HANSEN REPORT

Paterson to the Rescue

2008-03-17T19:40:00.003-04:00

It has only taken one week to travel from Scandal to Salvation.

Today I listened to a couple of interviews regarding Paterson conducted by the New York Times with elected officials. It would appear from how the press is treating the transition, that both parties enjoy the civility of our new Governor.

There was always something smarmy about Spitzer. I felt while reading articles about him that he was not a very likable guy. He was tough, smart and tactical.

Regarding Paterson, I see the opposite is true. I think so little is known about him that people are generally just optimistic that he will do better.

Spitzer's campaign in public life might be over, but his appointment of officials and the agenda that he set in motion will supersede Client #9.

The coming weeks will be a good testing ground to see how the Democrats and Republicans will adjust to their new leader.

Good luck Paterson!

East Village Radio and Kelley Polar

2008-03-17T19:22:00.004-04:00

There is one podcast that I listen to every week religiously.

Its the Tom & Guests DJ Show on East Village Radio.

The music scene in NYC is so diverse, but through whatever circumstances I came upon this local internet radio station. They have a full line up of shows broadcasting 24/7.

Every Wednesday afternoon from 12-2 PM they play their records and cutting edge indie rock/electronic music.

Each week they profile a couple of new mixes and artists. Last week I heard for the first time a song "Entropy Reighns (In the Celestial City)" by Kelley Polar. It knocked me off my feet.

I loved the song so much that I even went to a record store and bought the album on CD.

Today was probably the first time in a year or two that I went to a store and put cash on the counter for a record. Up until now its just been through itunes.

What a great feeling it is to tear the saran wrap off a cd case. I kind of miss it.

Up and Down

2008-03-14T12:13:00.002-04:00

The stock market makes me laugh sometimes.

Right now we are in a recession. I do not care if you are against the idea of a recession, but it is here. Get over it already.

This week I have seen some pretty funny things unfold, from Eliot Spitzer to a $200 Billion dollar band aid to a $19 Billion dollar loss (from Carlyle Capital). Our Dow has had a huge upward shift upon news of the Fed injecting some money, but one day later we see the Carlyle Group default on a $21 Billion dollar fund.

Its so ridiculous. I love it.

The Carlyle Group was trading on debt at 31 times cash value. These margins and the idiot bankers who support these ridiculous valuations are all crazy. I hope these big swinging dicks get fired and go into crazy personal debt. Its just obnoxious.

Meanwhile in my week review we have AOL buying San Francisco based Bebo for $805 Million big ones. Who uses this site? The English...and the list goes dead.

Tonight I will be at the Mashable party. See you there.

Kristen's My Biatch!!

2008-03-14T00:09:00.004-04:00

Well Spitzer, as if there is not enough crap written about you and Silda already (ps. I saw the Cramer clip - it made me cry too) I am going to write my own homage to you.

We saw you coming from afar (and track down every asshole on wall street). It was an affidavit, maybe something more...

The Street got scared, nobody was spared.
And the land before you trembled.

The Feds got sweet.
You were not so neat.

And Kristen gave you head.

You came, You saw, You conquered.
You got fucked, You got sucked, Now nobody wishes they were you.

Its sad to say, it won't go away. We can all have your girl for forty-five-hundred-dollars a day.

I wish you luck, even though nobody gives a fuck, except for Bubba, who will give you his all, from cell block 9 down the hall.

Feedburns

2008-03-13T23:54:00.005-04:00

So I was looking at my stats on feedburner today. They are really pathetic. I will be the first to admit it. My stats are 29 subscribers.

The truth, for those of you long time subscribers (Hi Mom and Dad) is that I have not been writing enough lately. Maybe the content is weak? The stories too long or too short. Not really sure.

Last time I checked in with my trusty feedburner feed, I had 19 subscribers. Glad to see that 10 more people have been lured onto my subscription page.

Not sure what my goal for readership really is. If I get a million will that make Robert Scoble smirk? Will Jimmy Wales (with all his woes and girlfriend issues) be jealous? I guessing a big NO!

One problem stems from the fact that I have friends who just RSS my feed and google reader my blog, so their numbers (and my guess is that this is in the 50-60s of readers) do not accurately reflect the number of people actually reading this blog in sum.

Well as it is, to the 29 subscribers and the countless other readers, I salute you.

Apparently, my friends think this blog post already sucks and that instead I should be writing about Kristen, Eliot Spitzer's friend. Yeah, we're buddies.

A Valiant Idiot and politics today.

2008-03-11T19:35:00.006-04:00

The news blaring in my ears for over 24 hours has been that Eliot Spitzer got caught with his pants down.

What a fucking idiot! I love this character so much that it makes me want to burn all my fiction novels. Who really needs to escape to a fantasy world of gnomes, wizards and demons when we have a New York State Governor to ogle?

The best part about this "scandal" is that its old news. No its not old news that Spitzer got caught by the Feds, but its old news that a politician is crooked as the San Andreas fault (I could have substituted a million things here).

My biggest gripe is that as a Democrat taking back the house, it should have been a bigger priority for Spitzer to be on his best behavior. But alas, the Demos look weak right now. Their leader looks like a spaz and thats not all. It reflects poorly on Senator Clinton as a legacy who endorsed his candidacy. Luckily for me I am a 3rd party participant in this charade. I am a Republican. This makes me feel kind of bad for the democrats. Especially when their whip looks like such a bitch.

I hope this helps Obama in some way. I have always liked his tenor, strength of character and no-nonsense attitude towards politics. I am in a rough place now with the Republican nomination of McCain. I am not against him, but I have my reservations. This scandal makes me laugh since I am trying not to weigh in on either side until the parties have figured out their crap. Who will be the Demo's nominee?

There are all these delegates, super delegates, primaries and general election. They all piss me off. They are all a waste of time, money and emotion. Plus, the simple fact that we are a two-party system pisses me off even further.

To watch all the bickering between the Democratic nominees is painful. Clinton is looking hungry and angry at every turn. She is slinging mud at Obama during the recent debates, she is throwing up pictures of Obama wearing traditional African attire (and not taking responsibility) and now she (and Slick Willy) are declaring that Obama would make a great Vice President. Where does it end? Last time I looked, Obama was winning the primaries.

If the Democrats want a good chance at ousting the Republicans, they better pick a candidate fast. There is so much internal fighting taking place that McCain can coast until the Democratic National Convention.

Getting back to Spitzer...Considering that he prosecuted a prostitution ring last year indicting 16 people, its dark comedy to see him caught in a similar sitituation. Client 9. Room 871. Thats awesome.

Its Thursday already

2008-03-06T15:41:00.004-05:00

This week has been a blur.

Last week was pretty intense out in Phoenix. It was awesome meeting the family of investors, friends and portfolio company founders surrounding Knight's Bridge Capital Partners and Lindzon Capital Partners.

They were an awesome group. I can only hope that my circle of friends is as much fun in 15 years when I am 40. My hope is that we all have kids and that we aren't boring by that age. Anything above and beyond that will be a miracle.

I learned a couple of things out in Phoenix.

1.Its 80 degrees in late February/ early March.
2.Always wear sunblock.
3.Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe and Arizona are really spread out compared to New York City.
4.Never underestimate the power of golf. I sucked, but I actually had a great time playing.
5.The landscape of the Southwest is breathtakingly beautiful. I had the opportunity to check out Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West - it was Boss.
6.New York rents blow hard. I can get a new 2 bedroom/2 bathroom for $1000/month out in Phoenix with Pool and jacuzzi. The security deposit is only $300 and there is absolutely NO greedy sleazy brokers fee.

But getting back has been great. The weather in New York has been pretty good (except for a slight flurry of rain) and the weekend is almost here.

Time really does fly.

Jonathan Richman: Funny and Lyrical

2008-03-05T16:16:00.002-05:00

Last night I had the pleasure to see Jonathan Richman (guitarist, singer and songwriter) and Tommy (his drummer) live at the Music Hall in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

You might recognize these guys from the movie "There's Something About Mary" as the singing duo that hangs out in trees, in front of buildings and all sorts of odd locations whenever something odd happens throughout the film.

It has probably been 10 years (give or take) since I last saw that movie, but Jonathan has lost none of his vigor or talent.

There were a number of songs dedicated to artists, like Vermeer, Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso (my favorite). He was also adept at singing songs in multiple languages (Spanish, Hebrew, Italian and English). It was pretty awesome all the way around.

Its not just his virtuosity that rocks, its his storytelling capability. Jonathan crafts the oddest descriptions of events to make us (the audience) understand where he is coming from.

Springtime in New York has lyrics like "3 feet of snow on the sidewalk" and "the smell of sewage in the gutter along the bowery". He rhymes about prostitutes in Tijuana in another song (sung in Spanish) "Get him another drink. His eyes stare towards the Exit sign".

Dancing in a Lesbian Bar. Awesome.

TheUpDown.com Virtual Stockpicking

2008-03-05T15:41:00.003-05:00

The truth of the matter is that as of today I do not have one-million-dollars. It would be really sweet if I did, but what I do have is a virtual portfolio that starts me off with $1,000,000 big ones.

TheUpDown is a pretty cool concept. I first joined back in September and have spent a minimal amount of time on the site since then. My basic strategy for investing is through following trending (both up and down) stocks. Plus I look at myself as a long term investor rather than a short term day trader (that takes too much time/effort/stress).

This company allows its users to watch, chart, analyze and follow stocks, ETFs and fellow traders.

In the seven months since I first joined I have bought and sold only three stocks, while retaining shares in REITs (SLG, VNO) and precious metals (GOLD, IAU). My strategy has been simple: Find all-time highs and ride them.

Half the virtual money I have made so far has been through shorting REITs. Real Estate Investment Trusts just do not have what it takes to weather the recession in which we have found ourselves. Two years ago the housing market was seeing the first signs of depression. Two years ago REITs were beginning to reach their all-time highs. Even last year REITs were performing strong. However, as the recession is settling into the foreseeable horizon and more jobs are cut, it will be harder and harder for the REITs to squeeze out their profits.

Companies are shedding employees, companies are merging (Doubleclick/Google and Yahoo/Microsoft). These companies are seeking efficiency. That means slashing jobs and freeing up overpriced real estate. We will see these REITs and others take greater hits over the next 9-18 months as we weather inflation, sub-prime BS, globalization and $100/plus barrels of oil.

Alternatively, I have used the UpDown to model what would happen if I bought gold six months ago, before we were certain about this recession ( Can't believe that Bernanke and Bush deny any economic slowdown = idiots). I had a gut feeling that as inflation took hold, investors would be comfortable in the gold standard (why did we leave it by the way?).

The shares I bought have shot through the roof. GOLD has risen from $24.66 to $54.18 since I bought it in September (a gain of 120%). This is crazy and awesome. Too bad its not real money that I am playing with.

My virtual annualized returns are at a whopping 44.26% . I have turned the $1 Million into $1,254,640 .

The weirdest part about this service is that I can make some real money through my virtual trades. I am not sure where this money is coming from, but I have been paid through paypal $50.37 for having a good portfolio and continually checking in on my portfolio.

Web Cubed

2008-02-25T13:18:00.003-05:00

We are seeing a burst of activity from social platforms. Although they have become the talk of 2007, they are inevitably here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Where will they take us and what will be next are the two major questions I have been thinking about lately.

I try to look at where the web is going from a different perspective, so here are some rambling thoughts.

China, India and Latin American countries will dominate the next generation of web applications and companies. We (being US/ Anglophones) have greatly ignored these communities to date.

Although we are seeing a rise in tailored websites/communities targeting these massive cultures and languages, I am too far removed to see what the current companies are in place that serve this segement of the world ( over 4 billion people).

I want to see someone become the superpower of all superpowers that will enable us to all communicate across all platforms and languages. Right now I have no idea what the top web companies are in India or what the best social platform is in China. Spanish speaking countries have their own communities and cultures too, which unless I either spoke Spanish fluently, lived abroad or had many spanish speaking friends than I would not be able to connect with these companies/start-ups and phenomenon.

I only know a couple of things have spread beyond US soil. To my surprise, facebook is exceptionally popular in Denmark and most of Europe. I only know this because I have worked/been good friends with young Brits, Frenchies, Germans and Danes. However, I look at a company like Bebo and for whatever reason it did not spread in the US to great popularity, yet in the UK its a hit. On this same note, there must be equivalent web companies in Shanghai, Mexico City and Delhi that cater to young social networks that are very popular and unheard of in metropolitan New York City.

The next web will bridge this gap.

I have read some comments that mobile is the next big thing. As far as I know, its already here. Its not the technology that will be making the future, but how we choose to use it in our daily lives.

