On Saturday we visited the Fry's in Campbell. And it's Egyptian themed. So the Macs were displayed on gold painted tables supported by prowling black panthers. Seriously.

The "Presentation Room" looks like a tomb:

The exterior evens looks like a tomb. It was unreal. I have a few more pictures up on my flickr account.

It's really kind of trippy and a little cheesy. And yet awesomely fun and a great marketing tactic - I snapped pictures and blogged about it. And next time I'm in Palo Alto, I'm totally hitting the wild west one.

If you are, and you're in the Silicon Valley, we've done the legwork for you. 

Tonight at 11 o'clock, we've got the Top 5 companies hiring here in the Valley.  As for who they are .. we made sure to span several hot areas, and (spoiler alert) hit on five companies growing (and hiring) like crazy.

First off, Ooyala .. this is the Google spin-off that's changing the way companies put video online.  A great start-up atmosphere, but more importantly, they're successful, and growing rapidly.

Next, Tesla .. a no-brainer here, the electric car company just announced plans to build a new HQ in San Jose, and needs to hire hundreds of employees to make it happen.

Speaking of saving energy, solar is, as we've mentioned before, booming.  Visiting the headquarters of Solar City, you see why .. the phones are rining off the hook with people wanting to use the company's financing plan to put solar panels on their roofs.  This company has already doubled in size .. it needs to do so again to keep up with demand.

Biotech has been a Bay Area standout for some time now .. on top of huge stock gains and life-saving drugs (or, more likely because of them), Gilead Sciences (GILD) of Foster City says it will expand, doubling the size of its HQ, and hiring a ton to do it.

Finally, given what we hear about constantly on the news these days, you'd think a bank would be the last place to send your resume.  Not so Wells Fargo (WFC), though.  This bank (based in San Francisco) stayed smart and conservative while other banks torpedoed themselves with bad loans.  Wells is growing, and hiring. 

Bets of luck, and I'd love to know if this helps anybody out there get a job.

Find a niche. Clearly Bushnell, the father of the video game industry, has a lot more clout than I do.  But, I've talked about the importance of finding a niche before on this blog.  If you don't find a niche, it's nearly impossible to market your product effectively. You need to focus on niche wants and needs.

The Power of Mash-ups. If you are familiar with Nolan Bushnell, you would know that besides being the founder of Atari, he's also the founder Chuck E. Cheese.  The mash-up brainchild of the dining and video-game industry.  Nolan spoke about the power of mashing industries, which he highlighted again when we spoke personally after his presentation: "It's like two tectonic plates crashing into each other.  The business effect can be monumental."  He's planning on continuing the mash-up trend by implementing touch-screen ordering into restaurants across the nation.  He told me "when you go to Chili's a year from now, you'll be ordering on a screen, not with a waiter."

Robotics. Bushnell claimed that robotics will be the next technology wave, similar to the computer and internet wave of the past 20 years.  Bartenders?  See you later.  Robots are going to be making our drinks soon.  He explained that the main issue with robotics currently is that they are dangerous.  The programming is still faulty.

Venturing.  Bushnell is a serial entrepreneur.  He told us to not keep your product a secret when you first are working with a new idea.  Tell people you trust by continuing to get feedback on your ideas and business plan.  When you are brainstorming for ideas, start with what you know.  There are business ideas everywhere, so you are better off by focusing on your own interests and passion.  This will make the venture ride more entertaining.

Product Development. You need a hook when you are trying to sell your product or service.  Bushnell recommended designing your box or website for your product, even if there isn't anything in it.  Or, develop a prototype, even if it's a piece of wood with some paint on it.  He highlighted that you need something, anything, to attract a customer.  Once you get the first customer, the rest are a whole lot easier.

Forming your Team. Bushnell recommended that you should move quickly to fire people, and when hiring, compensate with stock options as opposed to founding shares.  This will force people to work in the benefit of the company.  Hire those that strive for success.  He's seen people jump ship just as a company is really taking off, because certain people can't handle success.  He's seen teammates sabotage the company when success began.  Weird.

