Venture Capital Thoughts and Reflections

Moved to Quora!

As you may have guessed, I am no longer posting to this blog.

The reason why is that

Res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself)!

 

How to build a social platform

[This post is based on an answer that I wrote on Quora in response to the question: What explains the explosion in social photo sharing entrepreneurial activity? i.e. Instagr.am and Path]

Believe it or not, I think that this has less to do with photos and more to do with building a social platform.

Why?

Sharing photos is a base activity of the "social" pyramid.

Whether you are looking at Facebook or Orkut, etc., it is one of the most popular activities that users engage in on social networks.

So, if you are going to start building a new "social" platform, you want to start with one of the most popular activities...like photo sharing.

Once users have populated the site, then you can expand into other activities, but initially you want to offer them something that they use/need.

It seems to me like these entrepreneurs have wisely cherry-picked one of the most common activities (photo sharing) in hopes of attracting users and later leveraging the user base to add additional features, ex. social commerce, etc. 

So, for example, if Path gains a large number of users, one can imagine access to a user's Path social graph being more valuable than their Facebook social graph.

Why?

Because the user's Path social graph is populated by their "real" or close friends, as opposed to their Facebook social graph which contains a wider web of acquaintances.

Assuming that the social graph will be used for social commerce, the Path social graph will be way more valuable than the Facebook social graph because the trust ratio (used to overcome counter-party risk--arguably the greatest impediment to e-commerce) will be much higher.

For a look at the original question and some other answers, please go here: http://qr.ae/8SVA

Company Culture: A Startup's Secret Weapon

[This post is based on an answer that I wrote on Quora in response to an entrepreneur's question about the best way to motivate an unpaid startup team.  My suggestion was that he/she establish an attractive company culture.]

Company culture is a startup's secret weapon.

Why?

Because, while you may not be able to compete with large companies in terms of compensation, you have a level playing field (if not a home field advantage) on company culture.

Why?

As companies grow, it becomes harder for them to maintain the same spirit and values upon which the company was originally built.

Many times, company culture is the first casualty of success.

Use this to your advantage!

As a startup, you have the opportunity to establish a strong company culture in a way that large companies can not.

The right company culture can work miracles.

 Gustavo Caetano , the founder and CEO of SambaTech is a master at this.

He has never had much money to work with, but SambaTech has one of the best company cultures around.

To use an analogy, it is a lot like the old Roman practice of hegemonial imperialism.

Essentially, the Roman's would conquer a country militarily, then use culture (science, technology, literature, etc., which they had taken from the Greeks) as a glue to hold the empire together.

So, just as the Roman's used culture as a way to hold their far-flung empire together, so can the entrepreneur use company culture to hold the startup together.  

Good luck! 

10 Ways of Recruiting for Startups in Brazil

Dear Readers,

As you may have noticed, I have not been posting very frequently.

Although blame lies entirely with me, these two worthy distractions have contributed to my delinquency:

Quora

Twitter

Anyway, I was recently asked by an entrepreneur how to recruit for a startup in Brazil, so I thought that I would share a few suggestions (in no particular order).

(1) Talk to Diego at Startupi and let him know what your startup does and that you are recruiting

(2) Talk to Diego at Read Write Web Brasil and let him know what your startup does and that you are recruiting

(3) Attend Startup Meetups like the ones organized by ReadWriteWeb Brasil and Startupi

(4) Use a job site like MaisStartup 

(5) Attend events like Google's Sao Paulo Developer Day and InterCon 

(6) Develop a following among local developers/entrepreneurs on Twitter, then tweet when you have an opening

(7) Either start a blog or participate in the comments of popular startup blogs in Brazil and get to know the community

(8) Get involved with universities and incubators like Aceleradora

(9) Use social media like Facebook and Orkut to spread the word that you are recruiting 

(10) Talk to local angels and venture capitalists and tell them what kind of person you are looking for (angels and venture capitalists get a lot of resumes and can pass them along)

I hope that these suggestions are helpful!

