180 karma · joined September 14, 2010
His reputation in this business is worth way more than he could ever generate selling an e-book.
I respect Andrew's work enough to know he did his diligence before-hand. Namely, working with and having PG's permission.
Seems like both the Tea Party and OWS demonstrations are peaceful (I'm sure there are a couple of knuckleheads in each group).
But not feeding the monster is also patriotic.
Fundamentally, if I knew tax dollars were were being spent efficiently, I wouldn't have a problem paying 'higher' taxes.
Corruption, inefficiency make it impossible to support tax increases.
It's also infuriating that for all of the sanctimony, especially that which is assigned to what amounts to a completely arbitrary number (e.g. $200,000), she completely ignores the fact that there is ridiculous, egregious amounts of government fraud & waste.
And to a couple of the specific talking points...
- How is the economy doing in the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation anyway? As mentioned the income is very low there but there is at least one 'government-connected' (one that does 50% of its business with the government) company that is profiting quite well there. Great.
- She says she's making great money (again, with a lot of great government contracts) and lives on the beach in a great place. By her own logic, she's being a d@*%! Why doesn't she commit a much larger percentage of her income to the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation, off of whom she is making all those evil profits. Why doesn't she move there? Is it not good enough for her? By her own logic, total hypocrisy.
Paying taxes is a reality, that's fine. But there are layers and layers of waste that most people just can't abide. If I'm a d&%$ for taking that position, oh well. By the way, I don't make nearly $200k a year.
And given the many (not the occasional bad experience, the many...) that I have in shopping at brick and mortar retail, I feel little to no sense of obligation to shop locally. Either they don't have it or the service is terrible.
It seems like some government entities argue that w/o the competition of online business these brick and mortars would be thriving. In what other realm is 'less' competition a good thing?
And I don't buy for a second that it's not a level playing field. I currently live in Oregon (came from California will be moving back there again relatively soon...) where there is no sales tax and retailers still generally don't have a clue on how to manage their inventory and deliver a good customer experience.
So sales tax will do nothing to resolve the issue as it relates to local retailers.
The bottom line is that good retailers that manage their inventory and provide a great experience will thrive regardless. The bad ones won't survive either way.
And for those that are always saying they will gladly pay more taxes, I say got for it. Send your money to the government - literally nothing is stopping you. Cut and check and send to the state - they can accept those checks.
http://business.transworld.net/59733/news/zappos-discontinui...
As a side, I hope hiring companies realize that many of their applicants are die-hard fans and advocates...
I have applied to two companies before that I was fiercely loyal to going into the process. After the process I was completely turned off to both of them. One offered me a job and one did not - I didn't take the job from the one that did.
The application and interview process was so bad with both of them it left me completely disenchanted. I have not used products from either company since those experiences - I completely lost my taste for their respective brands.
Conversely, I had another very positive experience with a different company that I was equally loyal to. The application and interview process was excellent. I didn't end up getting the job but I walked away with even greater respect for the company.
Bottom line for me...You can learn just about everything you need to know about a company through the application process.
Southwest still doesn't charge baggage fees (not until your third checked bag anyway).
I've heard industry analysts criticize Southwest for not charging fees and 'leaving that money on the table' (including explicitly calling for shareholders to demand they start charging).
Last time I checked though Southwest continues to be a highly profitable company - something most major airlines cannot claim.
How many times has Delta been in bankruptcy in the last 20 years?
I could be wrong but I don't imagine too many people push back so hard on @paulg like that.
I have great respect for @fredwilson for pushing back and then admitting in a very public way that he felt he made a big mistake.
The best line of the email is @paulg describing @fredwilson: "He is the least suburban-golf-playing VC I know."
Glad this story was shared and glad there is continued mutual respect there -
Good for you guys for posting something creative and fun on your site. (No idea why anyone would be critical of this.)
Coincidentally, I opened a Wistia account just last week. Very cool service, keep up the good work.
