Having started a small website, that quickly turned into a medium sized website, that led to mentions in Private Equity Weekly, calls from Turner, speaking engagements, and emails from a couple Investment Banking firms, at what point should a startup seek outside funding vs. trying to bootstrap their way to success? We wanted to carry it as long as we could (we're not losing money, we can afford to run at this level forever), but we have since been equaled (or, in some cases passed) by a dozen or so copycats with big bankrolls funding their marketing and PR.
At this point, it feels like we've missed the boat (though our traffic and membership is higher than ever before), simply because we didn't take on the outside management and marketting expertise that would have come with real funding.
The question, then, is: does there exist a fundamental 'right time' to contact a VC/IB to avoid losing your competitive edge? Or, does it always vary by company?
Zndrew Fire and Craig Mello won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering a way to turn off the effect of very specific genes by using RNA to interfere with cell function, a technique they expect to be able to use to fight cancer.
Political flamewars drive pageviews which increases revenue. It's just like the "Bush Knew" headlines that ran in traditional press - it doesn't have to be true, it just has to make money.
Definitely above the average story, but should be within the grasp of many.
I was only confused until I realized that the Pentagon in the heading was the shape, not the structure/organization. Then it all made much, much more sense.
And Sun is great for servers, engineers, and high end graphic designers / 3D rendering labs / etc.
As long as you don't mean to suggest it for an office or home use, unless you can also suggest a meaningful Windows / Office / Exchange replacement that won't require retraining a few million people.
For years, most operating systems have been designed for 2-4 processors, with some handling more, and others doing better with less (I'm sorry, FreeBSD fans, I use it myself, but let's be honest, SMP was horrible until 5-REL, and it still isn't up there with Linux and *ugh* Microsoft).
With 4 core out this year, and 80 cores out in 5 years, it's time to rethink multiprocessor operating systems. There needs to be a significant change in the locking and threading metaphors, because 4 and 8 way will be obsolete by this time next year.
Most proprietary business on Earth? Most businesses have proprietary information, and it's USUALLY in their best interest (read: their stockholders best interest) to maintain that. At least they're not suing everyone who uses the word 'podcast'.
The only difference I see between typical gun cases and video game cases is the money behind the gun cases coming from the pro-Second Ammendment folks.
Both have deep pockets, but video games have extraordinarily deep pockets. Lots of money, lawyers always figure it's worth a shot when you're dealing with 10 figure industries.
Sad? It'll take about a month for all the users to migrate to one of the dozens of alternative sites that act in the same way and have slightly different features.
Those that want DRM and community support will hit grouper. Those that want porn will hit pornotube. The people who just want to use their webcams and view amateur clips will use vobbo. The ones that want to open license their content will use ourmedia, and the ones that want revenue sharing will use revver.
This has in my experience been proven unfounded with Yahoo, Google, eBay and slashdot as examples. Bring on the ads.
The difference, of course, is that most of YouTube's bandwidth (read: expenses) comes from embedded video players on other sites. The people embedding these videos want the videos - not the ads. Unlike the examples you cite, where ads are placed around content, ads in videos must be placed before, during, or after content - replacing the content for the duration of the ad. This interferes with user experience, which is why it's fundamentally different than Yahoo, Google, eBay, and Slashdot.
First one gets arrested, that's unfortunate for him.
Second one gets arrested - man, how dumb to you have to be to fly through the US when you know you're likely to get arrested? It's not like international flight lists are ignored these days. Passengers that may pass on domestic flights aren't going to escape scrutiny on international (especially incoming) flights.
Being fired through a form letter, or email must be soul destroying.
I thought about this for a few minutes, and I think I disagree. It must be very clear to everyone involved that these were very significant budget issues, not related to talent or skill. The only depressing part would be admitting that you were dumb enough to work for them in the first place. It seems to me that such a firing would be less painful than a direct "You're too dumb to be employed" conversation, or a "We gave you a chance, and you didn't live up to expectionations" letter.
They got screwed. It sucks. But at least it's nothing personal.
Usually drunk with a bunch of 25-30 year guys playing whatever the latest good multiplayer console game is (or good singleplayer game that works well in 'turns' - Burnout Revenge, for example).
Whip up your own using the BartPE live XP cd. I have two copies at work, one with RecoverMyFiles, Scandisk, and RAID repair utilities and another with Spyware and virus scanner apps.
Why would the US Government need to worry about this? It's not like most departments and branches buy all of their PC components manufacturered in China or anything...
Day job involves webhosting - relatively expensive ads as pay-per-click goes. We dropped adsense a while back, and have had no regrets. Many, many more conversions through search.
Slashdot Mirror
Having started a small website, that quickly turned into a medium sized website, that led to mentions in Private Equity Weekly, calls from Turner, speaking engagements, and emails from a couple Investment Banking firms, at what point should a startup seek outside funding vs. trying to bootstrap their way to success? We wanted to carry it as long as we could (we're not losing money, we can afford to run at this level forever), but we have since been equaled (or, in some cases passed) by a dozen or so copycats with big bankrolls funding their marketing and PR.
