Weekly Reading 12/6

A profile of Sergey Brin | Enlightenment man

“The moment in some ways sums up Mr Brin’s approach to life. Like Mr Page, he has a vision, as Google’s motto puts it, of making all the world’s information “universally accessible and useful”. Very soon after the two cooked up their new engine for web searches, in the late 1990s at Stanford University, they began thinking about information that is today beyond the web. Their vast project to digitise books has been the most controversial so far, prompting a lawsuit from a group of publishers in 2005 that was resolved in October. But Messrs Brin and Page have always taken a special interest in the sort of information that most people hold dearest: that about their health.”

Could VC be a Casualty of the Recession?

“The reason startups no longer depend so much on VCs is one that everyone in the startup business knows by now: it has gotten much cheaper to start a startup. There are four main reasons: Moore’s law has made hardware cheap; open source has made software free; the web has made marketing and distribution free; and more powerful programming languages mean development teams can be smaller. These changes have pushed the cost of starting a startup down into the noise.”

One of the most interesting aspects of Barack Obama’s speeches is the enormous debt they owe to the oratory of the Romans

“Obama uses tricola freely. Here’s an example: “Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy …” In this passage, from the 2004 Democratic convention speech, Obama is also using the technique of “praeteritio” – drawing attention to a subject by not discussing it.”

The high cost of now

“Sometimes, in our quest for the new, we overpay. Most of the time, moving down the curve will decrease your costs dramatically, without hurting your ability to make smart decisions. Alternatively, when you choose to spend the time (or money), leverage it like crazy. I bet you are overspending on now. Not everywhere, just in the wrong areas. Worth an audit, probably.”

How To Spot a Breakthrough: Tips from Early Amazon Investor Nick Hanauer

”As an entrepreneur, I’ve never been concerned about competition. If you’re early, run like hell. It’s all about execution at the end of the day. It’s about having a great idea, executing like hell, and delivering value to customers.”

Real Advice Hurts

“You should and will consume the web however you please, and if scanning lists of tips is a relaxing pastime for you, I’m the last person to begrudge you your fun. But, it’s time to stop pretending that practical expertise at anything can take place in an RSS reader.”

How To Be a 21st Century Capitalist

“But today’s most radical innovators are revolutionary, ironically enough, because they are learning to be genuine capitalists once again – capitalists in the 21st century sense of the word. They are discovering how to create value by growing new resources composed of social, natural, human, and cultural capital. By doing so, they are pumping new blood into capitalism’s failing heart.”

           

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