Book Short: Faster Than The Blink of an Eye Michael Lewis is one of those authors for whom my general point of view is “read whatever he writes.” Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt was no exception. It’s a book about the high-frequency trading business, how a difference in microseconds can make a difference, and how the complexity of trading has led to enough confusion that virtually no one on Wall Street actually understands how it works any more. I am a capitalist through and through, and I never begrudge Wall Street for making money, even though I do have moments where I doubt the amount of value that finance creates relative to the amount of income they swallow up. However, that…
Category
New York
Jump Starting Start Ups
As I mentioned in some recent posts, I’ve really enjoyed sharing the Return Path story with the tech start-up community in New York through groups like the NYC Lean Startup Meetup . Next week I’m taking the Return Path story on the road to Silicon Valley where I’ll be presenting to Startup2Startup. Startup2Startup is a group of Silicon Valley geeks, entrepreneurs, and investors dedicated to educating and helping the next generation of Internet startups. They meet monthly over dinner to discuss relevant topics in technology and entrepreneurship, connect with new people and companies, and share our knowledge and experience. You’ll not only get to hear about Return Path’s 10 years in business but I’ll also be sharing…
Learning How to Stop
Learning How to Stop This is my last post about thoughts I had coming out of the NYC Lean Startup Meetup that I spoke at a couple weeks ago. Being lean, the discussion went at this event, means not doing extraneous things. While it’s true for startups that it’s important to make great decisions about what to do up front, it’s also true — especially as companies get larger and more important older — that organizations and individuals have to be vigilant about stopping activities that become extraneous over time. This is HARD. Once things — product features, business processes, reports, ways of communicating or thinking about things — get ingrained in an organization, there’s never a natural impetus to…
Innovating in New York City
Innovating in New York City Last week I wrote about speaking at the NYC Lean Startup Meetup. One of my other key takeaways from this, which I’ve known for a while and have been meaning to blog about, is just how vibrant the tech startup community is here in New York. I know others have been blogging about this like mad – Fred has some thoughts here, here, and here, and Charlie has some here and here. Chris Dixon’s seminal post on this is here. (I even blogged a bit about why NYC is a good place to start a business back in 2006 here.) I’ve had a little more time for networking and speaking in the past year than…
Opening Night
Opening Night My brother Michael, internet marketer by day and a writer by night, had his first play produced last night off-Broadway at the Manhattan Repertory Theater’s SummerFest. The play is a romantic comedy called Fallout, and it’s my favorite thing he’s written of about 8-10 works I’ve read over the years, both screen and stage plays. This is the first time I’ve ever had a bit of a “behind the scenes” look at an Opening Night, and it was fun to be a part of it. When I think about entrepreneurial pursuits in business, I’m not sure this even compares. For Michael, it seemed to be the equivalent of a company’s founding, a product launch, and an IPO —…
Ah, Summer in New York
This graphic about says it all. [cid:[email protected]]
Why Do I Have to Be Frisked to Go to an NFL Game?
Why Do I Have to Be Frisked to Go to an NFL Game? I am freaked out about terrorism as much as the next person, but our obsession with security has gone too far. Some of the airport-related security is dumb enough — I can’t hijack a plane with my shampoo any more — but at least there’s some logic to the general premise. But the major pat-down I got last weekend when I went to see the Chargers beat the Chiefs was just silly. It certainly didn’t make me feel more secure sitting in the stadium. It wouldn’t have even occurred to me to feel insecure in the first place. The experience reminded me of all…
Closure
Closure This past weekend was a weekend of closure for me. As I prepare to leave the city after almost 17 years and the apartment I’ve lived in for almost 15, we had my two original roommates from this apartment in town for the weekend with their families for a bit of a farewell party. Times certainly have changed – from three single guys to three families and 7, almost 8 kids between us. Sitting around and noting that all three couples had either gotten engaged or first started dating within the confines of Apartment 35B, then saying goodbye as everyone left the apartment for the last time, was a little surreal. But overall, having everyone around was great fun…
Spooky
Spooky Note: Jonathan is a colleague of mine in our Authentic Response research business. [Me] Hey, I heard you moved back to New York (from Boston) [Jonathan] Yeah, the travel was getting to be too much. Plus, a buddy of mine was looking for a roommate [Me] Where’s the place? [Jonathan] Murray Hill [Me] Oh – I lived there years ago. Where? [Jonathan] Near 2nd and 34th [Me] What building? [Jonathan] It’s a small walk-up – you wouldn’t know it – 633 Second Avenue [Me] NO WAY. I used to live there. Which floor? [Jonathan] Third [Me] Yup – that was my old apartment – from 15 years ago! What a weird, weird, weird, thing.
7 Years On
7 Years On My last September 11 as a New York City resident. I walked down to the World Trade Center site this morning as I have each of the last six 9/11s and rang The Bell of the Unforgotten, which is the New York City Fire Department’s port-a-memorial that they bring out for the day. As a long-time member of the lower Manhattan community, the day always bring out a lot of reflection for me. Seeing the memorial flood lights on tonight will do the same and bookend the day. The main thing I was thinking about this morning was why there’s been nothing really built yet on the site. World Trade Center 7 (which is actually adjacent to…
Back to…
Back to… I’m not in school any more, and as far as I can tell now, schools start before Labor Day for the most part, but it still feels like tomorrow is “back to school” for the working world. Business still hums along in August, and we’ve certainly had our hands full with one of the busiest months ever at Return Path, but somehow, the traditional end of the summer season still manages to have the trappings of a European August, with lots of people on vacation or doing more “work from home” days than usual. As all that draws to a close today, at least for me personally, it’s Back to…lots of things: – Back to New York! After…