At this point, it feels like we've missed the boat (though our traffic and membership is higher than ever before), simply because we didn't take on the outside management and marketting expertise that would have come with real funding.
The question, then, is: does there exist a fundamental 'right time' to contact a VC/IB to avoid losing your competitive edge? Or, does it always vary by company?
Sidekick III was over $300 with contract (24months).
$600 is definitely pricey, and those features don't seem to match up favorably with the other high end units out there...
Zndrew Fire and Craig Mello won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering a way to turn off the effect of very specific genes by using RNA to interfere with cell function, a technique they expect to be able to use to fight cancer.
# date && whois CHECKOUTMYVAGINA.COM | grep -i checkout
Sun Oct 1 22:32:40 PDT 2006
No match for domain "CHECKOUTMYVAGINA.COM".
Just a quick reminder - Breast cancer is up 80% over the last 30 years - definitely a worthwhile cause!
Political flamewars drive pageviews which increases revenue. It's just like the " Bush Knew " headlines that ran in traditional press - it doesn't have to be true, it just has to make money.
I wish that were true, but I fear you give far too much credit to public education. Go on, ask a 12th grader. Then cry.
No, it seems much more likely that the editor didn't fully understand it, so they didn't try to edit the incredibly confusing intro text.
Definitely above the average story, but should be within the grasp of many.
I was only confused until I realized that the Pentagon in the heading was the shape, not the structure/organization. Then it all made much, much more sense.
And Sun is great for servers, engineers, and high end graphic designers / 3D rendering labs / etc.
As long as you don't mean to suggest it for an office or home use, unless you can also suggest a meaningful Windows / Office / Exchange replacement that won't require retraining a few million people.
For years, most operating systems have been designed for 2-4 processors, with some handling more, and others doing better with less (I'm sorry, FreeBSD fans, I use it myself, but let's be honest, SMP was horrible until 5-REL, and it still isn't up there with Linux and *ugh* Microsoft).
With 4 core out this year, and 80 cores out in 5 years, it's time to rethink multiprocessor operating systems. There needs to be a significant change in the locking and threading metaphors, because 4 and 8 way will be obsolete by this time next year.
Most proprietary business on Earth? Most businesses have proprietary information, and it's USUALLY in their best interest (read: their stockholders best interest) to maintain that. At least they're not suing everyone who uses the word 'podcast'.
Both have deep pockets, but video games have extraordinarily deep pockets. Lots of money, lawyers always figure it's worth a shot when you're dealing with 10 figure industries.
There's some great videos out there on the various sites. Most of them are just crap, but the classics like George Costanza ("I must be out of I'd pick up the phone") clips are worth the effort to find them.
Sad? It'll take about a month for all the users to migrate to one of the dozens of alternative sites that act in the same way and have slightly different features.
Those that want DRM and community support will hit grouper. Those that want porn will hit pornotube. The people who just want to use their webcams and view amateur clips will use vobbo. The ones that want to open license their content will use ourmedia, and the ones that want revenue sharing will use revver.
Dozens of alternatives, just look at The list.
The difference, of course, is that most of YouTube's bandwidth (read: expenses) comes from embedded video players on other sites. The people embedding these videos want the videos - not the ads. Unlike the examples you cite, where ads are placed around content, ads in videos must be placed before, during, or after content - replacing the content for the duration of the ad. This interferes with user experience, which is why it's fundamentally different than Yahoo, Google, eBay, and Slashdot.
They applied it in the US - if he didn't want to be subject to US laws, all he had to do was not fly into the US. Problem solved.
First one gets arrested, that's unfortunate for him.
Second one gets arrested - man, how dumb to you have to be to fly through the US when you know you're likely to get arrested? It's not like international flight lists are ignored these days. Passengers that may pass on domestic flights aren't going to escape scrutiny on international (especially incoming) flights.
I thought about this for a few minutes, and I think I disagree. It must be very clear to everyone involved that these were very significant budget issues, not related to talent or skill. The only depressing part would be admitting that you were dumb enough to work for them in the first place. It seems to me that such a firing would be less painful than a direct "You're too dumb to be employed" conversation, or a "We gave you a chance, and you didn't live up to expectionations" letter.
They got screwed. It sucks. But at least it's nothing personal.
Usually drunk with a bunch of 25-30 year guys playing whatever the latest good multiplayer console game is (or good singleplayer game that works well in 'turns' - Burnout Revenge, for example).
Whip up your own using the BartPE live XP cd. I have two copies at work, one with RecoverMyFiles, Scandisk, and RAID repair utilities and another with Spyware and virus scanner apps.
done!
Why would the US Government need to worry about this? It's not like most departments and branches buy all of their PC components manufacturered in China or anything...
Oh, wait....
Day job involves webhosting - relatively expensive ads as pay-per-click goes. We dropped adsense a while back, and have had no regrets. Many, many more conversions through search.
Simply put,
The $200-$300 console market is much larger than (the $600 market + the $300BluRay AND $300console) market.
Sony is going to take a hit this round - still not out, they can always catch up in 5 years with the next round...