I like CouchSurfing.com because no matter where you travel to in the world there is someone with an internet connection, a spare sofa and an interesting conversation to be had. This network provides a refuge for the world adventurer. I was able to contact people while in Tbilisi (Repbulic of Georgia) and in Trabzon (Turkey) very easily and efficiently because this network saw across channels. The barrier for entry was minimal at most (email address, couch, access to a computer to check email). Knowledge of English to fill in the fields varies depending on the user, but its amazing how you can interact with someone in person without speaking a word of their mother tongue (my Georgian is worthless).

Providing a means of expanding knowledge is the most important technology that can or will exist. The potential is endless.

I hope to see more companies move into the void of creating international communities where language is not the major barrier for entry. Forums where we can communicate without having to speak spanish, japanese or english to extract information.

Coney Island Sunday Night Ride

2008-02-25T11:35:00.002-05:00

Kristian,
originally uploaded by mistermisurelli.

Went riding to Coney Island with three biker buddies last night (Joe, Justin and Jimmy Trouble). We took the Ocean Parkway to the wooden boardwalk, past the Cyclone rollercoaster and ended our adventure at Nathan's Hot Dog. I did not consume any dogs, they kind of gross me out.

Nice night time ride back across Brooklyn. Scary going over the Williamsburg Bridge with it covered in ice. Saw one dude crash coming down the ramp. He was okay.

Joe is trying out his new polaroid camera. I think it looks pretty cool this little shot he took after riding.

Despite the winter weather I managed to break a sweat. Yeah me.

LindzonPalloza 2008: Phoenix

2008-02-23T17:33:00.005-05:00

Tuesday I will be flying out to Phoenix for a week of sun and work.

It will be great to get away from all the snow, slush and gray that permeates the city of New York during the winter months of January, February and March.

Bright blue skies and 75 degree weather sound mighty tempting at this moment.

We will be hosting the first ever Knight's Bridge Capital Partners Golf Tournament, beginning on Thursday and culminating on Saturday with golf and a Suns game. I am looking forward to the Sun's game, since I am not much of a golfer.

This will be great way to get 50 investors together to talk about the market and some of our investments to date.

We will have some of our start-up companies present as well to talk about what they are up to. Speakers will include Brett Wilson from TubeMogul, Mark Seremet from Green Screen Interactive, Mike Lazerow from BuddyMedia and Alan Levy from BlogTalkRadio.

Very excited about the party, the golf, the basketball and the Sun. If you are in the area please send me an email or give me a call.

Shitty internet connection

2008-02-23T17:10:00.003-05:00

I hate to admit it, but I "borrow" my internet connection from my neighbors.

The result is that I am constantly shifting between whatever the strongest wifi connection is at any given moment.

Every damn webpage is loading slowly, I am reduced to low download speeds, I can not stream videos over the internet and skype is a waste of time.

The price I pay is one of quality. I am almost at the point of paying for a real connection, until then, let the internet be slow.

Whats the rush anyway? I used to use a 14.4k modem while growing up.

Beggars can't be choosers.

Wallstrip and Knight's Bridge Capital Explained: Howard Lindzon Interview

2008-02-13T15:47:00.003-05:00

Today Howard is profiled by tech ticker on Yahoo Finance by Aaron Task.

Described as an "irreverent money manager" Howard describes the valuation of Wallstrip as paid for by CBS and some of Knight's Bridge's investments to date.

The first comment describes Lindzon as "a jerk please you are full of yourself." Insightful commentary indeed.

I am proud to be working with Howard; despite the warm reception bestowed upon him by Yahoo Finance readers.

Clippers

2008-02-12T19:43:00.000-05:00

It looks like shit outside right now. Its been snowing all day in New York City and now the snow is turning into rain/sleet and the white snow will quickly turn to brown rubbish.

The cold weather will freeze this city into a ridiculous ice mess. I can't wait for tomorrow morning!

David, my little brother, sent me this video of himself in a haircut commercial. He's a student in California at CalPoly San Luis Obispo. This area is most notable for the wino-movie hit Sideways and Solvang, that fake little Danish town.

This is what you get when you pay college kids $50 to act in your advertising campaign.

So, if you are ever in SLO and need a haircut go here.

O'Reilly Money:Tech Conference 2008

2008-02-05T01:26:00.000-05:00

This week I look forward to Tim O'Reilly's Money:Tech Conference to be held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

The list of speakers is impressive and the topics to be covered should be equally provocative.

Speeches by Jim Cramer (The Street) and Paul Kedrosky (Infectious Greed) amongst others should provide some helpful insight into how our economy, the stock market and technology will change in the upcoming year. The horror that we are seeing in the market appears to be here for the near-term and its anyone's guess as to when it will be lifted.

It will also be good to see many of the investment professionals all located in one place for two days to exchange ideas and projections about the market and its direction.

Fred Wilson, Brad Feld, Howard and others are seeing a slow down in activity around the start-up finance sector as consumers tighten their spending habits.

Its been almost a year since I first met Jason Knight, CEO of Wesabe (whom O'Reilly and Union Square Ventures have investment). It will be good to see how his progress has accelerated since our first meeting. The field of online-personal-finance has grown significantly; as more and more companies are springing up to fill this void. Geezeo, Mint and Wesabe have positioned themselves as industry leaders ( Mint is doing damn well in my opinion).

Looking forward to it.

New Deep V Wheel with Phil Wood Hub

2008-02-05T01:13:00.001-05:00

After last November's Cranksgiving crash it was only a matter of time (and money) before I built a new front wheel.

The results are impressive. Its pretty sweet to have a rock-solid front wheel. The roads of New York City are treacherous at best. Potholes, pedestrians, taxi's and broken glass adorn the streets I ride each day.

There is no space for compromise in the world of track bikes. Either you are in the zone riding or you are smacking your face in the back of someone's car door. Thats why its so important to be on top of your game at all times. These many considerations are quite worrisome, which is why I will only ride my bike when I know its in optimal condition. New tires, well-oiled hubs, cranks and a taut chain are necessities that can not be ignored.

Superbowl Monday: Don't be a Baby about it

2008-02-04T14:03:00.001-05:00

The game was watched. The Giants won and I lost a dollar.

That was my big bet for the season, that the Patriots would have the perfect season.

Robert Kraft was the commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2005 at Columbia University. I am not really sure what he talked about. I think I was too excited to really care.

My friends and I really looked forward to the commercials. For me watching the Superbowl is like breaking into a bad habit. I do not have a television and have not been following sports or tv shows for the last 10 years. In essence, me watching football once a year is kind of like sneaking in a cigarette to a reformed smoker.

Growing up I watched way too much MTV, Nickelodeon and Columbo. Once I hit high school I pretty much stopped caring what was on the boobtube. There were too many fun things to do outside of the house that I just did not have time to sit around and veg-out.

To this day I am anti-television. I love watching good films, but asking me about LOST or American Idol will get you no where fast.

Back to the commercials:

They weren't really that funny. The only worthwhile ads that came on were for a little baby talking stocks. This was the most spectacular advertisement. I love hearing a one-year old talking about mutual funds. He even took some of his earnings and rented a clown for a couple of hours. Classic! Ironically, this was a commerical for E Trade. The most talked about failure of recent memory in the cheap, online trading sphere.

Talking babies won't save this one.

Superbowl Sunday

2008-02-03T18:31:00.000-05:00

Yeah, its that time of the year again. Kickoff was five minutes ago and I have no clue who is winning.

If you have read my blog before, you know that I ride bikes frequently. Football not-so-much.

Therefore, like millions of other Americans I am taking to a comfortable sofa, drinking beer and paying attention to the multi-million dollar ads. I heard that Obama was going to have a spot. Looking forward to that.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the half-time show. Hmmm... Last year it was Prince? How much worse could things get? Maybe next year it will be R Kelly. Thats what I am looking forward to.

Who's playing who again?

Twitter Me This Twitter Me That, Who's Afraid of the Big Black Bat?

2008-01-28T15:44:00.002-05:00

Oh hell. What to do with Twitter?

I have been a fairly avid user of twitter over the last year. Its been good to me at times, but sometimes it gets really annoying.

The problem is noise and usability. Its so damn easy to use that people are twittering all the time.

"Taking a dump" "Walking the dog" "Fire at BricaBox HQ"

For all the noise there are a couple of insightful comments that arise through twitter. It enables me to glimpse into the lives of friends and colleagues without having to interact with them. Taking out social interaction by automating it might not be the best method for humans to coincide.

I follow Fred Wilson, but I have only met him once. I am also followed by 64 people. Half of these people I have never even met. Its kind of creepy that people want to follow me in the first place. On the flip side its endearing to know that someone cares enough to add me.

However, I am not sure what the future is for this service. While I was away in Denmark last December I turned off my blackberry. This in turn stopped all the twitter updates that streamed through my phone 24 hours a day. When I came back to New York I kept my twitter updates turned off. They are still off, but I check the website every couple of days to see what people have been up to.

The crowd sourcing of this web service is questionable. For me to really get anything out of twitter I have to be connected all the time. Unfortunately I am receiving plenty of worthless information all day long.

Howard twitters about bathrooms, I twitter about bars and my buddies twitter about drinking coffee.

Alley Insider even has a twitter of the day.

Where is this going? Not really sure. There is a utility to twitter, but the exit strategy is not clear to me.

Advertisements in the twitter interface are annoying. Annoyance leads to a lack of usage. So how will twitter make money? Corporate America could buyout twitter and harvest its users through branding, but I am not sure what else you could really do with this service. Perhaps its just another fad.

The Sky Is Falling: Watch Out!

2008-01-22T04:49:00.000-05:00

Here's one ibanker going crazy and I don't blame him for a second.

It looks like the failing economy is upon us. A recession is here and the two questions on everyone's minds are for how long and how deep.

Its really anyone's guess, but here are a few of my thoughts and indicators of note:

1. Yahoo is contemplating to layoff a buttload of people as we speak.
2. Bush and Bernanke can not comfort the United States, so how the hell will they comfort the entire world economy?
3. Its really late at night in New York, like 5 am and I should go to sleep soon.
4. The world markets are opening/closing this Tuesday anywhere from 5-10% down (Asia and Europe).
5. New York is really cold right now 25 degrees Farenheit, which leads me to believe that most bankers are going to be very bearish tomorrow (today in four hours when the market opens).

Will the world end? My sources point to a clear NO, however, if you have money invested, it would be a great time to move away from stocks and move towards ETFs. The market has taken a huge hit over the last three months since its late summer peak. The Downward Spiral that we are in may apex in the next 24 hours.

I am thinking about closing out a couple of positions and using that liquidity to buy on the cheap during the next week.

New Racing Season

2008-01-20T15:46:00.000-05:00

The first few races of 2008 have been announced on f ixed.gr/nyc . Or at least they are in the process of getting organized.

I await the start of the racing season. It never really ends, not unless you stop riding, but why would you do that?

First race of NYC in 2008 will be held January 26 entitled "Capital Crimes" location and starting time TBD.

Second race: Valentine's Day, Thursday February 14th. Starting at the bright and early time of 6:30 PM this will make for a memorable valentine's day date.

Monstertrack 9, Weekend of March 8-10. Fuck yeah!! Can't wait for this years race. Its going to rock. It will just be the real racers. The colder the weather, the more ridiculous the riders. This should be a great turnout from all over the world too. I have some buddies from Copenhagen who will probably come out for the race.

No Shave Rule: Broken

2008-01-17T13:39:00.000-05:00

Bet you thought I wouldn't do it.

Well after a few emails and a call from my mom I shaved that sucker.

What to do? What to do?

No shower for a month?

No Shave Rule

2008-01-17T12:39:00.000-05:00

Lately friends and colleagues of mine have been pondering: "Why don't you shave more often?"

The answer is simple. I do not think its necessary.

One of the best parts about being blond is that its hard to grow a decent beard. Now this variates from person to person, but in my case I could not shave for a month and it will never get that bad.

Its great. I shave like once a week.

I have an important meeting this afternoon and for it I am considering a shave.

There is a wonderful idea about men's shaving habits and the relationship to being a hipster. The idea goes that you shave once on Sunday or Monday. Let it grow for a while. Once you hit Friday and Saturday nights you will be in the best shaggy-hipster shape possible.

Too bad I am not a hipster.

3PAR: Investing 101

2008-01-14T03:44:00.000-05:00

Starting at some point in May, I was working with 3PAR (public, NYSE: PAR) as a real estate consultant to the company. This was back when I worked in commercial real estate at CresaPartners.

3PAR is in the process of expanding their operations around the country. They are adding increased capacity for their users and hiring a larger sales force.

Simultaneously, while I worked on the logistics of their real estate, the company was focusing on an IPO.