On Winning. As an entrepreneur, it's important to have the "I'm right, the world is wrong" attitude for all of the obstacles along the way.  Bushnell closed by saying "If you haven't made $1 million or gone bankrupt before you are 30, you aren't trying hard enough."

How about that for inspiration?

jajaja es gracioso como llegue a esta conferencia. En un inicio ya habia entrado a la conferencia que se realizaba simultaneamente sobre Seguridad en internet y antivirus, muy buena por cierto y que era la tercera vez que iba a escuchar (así es de buena), pues ya en dos ocasiones la habían presentado en la facultad, pero yo dije... que pizados vamos pues. Ya estabamos escuchandola con mi cuate georgeQuake, cuando de pronto nos llamó davidJhons que nos fueramos a la otra conferencia a hacer ganas, que porque había bien poca mara, a mí se me hizo de mal gusto salirme porque los argentimos ya habian empezado su conferencia, ya había dicho su famosa frasecita de "ssshhho te voy a hablar del malware" jajaja, va Quake. Como les decía, se me hizo de mala educación salirme, sin embargo... vaya que me salí.

Me atrevo a decir, que fue la mejor (al menos para mi) y si alguien está en desacuerdo, pues entonces digo que fue una de las mejores, no, mejor mantengo mi palabra, para mi fue la mejor.

En esta conferencia se trató el tema de que existe un grupo de personas interesadas en crear un área tecnológica en Guatemala (4gradosGt), toda la logística y todos los esfuerzos que se están haciendo y que se tienen planeados para llevar a cabo este proyecto.

Ahora, que es un área tecnológica???, un área tecnológica es un espacio físico en donde se trata de estar al día con la tecnología, pero más específicamente se busca incentivar a las personas a que se interesen por todo este nuevo mundo de posibilidades, un ejemplo de esto es la famosa ciudad de California llamada Silicon Valley, en donde como varios de nosotros sabemos nacieron grandes de la internet tales como yahoo, excite y google. Acá en Guatemala se tiene pensado implementar un área tecnológica, la cual se piensa estará ubicada en el área que hoy conocemos como cuatro grados norte y sus alrededores. En esta área, se implementará la construcción de varios edificios, en donde habrán varias empresas metidas en el área tecnológica, así como también habrán incubadoras para otras pequeñas empresas que se estén iniciando.

Una incubadora es un término nuevo usado empresarialmente y se refiere a darle cuidado, capital e incentivos a nuevas ideas que surgen, pero que no cuentan con los medios antes mencionados para iniciarse, es decir, el objetivo de las incubadoras es cuidar a estas ideas/empresas que durante sus inicios son unos “bebes”, para que se mantengan en el negocio, crezcan y prosperen. Cabe mencionar también que para albergar a estas “incubadoras” se construirán algunos edificios, tales como el INTECAP-COIKA, otro mas en lo que será una nueva universidad en el país y el edificio 4Grados.GT a un costado de IGA zona 4, en donde se concentraran varias empresas de tecnología en Guatemala. En la conferencia se habló también sobre la importancia y la necesidad de atraer inversionistas y que esto solo se logra mediante la generación de nuevas ideas. Se comentó de que ya se tienen a varias personas que están dispuestas a invertir, pero que no tienen en que o en quien hacerlo. Otra de las cosas que se trataron en la exposición fue la manera en que podríamos  participar con nuestra idea e innovación. Para poder hacerlo lo único que debemos de hacer es tener un modelo de negocio bien definido, estructurado y basado en hechos reales y estudios de mercado previamente realizados. Luego de eso se realiza un junta con los inversionistas para exponer la idea y luego se debe esperar la aprobación de la misma, para poder empezar a trabajar (suena sencillo verdad jajaja).

Otro de los temas sobre los que se habló fue el grupo de Business Angels Network America Central (BANAC), que es como se conoce al grupo de inversionistas de los que hablaba anteriormente, son conocidos como “ángeles de los negocios” porque son las primeras personas que creen en el futuro de las nuevas ideas y les dan financiamiento, como es el típico caso que se ha dado a través de la historia en Silicon Valley, sino veamos lo que paso con Google en el segundo capitulo del documental La internet de discovery channel.

