Every morning, I get two private equity industry newsletters in my inbox.  One is PE Week Wire from Thomson and the other is VentureWire Alert from Dow Jones.

Today I unsubscribed from Dow Jones.

Why? 

Because they're basically the exact same content, except that, with PE Week Wire, I get the commentary (essentially blogging) of Dan Primack, an actual human being with a personality who I've met before.  When all content is equal and I can access anything, I'll take my content with a pulse, thank you.  Dan runs Final Four tournaments and complains when the "Trusty Pontiac" isn't so trusty.

DJ VentureWire wants me to pay to get anything more than about 8 words and there are no mention of any humans who contribute to the production of their newsletter.

So, here's my choice every morning:

From DJ Newswire:

venture market summary

By VentureWire Staff Reporters

Investors across the Atlantic appear more willing to line up behind companies raising larger rounds, as the median size of venture capital commitments to European start-ups in the first quarter reached a six-year high.

(story continues for a few stale paragraphs...)

Chinese Podcasting Site Toodou.com Raises $8.5M Series B

By VentureWire Staff Reporters

5/15/2006 – Toodou.com, a Shanghai-based podcasting Web site, has raised $8.5 million in Series B funding [ full story ] <-- Subscribers only.

From PE Week Wire:

 

PE Week Wire -- Monday, May 15

Random Ramblings

Back in the saddle after my short

Toronto

sojourn, during which I had some Tim Hortons coffee and addressed attendees at the Canadian Venture Forum. The former I did out of tourist obligation, while the latter I did out of professional obligation. Both went well.

I’m not going to provide a speech transcript (nor could I, since it was based on just a few lines of written notes), but here’s the gist:

There are three major private equity trends that will likely reshape the market for decades to come. The first is also the most obvious: Globalization. Most talk of private equity globalization revolves around investment opportunities, but the more salient focus should be on helping existing (read: more localized) portfolio companies leverage the global market. This isn’t to say that certain firms won’t make millions on Chinese software companies and Indian drugmakers, but rather that most firms can not reasonably expand their investment bandwidth to global limits. In other words, Sequoia and DFJ are the exceptions rather than the rules.

More of Dan's "blog" here...

And just enough news to actually inform me of something....

Toodou.com, a

Shanghai

, China-based operator of a multimedia podcasting website, has raised $8.5 million in Series B funding. Granite Global Ventures and JAFCO Asia co-led the deal, and were joined by return backer IDG Technology Ventures. www.Toodou.com


So who would you rather get your news from?  Someone you can have coffee with or a "staff reporter"?

Tuesday night, nextNY will be gathering after work at Slainte at 304 Bowery between Houston and Bleeker.   

You should come...  In fact, if you come to any of our events, I'll put it out there that this is the single most important event to be at in the short history of this burgeoning group.

Why?

Because, now, we're over the hump of trying to come into existance.  We exist.  We're 140 on our listserv.  We have a real website.  Now its not about, "Will this work?" as it is about "Now that this works, what do you want to do with it?"

So some of us will be meeting at 6PM on the dot to go over some ideas we have for public discussions, like a Startup 101 with some of the most successful area entrepreneurs.  But really, everybody there should be talking about "what next" because the larger this group gets, the less its about nextNY and the more its about the up and coming members of the NYC digitial community.   What do we want to be as a whole? What's the message we want to broadcast? 

In my mind, its that NYC is the best place for ambitious and creative people to build their best ideas into reality.  But that doesn't happen if we're all onesies and twosies drowned out by the noise of the finance crowd of Wall St., the advertising people of Madison Ave., the actors on Broadway, and all the other industries are huge in NYC.  I'd love for this group to have a show of force in numbers tomorrow... over 100...  and not just attending... but going home to post Flickr photos, to blog, to invite others to join, to really turn the volume up on the buzz...     because our future content needs to be reflective of what the larger community is interested.  Because if we're to get the large tech firms like Google and AOL to engage us at all... they've got to hear the buzz loud and clear. 

I hope you all can make it tomorrow, and please don't hesitate to bring friends.

Thanks for all of your time and effort to make this great.

In everything I do, I try to surround myself with hardworking, positive people who will go the extra mile--and do so in a way that really makes things a good experience for everyone around them.  That's important to me as I tend to feed off the energy of others.  That's why, when I think about travelling, my first question is always about who I'm going with, because the people I go with are going to make or break the trip for me, regardless of who I'm going with.

That goes for sports, too... especially at this age.  I'm 26 and I'm not going to make the major leagues...   at least it seems highly unlikely.  I play softball to have fun.  I hustle and try to win of course, but I'm not going to lose sleep if I don't, because I've got other things in my life.

So, today, I did something I've never done before.  I walked off the field in the middle of a game.  I play in a men's fastpitch league in Brooklyn and we're not doing well.  Last week we didn't field... this week we weren't hitting.   I show up.  I hustle.  I play and bat where I'm told. 

So, in our first inning of the second game, I missed two fly balls, which I really never do.  The first one, I got distracted because the first baseman ran out to me and, even though I called it, I wasn't sure if we were going to run into each other.  I looked down at him for a split second and it was just the wrong split second to look down. 