If anyone has any additional suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section of this blog post.

Thanks!

 

Three Startup-Related Events

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of sharing the stage at InterMinas 2010 with Michael Nicklas, Brazil's leading seed-stage investor.

Michael's presentation was about the elements of a successful startup company ecosystem.  Among the points raised was the indispensability of industry events in fomenting the community, and the importance of working together.

On that note I would like to announce three startup-related events.

The first is a Startup Meetup organized by ReadWriteWeb Brasil.  It will be held in Belo Horizonte on Thursday, May 20th at 8 pm at a bar called Entre Folhas, which is located on Rua Major Lopes, 709.  I went to the first Startup Meetup a few months ago and it was a huge success.  There were a lot of entrepreneurs there as well as my distinguished colleagues from CONFRAPAR.

The second event is the launch of Desafio Brasil 2010, Brazil's leading business plan competition organized each year by the Centro de Estudos em Private Equity e Venture Capital da Fundação Getúlio Vargas de São Paulo.  These guys are doing amazing work in promoting startup know-how and deserve a lot of credit for their innovation and perseverance.  For more information, please visit their site here.

Finally, as many of you know DFJ FIR Capital is working with Brazil's two leading startup/entrepreneurship/technology blogs: Startupi and ReadWriteWeb Brasil, to solicit business plans for the second annual DFJ Cisco Global Business Plan Competition.

Last year, Powersave, a Rio de Janeiro-based company made it to the finals, so we are hoping that a Brazilian company will win this year!

For more information, please read the announcements posted on Startupi and ReadWriteWeb.

InterMinas 2010

No Sábado, 24 Abril, vou dar uma palestra sobre capital empreendedor, empreendedorismo, e empresas startups no InterMinas 2010.

Estou muito animado e tem um monte de idéias, mas também pensei que poderia ser bom para ver se os leitores deste blog e meus seguidores no Twitter tinha algumas idéias.

Então, se alguém tiver algum assunto específico que voces acham que eu deveria discutir, eu estou aberto a sugestões.

Se você tem uma idéia, por favor, deixe nos comentários deste post.

Se eu acho que é apropriado, eu vou tentar incluí-lo em minha apresentação.

Obrigado!

InterMinas 2010

On Saturday, April 24th, I am going to give a talk on venture capital, entrepreneurship, and startups at InterMinas 2010.

I am very excited and have a lot of ideas, but I also thought that it might be good to see if the readers of this blog and my followers on Twitter had any ideas. 

So, if anyone has any specific issues that they think I should discuss, I am open to suggestions.

If you have an idea, please leave it in the comments of this post.

If I think that it is appropriate, I will try to include it in my presentation.

Thanks!

Breaking the four minute mile (Portuguese)

 Na semana passada eu participei de um debate online interessante sobre se os empreendedores brasileiros deveriam tentar criar os seus próprios sites inovadores ou copiar os sites de sucesso estrangeiros.

Pontos válidos foram levantados por ambos os lados e todas as partes apresentaram argumentos convincentes.

Isto posto, eu continuo firme na minha crença de que os empreendedores brasileiros deveriam aspirar a criar seus próprios sites inovadores, ao invés de copiar sites estrangeiros de sucesso.

Onde os meus dignos opositores e eu concordamos, porém, é que existem obstáculos reais para a criação de sites inovadores no Brasil.

Embora existam muitos obstáculos, o maior obstáculo, em minha opinião, é psicológico.

Ninguém no Brasil jamais conseguiu criar um site com alcance global. Por isso, nas mentes de muitos empreendedores (e venture capitalists), tal fato seria impossível.

Claro, existem sucessos como o site Buscape, que foi comprado no ano passado pela Naspers por US$ 342 milhões, mas o Buscape é amplamente focado no mercado interno.

Onde estão os sites brasileiros que se tornarão sucessos mundiais, como Twitter, Facebook, e Google?