During the summer I opened a brokerage account at Charles Schwab with the intention of taking money that I earned while working as a consultant and playing with it in the market. Nothing sat very well with me this summer and despite the dow hitting a new all-time high I didn't bite.

Initially priced between $11-13/per share, the IPO saw the stock hit a high of $17.99 in its first day of trading. I couldn't get my bid in their on time, since I am not an institutional investor. However, I got in there around $17 only to see the stock slump day after day.

Today, January 14th is the first time I look back at the stock since December. Its now trading at an even $10. I've lost almost 50% of my investment in two months. Astonishing!

However, I still believe in this stock and might even buy some more. Why? Because, I know that the business is doing well and that it takes sometime for the true price to work itself out.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets and Credit Suisse, seem to be thinking along the same lines as me, having recently rated the stock as an "outperform". They suggest that the stock may regain and surpass its first day trading price and strike out past $18 by years' end. I hope so too.

New Fund: Knight's Bridge Capital Partners

2008-01-09T14:31:00.000-05:00

Today Howard, Kenny and myself are pleased to announce the formation of Knight's Bridge Capital Partners. Based out of Toronto, with decision makers in New York and Phoenix we are pretty damn North American in our approach towards investments.

The fund is $80 million big ones strong. Not all of the fund will be focused on early stage investments, but we have allocated about 10% towards start-ups.

Howard explains it all here on his blog.

We have rolled Biltmore Ventures into the fund as well. So I guess I don't need to change my linkedin or facebook profile just yet. Now it looks like I work at two funds. Maybe its my split personality.

Well, have to run. But things are on the up and up.

KLH

Missing New York

2008-01-02T19:00:00.000-05:00

I have been gone for a month now and it wasn't until I saw this video that I realized just how much I am missing NYC.

God I love Queens, Long Island, Staten Island and New Jersey.

Myspace is Pissing Me Off

2007-12-20T18:50:00.000-05:00

In the last week I have received 6 fake friend requests and 3 hacked messages.

Considering that I have less than 150 "friends" on myspace and over 550 facebook buddies, I think this is exceptionally high.

How many fake friend requests have I received from facebook?

None. Zero. Zilch.

Why is it that a company bought by Murdoch can not figure out a simple thing like user privacy? It would appear to be the hallmark of excellence or at the very least the most important piece of user identity.

User privacy and hackability are of utmost concern for most users.

Personally I have come to the point of no return. I just do not care anymore about my privacy on the net. In very few instances do I care. Its only in email and on financial services websites.

Social networking websites have horrible security. Therefore I never leave important information on these sites. I do not trust facebook or myspace with anything. But I still see their value. Yet facebook, despite all these application and group requests has my loyalty over myspace. Myspace is the internet porn of social networking. I hope it dies a slow death.

Hamlet: I Heart You

2007-12-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

Hamlet I heard you: No not really.

I am staying in the town of Kokkedal right now on the northern coast of Zealand about 25 kilometers outside of Kobenhavn. Its gray most of the day (perpetually overcast) and the temperature hovers between 2-6 Centigrade.
View Larger Map

We are about 16 kilometers outside of Helsignor, the town where Shakespeare attributes the play of Hamlet to the castle of Elsinore (see the resemblance).

I rode my bike there yesterday along the winding coast. It was a great day for a ride, with a cool breeze keeping me from overheating in my biking attire (jeans and sweatshirt).

The medieval town has changed little over the past few centuries. The streets are still cobblestone, the tourists are still Swedish and the castle remains standing century after century.

I decided to not travel into the actual castle, tickets are 75kr (15 bucks), but I walked around the moat and castle to observe that it looks like most castles (old and dreary). Instead I opted to visit a local bar at around 1 in the afternoon.

Surrounded by local pensioners I devoured my first Danish beer: Wiibroe. After a week of staying out here, yesterday was the first time that I actually had anything to drink. At 14kr a piece it was well worth the wait.

Wanting to stay warm before my ride back to Kokkedal I walked over to the local mall. I was lucky enough to catch the Santa Lucia "winter lights festival". Its a song carried out by the local girls to celebrate the dark days of winter and the light that comes from family (I think thats about right). Anyway, its a beautiful song to hear and it was great that through happenstance I was able to catch the a Santa Lucia song in action.

This Content is Currently Not Available

2007-12-13T10:22:00.000-05:00

Plucked out of New York I find myself at some crossroads. Luckily I brought my trusty laptop along for the ride to Denmark.

Each day there is a limited amount of sunlight, which translates to some minor constraints of lifestyle. I have to wake up early enough catch the first rays of light and be home by 4 pm in order to not get lost trying to find my way back. But once I do arrive home there is this big question surrounding "What do I do for the next seven hours?". I could read books, cook elaborate dinners, blog or construct the world's largest gingerbread home. I've decided to catch up on American television series that I don't have time to watch during the work week.

Two days ago I received my beta invite to Hulu, that new social video website, hosted by NBC U, News Corp and now CBS. Its supposed to help revolutionize how we view television content online. Well, as pleased as I was to finally receive my invite (it was requested a month ago), I was unable to access any of the content. Why? Probably because I am in Europe right now.

I attempted to access Joost, which gave me similar not working responses. However, I was able to access their TKO (Technical Knock Out Network) and the Sports Illustrated Network via Joost. Access to National Geographic via Joost was non-existent.

How am I supposed to become a dedicated user of these services when they do not function half the time? I find myself in a rural village in Northern Zealand, Denmark with access to weird Danish television series and all I want to do is watch Heroes. Yes, I should be soaking up the culture and that I am, but there is still some downtime and until I understand all the subtitles it will be worthwhile for me to have access to American programming.

I don't care if its packaged with local danish advertisements, but there should be some way for me to access this content. I have resorted to bit torrents and recently finished watching Kid Nation. 40 Kids, 40 Days, No adults and the New Mexico desert. We should try this out with politicians. 40 politicians, 40 days, No adults and the New Mexico desert.

I tried accessing Kid Nation from Veoh, but just like CBS.com, Hulu.com and Joost I was unable to access this content overseas. Stupid considering that I can just download them from bit torrents. These damn studios are shooting themselves in the foot by not providing content easily. Instead of getting some advertising revenues through legitimate means, they are getting zero revenues from me and anyone else in Europe or beyond who just downloads them from a competing service.

We live in a global economy. The internet should be the first place where laws, revenue shares and content distribution are being set up for mass global consumerism. I realize this is "uncharted" territory, but in the interest of companies responsible for content generation (which I respect and am willing to pay for) I say get with the times and make JV's/partnership deals with the rest of the world, so the US is not so far behind in the digital sphere.

Upside Down and Inside Out

2007-12-11T13:42:00.000-05:00

Greetings to all from Kobenhavn, Danmark.

I made it here without any broken bones or scary stories. Just a smooth flight on SAS Airlines and a distant cousin awaiting me at the airport.

Its been raining on and off the last two days, but its nothing a New Yorker can not handle. In fact, its a bit warmer here than in NYC. It has not snowed yet and the temperature is hovering in the mid-40s.

After assembling my bike on Sunday morning I took myself out for a 5 hour ride around the town. Kobenhavn is a beautiful place to be situated and has been constructed to allow bike riders the greatest convenience possible. Unlike Montreal, which I visited two weeks ago, Kobenhavn has bike lanes on EVERY single street. Car, Bike and Pedestrian make up each rode (both ways).

The fact that there are up to six lanes of possible movement per rode makes for some interesting traffic. Not only do I worry about hitting pedestrians, but also bike riders (who are old ladies, moms, children, the elderly, etc.), cars and people entering and exiting from buses. Motorcyclists also share the biking lanes, so there is seldom a dull moment.

The bike lanes are just wide enough to fit two riders comfortably. Passing is a bit crazy, since a quarter of the bike riders are also casually talking on their cellphones (hmmm sounds familiar to car drivers). On top of the forward progression, there is also the need to abide by all traffic laws. For once I am actually taking the time to stop at each red light. Considering that this country "gets it" about biking I feel its only right for me to follow their rules. Everytime I come to a stoplight I practice my track stands. They are getting pretty good, so who knows, maybe next spring I'll win an event at one of these alleycats.

There appears to be two main bike messenger services in town: The Green Messengers and those guys who wear black. The Green Messengers have green spandex racing outfits, which is pretty neat. I think they have customized Ortlieb weatherproof backpacks as well.

Monday I cruised around town with Lis, my retired psychiatrist cousin. We bought a styrofoam sword for her 7 year old grandson. This shop, Faraos Cigar, reminded me of nerdville. It was stocked with plastic swords, shields and Dungeons & Dragons gear. Most of this stuff is made in Germany. The only people I see wearing/carrying chain mail nowadays are the bums in the East Village and those Goth kids. Apparently its a cool thing out here.

Having seen Christiania I was not really too impressed. This area is near the harbor and composed of old military barracks that have been taken over by hippies and vagrants. The area sees high levels of drug abuse/sales and is tatooed by oft grotesque graffiti. Punk kids and artsy types hang around the spot hocking "Bevar Christiania" (Save Christiania) wares.

It reminded me of Berkeley and Haight Street in San Francisco. A bunch of free loaders, doped up and fighting against "the man". In Christiania they refuse to pay taxes or rent (from what I have been told), although I saw many with satellite dishes. Hippies need to watch football.

Today, Tuesday, December 11th I spent the greater part of my day exploring the Glyptotek Museum. It was originally founded by the Carlsberg Brewing Company and now houses an exceptional collection of Greek and Roman sculptures. In addition there are sections devoted to French Art and Sculpture and Danish Arts.

More to follow...

My Hands Are Bananas

2007-12-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

I leave in an hour for Denmark.

The trip is finally here. So here's a funny video that Anton brought to my attention.

I am not really sure about it being a "dark german techno" song, but I will vouch for it being a dark techno song about bananas.

Pelle the Conqueror : Pelle erobreren

2007-12-03T01:45:00.000-05:00

Saturday afternoon I saw Pelle the Conqueror at Scandinavia House in midtown Manhattan.

They have an ongoing film series highlighting significant Nordic theater.

Pelle follows the life of two Swedes as they immigrate to Denmark in search of a better life. It won an Oscar in 1987 for best Foreign Film.

Expecting a feel-good film, I was instead startled by the horrible reality facing the central characters. Their trials and tribulations during the beginning of the 1900's helped lead to the creation of the modern socialist state.

Moving abroad they are forced into servitude by the Danish Authorities and made to work their way through yearly contracts that offer very little hope of a better future.

The ending sees a young Pelle leaving farm life and his father to conqueror the world.

Considering the current social and political situation in Denmark and the United States its perhaps all too propitious for the topic of immigration and human rights to be revisited.

We are a nation of immigrants, let us not forget this.

Vik Muniz: You Rock!

2007-11-28T17:14:00.000-05:00

Two years ago walking around the newly re-opened Museum of Modern Art I noticed an awesome photograph that appeared to be constructed out of crude oil. It was a scene of hundreds of people standing in attention during a concert. The artist, I later recalled was named Muniz.

Last Friday I toured the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. To my astonishment there was an entire retrospective on one floor devoted to Vik Muniz and his spectacular career.

Having grown up in Brazil, he became fascinated with design and graphics at a young age. However, it was not his upbringing or stated purpose to become an artist. He moved to the US in 1983 and the rest as they say, is history.

He composes earthen sculptures on massive scales (300 feet) and pictures of celebrities out of diamonds and caviar.

A true virtuoso.

He will be speaking at Hunter College in Manhattan tonight at 7:30pm. Unfortunately I won't be there.

Montreal Closure Québécois

2007-11-28T16:24:00.001-05:00

Its been a few days since I have been back in the United States.

The snow surrounding Montreal was a refreshing change to the daily churn of Manhattan. Although I love the Big Apple, I also love perspective. There is indeed an outside world.

My five days were spent primarily hanging out with my buddy and learning about the culture of the Québécois.

Its still a very European city despite its proximity to Vermont and English speaking areas.

There were two fixed bike shops that I visited that are in their nascent stages: Revolution Montreal run by Danielle and Belleville Bike Coop - run by three guys - I met Tony.

Its great to see that the bike scene in Montreal warrants two fixed gear bike shops centered around messengers and the culture surrounding the industry.

On a side note regarding cycling, it was refreshing to see that throughout much of downtown there were designated bike lanes. Not only were cars not driving in them (like SF and NYC), but these lanes were actually cleared of snow. In fact the pedestrians had to walk on snow and ice, whereas the bicyclists get nice clean lanes for travel. Bravo Montreal!

Montreal is home to the Molson Brewery. In the absence of a proper tour my friend and I were able to get an employee to sell us two 12 packs for $20 Canadian, normally $30. An accomplishment indeed.

Montrealean Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T12:13:00.001-05:00

Friends and Family,

We take this day each year to be thankful for something. I am thankful to be healthy, drop dead gorgeous and in Montreal with my best friend, Anton.