Aunque parezca una vil copia y personalmente me gusta ser original en la manera de lo posible, pero esta frase (que fue mencionada al final de la conferencia) me gusto, a continuación se las dejo.

Silicon Guate

Pegon No???... Que bien por mi Guate!!!

webSites:

• 4grados.com
• banac.net
• siliconValley

I was fortunate to be able to have a business in Silicon Valley during the boom years.  You remember those times don't you?  Money was "no object"; just get us the best for our best people.  I enjoyed doing that for sure.  After all, it is a whole lot easier to shop with a full wallet.  That situation, for me, hit home in the early 90's.  The Valley had a mild bump in the road.  Budgets for incentive programs were drawn in like a shrinking violet.  The marching orders changed from "get me the best for my best" to "get me the best deal and don't go over this budget".  That budget had been reduced by 30-40% and the same level of incentive program, for the same size audience, was expected.  Wow!

I learned from those days.  It all caused me to take a step back and take a hard look at what we were really doing.  The "we" I refer to includes all of the players that get involved in the incentive industry.  It has to because this impacts all of us.  Those budget reductions, with the same expectations, requires a downstream effect, in essence, someone on the back end usually works for "free".  I for one could not see how this type of business model could be sustained.  For my part I started to look at  how increasing sales, in a vacuum, really helps anyone except those who cannot or are not willing to look past a revenue number on a company financial statement.  Incentive ROI was started in 1991 and I have stayed on that course ever since.

Back then, incentive ROI caught attention.  It was new, it had an answer for some of the budget issues and if it could get these budgets approved, everyone loved it.  Problem was, that bump in the road lasted about a year.  Companies started coming back and with that came the same old bad habits.  Well, welcome to 2008 and now the habits are hurting the financial health of many of these same companies.  Except those who stayed the incentive ROI course.  Those companies have been increasing their incentive budgets, even in 2008 and already projecting increases for 2009 and 2010.  Why?  The investment in incentive programs has proven to be well worth it, especially in a down turn market.

For those who shook this off back in the 1990's or perhaps gave it marketing lip service but no real attention, shame on you.  I wouldn't want you managing my 401K let alone the financial viability of my business.  Incentive programs can be the answer to many of the woes that we are seeing today.  They are not a magic pill, it won't cure your illness in a month, two quarters or maybe even in a year.  It will however start to heal your business and it will prove to be the best investment you can make, if you do it right.

Ahh, yes, ye olde blame the messenger post.

See, all week long I've been saying we're in a death spiral. They argued with me last weekend and on Monday before the market had its worst week ever. Ever.

They are still fighting with me after I've been talking with CEOs, investors, normal people, and reading thousands of feeds and watching CNBC nearly around the clock.

Funny that even the experts are wrong. CNBC's Fast Money show has been calling for the market to go up on every show this week. It, instead, went down down down.

I prefer to tell people the truth as I'm hearing it, even if that truth is tough and nasty.

That said, if you're watching my posts here I'm looking at this like a hurricane moving across our economy.

It hit New York three weeks ago. Then it moved onto other parts of our economy (auto industry is getting hammered right now, for instance).

My radar screen shows its full effects have not yet been felt in the tech industry for a variety of reasons. But it is headed here.

Now, what happens in a storm? Some trees topple. Some stand tall.

But right now to try to smile and say everything is going great and you should be optimistic is wrong. Sorry, it's wrong.

It's time to take steps to make sure your businesses are strong and can withstand the storm. If they aren't strong, it's time to fix that and fix that fast.

As the storm passes over us in the next quarter (financial results are still to come, so there's still a couple of bad quarters to come, particularly with consumer electronics companies and retailers as they get a full sense of how bad the Christmas buying season will be) we'll certainly see winners and losers.

Last weekend I was really freaked out. I was right to be freaked out.

Today I'm a lot more calm and am "working the problem."