Thankfully no one was hurt -
That said, one family member in particular is a nurse practicioner at a major trauma center. Her primary concern is not the billing disputes as much as the actual quality of care. She feels that her hospital is already inundated with somewhat reckless medicaid requests. She believes that 60% of medicaid patients at her hospital seek medical care that they don't need (e.g., person has a basic headache that some rest or an aspirin would surely cure but instead they actually seek professional medical attention). If that visit were to come at a slightly greater cost, there is no way that person would go to an emergency room for a headache.
It sounds like a dramatic example but she says crazy incidents like this happens every single day, w/o fail. So much so that they track and keep a monthly log that helps them measure their performance. As such, the hospital's resources are strained and their ability to treat seriously ill or injured patients is somewhat compromised. So I think the concern on her part is that the new health care bill actually exacerbates this problem.
I understand that selling across state lines could violate states rights. At the same time, it's too bad that many (myself included) wouldn't trust the fed to be in charge of interstate oversight. In reality, it might be better to have one consolidated standard of mandates but I just can't imagine fed efficiently and accurately providing that type of oversight.
I concede that the system is totally messed up and the new health care bill makes it even worse.
Employers shouldn't be required to provide health benefits - eliminate the necessity of group plans.
Open up the state lines, allow insurance companies to compete for your business and watch prices drop dramatically. I'm certainly in favor of some basic oversight but not the egregiously burdensome regulation of the current system.
Anecdotally speaking, I have several friends, colleagues and family from various backgrounds that are doctors and nurses in different states and I have yet to find one of them that agrees the new health care bill is a good idea. They all think it dramatically complicate how they treat patients and ultimately marginalize the overall quality of care they will be able to provide. (Again, this is anecdotal but has definitely influenced my opinion. I have been shocked to find out that not one of these people I know actually support the new bill. Having said that, I know there are those that agree with the new bill.)
That said, my personal taste leans more towards the 37 offices.
They are certainly very successful but a lot of low-brow businesses are, that's nothing new.
For a lot of consumers it's all about price but many consumers (myself included) only want to spend money where they will receive great service and can identify with the company culture. I think Groupon risks losing customers that just don't appreciate their somewhat demented culture.
This is about smart people - there are brilliant business people and there are brilliant hackers.
They don't need to worry about showing chops (whatever that means) - they'll worry about ideas and creating greatness one way or another.
That said, after a quick double-take, I have to admit I laughed when I looked at the site.
And saying there is no chance a centralized database will emerge is impossible to predict.
And what purpose does the ID serve if it's not able to be referenced via some sort of data base.
The White House's comments are nonsensical.
Seems like it could be written into the tax code pretty easily - that is, if the current tax code were even remotely efficient.
Holy smokes, when is the Chinese version going to be available?
Let me know if you need help with a Portuguese version, seriously.
Agree with some of the other comments that their logo and site design could use a boost.
Killer idea, love it.
My company is constantly scratching and clawing for invoices to be paid. We're a small company that works with several much larger companies. While we offer a great product that our accounts need, we have little leverage when it comes to 'extracting' payment.
As difficult as it is, nicely done on recognizing the situation, holding yourself accountable and chalking it up as a lesson learned. No doubt about it, this experience will help you somewhere down the line...
I'm really impressed with your articulate re-cap of the story.
So that might be contrary to Rapleaf's policy but in reality their business model enables the dissemination of so-called sensitive data.
I read another blog post on Rapleaf's site about how they are solving the problem of personal information being moved around the internet mistakenly. Are they not simply devising a solution for a problem they are helping to create?
Again, I might be missing the point...?
I'm not sure where you are in life (job, family, et al), so let's just assume you are in a position with nothing to lose besides your time in this situation...
I would consider the vested interest.
If it's as seamless as it sounds with these connections, it sounds like you are set up for success (it's rarely as seamless as it seems but all things considered, this sounds pretty good).
Just make sure they give you a decent cut -