I am thankful for many things, for although times are sometimes tough, its the perseverance of loved ones that helps to keep us going. For this I say Thank You.

Recently I had dinner with a close friend who had told me about a time in his life when he was on the verge of suicide. For over a week he binged on alcohol and finally woke up on the cold tiles of his bathroom floor. He had not ate anything for three or four days, just booze.

He told me that the reason he kept going was the thought of "not going" scared him too much. Its a sick and twisted paradigm. He was thankful for the experience because it taught him that he would never want to be in that situation ever again. He wants to live life to the fullest.

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I am thankful for my amazing support system of parents, siblings and friends.

My career path is uncertain, but one to be happy about. If you don't like what you are doing, stop right now, stop complaining and figure out what makes you happiest. Be thankful that we live in an era where its acceptable to have 10 different jobs during the course of a lifetime.

Wherever you find happiness, find in it something to be thankful for.

Denmark: Almost Here

2007-11-20T13:21:00.000-05:00

Each day I check off the number of days until I leave New York and head overseas to the Homeland: Denmark.

Its been two months now since I began Danish Classes. I am not sure if I have really learned how to speak that much, but I have a good handle on pronunciation, reading and writing. Perhaps I have mastered the level of a three year old but thats better than what I had before.

It would appear that I will be heading to a host of places during this excursion. People contacted at this point include my cousins and their daughters, old buddy from middle school (Christian in Lund, Sweden), a travel companion from Craigslist (Elsa in Gothenburg Sweden) and it looks like some friends from NYC will be in Copenhagen after Christmas.

The route I will be riding is still undetermined. Having studied the maps and historical features of DK, I am inclined to cut across Funen until I reach the Southwestern town of Tonder. The road will next take me North to Esbjerg through Rinkobing, Thisted, Jammerbugt, Hjorring and finally Skagen, the most Northern point in the country.

A short ferry ride across the water will place me in Gothenburg, Sweden. The route from Sweden is uncertain. Do I continue South along the Sweden's coastline or do I take a ferry back to Denmark?

There are many uncertainties, which I relish. Its the spirit of travel to be untethered. Three dates have me locked in at this point. An invitation for Christmas with my cousin (near Copenhagen), a birthday party in Copenhagen (Dec. 13-16) which is optional and my NYC friends arriving in the country after Christmas.

Let the spirit of the wild keep me free.

Cranksgiving Aftermath

2007-11-20T13:09:00.000-05:00

Cranksgiving left me bruised and slightly broken-hearted.

The event itself was a success. Around 85 riders showed up, which given the chilly temperatures, was a feat in itself.

The format was simple. Hit up four different supermarkets scattered around the city, buy four different items from these stores and finish at 23rd and 11th Avenues.

The simplicity of the alleycat was awesome. The cause we were riding for was charity. I was elated.

That is until some asshole smashed into me with their White Ford Explorer on East 14th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A.

I was in between the third and fourth checkpoints riding down the double yellow line in traffic. The cars had come to a halt due to the red light. Cruising down the median line I was approaching the intersection when out of the blue the Explorer busted a U-Turn OVER the double yellow!!!!

This asshole forced me to smash into the front hood of the car. My front wheel was sent underneath his massive tire and crushed. I got a little scraped up, but my front wheel is dead. Poor red Deep V Velocity Rim. RIP.

"We live here (Stuyvesant Town) and we're allowed to go over the double yellow" yelled the passenger of the vehicle.

Thanks.

Oh and the Police were a real help too. "We can file a report, but its not going to do you any good".

Other than that everything is great.

Makeover Solutions: To Die For

2007-11-13T10:28:00.000-05:00

This week in the wonderful world of venture capital I read about the $7M funding of Virtual Makeover. A provider of virtual makeup solutions, this company allows females (and males?) to upload photographs and spruce them up with the aid of the internet.

Instead of just panning this site as lame or stupid I thought it would be good to give it a shot.

Never afraid to make fun of myself, here is the result of my makeover.

Damn I look hot.

What I do like about this site is the ability to post your makeover to your facebook or myspace accounts, load it into your blog and email it to your friends. It makes the service aspect very easy to use without the need for a degree in CS or EE.

Cranksgiving Alleycat

2007-11-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

This is going to be awesome.

Big race next weekend. FREE, but bring $10 to buy food which will be donated to a soup kitchen in the East Village.

Registration at 2 PM, race starts at 3PM (yeah right).

35th Street & 11th Avenue across from the Javits Center.

Angry German Stripper

2007-11-09T13:14:00.000-05:00

I got a chuckle out of this one. Great way to waste a minute on a dreary, cold, rainy Friday.

God save us all.

ad:tech Media Whiz Party

2007-11-06T15:39:00.001-05:00

This year's New York City ad:tech convention, held at the Hilton in Midtown, started off with a fun party at Club Strata.

The event, sponsored by Media Whiz was surprisingly well attended by the fairer sex, a fact not lost on the many out-of-town advertising and marketing geeks.

Playing poker and blackjack while throwing back premium open-bar drinks led to some late night dancing by some (not by me surprisingly). Approximately 500 people must have dropped by during the course of the night. A good crowd considering it was a Monday night and raining lightly.

Thank you Media Whiz.

Radiohead: Give, Give, Give It Away

2007-11-06T15:08:00.000-05:00

One month after the launch of pay-what-you-like for In Rainbows by Radiohead and the numbers are rolling via ComScore (SCOR).

Its a mixed bag of results. According to the numbers, 38% of users who downloaded the album globally chose to pay a weighted average of $2.26 per album (this factors in all the freeloaders).

In the United States we were more likely to not only pay for the album (40% paid something), but we paid more per All Downloads of the album too ($3.23 average).

To these results I am not too surprised. The United States has a very active bit-torrent community and the ease of finding online music has only been made easier by the advent of music exploration programs (Hype Machine, Pandora, Last.fm). However, we live in the United States and to that we owe the MPAA's and RIAA's trenches of lawyers fighting the uphill battle against piracy. Foreigners are not held to the same illegal downloading laws that we face in the US. We are conditioned to pay for the right to view movies and listen to music.

Its admirable that Radiohead took this step forward towards battling online piracy. If for no other reason to piss off record label execs, Radiohead has shown that people are willing to pay for free music. Their cult of followers can only grow stronger through better music and greater customer service. The right of the artist to produce 2 good songs and 10 songs of filler is over.

500 Facebook Friends and Counting...

2007-11-05T13:33:00.000-05:00

Not sure that this is something to brag about - its not. But it is interesting to note how quickly these "friendships" develop. I wish there was a facebook application that chronologically tracked the additions of friends via facebook. A mashup of your usage of the site and the number of friends you acquire. Similarly this could work for the number of messages, wall posts and pictures posted.

I would expect major spikes of usage around holiday seasons and surrounding birthdays.

Barney Pinata
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My relationship with Zuckerberg is on the rocks. We haven't spoken since June. I am heart broken. Perhaps I am just not big enough or important enough for the facebook czar.

However, I will continue to use his website and with even more vigor.

There was a time back in college when I was on facebook for a couple of months and became bored with its service. I actually canceled my account for six months, only to be lured back into its mystique.

Last weekend I used the facebook events page to organize my birthday party. It seemed to work. Only 17 people rsvp'd, but 40 people showed up through the course of the evening.

Thanks to all those in attendance.

Moving forward I will be interested to see the quality of my friends on facebook and how the FB empire will further grow to suit my needs as a consumer internet user.

Strike Out

2007-11-02T15:03:00.000-04:00

The Writers Guild of America is having severe problems negotiating their union contract with the major studios, production companies and networks that produce and distribute their content.

Cry me a river of tears.

The level of sympathy that I have for these writers is at its very best minimal. I am more concerned with the ancillary industries that will be affected by their proposed strike than I am with the WGA or Teamsters themselves. The employees of businesses in the San Fernando Valley, the cleaners, the deli shop workers, the florists for the sets: these are the people I care about. They are not the ones fighting over inflated salaries or residuals. Many of the people who work in these related fields - the service industries - are the ones who will get hit worst by this strike.

Oh no, The Daily Show won't be so funny. Movies will decline in quality. How will we adapt Harry Potter from a book into a movie script without these essential bastions of society?

All these possible atrocities concern me terribly. Life simply will not go on without a steady flow of terrible sitcoms, satirical news and crappy mega-movies with overpaid movie stars, directors and writers.

Considering that I have not had a television for 10 years and my movie intake is very minimal I do not think this strike will affect me in the least. Luckily Americans have vast libraries with readily available books that can be consumed through reading.

A strike would be a wonderful reason for people to take a step-back from their remote-controlled existences and take a step-forward in pursuing intellectual delights.

The NY Times cites a rise in reality television, cartoons and a higher reliance on non-union writers as reasons for the decline in the need for the WGA. It is a sign of the times that technology has progressed, the need for writers to be in a union has progressed and the evolution of this industry is omnipresent.

Good luck at the picket lines. I'll be in the warmth of a library reading a book.

NY Magazine: Check your facts!

2007-10-30T00:33:00.000-04:00

Tonight, like most Monday evenings, I sat down to thumb though my weekly intake of New York Magazine.

There is always some sort of editorial piece about a quarter of the way into the issue.

This week they f*cked up in their reporting of the Web 2.0 big time. It really pisses me off to continually read all these doomsday reports about how the web is blowing up (for all the wrong reasons) and everyone is about to be screwed in the start-up market.

The web for sure is expanding at a lightning fast speed. Facebook is expanding by 250,000 new users each day! No wonder they recently received a valuation of $15B (albeit a very high valuation). But still, certain web properties are going to go for extravagant sums of cash. Everyone thought that $560M for Myspace was ridiculous, only to see Youtube purchased months later for $1.6B. These aren't old companies either. Facebook was valued by Yahoo at around $1B only a year ago, but Zuckerberg knew better. He knew his company was worth more and held out, because he could.

Reading the misquoting of Howard Lindzon (whom I work with through Biltmore Ventures) and Fred Wilson, whom we have done deals with (Wallstrip, AdaptiveBlue) provides me with a reality check. John Heilmann presents the New York tech scene as a sad backwater for start-up companies. The debate about Silicon Alley versus Silcon Valley has always been playful in certain aspects. However, we do not need a New York based report debasing a burgeoning moment in our tech history.

Heilemann failed to take note of Doublclick's recent buyout by Google for $3.1B. Did he fail to notice that they are headquartered out of New York? Its not just Palo Alto and Menlo Park that have multi billion dollar companies. Isn't a little company called Microsoft headquartered in ... Washington State, oh and lest we forget Big Blue our friendly upstate New York counterpart. Where were Google and Yahoo when IBM started?

More money may be pouring into the Valley, but that is not stopping the Valley from coming to the Big Apple. Google has approximately 560,000 feet of office space in NYC. At our rental rates that is a major investment, even for a company of their dearth.

Next time (and I expect more misinformed reporting soon) someone decides to deride the efforts of all the start-up companies, the entrepreneurs and investors who strive each day to make the New York tech scene vibrant and meaningful, I hope they call Scott Heiferman or participate in an online discussion on NextNY before they call a our existence inconsequential or dead.

Tweet of the day: Alley Insider

2007-10-29T19:00:00.001-04:00

Each day Silicon Alley Insider highlights one of their Community Twitter members for a twit of brilliance or stupid. Not sure which category my twit from this morning fell into, but I think there is a point to my comment.

"I don't care how long I drink coffee at Starbucks; a medium is not a 'grande' never will be."

Its been how many years since Starbucks has been attempting to brainwash the United States into changing our vocabulary? I just don't get it and perhaps I am an old-timer, but we do not live in Italy or France. This is America. We like our coffees in Extra Large and Jumbo sized containers.

As a person who loves linguistics I am happy to watch as words and languages evolve. A Word A Day provides me with many great and oft-not used words. There is also Urban Dictionary for lets just say, less than scholarly worded phrases. It is taking me longer than my parents to accept the terminology for coffee that Schultz has pressed down my throat. Someday I might capitulate, until that day: One medium sized mocha, please.

PS. If you want to follow my antics on twitter check me out here.

Las Bruja Alleycat and Bike Kill 2007

2007-10-29T16:44:00.000-04:00

The mass of masked alleycat hooligans met amongst the steps of Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn on Saturday, October 27th to compete in the 13th annual Halloween race.

It had been raining most of the day. The roads were slick and sometimes muddy, many riders were soaked and a cool breeze floated in the air.

Comprised of angels, zombies, witches and ghouls - the race provided great amusement to many Brooklyn and New York City passer-byers.

