding at $100 million and $10 billion valuations, I would have to come up with increasingly large checks to maintain my ownership position. Buying 0.1% of the company is pretty easy at a $5 million valuation (that’s just $5,000). It gets harder at $100 million ($100,000) and $10 billion ($10,000,000).


For Milner, however, investing a few million in YC companies is well worth it if it gives him the inside track to do a $100 million expansion round in the future. Moreover, is Milner really making it easier for entrepreneurs to raise money? I was not under the impression that YC grads were having difficulties raising money. It’s not like Milner is giving $150K to anyone who asks—the investment is reserved for companies which pass YC’s rigorous screening process.


4) Okay, Mr. Smarty-Pants, why is this bad for Silicon Valley then?


In the TechCrunch comments, Ted Rheingold of Dogster fame says simply, “This is not going to be healthy for the ecosystem.” I think he’s right, but the reasons he’s right are subtle. Allow me to explain.


a) Independent angel investors need to be able to invest at reasonable valuations.


As I explained in (3) above, folks like me need to be able to invest at reasonable valuations. That means either priced rounds or convertibles with valuation caps, and seed round valuations of $1-3 million. We don’t have the money to stay in the game with the VCs and DSTs of the world, so if seed funding shifted to a model of no-cap convertibles, we would be priced out of the ecosystem.


In today’s environment, many companies skip straight from a seed round to $20 million+ valuations, and angels simply won’t get rewarded for the extra risk they assume without priced rounds or caps.


b) The Milner/YC partnership could end up upsetting this delicate balance


As I’ve argued in the past, angel investing is a fragmented game. No one has enough power to collude on valuations. However, someone who is influential enough can influence what is and isn’t considered “standard.”


Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a convertible note with a cap. There were convertible notes, and there were priced rounds, and nothing in between. Then a few years ago, a number of prominent players in the ecosystem (YC included) began pushing the concept of a capped convertible. Today, even though there are plenty of angels who despise any kind of convertible note, capped or not, the capped convertible is pretty much the standard seed financing instrument.


Now imagine the impact of YC, the most influential incubator, standardizing on uncapped, no-discount convertibles. It’s not difficult to envision a scenario in which the entire industry moves in this direction. The problem is that this shift eliminates the incentive for independent angels to participate in the ecosystem.


Angels play an important part in the ecosystem because we are willing to take on more risk than the VCs. Some of that is non-economic behavior, but some of that is also due to the fact that we get compensated for that risk-taking with much lower valuations. Eliminating that compensation will surely reduce the number of independent angel investments.


The irony is that the Milner/YC deal didn’t have to cause problems for independent angel investors. If Milner committed to providing $150K to every YC company, at whatever terms were determined by the lead investor in the syndicate, he wouldn’t be pricing the angels out of the ecosystem.


c) Removing independent angel investors from the ecosystem is a bad idea


Naturally, angels like me will be upset about getting shut out of the ecosystem, but why is that bad for Silicon Valley? After all, between YC, TechStars, the Founders Institute, and all the other incubators and quasi-incubators, who needs us? Let the incubators pick the winners, and let the DSTs fund them.


The problem is that the chaotic, fragmented, Darwinian nature of Silicon Valley is an integral part of what makes it great. We need those random mutations to generate innovation, especially breakthrough innovation.


If we concentrate the decision-making on who does and doesn’t get funding in the hands of a small number of institutions, we hurt Silicon Valley as a whole, no matter how smart those institutions are.


I tell many people that Paul Graham is a genius. He saw the opportunity to start YC, and he’s done the Valley a huge favor by broadening the pool of company founders. But I don’t want Paul to be one of a small group of people who decides which companies get funding—not because he isn’t smart (he is) or a great guy (he is). When it comes to innovation, central decision-making is bad, no matter how good the decision-makers are.


For all our flaws, independent angels serve the important role of enabling the “genetic diversity” of the startup population. That diversity is at the heart of Silicon Valley’s success, and that’s something we don’t want to lose.






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BOOM! NBC Nightly <b>News</b> Posts Highest Ratings In 6 Years

NBC's coverage came out 1.471 million viewers ahead of ABC "World News" and 3.944 million viewers ahead of CBS "Evening News" -- which isn't that much of a surprise, considering "Nightly News" has come out ahead of those two for the ...