So, Steven is right too. The truth is often in between two extremes. But I won't apologize for losing my head on Monday. If you had listened to the optimists and had bought on Monday you would have lost another 18% of your wealth. If you had listened to me and sold you'd have a lot more to buy back in or to use to keep paying your bills over the next year or two.

It's why I keep asking questions here, too. I don't have all the answers. Heck, I don't have many answers at all. But the neat thing about this is you can share your opinions and views of what's going on and give us ideas for how to ride out the coming storm.

Post a URL if you have some good ones, we'll all appreciate it.

"Home is where the heart is"

and no more is that true than when you have to leave yours.

There are many homes for rent and for sale in Silicon Valley. The real problem lies in which areas to search for it.  Without any help or guidance on the huge variety of neighborhoods here, all of which may seem suitable - good commuting distance from work, decent schools, affordable prices - it is extremely difficult to know where to look and ultimately where to live.

When I think back to the homes we nearly bought in other neighborhoods, I feel so grateful that by some amazing luck we ended up in a neighborhood which we really liked and which we can now easily call home.

So how do you find these lovely neighborhoods?

Research, research, research. Talk to people, ask your new colleagues before you move here, visit schools if you have kids, ask for parents' references from the principal so you can contact them, drive around and check out the streets and homes and ask yourself -

Are the houses being looked after?

Is the yard in front just dead grass or well landscaped?

Are there old cars lying around waiting to be worked on or do people keep their vehicles in good shape?

Is there a good park nearby where we can walk to?

You'll be surprised how easy it is to get a "gut" feeling about an area.  Get out of your car and walk around, ask anyone you see about their neighborhood, people are generally very open to chatting and giving you information about where they live, positively or negatively.

You can also use a relocation service whose job it is to find you your new home, and will take your specific criteria into account.  Their job isn't done until you're happy. And they've done this before - many times.

We moved a family recently into Sunnyvale with four kids and a dog and cut their searching time down to a totally manageable amount.  With ample preparation, conversation and research beforehand we were able to pinpoint 6 homes for them to look at in the perfect area - one day to find a home!  The priceless look from the grateful Mom is still etched in my brain!

But if you want to go it alone, check out these websites for ideas on homes, rentals and purchases, neighborhoods and prices.

For rentals:

• www.rentnet.com
• www.search-for-apartments.net
• www.move.com
• www.apartments.com
• www.apartmentsearch.com
• www.craigslist.com
• www.rentals.com

And f you want to buy a home straight away, or just get a feel for the market here, go to www.mlslistings.com - a great way to find out what homes are on the market, what they look like, where they are and how much they want for them.

And if you have any stories about moving to this area and finding your home, let me know!

Good luck!

Also: The fortune.com folks did "The New Valley Girls' Network," a cool interactive feature, showing how these new leaders of Silicon Valley are interconnected. They actually help each other manage their careers, their lives and even their businesses. Take a look, The network shows "coopetition" at its best. Enjoy!

Das Internet ist in gewisser Weise schuld an der Krise: Haben doch die Leute auf einmal begonnen, selbst und direkt an den Finanzmärken zu handeln und damit die professionellen Broker geradezu in die Kriminalität getrieben. Deren Scheingeschäfte waren der letzte Versuch, die anderen im großen Stil für dumm zu verkaufen. Diese Blase ist geplatzt. Leider müssen nicht jene dafür bezahlen, die sie verursacht haben.

Aber in Zukunft wird die Vernetzung der Köpfe dafür sorgen müssen, dass ein solches Disaster im Keim erstickt wird.

Updated:2008/10/10 13:14

The Tokyo Game Show is one of the highlights of the year for the video game industry, which spreads its major announcements between this event, the Leipzig Game Convention and a diminished E3 show in Los Angeles in the summer, and the Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco in the spring.

Tokyo is more about games and gamers, with nearly 900 games on display and up to 180,000 people expected to attend over the next four days, rather than the limited industry professional events of E3 and GDC.