The check-points on the manifest were numerous and highly circuitous from 7 Hanover Square in the Financial District to the 107th Street Pier off the FDR Highway. We finished a number of hours later at Sanford & Willoughby in Brooklyn for the 5th annual Bike Kill Party.

Bike Kill is best described as a crazy day of partying, biking and mosh-pit madness. Located on a cul-de-sac behind Home Depot, the event is host to every imaginable two wheel, three, four and six wheeled contraption known to man.

One bike had a functioning flame thrower, while many were chopped-up and welded together to form multi-tiered tall bikes.

It was a righteous event and a must for anyone that loves bikes and a good party. Until next year...

Do you know Drew?

2007-10-24T17:49:00.000-04:00

Today I was sent a link to this site. STD Allstars!

Its the story of a girl who recently found out that she received herpes through a one-night stand with a dirty Williamsburg hipster.

She exposes this guy "Drew" and posts 400 pictures of him around Williamsburg Brooklyn in the hopes of spreading awareness about this dude and his STD.

Although the blog is pretty exciting to read its the commentary that many anonymous bloggers have commented alongside each entry that is most revealing/interesting.

Key Issues Raised:

Why didn't you use a condom?
Why are you having sex with strangers?
Did he "know" that he was infected (was it even Drew)?
You can be sued for defamation if these allegations are proved false.

Living in New York City as a wannabe-hipster I can understand why an incident like this occurred. It would appear that more people need to be more responsible and take better care of their bodies and actions.

Its too bad that this unnamed woman has had to deal with Drew and his STD's. On the other hand its great that someone is bringing this back to young people's attention. This blog could very well be fake. Perhaps none of the allegations took place. Maybe Drew doesn't exist, but the perils still are real.

Wallstrip Turns One Year Old!!!

2007-10-16T10:27:00.000-04:00

So happy to see that Wallstrip has made its way past year one. Its been spectacular to watch the concept and show evolve over the last year.

As a loyal fan and as someone who has been wallstripped twice (that must almost be a record) I firmly believe that Howard and Lindsay have a great company running.

In the meanwhile, I 'll just keep wearing my CROX and relish the moments of my life spent filming wallstrip with Lindsay, Adam and Jeff.

Good luck in year two.

NYC Facebook Hackathon 3

2007-10-16T07:52:00.000-04:00

It might not be the third hackathon, but who's counting anyway?

Last night 35 technologists gathered at the Union Square Ventures office in the Flatiron to discuss all things facebook worthy.

There were a number of FB apps demoed and discussed. Most notably I enjoyed the Manhattan 3D modeling world created by UpNext. They have rendered the entire city skyline block by block and are integrating user comments to specific businesses and locations.

The next step upon aggregating user comments (kind of like Yelp or CitySearch) will be to allow users with GPS-enabled phones to geotag their favorite restaurants. This concept of geotagging and location based social networking is nothing new. Recall NYC startup Socialight. They too are working on the GPS concept and the social web of interaction that could take place.

Will be happy to see these two location-based companies come to fruition.

Ad-Networks were heavily discussed. Is it possible to aggregate all the "publicly" available user information from users profiles? If so how?

There are many projects taking place in the city. One thing that struck me was the paucity of developers that were available for hire. Of the 35 odd people in attendance there were at least 4 companies looking for developers and only one guy who put his name on the "looking for work" board.

Thanks to Michael Galpert for organizing the nerd-herd and everyone over at USV, especially Andrew Parker for getting the pizza and beer in order.

We have a vibrant tech community in place right now. Its refreshing to see the many great ideas up-close and months before the general public.

Battle 4 Brooklyn

2007-10-15T17:50:00.000-04:00

Another excellent race thrown by the boys over at 5 Boro Generals.

We assembled our biking forces at the Old Stone House, in Park Slope/Red Hook at a pre-colonial stone house made by the Dutch in 1699.

For two hours we sat around, practiced our trackstands, skids and reverse figure eights. Some drank beer, but even more smoked cigarettes.

Unlike the Queens Riot held back in September, Brooklyn's race started at 5 PM with plenty of light available for the riders to begin our treacherous journey.

After receiving our manifests we raced across BK over to Owls Head Park in Bay Ridge. There was this godforsaken grassy hill we had to climb at the very end of this time trial. Awaiting us at the bottom of the hill was the local skateboard park. Imagine 50 riders on an assortment of fixies, track bikes, mountain bikes and road bikes taking over the little kids' skate park. They were highly amused to see us falling over ourselves on the table tops. The best we could muster was a couple of inches off the ground during our flatland session. Very pathetic compared to these BMX kids doing 360's.

The race moved on to the Greenwood Cemetary and a sprint to the top of Sunset Park. We were rewarded with Foster's beer for our tribulations. The view of Manhattan is to die for, from this highest point in Brooklyn.

Finishing our beers and fixing our flat tires we made it over to Prospect Park next. The Crit was here. Three loops around Flatbush Avenue and a portion of Prospect Park's route. Crashes, blood and more broken bikes ensued. We laughed, smiled, but no one cried.

Further on we made our way to the Old Fulton Ferry landing underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The trackstand competition went on for five minutes. Pablo won with a no hand, no foot trackstand. I have no idea how to do one of these no hand/foot combos.

After some more beer we rode on for the skid competition, held underneath the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Two hours later it was approaching 1:30 am and we decided to call it quits and head to the Country Club bar. Leaving around 4:15 I didn't feel tired, probably because the Jack & Coke cocktails voided the sore legs I acquired through 12 hours of riding. I made it back to my abode in Spanish Harlem at 5:10. That was one long alleycat.

Ready for next year...

Ukrainian Food Kitchen: Salvation for the Soul

2007-10-12T15:02:00.001-04:00

Two weeks ago the New York Times profiled the women of St.George's Catholic Church in the East Village in a piece titled "Dumplings for the Lord".

For the last few decades a small army ( 8 women or so) have been turning up each Friday morning to make traditional Ukrainian food. They sell these dishes to the locals and all profits are donated to the church. Last year they donated about $80,000 to the church through their efforts.

All of the women who give their time and cooking expertise to the mission are Ukrainian immigrants themselves. St.George's church helped many of these women and their families assimilate into American culture. The church provided elementary/middle school services on top of its stated role as religious practitioner.

Last Friday, I decided to find out for myself: Are Ukrainian dumplings fit for the Soul?

None of my friends were up to the task. "I am busy" or "I already ate" were most of the lame responses I was given (some didn't even respond- you know who you are!).

First I had to find this joint.

According to the Times article, the kitchen was situated "next to McSorley’s Old Ale House". I found this to be almost true.

It took walking around the blocks of Seventh and Sixth Streets in between Second and Third Avenues before I found this hole in the wall.

The signage sucked and was not even at street level (this photo was taken looking down the stairs near the entrance). The building was not next to McSorley's, but rather located some four buildings over (closer to Second Avenue).
Having haphazardly ordered six potato pierogies (varenyky) with smetana (sour cream) for $3.50. I began my feast.

They actually tasted quite good. Nothing fancy or anything, but warm and filling. Just the thing to get over a hangover.

More interesting to me were the multitudes of people who trickled into this religious kitchen
space. There was some dude with a mohawk and one six inch earring. Two bike messengers dropped in, their arms covered in tats. An elderly couple wobbled through, cains in hand, reporting that this indeed was the place they had read about in the NY Times article. Quietly, I sat their munching away. I too came because of the article.

One must not and cannot escape the fact that only in New York would something like this melting pot of seemingly disparate souls come together for lunch.

Its secret places like this that make New York great. Its the locals, the folklore and the immigrants that shape this city. Its the pierogies, the old ladies and the anonymity that make St. George's kitchen all-to-endearing.

I will come back again. But, perhaps I will try the borscht this next time around.

Impending Plans: Denmark

2007-10-09T23:52:00.000-04:00

The tickets have not been purchased yet, but it looks like I will be heading to the land of my heritage this coming December.

It probably all started because my father lived in Bergen Norway about 30 years ago. He still hasn't told me what prompted the trip originally, but it turned into a year and a half stay in the Nordic lands.

My great-grandfather Holger, from what I have heard, moved to the United States at some point in the 1920's from Denmark. My history of where exactly in Denmark is a little uncertain, but thats really the purpose of this trip - to connect the dots. Anyway, he married an American and had a son, Holger (wow thats two Holgers). My grandfather married Donna and they had three sons (Robert, Kurt and Eric). My father is Robert (we just call him dad or Bob), he is the oldest of the three boys.

Getting back to it, my father moved to Norway and at some point contacted the relatives of my great-grandfather. They live about 35 km outside of Copenhagen in a town called Roskilde. I have been told by a danish friend of mine that the second largest music festival in Europe is held in this city every summer.

After emailing my relative Claus, whom my father has remained in distant contact with over the last 30 years, I was elated to get a cheerful email some hours later from him. Unfortunately he will be out of the country most of December, but I am now in contact with other relatives.

The last three weeks I have been studying Danish a couple of times a week in this continuing education course offered through NYU. Its been both hard (svaert) but rewarding to learn the language of the Danes. Its my hope to become proficient in the tongue. However, I read that 80% of the people in Denmark speak english, so I am not sure how much I will be able to practice. Hopefully I'll get stuck in the middle of nowhere and be forced to rely on my rudimentary skills. If all else fails I'll draw pictures.

No trip would be legendary unless there was some sort of a hitch to it. I have decided to make this a biking trip. I will ride my track bike around the country of Denmark for three weeks in the middle of December.

This might very well be one of the dumbest decisions I have made recently. All dumb decisions have their drawbacks, but this I find is where most of the learning and character building come into play.

CONS:

Bike Stolen or messed up (flat tires, possible crashes, lack of tools). You can fill in the rest...broken limbs, cracked ribs, fractures, etc.
Weather conditions are horrible (it will be really cold, there could be snow, probably ice and certainly rain).
Some roads will not be suitable for cyclists. This is a country of bike riders, but that does not translate to all roads being acceptable for bike travel.
Accommodations: I have no idea where the hell I will be staying. I want it to be cheap and mostly a spontaneous trip (save for the family visits).

PROS:

Ultimate scenic trip. No distractions or real rush. Go at my own pace.
Small country - get to see many places intimately.
Family, heritage, the ultimate history trip.
Beautiful Danish Women!!!
Beer!

Wallstrip.com: CROX (and Kristian) $56.86

2007-10-01T09:07:00.001-04:00

Today is yet another beautiful Fall day in NYC, but enough about the weather.

One week ago I announced that something big was going to happen on Monday. Sorry if its not earth-shattering, but for me being on Wallstrip.com again is exciting enough to make an announcement. So thats the big whoop.

Watch as host, Lindsay Campbell, makes fun of my bowtie (again) and buys me a pair of crocs.

I won a pair crocs (CROX) by picking the closest (2nd closest) closing stock price. There were 217 responses last time I checked. Unfortunately out of all these people, many did not leave their contact information. Technically Ann won the contest by picking a closing price of $86.91, whereas I chose $57.00. To bad she is Ann(onymous)!

Will there be another wallstrip with Kristian? TBD... Let's hope so.

I'm In Like With You Meetup

2007-09-26T03:06:00.001-04:00

Of all the things available Monday night (and there were at least 4 techie events happening) I decided to attempt entry into the exclusive I'm In Like With You focus group/meetup.

Having met Charles Forman at September's NY Tech Meetup I felt reasonably assured that I'd be able to sneak into this private little party.

NOTE: If you're into IILWY then you might recognize some of these names. If not, feel free to glaze over.

Some of my friends are big time iilwy geeks (Siena, The Kid, Brookewy, Vrbos), as in they spend 2-3 hours a day checking in on their games via bidding, chatting or just gawking at people. Myself, not so much.

When I was forwarded a private invite from Siena, I knew it would be a good get-together to crash. Free pizza and drinks is an easy sell. They even had free shirts.

It was odd seeing 15 people shoved into an office fit for five. Lo and Behold, we made it work for almost three hours.

The oddest part about this social network meeting up was the fact that in reality I only had four friends with me, yet I knew most of the 15 people through their screen names. I knew all these obscure facts about all the participants. Getting together was great. We even shared gossip about people we liked and disliked on the site. Very petty stuff indeed, but entertaining in a middle school type of fashion.

As a user I have no major gripes with the site. I know its young and they are working hard to make things better. Its an important step to have nights like this were dedicated beta users can share their thoughts about a product. This is where the evolution of a company becomes key. How the developers choose to use our input is completely up to them. Its good to know they are listening.

There was talk about opening up the site to all users at some point in the future. Currently its invite only. This is a point that will surely make the site grow quicker. The more users the merrier. Also, dedicated or not, a poweruser is an inherent attribute that can not be weeded out based soley on invite only. I have invited over thirty friends to the site and only 3 have registered accounts. Only 1 has started a game.

