Why I'm Not Going To Web 2.0

Comments (Archived):

1. oh Fred you’re such a tease– given that title, we were expecting a total protest / revolution-against-the-old-guard type of rant.Instead, you used the founder’s words as justification to skip his own show. Come to think of it– how eloquent!

2. Fred-An interesting and often unexplored theme in your post is one of how to be a supportive husband and present father while still living a connected and entrepreneurial life. You have written previously on the subject of younger entrepreneurs (and we don’t have to rehash that again) and others, like Brad Feld, bring up work-life balance techniques every quarter or so. But these are missing the broader point, I think, around also being invested in your family and marriage. And it’s not easy. Building companies and being part of real-time conversations is all-consuming and requires patience and understanding from our loves ones as well as a strong support network to make it happen.I know I am a better entrepreneur and CEO because of my having children. I am more efficient during the day, patient, a better problem solver, and more calm in the face of adversity than I was before. Obviously doesn’t mean you need to have kids to start companies.But, to me, what is most important is setting an example for your children- that having a career that fulfills you and makes you happy is critical and that working hard requires sacrifices. What is also essential in this agreement is that just as your spouse supports you in your endeavors, you need to do the same. My wife works full-time and operates at an equally high-level in the non-profit world as the Chief Development Officer. She works hard, loves what she does and also needs to travel for work. When she does I alter my schedule to support her career needs. More often than not it is her doing this for me so I am happy (and stressed out) to do the same foe her.I believe it is important that younger generations see both parents as equals in their respective professional tracks. And it’s okay not to be at every conference or event. Thanks for re-reminding me and for setting a good model of how to do it.

   1. great comment steven – i am fortunate that my kids are older now and we can talk about stuff like my work, their homework, things that happen at school, etc. i enjoy hanging out with my wife and kids as much as anything i do and i am fortunate to have a lot of interesting things on my plate.fred

3. Hi Fred – why is it in this day and age that when your wife leaves you refer to yourself as Mr. Mom instead of Mr. Dad? You are being a dad not a mom. When a mom stays in town when her husband travels she is not referred to as Ms. Dad now is she? You might be interested in a post I did called From the Mouts of Men: http://www.entrepremusings….Sorry, it just had to be said. I always find it odd when someone tells me their husband is ‘baby sitting’ because in my mind, they are not baby sitting…they are the dad. If a mom isn’t babysitting then why should a dad be.BTW, one of the Disquis (sp?) guys emailed me last Friday based on a comment I left last week on your blog about trouble I had posting. I told him that I’d be more than happy to talk with him about it but that it would be best if he called me and I could walk through the issue as I typed a comment. I haven’t heard back from him yet. I was very pleasantly surprised that he even took the time to email me. It is still a bit weird to post right now because as I type the comment screen moves.

   1. Just found your email in the spam filter, Aruni. That sounds like some odd behavior with the commenting – let’s see if we can figure it out. 🙂

   2. AruniIn our house the gotham gal does some things and I do others. A good exampleis she cooks and I clean up. It’s always been that way and probably alwayswill be. I take Josh to his early morning soccer practices and she takes himto the orthodontist after school. Etc, etc.This week, I am doing both jobs. So that’s what I mean by Mr Mom, but I cansee your point.ThanksFred

      1. Fred – Thank you for seeing my point. As you probably know the written word can be interpreted in many ways. When we start shifting our language, we start shifting perceptions, and we start shifting society. I’ve been reading your blog on and off again the past few months and I’m very impressed with how you share your thoughts. Plus I like your political leanings.I say things from the perspective of a person (who happens to be a woman, 1.5 gen South Asian, and a mother) who was the founding CEO of a venture backed high-tech company (that still exists) pre-kids and now find myself doing another one…but this time bootstrapping with some eyes on some appropriate angel funding. My prior experience with one VC (others were great) is a whole post of its own that probably won’t ever be written. I have a unique perspective on things. And oddly, I find that I’m one of the few high-tech entrepreneur women bloggers out there. I’m not sure why there aren’t more women entrepreneur bloggers and/or women VC bloggers.I look forward to talking with Daniel later today about what I was seeing…and interestingly as I write this comment I am not experiencing the same letter shifting issue I’ve seen in the prior two comments I left. I’m on IE 7 so maybe they have already addressed the issue. I also noticed that the little preview section of what I’m writing is no longer there.I recently did a tongue-in-cheek guest post on Austin Startup blog called Parenting a Startup and Kids at the same time that might give you a chuckle or two: http://www.entrepremusings….One other thing I’d like to suggest to the Disquis folks is that they should have a subscribe to comments feature. Being the busy entrepreneur that I am (just announced some cool partnership news with nanny agencies) I don’t have time or remember to come back and check if you replied. On WordPress there is a plug in for ‘subscribe to comments’

         1. The problem was pinned down to the forum in IE7. This part is on its way out as we usher in the new stuff. Thanks for alerting us of this!The comment subscription has been in place but only interface-accessible from the new version of Disqus that isn’t online yet. Here’s the direct link to comment feeds: http://avc.disqus.com/lates…

            1. Thanks Daniel. I’m impressed with your follow up on these issues. Regarding the comments feed, personally it’s hard for me to follow a conversation train in a feed because the comments are coming from many different posts.I’m sure you are familiar with the WordPress plugin called Subscribe to Comments. I have that activated on my blog. So when a user leaves a comment, they can choose to get follow up comments by email. I can then reply to them and they know I replied to them. For example, I would have no idea that you responded to my last comment here unless I came back to this particular post. I’ve been coming back because I know I might be able to help you with this bug. As someone who is managing a software based company, I fully appreciate any help in finding bugs and I love feedback.So with the subscribe to comments plugin, commenters can choose to come back to the post and follow up or they don’t come back but they feel good about the fact the blogger acknowledged their comment. Many of the top bloggers like Problogger, eMoms at Home, Successful Blog, and Entreprenuer’s Journey use this feature. To me, it helps with the conversation and helps me manage my blogging time so I can spend more time on the biz. That’s just my opinion…Great work on Disqus!

            2. Oops, I had thought you were referring to RSS. We have email notifications as well. It allows for exactly that. I’ll let you know when this feature is accessible.

4. I hear the food will suck this time as well.

5. I think Intense Debate already has rss and email notifcations.