The inning wasn't really going well for anyone in the outfield.  Before that, the centerfielder showboated one with one hand, tried to do one of these Barry Bonds catch off to the side of the head things... and it bounced right off his glove.  At least I wasn't showboating.

The second play, I realy didn't think it was going to me, so I hesitated, but I still had it tracked down.  I ran over to catch it... and it just didn't happen... bounced off my glove.  Bad play.. it happens.   Smacked my glove and just resided to get it next time.  That's all I can do.  Get it next time.

Then all of the sudden, the kid who manages the team called to me to come out...  he was going to replace me in the field right in the middle of the inning.  I really couldn't believe what I was hearing until I saw this guy come off the bench with his glove.  I was totally stunned.  I mean, you take people out for not hustling, for arguing, but dropping the ball?  We're not major leaguers...   especially not our team.  Stunned.

So I ran off, letting the manager, a guy my age, know that this just wasn't right.  And, without hesitation, I grabbed my bag, said, "See you later" and walked off.  I didn't throw anything.  I didn't get angry... I just walked off.  You just don't make an example of someone who is trying their best...  it doesn't really solve anything, and its absolutely not the kind of team I have any interest in playing for.  I love baseball and I'd play everyday if I could, but not with people who take the fun out of it, because then what am I really playing for?

What would have been the best thing to do?  I dunno...  maybe let my bat do the talking and get my hits while I was the DH and not worry about what happened in the field.  But, sometimes, you just have to take yourself out of a situation where you're not being treated right if you don't have something worthwhile to sacrifice for.  My Zog team plays for charity... the Fordham team carries the name of  an institution I believe in and I'm proud to be associated with.  This team, if its going to play favorites, point fingers and make examples of people when its 3-6, stands for nothing.

Andrew at Phanfare was answering a completely seperate question when he noted what I think is a really interesting consideration.

"What Skype sells, mostly, is the ability to call in and out of the traditional phone network (SkypeIn and SkypeOut). That makes strategic sense. The free users don’t cannibalize the sale of the SkypeIn and SkypeOut (well maybe to a very small degree since the more Skype users there are, the fewer people outside of Skype there are to call), and in fact increase the pool of people who might buy the upsell."

So, when we all have free Wifi or WiMax or WiWhatever and we're all using Skype to call each other...

...  How does Skype make money?

I mean, the whole business of Skype is based on the concept that there are people not on Skype, because you only pay to receive or make calls from outside the Skype network to regular phonelines.

Can you think of another example of a business where converting every last human being on the face of the earth to customers would drive revenues to zero?

I really like your little Spam Catcher thing on my desktop.  Catching all the IMs from people not on my buddy list is smart and a much needed product.

Unfortunately, you made it a client side tool rather than a server side tool.  Therefore, it doesn't work when I forward IMs to my phone when I'm idle, because the forwarding happens before the spam catching. 

Also, screenames caught in my Spam Catcher should never show up in my Recent Buddies list.  I do not need to know when spammers have signed in. 

Thank you.

Recently, an entreprenuer e-mailed us with an pretty good beta version of his site on a development server.  I asked him why he didn't just release it and see what people did with it.

He was waiting to hear back from TechCrunch to get it reviewed and then launch it.

Here's what I wrote back:

"TechCrunch is the hottest girl in the class in junior high.  You felt compelled to ask her out because it was widely accepted that she was the most desireable date.  That says nothing about whether or not the two of you would make a good match.  Find the right girl not the hot girl.  I'd say to hit up [Meetup groups of people into the kind of activity relevent to your site]...if you can't gain traction with them first then no amount of techcrunch buzz will help.  (might even be distracting noise)..."

Josh Kopelman seems to be echoing these sentiments.  Too many people are focused on building things for a really small audience, and in this case, perhaps not even the most relevent audience.

I would imagine that Mike Arrington would probably agree... that you don't build for TechCrunch or wait for TechCrunch...  you go out and try to build the best service that could gain wide adoption with a large audience... and he'll provide some smart insight and feedback, and spotlight when people are doing something really right or really wrong.

And that goes for DEMO, the Wall Street Journal, or any other site.  Its cool to have a big press "launch", but don't actually wait to release something just to time it with a big PR splash.  Just get it out there!

So when it comes down to it, I really had no business trying to ask Dawn out on the 5th grade, but I understood why I did it.  Prettiest girl in the class... you feel compelled to take a shot because you think that's going to make life wonderful...  and that might get you 10,000 users if you get 20% penetration (with Techcrunch, not with the date... get your mind out of the gutter), but then what? 

I wonder what their outlet for used CDs is. What's the going rate for a used CD? $1? $2?

Finally, kayaking is back!

Click my SitePal (the little bald guy in my sidebar) for the details on this weekend's free kayaking, brought to you by the Downtown Boathouse.

I'll be up at the Pier 96 location all day Saturday, pretty much from 9-4ish...  Sunday I won't be around b/c I have softball games and then dinner with mom, of course!

Niki Scevak posted a comment on Fred's blog that included the fact that Monster has more than doubled in share price in the last year.  In fact, the stock is up about 6X from March '03.