The console makers are therefore emphasising new titles, with Microsoft announcing a new version of Halo - Halo 3: Recon, to debut in a year's time.

It also gave a launch date of November 19 for the "New Xbox Experience" - an update to its interface that allows the creation of animated avatars and new community features.

The "Experience" is designed to compete with Sony's Home, a much delayed virtual-world interface for the PlayStation 3.

While Sony has yet to set a date for its official release, Jack Tretton, its US president, confirmed it would debut in November, in a recent interview at Sony's US headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Related articles

• Sony, Microsoft Virtual Communities to Start
• How Sony's Cheapness Is Biting The PS3 In The Ass [PS3]
• TGS 08: Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360

Susan Arnold, president of global business units at Procter & Gamble (PG) and No. 7 on Fortune's 2008 Most Powerful Women list, said: "They're owners. They treat the business like they own it. They're leaders. They create a vision and lead people in that direction. They consistently deliver above expectations. They deliver. They deliver. They deliver. They create great organization that can deliver without them."

Ursula Burns, president of Xerox (XRX) and No. 10 on Fortune's list, said: "They're people who can learn and have flexibility. They're fearless. They make a decision, and when they find out it's not right, they change and get on with it. They pick great people. They're patient. They realize that the problems of today weren't created today and won't be necessarily solved today. Among those four characteristics, the one I look for most of all is fearlessness."

Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay (EBAY) Marketplaces and No. 46 on Fortune's Power 50 list, said: "The only thing I would add is optimism. Especially today, in this environment, you have to be an eternal optimist."

"I agree," replied Burns, repeating, "I agree. I agree." Indeed, in this chaotic environment, optimism -- not blind denial, but optimism that breeds confidence -- helps leaders stay focused. Norrington, who spent 20 years at General Electric (GE) before moving to Intuit (INTU) and then eBay, particularly needs optimism since eBay stock is trading at a six-year-low. Norrington's mission, she said: "Transformation."

Ich empfehle wirklich jedem Gründer und US-Interessierten den kurzen Artikel mit dem Titel

Sequoia Rings the Alarm Bell: Silicon Valley Is in Trouble

zu lesen. Besonders schmunzelt musste ich, weil darin nicht ein einziges Mal das Wort Umsatz (revenue) vorkommt. Es geht lediglich darum, dass es in Zukunft schwerer sein wird, Kapital zu generieren (raising funds). Hallo?! Hab ich an dem Tag in der BWL-Vorstellung gepennt, als mein Prof sagte, dass Umsätze nicht so wichtig sind?

Dazu kommt dann der Tipp, dass man doch Kosten sparen sollte und es ansehen sollte wie eine "internal round of fund raising", also einfach wie wenn man im Unternehmen durch Geld sparen welches verdienen würde, in dem man seine Cash Burn Rate runter (bzw. hoch, da CBR = Kapital / Periodenausgaben) schraubt.

Finanzkrise also im Kleinen. Nur langsam scheint das Bewusstsein zu wachsen, dass Traffic, User und die Größe der Community nicht gleich Bargeld sind. Stephan hat ja auch hier schon darauf hingewiesen. Das Geld muss irgendwo herkommen. Und es wird in Zukunft nicht mehr auf die Startups regnen, die sich um San Francisco an die VC kuscheln. Es wird ihnen klar, dass auch sie den gewöhnlichen Mechaniken einer Volkswirtschaft nicht entkommen können, nur weil sie denken schlauer zu sein als ein Verleger, der eine teure Druckmaschine besitzt.

Zu lachen hat im Augenblick keiner was. Aber die, die zuerst gelacht haben kriegen gerade einen ganz schönen Denkzettel...

During this past Tuesday's presidential debate , I was interested to hear moderator Tom Brokaw ask in a follow-up to John McCain whether America should adopt a "Manhattan-like project" to address the problem of developing alternative energies, "or should we fund 100,000 garages across America, the kind of industry and innovation that developed Silicon Valley?"  ("100,000" garages is apparently yet another Tom Friedman catchphrase; see here).