Ao pensar sobre esse problema, lembro-me do famoso caso da four minute mile – uma milha em quatro minutos.

Durante anos, as pessoas acreditavam que era fisicamente impossível correr uma milha (1609 metros) em menos de quatro minutos.

Então, um dia, em 6 de maio de 1954, em um encontro de atletismo entre a British AAA e a Universidade de Oxford, um homem chamado Roger Bannister correu uma milha em 3 minutos e 59,4 segundos.

Três anos após a realização épica de Roger Bannister, 16 outros corredores conseguiram correr uma milha em menos de quatro minutos.

A barreira psicológica, que impediu que outros atletas talentosos alcançassem o seu pleno potencial, foi quebrada.

Isso é o que precisamos no Brasil.

Precisamos quebrar nossa four minute mile.

Uma vez que um site brasileiro sair de uma startup para o sucesso global, não tenho dúvidas de que haverá vários outros sucessos.

A partir daí, ninguém irá questionar se os empresários brasileiros devem criar seus próprios sites ou copiar o sites de outros - porque todo mundo vai estar copiando sites brasileiros! :)

Breaking the four minute mile

Last week I participated in an interesting online discussion about whether Brazilian entrepreneurs should attempt to create their own innovative sites or copy successful foreign ones.

Valid points were raised by both sides and all parties put forth compelling arguments.

That said, I remain steadfast in my belief that Brazilian entrepreneurs should aspire to create their own innovative sites, rather than copying successful foreign ones.

Where my worthy opponents and I agree, however, is that there do exist, real impediments to the creation of innovative sites in Brazil.

Although there are many impediments, the greatest hurdle, in my opinion, is psychological.

No one in Brazil has ever succeeded in creating a site with global reach, therefore, in the minds of many entrepreneurs (and venture capitalists), it is impossible.

Sure, there have been successes such as Buscape, which was bought last year by Naspers for US$342 million, but Buscape is largely focused on the domestic market.

Where are the Brazilian sites which go on to become global successes like Twitter, Facebook, and Google?

In thinking about this problem, I am reminded of the famous story of the four minute mile.

For years, people believed that it was physically impossible to run a mile (1609 meters) in under four minutes.

Then, one day on May 6th, 1954, at an athletic meet between British AAA and Oxford University, a man named Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.

Within three years of Roger Bannister's epic achievement, 16 other runners succeeded in running a mile in under four minutes.

The psychological barrier, which had prevented otherwise gifted athletes from achieving their full potential, was broken.

That's what we need in Brazil.

We need to break our four minute mile.

Once one Brazilian site goes from startup to global success, I have no doubt that there will be multiple successes.

Then no one will be asking whether Brazilian entrepreneurs should create their own sites or copy the sites of others--because everyone will be copying Brazilian sites! :)

Try It, You'll Like It!

I had dinner the other night with a very smart friend of mine who works at Google.

He was dismissive of Apple's new iPad.

I think that he is wrong.

One question for those who would dismiss the iPad: having used a Mac, would you ever go back to using a PC?

More specifically, having experienced a relatively stable operating system, with few virus' and little or no spyware, would you ever go back to the opposite?

My guess is that, for the overwhelming majority of people, the answer is, "No!".

So, perhaps by exposing masses of users to the joys of a Mac for an accessible US$499, Apple is actually going to gain legions of new users?

In this case, the introduction of the iPad resembles a freemium strategy on Apple's part: try our iPad (at little or no cost), we believe that you'll like it so much that you will upgrade to a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or iMac.

Maybe the iPad wasn't such a dumb idea after all!

Global Technology Symposium

Its almost time for the Seventh Annual Global Technology Symposium at Stanford University, to be held March 24-26.

For those who don't know, the Global Technology Symposium, held annually in Palo Alto since 2004, features thought leaders from the worlds of business, technology, and policymaking.

Given the fact that many of today's challenges are global rather than local, the symposium provides a rare venue for leading authorities from the various disciplines to get together to discuss common problems and solutions.

