joshuago’s business Bookmarks

22 MAR 2011
[Wikipedia] Mastermind (role variant)

Masterminds are capable but not eager leaders, stepping forward only when it becomes obvious to them that they are the best for the job. Strong-willed and very self-assured, they may make this decision quickly, as they tend to make all decisions.

21 MAR 2011
[Khoi Vinh] What the NYT Pay Wall Really Costs

Former design director of the NY Times says it's still too early to tell whether the new paywall will work, but also says that The Times spent too much time and effort on it that could have gone to other innovation.

17 MAR 2011
[Mark Suster] Whom Should You Hire at a Startup? (Attitude over Aptitude)

The last thing you need is some rat bastard fomenting trouble.

06 MAR 2011
[Louis E. Lataif] Universities On The Brink

An exploration of the glaring shortcomings and perverse incentives in higher education. The symptoms are increased costs without commensurate value delivered. The causes can be traced to an arms race among institutions for higher rankings.

22 JAN 2011
[Tom Preston-Werner] Optimize for Happiness

With venture backed endeavors you generally find that during the first several years the numbers in your bank account are perpetually decreasing, giving your company an expiration date. Your VCs have encouraged you to grow fast and spend hard, which makes perfect sense for them, but not necessarily for you.

19 JAN 2011
[Paul Graham] What Happened to Yahoo

Being awash in money blinded Yahoo to the fact that their revenue model was precarious and unsustainable. Being ambivalent about being a technology company and considering programmers a commodity led to the hiring of mediocre programmers, which then resulted in products that weren't very good.

29 DEC 2010
[The Economist] Online cartoons: Pease porridge hot

The Oatmeal gets a thorough and very favourable treatment by The Economist. It's making money.

21 DEC 2010
[Evan Miller] How To Become An Open-Source Contractor

A very entertaining and well-written account of how a programmer went from nothing to clients knocking down his doors asking him to work on open source software enhancements. It all started when he figured out how to write a module for nginx.

29 NOV 2010
[TIME] The Men Who Stole the World

A fun read detailing how Bram Cohen, Shawn Fanning, Justin Frankel, and Jon Johansen changed the world in their own unique ways. Inspiring to ambitious programmers everywhere.

24 NOV 2010
[Shaival Shah] Cannibalize Business Development by Popularizing your API

You've got an amazing service but nobody knows about it. Nobody knows the benefits of building on your API. You have a classic chicken and egg problem. The trick is to think of your API as a product and as a business in and of itself, which means you have to understand how to market it, build awareness, and drive market adoption. And don't be afraid to cannibalize your product in the process.