McCain replied with some boilerplate science policy: "I think pure research and development investment on the part of the United States government is certainly appropriate.  I think once it gets into productive stages, that we ought to, obviously, turn it over to the private sector.  By the way, my friends [here McCain began to ramble on about pork-barrel 'goodies' being attached to energy bills]."  Obama was not given a chance to reply.  (CNN has the debate transcript).

The historian's instinct here might be to find the question, and certainly the response, unnuanced.  My response would be, yes, but, for a public discussion, I think it's all right, and I would not expect anything more substantial, especially in a question demanding a 1-minute response.  It's worth reflecting, though, on just what implied policy choices Brokaw packed into his question.

The two models at work here are these: the concentrated attack that includes the nation's "best brains", and a more dispersed entrepreneurial approach to technological innovation.

The Manhattan Project was a multi-pronged attack on the problem of creating a workable technology out of a novel physical phenomenon that merely suggested the feasibility of a massively powerful new explosive device.  There were only two possible species of bomb design: one that used enriched uranium and one that used plutonium produced in a nuclear reactor.  Enriching uranium was a huge technical problem, and several methods of doing so were experimented on at a plant in Oak Ridge, TN.  Once a basic reactor design was found at the University of Chicago, a reactor was built in Hanford, WA to produce plutonium.  The "best brains" were concentrated on a mesa near Los Alamos, New Mexico working out detailed theories of nuclear reactions and bomb designs, necessary to ensure successful construction.  I should also point out the involvement of companies like DuPont in developing production technologies.  A multifaceted effort, certainly, but still very concentrated around a two-pronged central problem where the efficiency of the final design was not an issue.

The famous "start ups" of Silicon Valley involved the invention of a variety of component technologies (most famously, the transistor), their steady improvement in efficiency, and their combination with each other in many different useful and novel ways.  Behold the rise of Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, and others, along with many firms that stayed small and nimble.  However, the "100,000 garages" characterization is misleading, since large R&D facilities---such as those run by Bell Labs and IBM, not to mention the large defense contractors and universities---were also crucial to the building of the "Silicon Valley" R&D culture (including beyond the actual Silicon Valley area).

The alternative energies problem is also complex and also depends crucially on improving efficiency rather than being profoundly novel.  There can clearly not be an either/or policy approach.  Effectively, we already have all the major classes of technologies that we plan on using.  We have a major government laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, dedicated to R&D.  The "Manhattan" side of the question would thus be to what extent we want to expand this centralized effort.  The question of bringing in "best brains" is tricky, because the physical sciences population is so much larger and more diverse in its expertise than during World War II, and the problems are not as unexplored as the problem of nuclear fission and explosion physics were then.  We already have all kinds of summer projects where the brightest scientists can dangle their toes in the specialists' stream---would it really be worthwhile to have them dive in head first?

On the nature of alternative energy technologies, improvements can be expected in design of power plants (whether windmills or nuclear reactors), in components of power plants (which might be able to be done at the "garage" level), and, crucially, in the infrastructure with which energy is distributed to consumers (which is absolutely not a "garage"-type issue).  We have lots of solar energy and wind turbine startups.  We have lots of big R&D laboratories working on the bigger problems.  We have government laboratories.  We have journals and conferences by the boatload dedicated to the problem.  We don't seem to have anything blatantly missing that we will need to address this problem.

Except "more".

More of what?  Subsidies and tax incentives for alternative energy R&D at large companies?  Tax incentives to import more efficient foreign technologies?  Grants to fund "basic" research on materials, and nuclear reactions, and God knows what else?  Grants to supplement venture capital?  More efficient communication and coordination between different specialties?  More applied research being published in the open literature by government laboratories rather than being kept under patent protection?  Probably all of it---but which proposals should be answered, to what degree, and in what proportion?

I certainly don't pretend to have any answers here; and there are legions of science policy experts dedicated to just these sorts of issues who didn't exist in World War II and were only beginning to develop back in the 1960s.  What I can say is that I think it's nice that we can at least hint at the existence of so much of this world through a couple of historical reference points.  These reference points will not and almost certainly will never be adequate for holding a nuanced public conversation let alone a policy (or historical) conversation.  Part of me thinks Brokaw was being silly even to think the question he posed might be answered.