One thing that irks me is the applicability of this platform to advertisers and their lack of sponsorships/partnerships. A game that wastes hours of peoples time should be advertising. There should be sponsored games. Perhaps Larry Flynt sponsors free lap dances or Coors Light sponsors a beer game. This will get people bidding more points and paying more attention.

Looking forward to the future with this one.

Whats Up: This Week???

2007-09-24T17:46:00.000-04:00

There are a number of events around NYC that should be checked out:

Monday:

6:30 PM Web Meetup 2.0 at Slate - sponsored by Sun Microsystems

6:30 PM NewTeeVee Pier Screening at the XCHANGE: 640 West 28th Street, Floor 9 - Om Malik's company comes to NYC!!

I'm In Like With You Thing (Invitation Only) - For all you stalker/obsessed iilwy.com kids.

Tuesday:

Starting weekly Danish lessons at the American Scandinavian House through NYU's School of Continuing Education - $550 + $20 Fee (Sept 25- Dec 11)

Wednesday:

Dealmaker 40 Under 40 Party at Phillip De Pury Auction House (450 West 15th Street) 6-8 PM

Saturday: NY Tech Meetup Picnic in Brooklyn in Prospect Park at Noon.

Something exciting will be posted on here this Monday. Can't say what just yet. But its freaking awesome!!!!

You'll see

Cellphones on the Subway

2007-09-20T06:40:00.000-04:00

This morning's NY Times article on cellphone use in the subway needs to be lauded.

For years we have been unable to establish decent-to-reliable cellphone communications within our lovely subway depots. Now the Manhattan Transit Authority has announced a plan to wire all 277 New York City subway depots.

Its irritating and nonsensical that it has taken this long. For years the capability has been in place for underground cellphone networks to exist. The only people who seem to not benefit from this new system will be Nextel subscribers, who, have had their loud obnoxious two-way "walkie talkie" phones working in the subways for years.

Proponents of the plan will rightfully point out that more people will be talking in the subways moving forward. However, the subways are already above recommended decibel levels and additional cellphone conversation should not dramatically increase this level much more.

Oh well, listening to people talk is a way of life that won't be changing anytime soon. Details have not been revealed about the levels of data transfer that will be available, but at least moving forward my blackberry will sync to the internet, my 3G will work and I'll be a happy camper.

NextNY: Impromptu Meet-up

2007-09-13T11:39:00.000-04:00

The Luna Park at Union Square Park laid the backdrop for the Fall's first "official" NextNY meet-up.

There were probably upwards of 12 people who showed up.

Whats amazing about the number of people who showed up, as opposed to a normal NextNY event is the flash-mob essence of this meeting. Usually we have events planned out a couple of weeks in advance. Normally there is a topic, speakers and the location is an office.

Last night for better or worse was different. Instead of posting the event weeks in advance, providing a wiki for sign-up/RSVPs - the whole event was orchestrated through the NextNY message board. Furthermore technology further accelerated the process via Twitter.

About an hour before the event Charlie O'Donnell was twittering about riding on a Metro North and catching the subway at Grand Central to get to the event.

Simultaneously, downtown Nate Westheimer was twittering that he had a bucket of beers awaiting the first people to show up at Luna Park.

Considering that Rosh Hashana is occuring as I write this, it marvelous that we were able to have a quick turnout of techies from the community. I think there was even a french journalist there to write about the meet-up.

It would be great to see a NextNY Twitter Group...

NY Tech Meetup: September

2007-09-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

Stepping into Cooper Union's "Great Hall" last night was an excellent experience.

The days of heckling technologists and entrepreneurs in an open forum are decidedly back from summer hibernation.

Last night's forum allowed for an unprecedented number of 10 start-ups to present information about their endeavors (although I must confess I was in the back not paying complete attention to each company).

I'm In Like With You was presented by founder Charles Forman alongside a beautiful San Francicso Bay Area iilwy' aficionado. It was good to see a web program that I enjoy using being touted and honored by our NYC Tech community. Disclosure: I am addicted to iilwy and I got a free t-shirt (see photo).

"What's the business plan?" someone yelled out - " I don't know yet" was Charles' response, "We don't really have one."

Indeed the days of companies without business plans are still very much on the mind of our web 2.0 crowd.

Yet, I am happy to see companies with good ideas still acquiring funding. Despite their lack of a business plan (or at least for not sharing it last night), iilwy has been able to develop a strong following of 20-something users. Their main premise is to "entertain people bored at work". I like this mantra. Its something that I can support.

It was also the who's who of NY's scene at Cooper Union. Nick Denton of Gawker fame had Gizmodo demoing. Henry Blodgett of Silicon Alley Insider was also on hand as were many others.

The Fall is here and for my two-bits I am happy to see a viral community in place filled with enthusiasm and vigor.

Evil Google vs. Pleasant VC's ???

2007-09-04T10:58:00.000-04:00

Businessweek writes crap this week about Google taking share out of the venture investing marketplace.

There are two things I take away from this article.

1. Corporations players are investing more money into technology, software and infrastructure.
2. VC's have more competition.

We have seen over the years Intel investing in many start-ups - I think they've invested over $1.3Billion over the years. Motorola is investing quite a lot too. Now Google is entering the game.

This I do not see as much of a threat to angels or early-stage investment groups. The article articulates that goog has invested in four start-ups with a range of $500-800k. Perhaps they have some first-rights for acquiring these companies at a later stage, but the fact remains that a couple of major players investing in a hand full of start-ups will not significantly shift how start-ups find funding.

VC's are not going anywhere fast. The DFJ's, Kleiner's and Highland Capitals of the world will remain the de facto sources for investment. Start-ups should include corporate players like Google in their tours of Sand Hill Road, but that is not to say that they should exclude VCs. The day that entrepreneurs abandon VC's altogether is the day our industry is dead, but until that time, I firmly believe that corporate venturing will not have a significant negative impact on deal flow or sourcing.

Lindsay Lohan Reads My Blog: MyBlogLog Style

2007-09-04T10:26:00.000-04:00

Today as I was about to update my blog with a story about poor VC's getting edged out of deals by evil Google, instead I take a look at MyBlogLog community widget.

Its always a good feeling to see who's reading your work. My writing style is fluid. Its not appropriate at times and might not even make sense depending on how well my spell check is working.

I know that my mom reads this occasionally, but its good to see local techies names pop up on my list. Today I saw Lindsay_Lohan on my widget toolbar. Not the real Lindsay, but the fake one. Check out her blog here. Although this is a spin-off from The Fake Steve Jobs, I am still appreciative of the Fake Lindsay Lohan checking out my script. Maybe she saw my article about tennis and found it thought provoking?

The community aspects of the MyBlogLog widget allow users to interact on a higher level than say, facebook, where you don't really know who has been looking at your profile (which is a little scary). I enjoy the fact that I have the capability of seeing and interacting with people who use my blog. Shout outs to Innonate, Dan Putt, Charlie O'Donnell, Michael Galpert, Brett Petersel, Ken Berger, Howard Lindzon and many others.

MyBlogLog takes feedburner stats and puts a face to the name. It allows me to see what blogs my readers are reading and helps to connect me with communities and certain blogs which I frequent by automatically adding me to that community. These features I enjoy. Not really sure what the next step for this company would be.

Enough raving.

US Open 2003: Fish Heads

2007-08-31T10:41:00.001-04:00

Back on August 25th in 2003 I needed some cash. Thats it plain and simple.

Junior year at Columbia was about to start in the next few days when looking on Craiglist under miscellaneous jobs I saw a particularly interesting post entitled "Fish fans paid for Tennis" or something along those lines.

I was never a big tennis fan, but the opportunity to see the US Open AND get paid was mighty appealing. Showing up around 11am near one of the entrances a group of six guys haphazardly took form. We weren't really sure who the other paid "fans" would be, so it almost became like an awkward blind date where you think you see the girl you're waiting for, but aren't really sure who is who.

Our sponsor told us to take off our shirts. Thats when it got interesting. We would be representing Mardy Fish that afternoon. We each had a large letter painted onto both our chests and our backs. I had the letter F brilliantly written across myself.

Having walked through the crowds and past our awaiting seats in Arthur Ashe stadium we strode to the very top of the bandstand. The match was miles away.

The six of us began the match with some light hearted banter. Yelling at the opposition while shaking plastic fish in the air and manufactured signs that the PR company had created.

Initially we were met with stares and glares by tennis fans. After the first set things had changed dramatically. Fans were joining us in our otherwise desolate section of stadium and chanting and yelling alongside us. Television cameras and reporters were similarly interested in our antics.

Who were these guys?

The PR company did not do a decent job of prepping us for questions whatsoever. The first reporter wanted to know our names. The second reported wanted our names and why we had come. The third reported wanted our names, background and the association which we represented.

It was pretty funny to watch as our conflicting stories baffled the press. Were we PR stuntmen or genuine fans? After a while I wasn't sure if I was a fan at this point or just a guy getting paid to sing songs about Mardy Fish.

Through the third set and onward we had our shirts off. Burning in the sun we showed our pride - "G-O F-I-S-H".

He won the match much to our happiness. We all had our pictures taken at the end of the match with Marty. It was a great way to not attend orientation for my senior year of college. I made $80 and had my picture taken a bunch. I was interviewed. Best of all I was able to attend the US Open for free. I would do it all over again too if I had the chance.

Murray vs. Bjorkman

2007-08-30T13:53:00.001-04:00

Murray vs. Bjorkman,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

At the US Open today. Pretty damn hot out, but the tennis is great. Rooting for Sweden, but its not looking so good.
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Yanks vs. Red sox

2007-08-29T19:46:00.001-04:00

Yanks vs. Red sox,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

The yankees and sox are pitching it out. Not too much action yet in the top of the second.

Beer, hot dogs and yapping in the loge box.
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Couric Invades Iraq

2007-08-29T11:12:00.000-04:00

Well its great to hear that CBS's embattled hostess is heading off to Iraq. We will finally find out the truth about the Iraq War. However, Its sad that the only way to boost ratings for the Evening News is for the CBS to send its $15M/year host off to a war zone.

Not really sure where CBS is trying to go with this. Do they really need the ratings that bad? Don't they already have a bunch of foreign correspondents already reporting away? Didn't one of their translators get dragged out of his home and murdered a couple of days ago?

Its one thing to put the celeb reporters in front of the spotlight and a million paparazzi, but another to throw them in front of a firing squad.

What appears most interesting to this reader is what kind of a story is CBS attempting to create? In so far as I understand it, the only story here is that Katie Couric is heading over to Iraq. Unfortunately, unless something amazing happens during this foray into the unknown, I will not be watching a single second of it. I do not have a TV and the only way I"ll be viewing Couric is if funny or disastrous clips show up on youtube.

Howard I fear for your well being. What if wallstrip is not a hit? Will you and Lindsay be sent to Afghanistan, or maybe even worse, Canada?

Venture Capital Forces Investment

2007-08-28T10:18:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal today announces that major venture capital investors are "forcing" universities, pension funds and foundations into racier investments in an article Venture Firms vs. Investors.

Its fun to read these headlines. This kind of article makes the front page, which if you are not involved in the industry makes you think twice about how the general public reacts to private investments on the whole.

Venture Capital is not a sure-fire means by which to make money. It is a business based on risk tolerance. Every single person who invests in a venture capital fund (like Sequoia, DFJ, Accel, Greylock, etc) or a start-up company, as a friend, family member or angel investor, inherently takes on the risk of that businesses and its business model. This is not for the faint of heart. If you want a low-risk investment I suggest looking into T-bills, bonds or stuffing money under your mattress (scratch that, what if you're house burns down?).

The theory that an $18 Billion dollar Yale University endowment is being bullied into risky investments is hilarious. There are so many investment vehicles available to these minted Ivy Leaguer's that I find it hard to fathom just how much pressure one of these venture funds could possibly be exerting on one of these behemoths. With billions in wealth there should be plenty of funds out there that are not pushing for investments in shaky portfolios which would make the University much happier.

Secondly, LPs play an important part in shaping a fund. The fact that an investment partner chooses to not trust (or in this case invest) in a fund because it is "more risky" than they are accustomed to does not mean they should be automatically allowed to invest in only low-risk venture funds. The true partners are those who are willing to take the risk in untested territory as well as in "normal" investments. The risk appetite of the investors and the managers of the fund must be in sync.

Summergarden 2007 Closing: Cyro Baptista's Anthropo-Fagia

2007-08-27T15:02:00.000-04:00

Last night I attended a really great concert at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). It was the end of the Summergarden jazz music series which has been held in the sculpture garden for the last two years.

