Why Didn't I Think of That?

The Great Brain

I had an early train to NYC this morning and I needed to wake up at 5:50AM. My alarm clock is one of those plug-in radio clocks that annoyingly reset if there is an unexpected interruption in power.

Well, last night, there was such an interruption which reset my clock’s time and (unbeknownst to me) wiped out my morning alarm. Remarkably, I found myself suddenly wide awake at precisely 5:50AM.

It’s funny, I didn’t fall asleep thinking about my trip, or the least bit anxious about oversleeping. Maybe my waking up was just dumb luck, but this isn’t the first time it has happened to me. I’ve also heard of this happening to many of my friends as well.

I’m no neurologist, but I’ve spoken to a number of folks who know a thing or two about this. One fellow – Microsoft's Desney Tan described to me the wealth of subconscious brain activity that goes on without us knowing about it. Although we may only be focusing on one topic, or one person that we are talking to, our brain is constantly observing, processing, and storing information about everything going on around us.

The human machine is really an incredible thing. It’s amazing how much we know about the world and the universe, but also how little we know about our own brains. I hope that I see a lot of progress in this field in my lifetime. I’d like to know what’s going on my subconscious and see if there’s anything useful in there (probably not J )

Some guys I’ve talked to are working on ways to read brain activity and convert it into useful medical and entertainment applications. I wish them luck… it’s truly innovation that is nearly indistinguishable from magic. Check out an early demo.

News

We've been looking at a number of companies in the news and information space.  It got me thinking about how I consume news.

I recently started reading the Economist, and I'm in love with it.  I got the idea from the book Hedgehogging which is about the hedge fund industry.  In the book, a prominent fund manager likens the newspaper to watching a movie one frame at a time (or something along those lines).  You are too close to the details to be able to see the story really play out.

In the same way, I love consuming my current events in weekly form.  It helps me separate really meaningful stuff from useless fodder.  Also, I love the fact that the Economist usually has a point of view, and isn't afraid to take a firm stand on certain issues.

On the flip side, I do sacrifice something by not being able to consume my news on a daily basis.  There is a real value to being super-current.  For that, I read blogs and other forms of news online.  This is how I consume the information that I need to learn quickly and in a timely manner. 

Boston - A Sports Powerhouse!

It's a good time to be a Boston sports fan!  There is actually a legitimate chance that 3 Boston pro teams will content for their league championships.  The Sox are up 2-0 in the World Series, the Pats look dominant, and I think the Celts are going to be the beast of the East.  Also, BC is unbeaten after an incredible comeback last night against VT.

Even the Bruins are beating up on people:

Keeping It Real

As a venture capitalist, it’s easy to lose touch with what consumers really want.

We spend all our time trying to find companies that will be successful in the future, and usually, that means ideas that initially only appeal to some small group of “early adopters”.

But how do we know if capturing these early adopters will lead to anything more? I’ve talked to many internet entrepreneurs who marveled at the ease with which they attracted their first 5000 power users, but were equally surprised at how quickly their growth came to a halt (I have firsthand experience with this from my early efforts with Letslink.jp)

In a “hot sector” like consumer internet and digital media, this is an even greater challenge. There are many thousands of aficionados out there who are willing to try your new products, give great feedback, and tell you why your company is the next great thing. But this feedback may not be all that indicative of anything. In a hot sector, it’s easy to lose touch with average consumers with simple problems and get excited about the new cool thing.

So, the question I’m pondering these days is how do I stay in touch, but still stay ahead of the curve? How do I filter out the noise of fickle beta testers and find the folks who adopt early but are a sign of millions of others to come? Here are three half-baked approaches I’m going to experiment with:

1. Spend time with teenagers
2. Spend time outside of major technology hubs like Boston, New York, and the Bay Area. Figure out what problems average Joe’s are trying to solve, and whether the solutions that appeal to Silicon Valley geeks have overshot the needs of most consumers
3. Think about industries that seem inefficient and dig a little deeper. A lot of the underlying problems are just beneath the surface, and only perceptible to people who operate within them. I’ve been following a few industries for quite some time. One of them is consumer finance. Unfortunately, it is now hot (Wesabe, Mint, etc etc).  I guess it’s time to move on…

GBox

I'm trying Gbox out.  Unfortunately, it isn't showing up quite right on my sidebar, so until I adjust the HTML, here it is. 

