Here's some stuff lambdaphant has liked. To find more cool stuff, check out Explore »
120 keys, percussion buttons, a mouthpiece, built-in recording, playback and looping, and ability to play samples? Developed over 8 years at a cost of $16.5 million!?
These guys look like gigantic dorks but they are talented as hell. WOW.
This Saturday, July 25th, 2009, the Browseology team is going to start and finish an app from scratch in a single day. We'll come up with some idea in the morning, something decently interesting, and develop it in one day. Completely in one day. Anyone also willing to take a break from their larger big projects for a day of something new? We will put all the apps up to show the world what feats can be accomplished in a single day. Send me a message to let me know you guys are in =)
Start as early as possible, but I would suggest 10:00am PST
All local hackers are welcome to come join us at the office (SF Bay Area)! We will hang out, talk, and code the day away. Once we're done in the evening, we'll head to the local watering holes for some refreshment.
This will be a fun and super casual opportunity to network and meet new people. Let us know.
You should follow us on Twitter here to get updates throughout the day.
I think this image is hilarious.
Money can lead to greater happiness for the person possessing it and those around them, if it is used to buy experiences, not possessions.
This explains why a spoiled rich kid can have all the toys in the world and still be empty inside. Buying stuff is a short term high, but money also lets you experience more too, and that's what matters in the long run. I'd add another aspect to this -- money is needed to let you connect to other people.
Last year, I spent many thousands on pro camera equipment (dSLR, pro lighting gear, top quality lenses and all the accessories). But along the way, I discovered that I absolutely loved capturing the beauty of life in photos. I got to go to concerts for free, get to know party promoters, connect with cool local SF bands, and help them on their road to stardom in some small way with my concert photography. Same with the various models I did promotional shoots with. I got to take photos on editorial assignments with a hip hop magazine Hood Star Magazine, and got to see a side of hip hop and street culture from the inside I would never have seen otherwise.
My first interaction with Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston of Y Combinator was actually through my photos of Startup School. Shortly afterwards, one of my photos appeared on the front page of the Startup School -- with thanks from PG himself. Awesome, I thought. It might well have given us a small push when we applied for YC later that year. When Jessica invites me to an event these days, she makes sure to ask if my camera is coming too. =)
I also learned the wonder that is a great, functioning user-generated content community (Flickr), and it helped Sachin and I every step along the way as we designed Posterous. Flickr addiction taught me the virtuous cycle that can happen when personal creativity gains a very real audience.
So I think the money was well spent. The experiences it purchased altered the very trajectory of my life. It put me in touch with new and awesome creative people, let me express myself in a powerful new medium, and in aggregate I'm happier and more engaged in my life now than ever before.
The next time you're considering whether or not to drop the cash on that new gadget or that trip or whatnot, think about whether it will unlock new avenues. If it will, consider it an experiential investment. Take that path and good thngs will come.
It's very clear to me that these documents were substantially informed by the YC docs' terms but that they were adapted from standard VC documents, and aren't just mere re-wordings of the YC documents. Again, these documents and the YC docs are for the round *after* TS/YC funding. Lastly, I'm just comparing the Term Sheets here (although I've browsed through the legal documents). For my analysis of the YC documents, see my blog post on my old TypePad blog.
Substantively, the instrument is the same as the Series AA Shares in the YC documents: convertible non-participating 1.0x preferred stock at a 1:1 conversion ratio. Both the YC and TS Series AA documents give the Series AA investors rights to participate, on a pro rata basis (to maintain their ownership percentage of the Company after the closing of the Series AA round), in any subsequent financings. However, there are many things in the TechStars documents that aren't in the YC documents.
First, there is a three-member Board of Directors that splits 2/1 founders/Series AA investor representative. There is no mention of the Board composition in the YC AA docs. Second, the TS documents introduce the idea of a "Qualified IPO", which is a standard VC term sheet concept. Again, the YC documents are silent on this. Third, there are specific notes about conversion price adjustments in the TS documents - the "broad-based weighted average anti-dilution protection (with customary exceptions)" is pretty standard language for a formal VC round that protects the investor in a down round. For a description of weighted average anti-dilution, see Yokum's post on the matter on his indispensable Startup Company Lawyer blog. Lastly, it's nice to see that each side is specifically responsible for their own fees in conjunction with the Series AA round.
There is something in the YC documents that isn't in the TS documents - the 180 day holding period for insiders. Again, the 180 day period is awfully optimistic (especially in this environment), but it raised an eyebrow that the TS documents chose not to, at least, contain every term in the YC documents. Again, this is probably due to the TS documents coming from Cooley's standard VC round documents rather than being a Cooley version of the Wilson Sonsini YC documents. Further evidence for my theory is that, as of this writing, the Protective Provisions part of the TS term sheet makes reference to Series A, not Series AA. (Associate lawyer/paralegal oops. :) )
To me, I prefer the Cooley/TechStars documents, if only because they're more similar to standard VC documents, and I like that level of familiarity and I have nostalgia for the days when I'd wake up at 4am for a flight across the country. (Note: not true - I hate to travel and I really hate to wake up early.) The instruments are the same, however, and this is essentially just a style preference on my part. If you have any questions, fire away in the comments.
Compete shows Posterous doubling in size last month, and Quantcast (which is quantified) shows the same. That's huge! They took the really saturated market of blogging and they innovated by removing all of the complexity. And it's working. Hopefully this growth will continue.
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/posterous.com/?metric=uv
http://www.quantcast.com/posterous.com
Neutral Milk Hotel is basically the definition of indie. But I'm really digging the sound. Following the success of their album of the same name, their lead singer Jeff Mangum has rarely been seen playing in public.
According to wikipedia: "It is a spiritually motivated work conceptually based on the beauty to be found in the horrific fate of Anne Frank."
I can hear it.