Cyro Baptista and his group Anthropo-Fagia (roughly translated as "eaters of culture") led the free concert through an enjoyable hour-ensemble of Brazilian world music. It was fascinating to watch Cyro layer the sounds of whistles, bike bells, drums and pvc pipes to transport the audience into the rain forests of Brazil.

Further, it was a wonderful way to close the weekend. The ambiance of Baptista's music surrounded by the ultra-sleek modern lines of the museum was further supplemented by Richard Serra's beautiful installation.

If you haven't seen Serra's work yet, better hurry up, it will be featured at MOMA only through September 10th.

Go see Cyro Baptista if ever you get the opportunity. He rocks!

Blogging Not So Much Lately

2007-08-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

There have been emails, Instant Messages, one text message and even a phone call.

Why haven't you been writing more lately?

The quick answer is simple. I have been taking a break. There I said it, Kristian takes the occasional break. But the truth is that I have only been taking a break from writing. My world has not been placed on hold the last couple of weeks - just the writing angle- which connects me to the outside world.

There was my trip to San Francisco most recently. Oh how I love the Bay Area. But now I am firmly grounded in New York for the next few months.

Recently I made the cut for the first annual "The Wall Street: Boxing Charity Championship" sponsored by Extell Development Corporation, Trader Monthly and Dealmaker. The charity event is scheduled for November 1st at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

I will be fighting at 155 pounds. Not sure who my opponent is yet, but whoever you are, beware that I have a mean uppercut. The tournament will be limited to 8 matches. Each boxer competes in three two-minute rounds. Time to hit Trinity Boxing Club!

Look for more updates on this as the fight date comes closer.

During the last few weeks I have established a relationship with TitanTV. We are busy building an online broadcast network which is set to launch at CES on January 8th, 2009 in Las Vegas.

More on that in the near future...

New apple imac

2007-08-08T00:41:00.001-04:00

New apple imac,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

Picture from the apple store at the general motors building at 12:36AM.

Very beautiful and slick. The price drop on the models should further help apple as they expand their retail operations nationwide.

Long AAPL.
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Central park roller skating disco

2007-08-04T17:16:00.001-04:00

Central park roller skating disco,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

Hanging out in the park listening to some great beats.
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Bonnie Briar

2007-08-02T09:21:00.001-04:00

Bonnie Briar,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

View down the first fairway.
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Little Boxes On The Hillside...

2007-08-01T17:29:00.001-04:00

Little Boxes On The Hillside...,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

Little boxes on the hillside built with ticky tacky.

An old song we had to sing in music class during elementary school. It describes Daly City if my memory serves me correctly.

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Communications 101

2007-08-01T13:36:00.000-04:00

Accessibility has ruined the 9-5 work schedule. It is a relic of the past. A fossil.

In our hyper-connected sphere we are faced with a million (plus one) ways to connect.

Dead people use séances , telegrams and fax machines to communicate with the living.
Old people (those over 30) use email, a phone and LinkedIn.
Young people use Myspace, Facebook and text messaging.

If you are reading this there is a high probability that you participate/ use some sort of online social network to communicate.

My world is somewhere in-between all of the above, but interconnected with lunatic startups, crazy commercial real estate transactions, friends and family. There are three devices I use to interact with these everything: Blackberry Curve (business), Samsung Blackjack (personal) and my Macbook Pro.

Having two phones really sucks. I have a Grand Central account, but I haven't really started using it yet, besides I don't think that will solve my text messaging addiction or my crackberry problem.

The Macbook is the only suitable companion for all my travels. Airplanes, board meetings, email, facebook, movies, music - its all there.

All of these devices that allow me to work/blog/have fun/connect consume my life. In 10-20 years I look forward to the next wave of mobility, flexibility and connectivity. Maybe what I really want is a Dick Tracy wristwatch phone/internet device. Is that too much to ask?

Real Estate Going Up

2007-07-31T11:58:00.001-04:00

While the rest of the country worries about prime and subprime loans, Marin County is shooting up in housing prices. Marin's median housing price is a whopping $1.2M!

Despite Cramer's best attempt at realizing the marketplace on a macro level its amazing that the market in certain areas is still robust. The average house has risen over 15% from last year in Marin. Thats great news for my parents who bought 25 years ago.

The reality is that there are no new developments in my county. No space for them really. Its been developed to the point that our county ordinances do not allow further development. Additionally we have designated large tracts of our county as Open Spaces.

The influx of wealthy and upper-middle class citizens, the 20 minute commute to San Francisco and Cafe Rulli will keep these home prices high.

Holding Up California

2007-07-31T11:39:00.000-04:00

Its been a week since I left NYC for the Bay Area. Its been a great break from the daily grind.

The skies have been blue and the air has been rejuvenating. Its amazing what a little R&R can do.

To date I have been riding my bike all over Marin and San Francisco, while seeing old friends and family. Working on this "carbon" footprint has forced me to ridicule cars all the more. Thats in part why I am riding my bike everywhere. In one week I have driven for only one day. Pretty fantastic.

This week I am glad to see that Howard has finally got himself a Curve. Its about time.

Exciting developments in New York await.

For now, its nice to relax on the porch and look out at the garden. Back in the Big Apple Thursday.

Blackberry Snobbery

2007-07-25T06:49:00.001-04:00

Blackberry Snobbery,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

Two dudes on their crackberries. Actually three since I am the one taking pictures of others doing the same thing I am to post this text.

Flying out to the good ole' Bay Area for one week. Hoping to meet with some cool companies and check-in on the tech scene.

Been pretty horrible about posting lately. Hope that this week will make amends...

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The Tour

2007-07-13T11:32:00.000-04:00

For the last week I have been pretty hardcore about following the Tour de France.

Its the holy grail of all bike races in my opinion. 21 teams, 2200 miles in less than four weeks.

Amazing.

I'll be going for a bike ride shortly to just revel in the moment. Maybe I 'll even wear my old Columbia gear so I can feel like I am really racing. Actually that sounds kind of weird. I 'll just ride for the fun of it.

Watch out Central Park, I 'll be bringing the Tour to NYC this afternoon.

2007-07-10T06:30:00.000-04:00

Today I am happy to have been featured on Wallstrip!

Thats correct, wallstrip.com used me in one of their pieces on a commercial real estate stock - LOOP - Loopnet.

Its kind of funny that I was used in the portrayal of this stock since I really have no idea what they do. I actually use a company called the CoStar Group - CSGP, in my opinion they are the the most prevalent company for what I do on a day to day basis. But still the fact remains that loopnet is rising rapidly since their IPO last July.

Working with Lindsay, Adam Eland and Jon Labes was a blast. Could not have asked for better editors (god I look smart).

If for some reason people are able to find this blog and you need some help with commercial real estate drop me a line (shameless plug) or if you just want to meet one of wallstrip's biggest fans that could work too.

Job Stalking

2007-07-06T12:29:00.000-04:00

This blog is great. Literally I can write about anything. Its invigorating.

One of my buddies is in the job market. He is hitting a wall. He wants a job in finance and he has only a limited amount of work experience in this field (thats because he's 24).

My advice was simple. Stalk the companies you are interested in working for or with.

Email the buggers. Call them religiously. Act like getting a job is your job. Please don't fax them though, it hurts the trees and no one really uses faxes nowadays.

Too many people think that monstertrak is the way to get a job. I am sure people get plenty of jobs through this service. But a real job is one that not only you want, but you strive for.

Commercial real estate and investing did not land on my door step. My dad is not a big hedge fund guy - he's an electrician. My mom is a full time mom (there's a full four kids in our pod). But both of my parents taught me how to earn my keep and spot opportunity.

As their oldest pupil they never set artificial barriers for me to be a success. If I wanted to work as a bartender that was fine. If tomorrow I wanted to become a professional world traveler or a garbage man - go for it!

This mentality has worked well for my professional aspirations. It is my prerogative to surround myself with people who are "Lets make it happen" types.

Thus I told my friend to spend a week looking into companies he is really interested in learning more about. Look up old articles about the CEO's, VP's. Find out where they eat lunch. Where are all their offices located? What is the most recent application, software update, quarterly revenues? Be that guy who they want to hire.

My college internship did not exist. I created it. Create the opportunity for someone to offer you a position. Become indispensable so the company you want to work for has to hire your services.

A Couple Things I Digg for Music

2007-07-06T11:11:00.001-04:00

The last week my posting efforts have been pretty weak. Then again it is the Fourth of July and all that jazz.

I want to take a moment to write about three music apps that I am using right now to find and download music (legally).

Hype Machine is by far my favorite music discovery vehicle. It just makes perfect sense. Not only does it aggregate and play music for you, but it allows you to see what other people are saying about these same songs. Anthony has created a powerful application that I hope more and more people will use as its popularity spreads. He even has a facebook app, although thats in beta.

Next on my list, is finding the music. For this process I prefer using Sitening.com . It makes for an easy way to find indexes of music which are freely available. It takes a little bit of time to find the right songs, but I am finding that it actually aggregates many more remixes and off-the-cuff recordings than you would get with a regular bit torrent or downloading service. Its actually the fact that you find weird recordings using this website that I really like its versatility.

The third program I have been using as of late is DownThemAll! Not only does it rip music, but also all images from a webpage. Its also has a cool accelerator thingie (not sure how it works) that makes downloading a breeze.

These three components have been making me a very happy, musically minded camper. Its pretty impossible to not find music when you have these applications working the web for you.

All you have left to do is put on a pair of adidas and start dancing.

Grand Central July 3rd

2007-07-03T17:54:00.001-04:00

Grand Central July 3rd,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

The Fourth is upon us and the crowds are here to prove it.

Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

The Intern speaks out....

2007-07-02T14:15:00.000-04:00

My summer intern is a bright kid, Paul Weir.

He's helping me with some of my marketing and consultative projects around Manhattan.

I told him that part of the job of working with me is to keep a blog. Its good to know my words were listened to. The result...

Chronicles of an Intern

No matter how you feel about blogs, its important to keep a log to show what you have been working on, things you are thinking about and processes you are attempting to understand. To this end, I feel a blog is the easiest way to let these thoughts play themselves out.

Paul is on a weekly regiment to keep his blog up.

KLH

The Buzz is here

2007-07-02T13:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I saw this well-to-do gentleman on the subway showing off his new iphone. It was pretty funny because he just stood in the middle of the car, listening to music, but holding his phone out the entire time for the world to ogle.

Usually I am not grasping at my shuffle or curve to show the world how cool I am. Now I understand that its the hip thing to do - I mean it IS an iphone.

But trust me, the curve is all I need.

Howard unfortunately is caving into the hype and buying the phone. Its okay only because he's so long AAPL.

Sunny williamsburg

2007-06-30T15:06:00.001-04:00

Sunny williamsburg,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

Its a spectacular day out here in brooklyn. Low 80s, cool breeze from the east river and a beautiful bike ride of course.

So happy I can blog and photograph things on the go like this with my curve.

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

Chess 101

2007-06-26T23:32:00.001-04:00

Chess 101,
originally uploaded by KristianHansen.

Tonight I played an excellent round of chess with my friend Crystal over at the Village Chess Shop at 228 Thompson Street.

It was a lackluster victory. About 15 moves into the match, I was able to catch her queen. I felt almost like I was cheating once she no longer had her strongest defender available.

It took us a good 45 minutes to sort things out. But we have a rematch sometime soon. I'll keep you updated.

This isn't Star Wars, Harry Potter or even the Wii...

2007-06-26T10:44:00.000-04:00

Caroline McCarthy of CNET News posted this link and pictures about some bozos hanging out in front of the Apple store on 59th Street.

Seriously guys, don't you have anything better to do?

I honestly hope that some other stores around the city start handing out the iphone before you guys get your hands all over it.

Disclosure - I heart my RIMM Curve.

The "Blingest" Avatar: Virtual Goods

2007-06-26T01:39:00.001-04:00

Last week Charles River Ventures hosted the Virtual Goods Summit at Stanford University.

Wish I was in the Bay Area, it would have made for a great conversation.

Susan Wu, principal at CRV, posted a good write-up about the event on TechCrunch.

Her aggregated ideas point towards a shift that we are seeing in the last couple of years as binary code is being converted into real capital. Capital that amounted to over $1.5 Billion in sales during the last fiscal year according to Wu.

These real numbers are a pathway into what I see as one of the main portals that will allow for facebook app developers to quickly monetize their code.

Earlier this month James Hong, co-founder of HotOrNot.com, noted that he saw a huge potential market for virtual goods on facebook while attending the monthly NY Tech Meetup hosted by Scott Heiferman. Hong went so far as to divert the efforts of his programmers upon hearing about facebook's new 3rd party application process. To me this speaks volumes about where smart people are hedging their bets about things to come.

