Blog Profile / Feld Thoughts
| URL : | http://www.feld.com/blog/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Technology / Internet | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1591 | |
| Posts / Week: | 6 | |
| Archived Since: | April 15, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Patent and Immigration Reform Activities
Two of the public policy things I care about are patent reform and immigration reform. I believe our patent system – especially with regard to software and business method patents – is completely and totally broken. And our immigration system – especially concerning immigrant entrepreneurs – is an embarrassment. There is suddenly a lot of [...]Show More Summary
An Unexpected Night In The Hospital
First things first – we are fine. Amy had an emergency appendectomy last night. She’s recovering extremely well and feeling great, albeit a little sore, this morning. We’ll be going home in a little bit once the doctor gets here. Yesterday was a typical Monday. Yahoo bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion. I went for a [...]Show More Summary
Sometimes Failure Is Your Best Option
This post originally appeared last week in the Wall Street Journal as part of their Accelerators Program in answer to the question “When and how should you wind down a failing business.” Some entrepreneurs and investors subscribe to the creed “failure is not an option.” I’m not one of them. I strongly believe that there [...]Show More Summary
Sources of Depression
As I’m coming out of my depression, I’ve been reflecting on the hundreds of emails I’ve gotten from entrepreneurs, investors, friends, and people I don’t know talking about their own struggles with depression. It’s remarkable how much stigma is associated with depression in our society, which makes the struggle with depression even harder. To all [...]Show More Summary
TechStars Austin – The Newest TechStars Location
I’m excited to join David Cohen and his team in announcing TechStars in Austin. From the TechStars blog: “The Managing Director of TechStars Austin is Jason Seats. Jason is a “techie” and entrepreneur. Rackspace acquired his company Slicehost in 2008 and then made him VP of Engineering. Jason is an active angel investor and has been with TechStars [...]Show More Summary
CU Deming Center of Entrepreneurship Is Hiring A New Director
The Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at CU is looking to hire a new Director. As part of the Leeds School of Business, the Deming Center prepares students across CU’s campus to think like entrepreneurs, act as social innovators and deliver as successful business leaders. It actively engages the community members of Boulder in order to [...]Show More Summary
When The Sun Comes Out
It’s such an immense relief when the oppressive weight of depression begins to lift. While I’ve had a big struggle the past six months, the last few weeks have been better and recently I’ve felt a broad positive shift in how I’m feeling. My metaphor for my depressive episodes has always been that “dark clouds [...]
TechStars Patriot Boot Camp: Calling All Veterans
TechStars Patriot Boot Camp is an intense three-day program that will educate and mentor Veterans and Service Members to innovate, build technology companies, and create jobs. TechStars hopes that participation in the Patriot Boot Camp...Show More Summary
CanDo – The Lavatory Workstation
I’m a big fan of doing stuff while I work. When I created my first treadputer in 2006 it was definitely ahead of it’s time. Today, I enjoy the Walkstation from Steelcase. Recently I’ve been exploring new options and with my friends at Betabrand came up with the idea for CanDo – The Lavatory Workstation. [...]Show More Summary
The Incredible Waste of Food at Events
I was at the annual meeting for one of our LPs yesterday. Promptly at 10am the took away the breakfast buffet. I was getting a new cup of tea at the time and watched them haul off trenchers of food that would easily feed 50 people. I had the same experience the previous two days [...] The post The Incredible Waste of Food at Events appeared first on Feld Thoughts.
The Power of Peer Groups
For the past two days I’ve been at an even called SERGE (Seasoned Entrepreneurs Gathering Exchange). I co-founded it with two long time friends, Martin Babinec (founder of Trinet) and Keith Alper (founder of Creative Producers Group). Martin, Keith and I have known each other since the mid-1990s when we were much younger entrepreneurs playing [...]Show More Summary
Paper Signatures Are Obsolete
I closed a large transaction yesterday without signing a single piece of physical paper. It was painless. The entire negotiation was done using email and DocuSign. I’m doing this at least once a week at this point. Either with DocuSign or EchoSign, the two services that seem to be most popular. I generally hate paper [...]Show More Summary
Book: Playing For Pizza
I needed some mental floss one night in New York last week when I was having trouble sleeping so I read Playing for Pizza: A Novel. My mom had recommended this one – I can’t remember why – but I usually read whatever she recommends. Put it in the “good son” category (although she helped [...] The post Book: Playing For Pizza appeared first on Feld Thoughts.
TechStars London approved for UK Entrepreneurs’ Visa
Last week TechStars London was approved for the UK Entrepreneurs’ Visa. If you are accepted to TechStars London, you now automatically get the UK Entrepreneurs’ Visa. The approval will allow TechStars London teams from outside of the EU to work in the UK for up to three years. After the three years, they can apply to [...]Show More Summary
The Feld Fiberhouse Is Now The Handprint House
The winners of the Feld KC FiberHouse competition, that I’ve done in conjunction with the Kauffman Foundation, is a company called Handprint! Handprint is working on some amazing 3D printing and editing technology. We had plenty of applications for the competition – many of them very interesting – but Handprint really captured our imagination. As [...]Show More Summary
Book: Let Your Life Speak
I did Digital Sabbath #4 yesterday. I spent the day on Coronado with my dad at Lindzonpalooza, the annual retreat put on by Howard Lindzon. We had a nice time hanging out Friday night as people arrived and then spent Saturday morning hearing short pitches from many of the companies Howard has invested in. I [...]
Help Support Immigration Reform In The US
With the immigration debate in Washington heating up, Americans across the country recognize that we need smart and practical solutions to help reform our country’s broken immigration system. Our immigration laws haven’t been significantly...Show More Summary
The Incredible Unevenness of Internet Connectivity
I’m at the The Athenaeum at Caltech which is the alumni club / hotel on Caltech’s campus. I’m on Caltech Guest WiFi and am getting speeds of between 2 and 10 Kbps (e.g. miserably slow). My Verizon phone has one bar and is flickering between 3G and LTE, but is mostly 3G. I have no expectation that [...]Show More Summary
Book: Sabbath
I had Digital Sabbath #3 yesterday. I turned off my phone and computer Friday at sundown and didn’t turn them back on until Sunday morning. I’m starting to enjoy the pattern and had a lot of relief yesterday from the complete disconnect. We had dinner at our house with friends Friday night, Amy and I [...] The post Book: Sabbath appeared first on Feld Thoughts.
TechStars Seattle 2013 Applications Are Now Open
TechStars Seattle applications for year four of the program are now open! The startup community in Seattle is expanding rapidly and TechStars Seattle is right in the middle of it all, located in South Lake Union surrounded by Amazon, Microsoft and tons of other amazing startups. We’ve been investing a lot in Seattle lately beyond TechStars, [...]Show More Summary