Rumor has it that this year none other than Michael Nicklas, the leading seed-stage investor in Brazil, has been invited to participate as part of the Symposium's organizing body, so be on the lookout for the most exciting Global Technology Symposium ever! :)

More information on the event is available here.

Useful Information for Entrepreneurs

A few weeks ago, I gave an interview to Saia do Lugar, a Brazilian website which features useful information for entrepreneurs.  To read a Portuguese version, click here.  

Below, please find an English language version.

(1) What are the characteristics that investors look for in start-ups?*

1. Quality of the team

2. Quality of the team

3. Quality of the team

4. Quality of the team

5. Size of the market

6. Company growth characteristics (exponential v. arithmetic)

7. Competitive advantages (defensibility)

8. Exit potential

9. Timing

10. Quality of the idea

It is important to note that, aside from the quality of the team, which really is THE leading factor, the list is really horizontal, i.e., the characteristics are of equal importance.

(2) Is raising external capital something that is necessary for every startup?

No.  A couple of points.  First, lets distinguish between the reasons that companies seek venture capital.  Some companies seek venture capital for help recruiting, introductions to key customers, help achieving an exit, etc.  Seeking capital to grow is only one of a dozen or so common reasons why companies seek venture capital financing.  Second, lets distinguish between the types of companies that are appropriate for venture capital funding.  There are many great types of companies that do not require venture capital or are inappropriate for venture capital investment. So, for example, if you have a popular blog and you are satisfied earning money from advertising, then why would you raise venture capital?  It would not make sense.  On the other hand, perhaps you have a large, profitable company, but you require expertise to take the company to the next level.  In that case, even though you don’t need the money, you might want to raise venture capital in order to gain access to special expertise that the venture capitalists have.  So, I think that you need to distinguish between the different reasons for raising venture capital and the answer to the question of whether to raise capital will change depending on your situation.  

(3) Should a startup accept capital from the first investor that comes along?  Does the profile of each investor differ or are all investors pretty much the same?

No!  If you are hiring someone for a position in your company, do you hire the first person who walks through the door or interview multiple candidates?  The partnership between an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist is a marriage, "In happiness and in sadness until death do us part".  You should get to know many different investors before choosing one.  There are many different kinds of entrepreneurs and investors, so you need to find the right fit.  The reason why this is important is that with any company, there are inevitably going to be difficult moments, so when they come it is essential that you have someone by your side that you trust.

(4) After an investment has been made, does the venture capital firm assume control of the management of the company?  How does this work?

No. Again, we need to draw some distinctions.  First of all, investors don’t want to have anything to do with the day to day management of the company. The ideal situation, from the investor’s point of view, is that the team will do such a good job, that the investor will never have to do anything. If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense.  A venture capitalist’s job is selecting the best companies and making investments.  They don’t want to manage your company.  This is a common misconception among first time entrepreneurs.  Investors aren’t your bosses, they are your partners. In terms of control, investors normally acquire an equity interests of between 20 and 45%.  Along with the equity, they typically get a seat on the company’s board, and the company and the fund enter into a shareholder’s agreement which grants the investors (and entrepreneurs) certain mutual protections. 

(5) What are some tips for startups that want to attract venture capital?

(a) Build a working prototype or proof of concept

(b) Recruit a talented team

(c) Grow the company to profitability or break even

(d) Try to get some well-known companies as clients

(e) Make sure that you are doing something that you are passionate about, otherwise it isn’t worth it! :)

The death of Information Technology has been greatly exaggerated

For the last several years, it has not been uncommon to hear people complain that the Information Technology (IT) industry has matured, and that it is no longer capable of producing the explosive returns that it once generated.

According to the argument, it is necessary to move on to Cleantech or other large, dynamic markets in order to enjoy significant returns.

I disagree.

In my opinion, reports of the death of IT have been greatly exaggerated.

The reason why is the Cloud.

I believe that the migration of products and services to the Cloud will provide a catalyst for disruptive change.

