Month: December 2009
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Can you hear me NOW?
What about NOW? Ever felt annoyed hearing the person on the subway or at the table next to you say this into their cell phone? Ultimately, talking on cell phones in public places has become a shunned activity, but I’ve always wondered why this is so annoying to us? In pondering this question, I’ve come…
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Rowers and Sailors: Two Types of Startups
More often then not, entrepreneurial enterprises get lumped together as all the same. We speak of entreprenuers which includes people who start restaurants, new retail stores, or web 2.0 companies. While we often recognize the difference between companies that “can scale” (like software) with companies that can not (consultant services, stores, etc), we seldom consider…
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Corporate Welfare and The Motivated Bureaucrat
A related problem to the green fuzz of government debt-based spending, is the nature of accountability in the government. Here is what happens: the government decides to take on a social project, or perhaps is already owning a certain business (as in the case of socialist governments becoming less so). The argument is that government…
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The Green Fuzz on Government Debt
Ever opened a tupperware in the refrigerator and wondered if something was still good. Then decide you weren’t sure you wanted to eat it now, and put it back in case you decide different later. This process gets repeated several times until nature in the form of green fuzz makes the final decision for you.…
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Shibboleth Question
You arrive in a conference room dressed to impress. Sitting across the table is Bob and you’re trying to explain to Bob, someone you’ve never met, why this product would help him. In the middle of the explanation, he interrupts you and says: Yeah, I know all about this field, just skip to the conclusion…
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Changing your Reputation
Crea fama y eschate a dormir Literally, “Create fame and lay down to sleep”. After about 30 minutes of Tea Bog Beet Knee explanations, I finally understood the use of this expression in Spanish and will hopefully be more successful in explaining it here (with fewer words 😀 ). Essentially, once you have created your…
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Frustrating Your Own Goals
When we had a number of guests (19 people in all) over to our home during Thanksgiving this year, I observed a very interesting phenomenon: Our house is made of concrete walls and tile floors. The result is that sound carries quite well. Obviously, with all of the people there were multiple conversations that were…
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Moral Hazard in Startups
If you’ve followed the news regarding the government bailout of large corporations, you’ve probably heard of “Moral Hazard” — a term used to describe that when you mitigate the risk or take away the consequences of bad decisions, those who took the risks to begin with will take even more risks. This concept extends well beyond…