How's that even possible?

It blows my mind that, somehow, paying $300 to post a job on a job board is still a valuable proposition to someone.  You could get absolutely no resumes, not even any views and still have to fork over the money.

Job postings are really just

There are a lot of great things I can say about the two jobs I've held so far.  I've worked with really smart people.  I've been compensated fairly.  They've been flexible about my need to leave a little early once a week for the occasional early softball game.

But the most rewarding aspect of my job has been that my employers have been sincerely interested in my own growth and personal development.  We've been able to maintain an open dialogue about what I was interested in doing, the skills they thought I needed to develop, and the balance between those things and the job at hand.  They've also treated my ideas with respect and allowed me to maintain a relatively public presence. 

Salary and benefits are always nice, but not feeling like your company is trying to hide you and keep you chained in the basement like some bastard stepchild...well that's pretty irreplaceable.  I can't tell you how many stories I've heard of my friends who do all the work for the client, but don't get to go to the client dinners, because that's a "partner thing".  Another great example is the PR person who writes his company's blog under his CEO's name, but isn't  allowed to post on his own and create a name for himself, or respond to any comments.

That kind of treatment creates a bad relationship with your employee.  It signals a lack of confidence.  Its the kind of thing that causes people to leave without warning, because you've built up this underlying resentment growing within your firm.

So put yourself in every last employees shoes if you run a company and ask yourself if you would feel like your company was passionate about you.  If not, is that because you don't believe in them or is it because you've been asking for passion from them for your company but not returning it.

Passion is definitely a two way street...otherwise is just kind of an unhealthy obsession.

Sachi from Centerpoint wrote a while back about conversation in the blogosphere:

• "There are way too many monologues, and not enough dialogues, in the blogosphere.
• Likewise, there is too much talking and not enough listening.
• Comments and trackbacks are not good metrics of which blogs are being read."

Part of the problem?   Comments suck.

And I'm not the only one that thinks so.

I'm working on a few bigger posts and today is busy at work, so all you get is some funny pics that I took in the city over the past week or so...

Now that Victor Zambrano has done us all a favor and injured his arm, ending his season, it makes you think of how awful some of the Mets trades have been over the last few years.  Certainly Scott Kazmir has a bright future and has looked brilliant at times, but he has yet to win his first Cy Young, so, while its hard to imagine the Zambrano trade not being a waste, its still too early to tell.

So what is the worst Mets trade ever?

How about Jason Isringhausen for Billy Taylor?  We traded a live young arm with a big 12-6 curve for a 38 year old washed up closer.  Isringhausen would go on to post 215 saves and counting since his 7/99 trade, posting ERAs under 3.00 over the last 5 years straight.  Billy Taylor would go on to throw 29 more innings of Major League ball before taking his rightful place at the top of the scrap heap.

There's lots going on in New York City over the next week.

Tonight is the ITP Spring Show.  For those of you who don't know, ITP is NYU's graduate program that combines design and technology and is one of the epicenters of creation in the NYC digitial scene.  Some very talented young minds have come out of ITP and I'm excited to meet the current group of students.  I'll be there from 5-6:30ish.

Then at 7, I'll be heading to the NY Tech Meetup.  Its going to be a packed house, so if you didn't already RSVP, I wouldn't expect to make it.

Then next Tuesday, we've got our May social gathering for nextNY.   So if you're an up and coming member of the NYC tech scene, or just in for Syndicate, stop by and say hello.  Its going to be our biggest group yet!

David Blaine was hanging out in a ball of water for some reason.

I don't even care enough to Google as to why.  Its so ridiculously stupid.

I really can't stand him.  When he stood in Bryant Park on that pole, I wanted to throw something to knock him off.

He just reminds me of those angsty kids that would do stupid stuff to get attention...   walking on ledges, stabbing knives in between their fingers...   Its just more of the tiresome cult of unworthy celebrity.  Cal Ripken, Jr. played in over 2600 straight games...  16 seasons.  No Injuries, no breaks.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Bubble Boy.

Back in August, I wrote about being successful in Web 2.0...      but lately, I've been a little frustrated by it.  There's a lot of noise, hype, and not as much traction and utility as one would like. 

Promise? Potential?

Yeah, its still there, but here are some of the things that are dragging it down...  The Top 10 Reasons Why Web 2.0 Sucks:

10. 

Now, I'm not big into quizzes...

...but this one had amazing results for me.

Regardless of whether you're interested in online dating, take the OkCupid personality test and let me know if it gives you the kind of results that make you curious who it might match you up with.

This was hands down the best results I ever got from one of these things ever... kind of scary, actually.

So I just got pinged with an e-mail about some upcoming Red Hot Chili Peppers concert dates...   and there were two ways to get first dibs on tickets:  Buy the album on iTunes or join the fan club.  Well, I didn't know there was a fan club, but since I'm a fan, I'm happy to join.

But, they want to charge me $30.

Pay to be a fan??

You should be given access to the fan club or exclusive presales based on your support of the group.  Shelling out money for concerts should get you fan points, but you shouldn't allow people to pay their way to the front of the crowd w/o actually buying anything.