Once dominant companies will fall, displaced by nimbler competitors with new business and distribution models.

These radical shifts should breath new life into the IT market, enabling it to produce the kinds of returns it generated in years past.

The role of the press in building a thriving venture capital ecosystem

When people talk about the factors that lead to a thriving venture capital ecosystem, they normally mention proximity to a top institution of higher learning, flexible immigration policies, access to capital, and a talented labor pool.

But what about the role of the press?

I would argue that the press plays an equally important role in the development and growth of any venture capital ecosystem.

Those of you who were around during the Dot Com era will surely remember the seminal contributions made by magazines such as The Industry Standard and Red Herring.

Though the format in which information is delivered has changed--from magazines to blogs--the essential role of the press, in disseminating that information, has remained the same.

While there are numerous excellent sources to choose from in the United States, including: PEHub, VentureBeat, AlwaysOn, GigaOM, Read Write Web, Mashable, TechCrunch, and others, there has historically been a lack of information in Brazil.

That is why I was so happy when I first learned of the existence of Startupi.

Startupi, whose name derives from the Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation of the word, "start-up", is a site dedicated to covering the nascent Brazilian start-up scene.

Startupi is important because it provides Brazilian entrepreneurs, start-ups, and venture capitalists with a source of news, ideas, know-how, and inspiration.

Since I believe strongly in the role of the press in creating a thriving venture capital ecosystem, I recently contributed a presentation to Startupi, Understanding Venture Capital, which attempts to orient entrepreneurs on the logic underpinning the practice of venture capital.

As a member of the start-up/venture capital ecosystem in Brazil, I see it as my duty to help them build a vibrant community and hope that my contribution will stimulate others to begin contributing material to support their efforts.

Aside from Startupi, two other sites that feature information for start-ups in Portuguese are Julio Vasconcelos' blog for Globo, Acelerando a Inovacao, and Read Write Web Brasil, which just launched a Portuguese language site a few weeks ago.

With the rapid growth and professionalization of the Brazilian start-up scene, I wouldn't be surprised if these blogs were to join the ranks of the Mashable and TechCrunch's of the world in the not too distant future! :)

Brazil's Skype Moment?

Venture capital is a hits business.  

What this means is that in order to make up for the high failure rate among start-up companies, you need to achieve a certain number of large, successful exits, or "hits".

These hits make up for the many companies that fail, and generate a return.

One of the big questions historically has been how can you invest in an emerging market in the absence of such a hit?

In other words, if there has never been a Skype or Baidu in your market, how do you know that your market is capable of producing a hit?

Well, the purchase yesterday of Buscape, the Brazilian e-commerce company, by Naspers, the South African media conglomerate, for US$342 million goes a long way toward resolving this paradox, at least as far as the Brazilian market is concerned.

The acquisition also comes as particularly welcome news to Brazilian investors and entrepreneurs who were somewhat shocked and dismayed in June by the sale of Braspag, one of the leading Brazilian e-commerce processors, to Grupo Silvio Santos, for a measly US$14 million.

Hopefully, the fact that a Brazilian web company has sold for such a high price will ratify the investment thesis of venture capital investing in Brazil, and be indicative of deals to come! :)

Monetizing social networks via increased ecommerce yield

I was in Palo Alto a few weeks ago and decided to check my Orkut account (for those who don't know, Orkut is Google's social network which, though not popular in the US, is the Facebook of Brazil).

Anyway, when I logged on, I was shocked to see some primitive user-generated ads in place of the normal professional advertising in the upper right corner of the home page.

Though the service has not been launched yet in Brazil, Orkut is going to enable users to create and promote things to their networks of friends.

This is an important development for several reasons.

First, it marks the first time in recent memory that Orkut has launched something innovative, rather than merely playing catch-up to Facebook.

Could it be that Google is finally putting some effort into Orkut, rather than treating it like an unwanted step-child?

Second, and more importantly, this is a monumental breakthrough in ecommerce.

