When you cast a vote you are making an investment. You should vote using a sound process, just as you should use a sound process when investing. Having a sound decision making process means reading a lot and talking to people you trust who have good judgment before making a decision. When it comes to a decision about a particular candidate in an election I would frankly rather read a […]
When I am asked by someone what book they should read first to learn about investing I often suggest Howard Marks’ The Most Important Thing https://www.25iqbooks.com/books/207-the-most-important-thing-illuminated-uncommon-sense-for-the-thoughtful-investor-columbia-business-school-publishing The book does not take too long to read and the points Marks makes are simple and understandable. The Most Important Thing is currently a top five rated book on my book discovery web site https://www.25iqbooks.com/. Warren Buffett has said about this book: “This […]
“I wish there had been a music business 101 course I could have taken.” Kurt Cobain. There are many musicians like Cobain who are thrust into situations without financial help they can trust. Every musician should take a lesson from the comedian and actress Tina Fey: “I came to New York in 1997 to work on Saturday Night Live. I realized I have no head for business. And it […]
If you have been reading this blog for a while you have probably figured out by now that my posts are a scheme on my part to write about topics that interest me in a way that is more interesting for readers. This blog post about Dell founder Michael Dell is no different. I try to work within a 4,000 word count on each blog post. For this post both […]
“[Naval Ravikant] is an entrepreneur and angel investor, a co-author of Venture Hacks, and a co-maintainer of AngelList. Previously he]was a co-founder at Genoa Corp (acquired by Finisar), Epinions.com (IPO via Shopping.com), and Vast.com (white-label classifieds marketplace).” 1. “The cost of starting a company has collapsed.” “As the cost of running a startup experiment is coming down, more experiments are being run.” “Three years ago, companies could for the first […]
After graduating from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School, Michael Bloomberg worked at Salomon Brothers. After he left Salomon Brothers, he started the financial news and information service known as Bloomberg. He was the 108th Mayor of New York City. After leaving City Hall, Michael Bloomberg returned to the company he founded. As is usual for this blog, Bloomberg’s statements are in bold text. 1. “I think if you […]
“William H. Draper, III started his career in venture capital with Draper Gaither & Anderson, the first venture capital firm west of the Mississippi, working there with his father from its creation in 1958 until he left to cofound Draper & Johnson Investment Co. in 1962. Three years later, Draper & Johnson merged with Sutter Hill Ventures to great success. From 1981-1986, Draper served as President and Chairman of the […]
“Andrew S. Grove was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1936. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1960 with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree and received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963. Upon graduation, he joined the Research and Development Laboratory of Fairchild Semiconductor and became Assistant Director of Research and Development in 1967. In July 1968, Grove participated in the […]
I’ve decided to write this blog post about one of the more interesting business stories that has never really been told accurately. The story started for me when I was hired in 1994 to join a company that would become known as Teledesic as the fourth employee. This startup’s mission was to provide communications to the world regardless of location. Early in the process of designing the system […]
“I’m always selling. Always.” “Learn to sell. In business you’re always selling – to your prospects, investors, and employees. To be the best salesperson, put yourself in the shoes of the person to whom you’re selling. Don’t sell your product. Solve their problems.” “No sales, no company.” “Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.” “Treat your […]