Managing Hope

My parents are immigrants from Communist Russia. Whenever I ask them about what growing up there was like, they ask me to “imagine a place without hope.” It’s hard for me because, all my life, I’ve relied on dreams to fuel my progress. To me, startups are all about hope. While that hope takes on different forms and peoples’ goals vary, the idea that there is a light at the end of the tunnel keeps entrepreneurs going, innovating, and striving to reach that light. The trouble with hope is that sometimes that light can be blinding and cause the journeyman to lose sight of the potholes immediately in front of him. As I’ve seen, a pragmatic approach is critical to success. Read on for 5 ways in which I try to keep the pedal to the proverbial metal.

Can Long Distance Work?

Last October, I made a commitment to work with a law firm in the Bay Area this summer. Meanwhile, in January, I co-founded a startup based in New York. The idea we had at the startup is that it wasn’t completely critical that I be in New York to make the company work, and we’re in the process of that experiment right now. Even with phone calls, text, email, Skype, gchat, facetime, etc, it’s hard to keep on the same page with my partners and make sure our business is going in the right direction. Read on for notes I’ve made to myself.

Creatives vs. Suits...and associated Egos

There’s a debate. If you’ve ever been part of a business organization, you know it: Creatives think business people are disgusting capitalists who put too many constraints around the free flow of their art/code/writing/whatever. Business people think creatives don’t have any conception for the real world and would be completely adrift in their aimless hippie sea without the navigation of customer wants. Read more to find out the impacts on startups.

I Heart Avocados (as a metaphor for projects)

Avocado is a tricky substance with a dedicated niche following. It is often improperly applied in sandwich making, but improper applications can be avoided. Read on to find out how and why that matters.

Facebook Should Be Fighting FourSquare, not Google

I don't like "Liking" websites. Comments all over the web are ok, at best. While the internet as it exists today is definitely interesting, and owning search is a cool theory (works nicely for Google), it seems like, by trying to take on Google, Facebook is engaging in a battle it can easily lose and might not be worth fighting in the first place. As Facebook gets further away from its core "cool" factor, mobile players like FourSquare and Gowalla are gaining a foothold, creating their own social graphs, and usurping Facebook's ability to do something really really huge. Facebook is perfectly positioned to lead the jump from desk to mobile, and I think the company should rededicate itself to that pursuit instead of fighting Google.