But at the same time, the development and deployment of icons helps us communicate what the experts are doing and builds some means of understanding why policies might be legitimate---for instance, the suddenly cliché connection between "Wall Street" and "Main Street" at least communicates that finance actually does relate to the workings of the so-called "real" economy.  The Manhattan Project and 100,000 Garages will never be at such a ubiquitously public level of discussion, but when the time comes to explain alternative energy funding to the people who need or want to be told about it, describing our policy using these icons (or ones like them) as a lexicon might not be such a bad idea.

Update: On the lexicon of public policy rhetoric in the context of the current financial crisis, also see History of Economics Playground on the creation of "toxic assets".

These are difficult times, no doubt about it. People are going to get hit hard by this crisis. And that's a terrible thing. But in difficult times there seems very little leadership. Silicon Valley startups and the ecology that surrounds it lives with certain air of self confidence bordering to arrogance. If you are in that game you need to be a bit arrogant, self assured, and acting like you've been there and done that before. It's an attitude that gets you everywhere in good times. It's an attitude any CEO or investor expects and lives up to him or herself. It gives everyone the comfortable feeling of control.

But things have changed radically. And the panic and desperateness we see now isn't just a result of financial loss. It's even more the result of the feeling of loss of control. Those that felt they were on top of the world are painfully realising that there never was control. The attitude and feeling may have been there, but in this crisis we find that control was only fictional, and even that is gone. And it scares everyone.

In times like this we need real leadership. People that understand the complexity and dangers of this crisis but at the same time try to make the best of it. It's not the end of the world, although it will definitely be the end of many startups and big companies. Leaders know what to do and lead the way for us. They do not panic, but simply deal with the situation. In these times leaders can be found easily and I would advice angels, investors and CEO's to closely monitor both colleagues and management of the companies they invest in. This is the time were you will find if someone just had a great appearance or is actually a leader. Leaders will start making the right moves, cut down costs, work with a lean and mean organisation and most of all remain customer driven. They will only invest in things that create value for their users and they will not pursue things that are just great ideas. They will help others to find their way back into the game and deal with it. Ron Conway seems to be one, Howard Lindzon, Tim O'Reilly, they have been there before and they deal with it. There are many more to be found out there.

This is the time where "keeping up appearances"  isn't good enough anymore. This is the time where the men are separated from the boys. We are going trough some really uncertain times. But if you realise you enver really had control in the first place then things aren't all that different. Sure money and investments are a major issue now. But at the same time great leaders already take care of their burn rates and focus on the stuff that matters. They don't have the attitude, they live it.  And they will be the first to get through this crisis and find the way back up to success.

I hope we will get through this and bend this around to a way up again. But one thing is for sure. We are learning a few tough lessons now we would never have learned during good times. I suggest we stop this panic and deal with it.

In the advertising arena, brand advertising and "experimental advertising" will go first. It's harder to measure their effectiveness so will suffer a more knee-jerk pull-back. But Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising will soon follow. The move of ad dollars from traditional media to the Internet will continue to help plug the hole in the dam, but if consumers are spending much less money, they will click on ads less often and each time they do they will be less likely to make a purchase. 

So what does this mean for web start ups? Get a new business model or prepare for your business to be a fraction of what you thought it would be.

As experts compare today's troubles to the 1930s, it's helpful to remember that back then, various safety nets didn't exist. There was no swift action from the Fed. There was no FDIC. And there was no Treasury Secretary as proactive as Paulson. (Nor were there effective anti-depressants and other drugs to get us through this mess!) These are just a few reassuring points to come out of the Most Powerful Women Summit. A few other random bits of hope:

Buffett professed his faith in the government folks on the spot: "I hope whoever is elected keeps Hank Paulson on," the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) CEO said. "I have enormous admiration for what he's doing." Buffett, the world's most successful investor, also expressed admiration for FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair. This week, she's taken flak for her role in the Citigroup vs. Wells Fargo (WFC) battle for Wachovia (WB), but Buffett said she "stands above" most any CEO and "she won't get a golden parachute when she leaves." (Click here for yesterday's Postcard post that will link you to various Buffett video segments.)