One of the largest hurdles to overcome in ecommerce has traditionally been the trust factor, specifically, how do you get users to trust their counter-parties?

But, by enabling users to market to their existing social graphs, you render the trust factor almost obsolete due to Lessig's third law governing human behavior, social norms.

So, congratulations Orkut team, it seems like you have come up with a web native way of radically increasing ecommerce which should, in turn, answer that age old question, how do you monetize social networks?! 

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

Yesterday, Exxon Mobile announced a US$600 million deal with Synthetic Genomics.

This is a huge amount by any standards, but for the relatively nascent field of synthetic biology, it is absolutely monumental because it provides definitive third-party validation of the tremendous commercial potential of the field.

Though the value of synthetic biology may seem obvious, there are other promising industries offering similar disruptive potential that have yet to reach such a high level of commercial success, nanotechnology being the most obvious example.

So, yesterday's news was one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind! :)

It is also significant in that it follows on the heels of Syngenta's deal, two weeks ago, to license (for an undisclosed amount) Chromatin, Inc.'s gene stacking technology for sugar cane (Chromatin is to plants, what Synthetic Genomics is to microbes).

Taken together, it appears that the field of synthetic biology is really beginning to gain commercial traction.

It will be interesting to see whether the Exxon-Synthetic Genomics deal launches a synthetic biology arms race as rival oil companies seek to align themselves with competing synthetic biology platforms. 

It will also be interesting to see whether this unleashes what I refer to as a "Helen of Troy" phenomena (the face that launched a thousand ships), with the deal acting as a catalyst for broader investment in the field as a whole.

So, for example, will this deal stimulate the formation of hundreds of synthetic biology companies, like the success of Netscape encouraged the formation of hundreds of Internet companies during Web 1.0 or the success of YouTube encouraged the formation of hundreds of Web companies during Web 2.0?

At first glance, this would seem to make sense, however, the start-up costs associated with creating synthetic biology companies are orders of magnitude higher than their Web 2.0 brethren.  This is due, in large part, to the tremendous back-end infrastructure necessary for scalably testing vast permutations and combinations of samples and for developing responsible product stewardship programs to address the very real concern of genetic containment.

In this regard, synthetic biology companies more closely resemble biotechnology companies than they do Internet companies.

So, lest news of Exxon's US$600 million investment tempt venture capitalists to fund hundreds of new synthetic biology companies, investors be forewarned: Synthetic Genomics more closely resembles a Google or Amazon, with their vast back-end infrastructures and domineering platforms, than a capital efficient Web 2.0 company.

[Disclosures: Synthetic Genomics is a Draper Fisher Jurvetson portfolio company.  I am a shareholder of, and former consultant to Chromatin, Inc.]

Pictured from left to right: Steve Jurvetson, Craig Venter (founder of Synthetic Genomics), and Simon Olson. 

Power.com in Revista Exame

The first time that I went to visit Power in Rio, I was amazed.

In six years of working in venture capital in Brazil, I had never seen a team like it.

Normally, engineers hire engineers, designers hire designers, business people hire business people, so you wind up with imbalanced, homogenous teams.

But Power was different.

Power had great engineers, designers, marketers, user interface experts, etc., and not only were they a well-balanced team, but every employee was at the top of his or her respective field.

Over the course of nearly two years, I had the pleasure of getting to know many of the Power team members and they became my friends.

And so, it was with a sense of happiness mixed with sadness that I greeted the publication of an article on Power last week in Revista Exame.

Happiness, in the sense that it appears that--after passing through an extremely difficult period--the company seems to be getting back on its feet--and sadness, in the sense that many people, including most of the ones that had so impressed me that first day in Rio, lost their jobs.

Was it the economy?  Government rules and regulations?  The board?  The investors? The management team? The employees?

One of the original ideas behind Power was to distinguish the company by treating its employees better than the typical Brazilian company, enabling Power to aggregate talent in a way that would be impossible to replicate elsewhere.