CBS <b>News</b> Restructures Management Team : TVBizwire : TVWeek <b>...</b>

CBS announced a number of changes today among the top management team for CBS News, with Jeff Fager taking over as chairman of the division, a newly created position. The company is also bringing in a new face, David Rhodes, ...

OFWs claim jail beatings - Arab <b>News</b>

Monterona told Arab News in an email that he has received several messages from jailed OFWs asking for assistance. One such message was from Farouq Hadji Malik Bayabao, who claimed that he and his fellow inmates had been heavily beaten ...


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[reefeed]
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top then ideas to make money in our sleep by jimmydan


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BOOM! NBC Nightly <b>News</b> Posts Highest Ratings In 6 Years

NBC's coverage came out 1.471 million viewers ahead of ABC "World News" and 3.944 million viewers ahead of CBS "Evening News" -- which isn't that much of a surprise, considering "Nightly News" has come out ahead of those two for the ...

CBS <b>News</b> Restructures Management Team : TVBizwire : TVWeek <b>...</b>

CBS announced a number of changes today among the top management team for CBS News, with Jeff Fager taking over as chairman of the division, a newly created position. The company is also bringing in a new face, David Rhodes, ...

OFWs claim jail beatings - Arab <b>News</b>

Monterona told Arab News in an email that he has received several messages from jailed OFWs asking for assistance. One such message was from Farouq Hadji Malik Bayabao, who claimed that he and his fellow inmates had been heavily beaten ...


bench craft company


Heard, or read, not long ago someone (frmr congresscritter? Brain blank) saying they thought part of the super-partisan hatefulness on Capitol Hill today, compared to say 15 – 20 yrs ago, was that most no longer bring their families with them. Instead they travel home every weekend (also to campaign/raise money/see constituents) and are not around to socialize with each other, therefore never really get to know people in other party. When they had more social contact evenings and weekends, they were less likely to demonize the “other” side the way they do today.


So, living in office because they’re maintaining the family back home, instead of selling the district home and buying/renting in DC, bringing the family and settling them in. Even on $200k, at DC prices, handling 2 mortgages could be difficult.


Not saying I approve; when I took my job in rural Okla and noticed the shiny new (renovated storefront) office had a shower, I had a bad feeling about expectations… As it happened, we opened at height of gas patch boom of the early ’80′s, housing was tought to find, and our new paralegal (we were all new, it was a newly opened office) did live there several weeks til she found an affordable place.



Editor’s note: Guest author Chris Yeh is an independent angel investor and VP of Marketing for PBworks, one of his investments. He has been involved with Internet startups since 1995. His Twitter handle is @chrisyeh.


Update: This post originally referred to DST as the investor in Start Fund when it actually is Yuri Milner personally investing, along with Ron Conway’s fund SV Angel.


Update II: This has been corrected below.


The big news this morning is Yuri Milner’s announcement that he and Ron Conway will be investing $150,000 in *every* Y Combinator startup on a no-discount, no-cap convertible loan.


Many people have already weighed in with instant reactions—”It’s a bubble!” “It’s the greatest thing to happen to the US economy!” As usual, these off-the-cuff reactions focus on a single part of the story, rather than looking at the big picture.


Let’s walk through the news, step-by-step, and see what it really means. Ultimately, my take is that it’s good for Y Combinator and Milner, but bad for the rest of Silicon Valley.


1) “Yuri is a fool who believes he can sell to a greater fool.”


Many people mocked DST when it began investing in companies like Facebook at “outlandish” valuations. DST invested in Facebook at a $10 billion valuation; with the valuation now above $50 billion, I’d say Yuri is having the last laugh (for now).


If Milner is investing in YC companies on these terms, it’s because Milner believes it can make money on these terms (more on this later).


2) “I can’t believe all the money going into YC’s dipshit companies.”


Once upon a time, Y Combinator’s companies were features masquerading as companies. But anyone who still thinks that isn’t paying attention. The quality of YC companies has risen considerably; the companies graduating from YC these days are much more polished and accomplished. And with monster successes like Dropbox and AirBnB (along with Heroku’s exit), YC’s company quality is looking better and better.


3) “Finally, someone who’s willing to take risks, unlike today’s pantywaist angels and VCs!”


