The Hogwarts of Silicon Valley

Michael Arrington’s move to these parts has reignited the old debate about what Seattle has to offer as an alternative to Silicon Valley. But the point isn’t just to say what is genuinely different and good about Seattle, but also to figure out what ideas and institutional characteristics we can take from Silicon Valley so we… Read More

Harvard, Goldman, Startup

Roger Ehrenberg just posted an essay about why Harvard students prefer Goldman Sachs to a 15-person startup, which I found via Chris Dixon’s excellent Twitter feed. Roger speculates that “many equate start-up enterprises with uncertainty and fear, and only appropriate for those with massive risk tolerances.” This seems to me like the thinking of someone with… Read More

Shameless in Seattle

My favorite essay published this weekend was Michael Arrington’s post on our increasingly public reputations, and his hopes for increasingly forgiving attitudes about the youthful bong hit or the disgruntled ex-colleague that now inevitably show up on Facebook or Twitter. As I read Mike’s post, I thought about how shame and community are magnified for… Read More

Do the Right Thing

Most technology companies shamelessly value raw brain-power at the expense of social grace, common courtesy or any sense of style. As someone who wore head-gear for his entire adolescence, I’ve embraced this approach. Starting out as an entrepreneur, I once tried to hire an engineer who was so engrossed in the brain-teasers we had given… Read More