As the company emerges from its troubles to reclaim its rightful title as a global industry leader, lets hope that this painful lesson is never forgotten.

A Bahia de todos os sites

Filho de indianos, o canadense Steve Vachani escolheu Salvador para sediar a Power.com - empresa que reúne num só lugar o acesso a alguns dos maiores portais de relacionamento do mundo

Steve Vachani

Steve Vachani, fundador e presidente da Power.com

 

Por João Werner Grando | 16.04.2009 | 00h01

Revista EXAME -

Um recado recebido pelo Orkut mudou a vida do canadense Steve Vachani numa madrugada de maio de 2006. À primeira vista era apenas mais um convite para uma festa no Rio de Janeiro, onde ele morava havia três anos. Um detalhe, porém, chamou sua atenção: a marca "torperkut" no pé da mensagem e a indicação de que aquele mesmo convite havia sido enviado a centenas de usuários de uma só vez. Curioso para encontrar o dono da tecnologia, Vachani vasculhou o site de registro de domínios da internet até chegar ao engenheiro de software paulista Eric Santos, que morava em Salvador. Na semana seguinte os dois já acertavam os detalhes da formação de uma nova empresa, a Power.com, com a proposta de reunir num único lugar o acesso a várias redes sociais. Desde seu lançamento, em dezembro do ano passado, 6,5 milhões de pessoas se cadastraram na plataforma - brasileiros e indianos, principalmente. Trata-se de um universo equivalente a 9,5% dos usuários do Orkut em todo o mundo. Hoje, o site integra redes sociais como Orkut, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter e Hi5. Na prática, isso significa que um usuário pode enviar uma mensagem a seus contatos nas diferentes redes ou mudar a foto do perfil de todas de uma só vez - tudo isso acessando apenas uma tela em vez de entrar em cada site separadamente. "Queremos ser a primeira empresa de internet global com sede no Brasil", afirma Vachani.

Aos 34 anos, Vachani não é um empreendedor novato no mundo da internet. Tampouco lembra o estereótipo de um aficionado de tecnologia, a começar pela formação acadêmica - que não tem nada a ver com computação. Filho de indianos e nascido no Canadá, ele se formou em ciência política e administração em Berkeley, na Califórnia. A proximidade com o ambiente efervescente do Vale do Silício durante a graduação o estimulou a empreender. Em 1996, criou o Freelotto, site de loteria pela internet do qual ainda é um dos donos e que tem entre os sócios o banco BNP Paribas. Dois anos mais tarde, fundou a Qool Media, empresa de marketing online, que não resistiu ao estouro da bolha da internet e faliu, em 2003. Logo em seguida, Vachani se mudou para o Brasil. O que era para ser um ano sabático resultou em sua companhia mais promissora. Em 2007, a Power.com recebeu 6,5 milhões de dólares do fundo de venture capital americano Draper Fisher Jurvetson, o mesmo que apostou nas então iniciantes Hotmail, em 1996, e Skype, em 2004. No ano passado, a proposta da Power.com incomodou o Facebook, maior rede social do planeta, que ameaçou iniciar uma briga judicial para impedir o uso de sua base de usuários. A polêmica repercutiu em reportagens publicadas pelo jornal The New York Times e pela revista Business Week. "O modelo desenvolvido pela Power.com para interconexão entre sites é a próxima tendência da internet", diz o americano Simon Olson, sócio-diretor da Fircapital, venture capital brasileira responsável por conduzir as negociações com o fundo americano Draper.

Com o crescimento das redes sociais, especialistas preveem agora a proliferação de portais capazes de reunir o acesso ao conteúdo e os contatos desses vários sites num único lugar. O próximo passo, segundo Vachani, é expandir a conexão das redes sociais com outros tipos de site, como fóruns de discussão. Dessa forma, um usuário que entrar num portal de discussão, por exemplo, não precisará criar uma conta para se cadastrar - poderá simplesmente usar a senha de uma rede social e suas informações serão automaticamente reconhecidas. Por enquanto, o modelo de negócios prevê faturamento de publicidade online. "O faturamento ainda não é relevante", diz o empreendedor. Mas, nos próximos meses, Vachani quer tornar viável outra fonte de receitas: o licenciamento da mesma tecnologia usada para unificar dados de portais de relacionamento para que grandes empresas integrem suas próprias bases de dados de informações de clientes.