Two weeks ago at the Web 2.0 conference here in New York, Steve Rosenbaum, founder of Magnify.net, noted that his young child wants to use allowance money to buy a disco floor for his igloo in the virtual world Club Penguin. Its real money that children are now using to buy virtual goods. This is a schism from the thought process that we as a generation grew up understanding. Although many items that we purchased were petty, say a comic book or a Barbie doll, we at least had the tacit knowledge that these items existed in three dimensional form. Where will our children look for their memories as adults? Will their be an archive of all the virtual goods purchased whilst growing up?

Nevertheless, we as adults purchase virtual goods on LinkedIn through virtual invitations. We can buy flowers on HotOrNot or we can equally buy lingerie or cupcakes on facebook to give to friends. This trend is not going away anytime soon. Perhaps in a decade's time we will see commodities markets spreading around the buying and selling of virtual industries - we will short Linden Dollars. Who really knows?

I am not really into predicting the future, but its a sweet deal to view the world five to ten years from now based on the early trends emerging now. This is an emerging market for sure, one that is going virtually nowhere fast.

Memories of Ben

2007-06-23T21:18:00.000-04:00

Pritchard. Dude you rocked. No really you totally always rocked and always will.

One of my old buddies Ben Pritchard recently passed away when his heart gave out during a bike ride. He had a heart condition for as long as I can remember.

Its really freaking me out the prospect of our mortality.

Ben and I used to hang out in high school we rowed together freshman year, rode bikes together and did some photography together.

We lost track of each other when he moved to Rochester NY following high school. I even moved out here to NYC, but even though we were much closer geographically we were outside of each other's sphere. Its not until his sudden death that I am reminded of all the fun times we shared.

He reminds me how important it is for us to be kind to each other and to always remain positive. Ben is in Bike Heaven now probably BMXing over some gnarly clouds on a bike that weighs like 2 pounds or something.

Ben you will be missed.

Williamsburg, I don't know you anymore

2007-06-23T12:47:00.000-04:00

Two years ago as a newly minted college graduate I moved to the oh-so-hip Williamsburg area of Brooklyn.

This little canton of hipsterness has been the last bastion for the un-corporate to thrive.

After 9 months of hipsterville I had had enough, thats when I packed my bags and over a year ago moved back into Manhattan. It was almost hard for me to leave behind the coolest, most artsy people of New York. But living in Brooklyn I discovered that indeed I am not hip. I wear a suit (with a tie or bowtie), I wake up before noon, my office is not a coffee shop and I am not in a band.

Williamsburg and I left in amicable terms.

Last night I attended a toshi party across the street from the domino sugar factory. It was a horrendous affair. This promoter guy packs in 2,000 people into this old building , has some djs and a pretty much open bar. I've gone to a couple of these over the years but this year's Swedish Party will be my last.

Leaving behind the toshi party I arrived within four blocks to my old bastion - The Levee. Its one of my favorite NY bars and was ground zero for most nights back in the Brooklyn days.

The place was packed. More so than I had ever seen it before. The culture had changed. The people were not hip. There was a paucity of tattoos. I didn't see the oh-too-familiar Brooklynites I used to hang out with. In fact the only person I knew was one of the bartenders.

"It totally sucks working here now" was her response to my question "What happened here?"

Williamsburg is no longer the cool spot for hipsters. Thats my opinion and its final. My pad in Spanish Harlem is a lot cooler and cheaper than Williamsburg. Its also quicker for me to get to work in Midtown - registering a cool 15 minutes by subway.

Way Short Williamsburg, Long SpaHa.

Wesabe Funding

2007-06-21T16:12:00.000-04:00

I'd like to bring attention back to Wesabe. A company I profiled back in March.

Yesterday, it was officially announced that Union Square Ventures has invested $4M into the company run by Jason Knight and Marc Hedlund.

Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham have made a smart move by investing into the consumer finance market. I got the impression from Jason that his business had a lot going for it, seems that I am not the only one who thinks the same way.

Its a good feeling to feel ahead of the curve, some sort of validation that at least one thing I have written about is believed in by others.

Trying to stay out of this...Curve vs. iphone

2007-06-21T13:55:00.000-04:00

The Iphone.

I have never been disgusted by technology. I've been pissed off at technology for not working properly, but I tend to leave the rest of my emotions out of my tech assessments.

This brings me to today. I am disgusted with the iphone. What a dirty little word. It sounds so innocent.

I've been attempting to stay out of the apple cellphone conversation and have been awaiting its debut before passing any judgment. But I can keep my silence no longer. I am sick and tired of hearing about this gadget of all gadgets.

The features it merits worthwhile are nothing too special. The internet on the phone, oh my, the curve has that.

A camera? Yup, the curve's got that too. Music, check, video, check.

My phone does not have a touch screen and it does not allow me to pick through my voicemails either. But I like the tactility of touching my full keyboard, I also have never really cared about the order of my voicemails. God forbid my mother's message comes to me after that of a client. If anything, I would start to avoid certain messages if I knew who they came from. But wait, isn't that why we have caller ID? Check again, every phone manufactured (save for rotary phones) has caller ID.

Is the curve as sleek or cool. I think so. Did Jobs invent the cellphone. No. But I've heard enough.

Good luck with your $500 phone. It should be a success. I am long AAPL, but even longer RIMM. The legions of stock brokers, investment houses, finance people and techies who depend on their blackberries are the main audience who can afford one of these babies and they aren't going anywhere but back to their crackberries for their fix.

More on facebook applications

2007-06-18T23:50:00.000-04:00

Tonight Howard and I contemplated the future of Facebook Applications.

Its pretty crazy how quickly these little buggers have spread. Over the weekend I was on allfacebook.com and got a better insight into how facebook is operating, but from a third-party perspective, kind of like mashable, but only for facebook (also, I realize there are many run-on sentences in this blog as I have been notified many times before).

One of the most prolific facebook app developers is Aryeh Goldsmith a Brooklyn native who has according to one of my sources published 8 applications already, including his most recent application Facebook Bucks.

Its amazing to see how quickly new developers will be able to rise above the rabble and see their creations become used by mainstream consumers/FB addicts.

Despite slashdot's recent story about the hold-ups and waiting process for applications to become approved I think this is only a short-term setback and nothing more. The overwhelming popularity of this was not something that Zuckerberg had planned for, thus his staff is momentarily overwhelmed.

Dave Morin has his work cut out for him as the head of the facebook apps platform.

This is a great story to cover and watch as fb apps grow exponentially. The real question is when will it plateau?

I am in love (with my track bike).

2007-06-18T15:54:00.000-04:00

I love my bikes. I have three of them. Its kind of my addiction.

1. 1959 Cinelli 10-speed road bike.
2. Crappy converted fixed gear single speed.
3. 2007 Fuji Track Bike with Red Deep V Velocity Rims (my new baby).

Wheelset was purchased and installed by the kind folks over at Trackstar NYC.

Hope to see some of you this summer as I cruise around in style. Black and red baby - the only way I ride.

If you're ever in NYC or you already live here, let me know, you could borrow one of my bikes and we could take a spin around Central Park.

Venture Capital Blogger

2007-06-18T12:39:00.000-04:00

Today I joined the ranks of the Giants. Not the San Francisco or New York Giants, but of the feedburner VC realm.

The fact that we can have industry groups surrounding our blogging "expertise" is something that I almost find comical. But at the end of the day, it feels good to know that your efforts have been recognized.

Thanks to Brad Feld for adding me to this group. I now have a greater pulpit to proselytize my woeful remarks.

Marisa Congratulations

2007-06-16T13:32:00.000-04:00

My little sister has graduated from Redwood High School in Larkspur, California.

Excellent job Moe. You rock!!! Its great to know that out of all four kids in my family none of us were expelled from Redwood and that we all moved on to bigger things.

You have now joined the ranks of some very famous alumni including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and comedian/actor/drunk Robin Williams.

Our family has made it this far with one in the business world, one a sheriff and two college kids.

My parents are crazy, but that's exactly why I love them.

Hansen clan rocks...

Uber-connectivity and consolidation

2007-06-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

All these widgets, communication hotspots and means for contacting people are becoming overwhelming.

Take twitter, facebook, AIM, myspace or what-have-you. We are so damn connected that its harder and harder for me to concentrate on anything for more than 15 minutes (thats why this post will be short and sweet).

Did I forget to mention blogs, podcasts, videocast as other mediums which connect us via the internet? And emails, SMS text messages, skype...

The next generation of youth will never be without their friends. Relationships will be cast in html simultaneously. GPS-enabled phones will make it possible for people to identify and immediately add people as friends via their unique social characteristics.

Schools will be making all of their facebooks online, thus in kindergarten you will already have a wall that moms can write on (similar to facebook). It should be interesting to see how we begin to archive as a society these interactions which "used" to take place through paper and pen. Can we or should we be moving away from these time tested activities? Is there something implicit about the tactility of a yearbook that will never let it die?

Mark Zuckerberg: Did I spell that right?

2007-06-14T01:05:00.000-04:00

Tonight there was an unexpected surprise at my office. It wasn't the 80 people that showed up or the amount of beer drunk, no it was facebook's young founder, Mark.

He showed up wearing his signature adidas flip-flops, CEO- ragged jeans and North Face jacket. Just what I would expect from the most revolutionary leader in the Web 2.0 sphere.

Speaking about the future of facebook's development Zuckerberg was hopeful and at times merry about the prospects of his newfound open-source platform.

"Facebook should have 100 million unique users by the first half of 2008" he stated.

That means we'll have 100 million tech savvy people networking on facebook within the next year. Its kind of scary, but Mark also stated that the site is continuing its growth at 3% per month. Now, I am no whiz kid but that is outrageous. Add to that this new OS thing (which has over 40,000 developers within three weeks) and we have a recipe for disruption.

Mark is kicking ass and doesn't even need to take any prisoners.

By the way, thanks Mark for having your picture taken with me. Its the only way that I can prove that I actually met you.

Kristian

Cool Stuff Happening This Week

2007-06-12T20:32:00.000-04:00

There are many spectacular events occurring this week around New York City.

Wednesday morning I will be attending the SJF CEO Cleantech Summit. During which I will learn about the confluence of technology and environmentally friendly companies that are being funded.

Wednesday for lunch is the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati "Entrepreneur's College" where the discussion topic will be Intellectual Property.

Wednesday night, I will be co-hosting the first ever Facebook Developer's Forum at my office. We will try and pack 60 local developers into my office for sushi, beer and insightful conversation about up-and-coming facebook applications. Should be exciting and best of all - facebook is paying for it!

Thursday is another whirlwind of activity in NYC's tech/VC scene.

Starting at 8:00 AM is the ibreakfast Web 2.0 NY/ Madison Avenue Conference with keynote address from Esther Dyson and speakers Shawn Gold (SVP, myspace), Spot Runner, IAC and many others. Should be great.

Luncheon on Tort Law Reform. Don't ask why... I am not sure myself - but lunch is free at Harvard Club - no complaints there.

Thus the next two days will be very busy. Not really sure when I will get any "work" done, but I'll be around NYC from Wall Street to Fordham Law. Hope to see some familiar faces.

twitter me if you want to meetup: nikosthenes

Kristian

Facebook apps

2007-06-12T07:35:00.000-04:00

This Wednesday if you are around the NYC Metro area you should stop by my office to participate in the first meeting of Facebook Developers.

Its pretty neat. Amit Gupta decided to put together a group of developers for the purpose of discussing/demoing/ participating in creating new applications for facebook recently opened platform.

Facebook has really got it going on. Over the course of the last couple of years their domination and staying power has been tested time and time again. My hat is off to Mark Zuckerberg and his team for putting together the next generation of Microsoft/Apple/IBM innovation inspired company.

Of course only time will tell if facebook will have a major impact on the software/ technology industry, but if HotorNot.com is busy developing a facebook app, there must be many other similar minded companies that are engrossed with their own projects.

Last.fm has one of the most popular widgets, followed by iLike, xMe and any host of other apps.

These long term trends that we are watching unfold in technology have been sped up because of our 24/7 mentality and purpose du jour of creating evolution.

IBM was the dominant leader in computers for what, 50 years? This was dramatically shifted very quickly by Bill Gates as he recognized the opportunity of providing the OS for all computers. His genius lasted until Mark Zuckerberg created the next medium - the hyper social network.

The real question in the next year or two will be "Who doesn't have an application for facebook?" or "Why don't you have an application for facebook?"

I would not be suprised if in the next couple of weeks/months we see a number of start-ups seed/angel funded (if not provided Series A monies) wholly based on the concept that they see facebook apps as an important business strategy.

We will see, but in the meantime drop by at 7pm at
CresaPartners
100 Park Avenue, Floor 24 (a block from Grand Central at 41st Street)
and please RSVP on Facebook ahead of time so we know how much food to get.

KLH