Two Things I Read And Liked This Morning

Marc Andreessen’s satirical take on all the blog chatter about bubbles, business models, web 2.0, and so on. Thanks for putting it all in perspective Marc.

Jeff Pulver’s "you gotta believe" post where he makes the connection between being a baseball fan and doing startups. He is sure right about the startup part. Believing is at least half the battle.

#Random Posts

Comments (Archived):

  1. Dave Winer

    I like Jeff’s post, but I’d add that it would have worked out better if the Mets had sucked more at the beginning of the season and been strong at the end than the way it worked out.But I was lucky, I started loving the bums when they sucked 162 games a year, every year. Those were the Mets I fell in love with, those are the Mets I miss. Choo Choo Coleman, Rod Kanehl, Bud Harrelson, Frank Thomas, Marv Throneberry, Ed Kranepool, Ed Charles, Bob Shaw (lived next door to us in Queens, mowed his lawn as a kid!), Gil Hodges, Duke Snyder, and on and on. Tommy Agee! Casey Stengel! These were the canonical Mets. They’re smiling down from heaven or wherever they are (some are still with us, for sure) thinking how appropriate that the Mets disappointed this crop of fans, who actually expect them to win because that ain’t the way it works!!The Mets are about poetry, philosophy, drama and love.Only winning when winning helps accentuate the above.And baseball can teach us about life — I’m serious about it. Because no matter how much fun life is, we all end up losing in the end. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it is the truth. Enjoy it while you got it, cause it ain’t gonna last. 🙂

    1. fredwilson

      So true daveI must confess that I did not become a met fan until I moved to nyc in the early 80s and heard yound doc gooden throw a one hitter listening in the back of a cab on a steamy summer night coming in from laguardia

  2. Steven Kane

    with all due respect to mr. andressen, his post is humorous but completely (deliberately) misses the point:no one (that i have ever seen) is claiming there is a “bubble” (can’t we drop this word already? its too loaded) because there is a shortage of great ideas and entrepreneurs and opportunities.rather, there is a wide consensus amongst market watchers and, yes, astute professional investors, that there is an oversupply of capital chasing returns, causing returns to shrink to the point where the asset clas makes little sense (unless you don’t care about the returns..)how much of mr. andreesen’s personal net worth is invested in venture funds? that will tell you how he really feels about the current VC environment. i wager he has a miniscule percentage of his investable personal assets in venture. if he uses smart professional asset and portfolio managers (and i would certainly bet he does) then one can also likely assume he has his money elsewhere.as warren buffet said, “when others get greedy, i get scared. when others get scared i get greedy.”at the moment, with the huge number of funds and firms and partners investing such huge amounts in so many venture deals, i’d be scared.ps: mr. andreesen, how about turning on comments on your blog? claiming you have no time for “moderation” is a headfake. almost no blogs “moderate” comments; why should you?

    1. fredwilson

      SteveYou have been loud and clear about your opinion of the venture asset class. And it is true that as a class, the returns haven’t been that great. But certain funds have put up incredible numbers. My bet is that marc is an investor in some of those funds. When invited to put money behind VCs who I know to be among the best in their field, I always accept.fred

      1. Steven Kane

        fair enough.but circling back to marc’s post — if, as you and i agree, as a class, venture returns haven’t been that great, yet bigger and bigger amounts of money are pouring into the class, and therefore into deals, doesn’t that feel like a situation ripe for a correction?a radical upwards trend in the NASDAQ with a lot of momentum could change things for the positive. and frankly, i really hope that happens. i just don’t know too many experts who think the NASDAQ and market for young tech IPOs (while decent) are going to change radically…