Great Observations by David Pogue

Why do you really need to turn off your laptop during takeoff?
Why is WiFi free in cheap hotels but not expensive ones?
Why don't public sinks have foot pedals?

And much much more...

Xobni = Inbox Spelled Backwards

I'm trying out a new tool called Xobni on my laptop at home.  It's very cool so far... allows me to see trends in my email behavior to specific recipients, keeps track of attachments sent between me and others, etc.

It takes a little while to figure out just how powerful some of these features are, so I'll hold off for now until I've played around with it a bit more.  But check them out!

I Love Un-Sexy Businesses

I got very excited about a new business idea this weekend.  It wasn't a venture investment, but one that I thought would be very interesting if I had the time to start it myself.  It's the definition of "un-sexy" -  I want to open a butcher shop. 

The idea came to me when I was shopping for produce at Wilson Farms in Lexington MA.  It occurred to me that there are many people who shop at high-end grocers for their produce, but most don't go to a high-end butcher for their meats.  There are obviously a bunch of these places scattered around the city, and when I lived near Palo Alto, I would go to a wildly popular meat shop called Shaub's  .  But it struck me that there seems to be a real dearth of places like these, and there might be an opportunity to create a small and successful chain of specialty meat stores in surrounding neighborhoods of major cities.

OK, maybe there are a lot of reasons why it might be difficult to start taking over the world one butcher shop at a time.  But it got me thinking about un-sexy businesses in general.  Being an early stage VC, my firm gets access to many businesses that promise to be the "next hot thing" in the "next hot sector".  We've certainly made our share of investments in sexy spaces like video delivery, social networking, and mobile.  But often, some of the most interesting opportunities are the ones going after very un-sexy opportunities.  Actually, true innovators are the folks who can take seemingly boring, stale businesses and find new ways to compete.

Take my favorite example: Method.  Who would have ever thought that there was room in the market for another soap company?  And yet, Method has exploded, stealing meaningful share from some of the world's biggest and most competitive companies.

My old firm Ebay got its start by attacking unsexy categories.  Who really knew how big the collectibles market was until Ebay started doing billions of dollars of volume selling things like American Girl dolls or WWII memorabilia? 

We've seen a couple companies come into Spark recently pitching ideas to revolutionize old, forgotten, and unsexy businesses.  My view is that we could use many many more of them.  There are so many inefficient markets out there that are ripe for an entrepreneur to make more efficient through a creative business model and by leveraging modern technology.  Personally, as I think about how I can help our firm focus our potential investments, it might make sense for me to create some discipline around identifying boring and unsexy industries that might just be ripe for the kind of innovation we love to be a part of.

Man, I wish I still played video games!

I wasted way too many hours of my life playing video games in college.  It's been a while since I've touched a traditional game controller (I do enjoy a little wii now and then), but I just a preview for the new UFC game (see below).  Wow... I need to give this a shot.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Social Networking for Depth, not Breadth

I am working on a half-baked theory about the future of social networking.  Thanks in advance for letting me discuss it here.  Some of it was inspired by conversations with my friend Tamin Pechet, so he should get some (if not most) of the credit.

My wife is a very social person.  When she was in Business School, she was able to get to know tons of people, and manage a very broad yet enriching social network.  She does have close friends, but is also comfortable managing many relationships at the same time.

I am a little more introverted than my wife.  I've always preferred to have a core group of friends that I know really well and are my "home base" if you will.  Traditional social networks like Facebook and MySpace are great for me because I get to stay connected with lots of people with relatively little effort.  It's great to know what my old classmates from highschool  are up to or catch up with friends I've lost touch with over the years.

But, my assumption is that there are a lot of people like me who want to deepen some of their core relationships.  Current social networks are great at helping to cast the net wide, but how about helping me get to the next level with a good friend, or maintain a close relationship with one that lives across the world?

What tools would you build if the primary goal of a social network were to deepen existing relationships? How would the whole communication paradigm look like?  Does Facebook and MySpace satisfy this?  I honestly don't know. But I think there is some demand for this that is not met by the kinds of closed networks that exist today (Xanga is the main one that comes to mind). 

I have a hunch that there is a company out there that could compete with Facebook and MySpace for this unserved need. Would love to find it!