Why It's a Good Thing that the Defining News Organization of Our Times Is "Powered by Cute"

I just discovered BuzzFeed, and I love it [1]. BuzzFeed calls itself "powered by cute," a statement that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. How can the watchdog of democracy be powered by cute? What has happened to society?

I love that it's powered by cute. I love that it's powered by cute because I think that's a better paradigm than powered by fear.

Memorial Day Resolutions

I have some resolutions to make, and I’m not going to wait until New Year’s. Memorial Day marks the start of the summer season in many places; in that spirit I am making Memorial Day resolutions.

On Jason Collins, Chris Broussard, and the (Non) Uproar

Chris Broussard's anti-gay statements on ESPN today provoked some backlash, but I'm more struck by how little reaction there has been. Maybe this is because they were voiced relatively respectfully, or maybe it's because no one wants to spoil Collins' big day by focusing on something negative. I think it's because there have been so much prominent support of Collins that a statement against homosexuality by a second-tier sports journalist just doesn't feel like that big of a deal. The degree of backlash to a politically incorrect statement has more to do with how culturally sensitive the topic is than how "bad" the statement was. Like disagreeing with miscegenation, disagreeing with homosexuality seems on its way towards becoming quaint and harmless so long as no physical harm is threatened. ESPN seems to get this; I hope that Broussard continues to keep his job as a reminder of how the thoroughly the outpouring of support from within and outside of the sports world marginalized his views.

The BeerDreamer MVP, or, My First Tasting Event

Tonight is my first tasting where I’m providing the food and beer. I wouldn’t say I’m nervous, but I definitely want to nail it, especially since the room will be a combination of friends and early-adopter / influencer types. I’m excited to have my own stage. It may be a mini one in the corner, but it’s mine.

Following is the tasting I did last night to select the menu (a little too much tasting based on this morning's headache. Note to self to eat dinner first next time and drink way more water). 

Round One: Olive and Pickles on one side; Stoudts Pils and Brooklyn Lager on the other.

How to Handle VC Rejection

"I see an opportunity here, but it wouldn't be an opportunity if everybody saw it."

Apple is going to be out Apple'd

Can a Great Software Company Produce More Than One Great Product?

For the sake of argument let's define a great software company as having at least one dominant product in a lucrative market, and great for a product as being both the dominant brand in its market and financially meaningful to its owner. I'm using "software company" in a very loose sense here to mean any company who main interaction with customers is through software - this encompasses e-commerce and digital media - and I don't care about greatness from a quality perspective.

If you only look at software, Google is all search; Facebook is all Facebook; Amazon is all e-commerce; and Apple, Oracle, Intel, HP, and IBM don't exist.