Now we’re getting to something more substantive. There seems to be a feeling among entrepreneurs that investors are no longer willing to take risks, and that no one is willing to invest in ideas any more. My response to that is simple—if startups are really so low-risk, why is it that only a tiny fraction of the companies that do get funded (which are presumably “no-brainer” investments for all the cautious VCs) actually return any money to investors?


Of course I try to invest in companies that I expect to be “sure things,” but I also know that history predicts that at least 60% of my investments are going to be complete financial failures. The reason Milner is willing to take on such risk is simple—in addition to the actual investment, it’s also buying option value.


Option value is what makes the VC system work—by investing in stages, investors are able to abandon companies that don’t look likely to succeed. This is why startups are so much more effective than big companies at innovation—a big company’s internal politics make it difficult to try lots of things that will probably fail. Milner has additional option value available to them that traditional angels do not because of its ability to invest at later stages. By investing in the seed round, Yuri – and DST – gets the inside track on any future financings.


Let’s say that I was lucky enough to invest in Facebook’s seed round (I wasn’t). As the company raised further rounds of funding at $100 million and $10 billion valuations, I would have to come up with increasingly large checks to maintain my ownership position. Buying 0.1% of the company is pretty easy at a $5 million valuation (that’s just $5,000). It gets harder at $100 million ($100,000) and $10 billion ($10,000,000).


For Milner, however, investing a few million in YC companies is well worth it if it gives him the inside track to do a $100 million expansion round in the future. Moreover, is Milner really making it easier for entrepreneurs to raise money? I was not under the impression that YC grads were having difficulties raising money. It’s not like Milner is giving $150K to anyone who asks—the investment is reserved for companies which pass YC’s rigorous screening process.


4) Okay, Mr. Smarty-Pants, why is this bad for Silicon Valley then?


In the TechCrunch comments, Ted Rheingold of Dogster fame says simply, “This is not going to be healthy for the ecosystem.” I think he’s right, but the reasons he’s right are subtle. Allow me to explain.


a) Independent angel investors need to be able to invest at reasonable valuations.


As I explained in (3) above, folks like me need to be able to invest at reasonable valuations. That means either priced rounds or convertibles with valuation caps, and seed round valuations of $1-3 million. We don’t have the money to stay in the game with the VCs and DSTs of the world, so if seed funding shifted to a model of no-cap convertibles, we would be priced out of the ecosystem.


In today’s environment, many companies skip straight from a seed round to $20 million+ valuations, and angels simply won’t get rewarded for the extra risk they assume without priced rounds or caps.


b) The Milner/YC partnership could end up upsetting this delicate balance


As I’ve argued in the past, angel investing is a fragmented game. No one has enough power to collude on valuations. However, someone who is influential enough can influence what is and isn’t considered “standard.”


Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a convertible note with a cap. There were convertible notes, and there were priced rounds, and nothing in between. Then a few years ago, a number of prominent players in the ecosystem (YC included) began pushing the concept of a capped convertible. Today, even though there are plenty of angels who despise any kind of convertible note, capped or not, the capped convertible is pretty much the standard seed financing instrument.


Now imagine the impact of YC, the most influential incubator, standardizing on uncapped, no-discount convertibles. It’s not difficult to envision a scenario in which the entire industry moves in this direction. The problem is that this shift eliminates the incentive for independent angels to participate in the ecosystem.


Angels play an important part in the ecosystem because we are willing to take on more risk than the VCs. Some of that is non-economic behavior, but some of that is also due to the fact that we get compensated for that risk-taking with much lower valuations. Eliminating that compensation will surely reduce the number of independent angel investments.


The irony is that the Milner/YC deal didn’t have to cause problems for independent angel investors. If Milner committed to providing $150K to every YC company, at whatever terms were determined by the lead investor in the syndicate, he wouldn’t be pricing the angels out of the ecosystem.


c) Removing independent angel investors from the ecosystem is a bad idea


Naturally, angels like me will be upset about getting shut out of the ecosystem, but why is that bad for Silicon Valley? After all, between YC, TechStars, the Founders Institute, and all the other incubators and quasi-incubators, who needs us? Let the incubators pick the winners, and let the DSTs fund them.


The problem is that the chaotic, fragmented, Darwinian nature of Silicon Valley is an integral part of what makes it great. We need those random mutations to generate innovation, especially breakthrough innovation.