A nova empresa ainda depende de diversos fatores para vingar - e o lançamento em meio à crise já atrasou seus planos de expansão. Investimentos adicionais secaram e o quadro de pessoal foi reduzido de 89 para 27 funcionários. O corte poupou profissionais responsáveis pelo desenvolvimento de tecnologia. Parte da equipe trabalha em casa, no Rio de Janeiro - e os demais no escritório de 100 metros quadrados da Power.com, em Salvador. Mesmo assim, no início de abril, Vachani embarcou para os Estados Unidos para acertar a abertura de escritórios em Nova York e São Francisco. Nessas cidades ele já contratou cerca de dez profissionais, sobretudo para realizar vendas de anúncios. "Precisamos estar presentes nos principais mercados do mundo para captar recursos assim que o cenário melhorar", diz Vachani. Mesmo resolvendo o problema de escassez de recursos, a Power.com ainda terá pela frente o desafio de se impor entre empresas consolidadas no mercado. Google, Microsoft e Yahoo! também estão desenvolvendo mecanismos próprios de interconexão de sites. Vachani diz não temer ser esmagado pela reação de gigantes. "Não dá para impedir que os usuários tenham controle sobre suas próprias informações e queiram transferi-las para sites como o Power.com", afirma ele. O investidor Olson, da Fircapital, também tem seu palpite: "Ninguém imaginava que algo grande como o Skype pudesse ser criado por engenheiros num lugar como a Estônia. A queda das fronteiras geográficas permite que modelos inovadores apareçam quando e onde menos se espera."

http://portalexame.abril.com.br/revista/exame/edicoes/0941/tecnologia/bahia-todos-sites-449544.html

Lessig for Supreme Court

I just heard that Associate United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter is going to retire.

This means that President Obama will have the opportunity to appoint someone new.

I know who my first pick would be: Larry Lessig.

Those of you unfamiliar with the name can read more about him here.

I once had the pleasure of hearing Lessig speak at the Free Speech & Economic Power Symposium at Northwestern University School of Law.

He was on a panel with some of the nation's other eminent legal scholars and I watched him elegantly defeat them with his opening statement.

It wasn't that he dispatched their arguments head on, I don't even remember if he addressed them.

It was that his approach to the problem was so novel that it was literally, astounding.

He won by default.

It was obvious to everyone that the other scholars, titans in their own right, were completely outgunned.

His intelligence is supra-human.

Anyway, I don't know what his politics are, but at least we can be sure that he is smart.

How the World's Best Trader's Master Risk

Today I was flattered to learn that my friend and former business partner, Curtis Faith, included some of my thoughts in his latest book, Inside the Mind of the Turtles: How the World's Best Traders Master Risk.

Curtis is a former member of Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt's famous group of 'trend-follower" style traders, the Turtles, and his new book is about how great traders respond to risk.

I haven't seen the book yet, but according to Amazon.com's Editorial Review, "You'll find valuable advice not only from Faith, but from some of the greatest financial minds on the scene today, including fellow Turtle Jerry Parker, venture capitalist Simon Olson, and Howard Lindzon, founder of the popular Web site WallStrip."

While I wouldn't characterize myself as "one of the greatest financial minds on the scene today" (a phrase that I would reserve for Nicholas Nassim Taleb, Alan Howard, and a handful of others), I am definitely interested in the management of risk.

From what I can remember, my comments were related to the fact that you can't avoid risk, but that you can take definitive steps to skew the odds in your favor.

Anyway, if you are interested in learning more, buy a copy of Curtis' book! :)