PepsiCo (PEP) CEO Indra Nooyi showed how, amidst gyrating commodity costs, consumer-goods managers deliver healthy profit increases quarter after quarter. Nooyi, who is No. 1 on Fortune's 2008 Most Powerful Women list, also talked about tackling the obesity epidemic. As PepsiCo's volumes have gone up over the past decade, the calories that the company puts into the global marketplace have actually gone down dramatically. Credit goes to innovation with diet drinks, Baked Lays potato chips, and replacement of trans-fats. PepsiCo rates executives according to "human sustainability scorecards" and ties compensation to the scores. As Nooyi told us, if every food company did this, imagine how much healthier the world would be.

Our panel called "The Internet 10 Years Later" (a reprise of a panel at our very first MPWomen Summit) delivered positive signals for growth. Cisco (CSCO) CTO Padmasree Warrior noted that "every second on earth, four babies are born and 20 mobile devices are sold." The session -- including Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Mary Meeker, former eBay (EBAY) chief Meg Whitman, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg -- revealed other interesting stats: China recently surpassed the U.S. in Internet usage. And though the U.S. has lagged in mobile Internet usage, Apple's (APPL) and Google's (GOOG) focus on mobile suggests that the U.S. will lead in that market.

The Summit's closing panel, "The Road to the White House" had Citi CMO Lisa Caputo (on one hour's sleep, she said) interviewing two ace political journalists -- Time's Karen Tumulty and Fortune's Nina Easton -- plus Obama national finance chair Penny Pritzker and Meg Whitman, who is co-chairing the McCain campaign. The panelists believe that voter turnout could reach 80% in November, vs. 64% in the 2004 Presidential election. That level of commitment to revive the U.S. might be the most encouraging sign of all. - Jessica Shambora

I just returned from the Internet Marketing Conference in Barcelona where I presented Dapper's MashupAds platform to a great group of marketing experts.  The crowd was engaging and provided a unique European perspective on our advertising offering.  A big thanks to Lennart and Jordi for inviting us to present.  The other presenters were particularly interesting.  I especially enjoyed a presentation about Avail Intelligence's offering, which is effectively giving e-commerce sites the ability to provide collaborative filtering services to their users and boost sales dramatically.  The IMC is held in various places around Europe and North America and always has quality presenters - I'd highly recommend attending when it's in your neighborhood (upcoming events are in Stockholm, Helsinki, and Vancouver).

Up next, I'll be participating in two panels at the Web 3.0 Conference and Expo in Santa Clara on October 16.  The first panel is called "A Little "mash-up" goes a long and smart(er) way" and the second is called "Monetization Implications of Web 3.0 (Semantic Advertising, etc.)".  Both of these topics are highly relevant to what we've been working on at Dapper.  In the first session, we'll be discussing how the technologies of the Semantic Web are continuing to evolve and are being applied to mashups.  In the second session, we'll address business models of the Semantic Web (the other folks on the panel are all from interesting companies and will have great things to share).  I hope to provide a demo of dynamic ad creation using Dapper's MashupAds.  For those of you interested in the emergence of the Semantic Web and the discussion around all of its various elements from a practical perspective, I'd highly recommend attending the conference.

Este es el hombre, Hervé Lebret. Aqui tenéis 2 hojas resumiendo el libro (pdf). 

También me ha gustado una cita de su entrevista: 

“success only comes from those who are foolish enough to think unreasonably” 

Vinod Khosla (founder of Sun and former VC at Kleiner Perkins)

Where credit will really be needed will be for the huge ET investments that Pickens and others plan to build. As long as the market price signals are clear, so that solar and wind can compete, investment will flow to them. Silicon Valley is pouring millions into the early stage companies and the same virtuous cycle we saw in IT will apply to ET.