If we concentrate the decision-making on who does and doesn’t get funding in the hands of a small number of institutions, we hurt Silicon Valley as a whole, no matter how smart those institutions are.


I tell many people that Paul Graham is a genius. He saw the opportunity to start YC, and he’s done the Valley a huge favor by broadening the pool of company founders. But I don’t want Paul to be one of a small group of people who decides which companies get funding—not because he isn’t smart (he is) or a great guy (he is). When it comes to innovation, central decision-making is bad, no matter how good the decision-makers are.


For all our flaws, independent angels serve the important role of enabling the “genetic diversity” of the startup population. That diversity is at the heart of Silicon Valley’s success, and that’s something we don’t want to lose.






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Somewhere, right now, an elderly woman without enough money for food is spending her entire social security check on lottery tickets hoping for a quick score. If she gets that score she will likely spend her winnings on a fresh stack of tickets and an opportunity for an even bigger win. Down the road at the local burger joint sits a man at a drive through window chugging down a super sized meal and a milkshake. Later he will buy a bottle of diet pills from a late night charlatan and his infomercial medicine show in hopes of losing 40 pounds in a week. Across the street another man is arguing with the gas station attendant about the rising cost of fuel. After making his case he drives off in an SUV big enough to have its own zip code and guzzling enough gas to single handedly have OPEC meet their quarterly earnings estimate.

This is the world in which we live. We want it bigger, better, and faster, common sense be damned.

So when I hear fans griping about the growing steroid problem, blaming everyone from Bud Selig to President Bush, I tell them to put the blame on the shoulders of the people to whom it truly belongs. Ourselves.

From our childhood we are bred to believe that bigger equals better. The main attraction in any children’s museum is the dinosaur exhibit. Our Mom takes us to the circus to see the elephants and our dad takes us to the monster truck races. And from our first taste of baseball we dream of being up in the bottom of the ninth, in a tie game with two out and blasting a monster shot deep into the night sky while the stadium shakes and the fans rain down their adulation upon us.

Sure we can blame the hulked up mega men who blast those rockets, carrying with them our childhood dreams and aspirations, deep into space night after night but is it really their fault entirely? Face it power is profit and it is we fans, through our buying of tickets, t-shirts, magazines and memorabilia that line the pockets of these Goliaths. The players see who makes the big money. They understand that the guy hitting 50 home runs or striking out 300 batters is going to get the endorsement deals and fat contracts.

In the not too distant past hitting 25 home runs and driving in 100 runs made you a power hitter. That simply isn’t enough anymore. Not even close. Unfortunately the human body can only go so far until it reaches its ceiling. Dissatisfied with their physical limitations some players opt to take it up a notch with performance enhancing drugs. So we all shake our heads in disgust and pound our chests about the sanctity of records and the honor of the game. But ask yourself how many needles of liquid death you would inject for $10 million, and the adoration of thousands of screaming fans.

If given the choice who among us, besides Yankee fans, would choose to see highlights of Luis Sojo’s 82 bounce dribbler off of Al Leiter that won the Yankees the 2000 World Series as opposed to Joe Carter smashing a Mitch Williams 2-2 pitch over the left field fence to win the ‘93 Fall Classic.

Baseball players are entertainers and their job is to keep us watching the games. And sacrifice bunts and infield hits don’t keep us glued to the TV set. We are a gluttonous society of power junkies looking for our next fix.

So let’s not blame the Jose Cansecos and Rafael Palmeiros of the baseball world for giving us what we wanted. When balls started flying out of parks in 1998 off the bats of two modern day supermen we filled the stadiums and bought the jerseys. We sat night after night watching Sportscenter highlights of Big Mac and Slammin’ Sammy and we enjoyed every minute of it. We praised them for bringing baseball back to the forefront of American sports. We saw nothing out of the ordinary when we watched a man, who in his first full major league season hit 15 home runs, hit 66 long balls. Each and every one of us turned a blind eye to what was painfully obvious because we were being entertained. Now we want to punish the men we called heroes for the sins we pushed them to commit.

I am not defending what the cheaters have done. They committed a fraud against the game they claim to love. They further instilled in our children the concept of “bigger is better”. And they lied to all of us with straight faces, waving fingers and million dollar smiles. But it was a lie we were all too eager to accept.