paul

36 ms·

331.
by paul 14y ago
I can't actually see into their houses, so I'm just speculating that they have some Ayn Rand books, but I've noticed a strong correlation between liking Ayn Rand and thinking charity is bad.
332.
by paul 14y ago
Both. I think it's a little bit like asking whether programmers are the cause of bugs, or the solution. The problem is that the regulations are being created by people who are either incompetent, corrupt, or possibly both. Unfortunately peo
333.
by paul 14y ago
It's sad to see so much misplaced cynicism here. If the partners had decided to keep 100% of their carry (as is typical) and used it to buy a bigger house or jet or something, nobody would comment or care. Instead, they've pledged to give h
334.
by paul 14y ago
People choose what to focus on based in part on the expected benefits. I was very interested in biology in high school. Part of the reason that I ended up working with computers instead is that the feedback is much faster (compile and run)
335.
by paul 14y ago
Yeah, cancer definitely isn't the "low hanging fruit". Hospital errors and infections would be much easier to address, though as this article shows, even that is nearly impossible.
336.
by paul 14y ago
When people complain about entrepreneurs building social networks instead of curing cancer, they need to understand that this is a big part of the reason. The internet attracts so much innovation in large part because it's very open to inno
337.
by paul 14y ago
Nope. The journey is the destination.
338.
by paul 15y ago
This is awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing which tech companies sign on.
339.
by paul 15y ago
And unlike Gmail, the Pentium 3 in your closet can never go down :)
340.
by paul 15y ago
That's part of the "odds that it will be dropbox" calculation. It's also why we invest primarily in founders and not ideas.
341.
by paul 15y ago
Obviously small exits are more numerous, but most of the returns actually come from the larger exits. Of the first 200 yc companies, Dropbox is worth more than all of the others combined (at current valuations, maybe in five or ten years it
342.
The Instagram Deal: A Mark Zuckerberg Production(dealbook.nytimes.com)
16 points by paul 15y ago|0 comments
343.
by paul 15y ago
Obviously Facebook would have liked to pay a lower price (and I'm sure they've made previous offers which were turned down by Instagram). Raising this money strengthened Instagram's bargaining position, which is why it was a smart move for
344.
by paul 15y ago
I negotiated terms Friday evening, we signed docs Sunday night, and announced Monday morning.
345.
by paul 15y ago
What makes you think that it added to the cost of the deal? If anything, a better case could be made that the Instagram shareholders gave up $50M.
346.
by paul 15y ago
I am a facebook shareholder, and your argument makes no sense. Zuck will do what he thinks is best for Facebook, and that doesn't include giving money away to "insiders".
347.
by paul 15y ago
Deals fall apart. Running both deals in parallel is a smart way to hedge risk. Also, it is in fact possible to put together a deal very fast. We sold FriendFeed on a weekend.
348.
by paul 15y ago
Feels like a strawman to me. There are certainly people who do investments based on a quick meeting (e.g. Andy Bechtolsheim's Google investment), but most people will have follow up meetings before actually committing to an investment. That
349.
by paul 15y ago
Looking forward to meeting you :)
350.
by paul 15y ago
It shows that he's entrepreneurial :)
351.
by paul 15y ago
I dispute that $50m number :)
352.
by paul 15y ago
That's not how it works.
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by paul 15y ago
Reverse split doesn't screw employees, it just changes the math (10000 shares at $1/share is no better than 1000 shares at $10/share).
354.
by paul 15y ago
Talent acquisitions. Investors are often left with close to nothing.
355.
by paul 15y ago
Not commenting on this particular situation, but to answer your question in general: If a company has an IPO, there are no "employee retention payments", so it's better than that :) Employee retention payments are actually a way to give emp
356.
by paul 15y ago
Speaking and writing are more different than they seem. It's actually a different medium, and so a transcript of a great speech will often seem weak, just as a reading of a great essay may seem flat. Too much is lost in translation, which I
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by paul 15y ago
Leaving Yahoo is a lot easier than leaving the USSR.
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by paul 15y ago
You underestimate us. The people we accept without an idea most likely have accomplished a lot. They simply don't have an idea that they are excited about, perhaps because they've been focused on accomplishing something else. Also, I don'
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by paul 15y ago
We still prefer that people apply with ideas. All that's new is that we've added an option for people to apply without one. All else equal, a team with a good idea has a much better chance of being accepted than one without.
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by paul 15y ago
I'm surprised by how many negative reactions there are here. Some people seem almost offended, presumably because we're turning down people with ideas and funding some without. This really just reinforces the fact that we fund peo

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