Image: http://8gramgorilla.com/
Google is moving to present paid ‘listings’ where it used to offer pure search results? “Let’s just admit that Google is evil now,” writes Business Insider editor Owen Thomas in his delicious rant:
“It may be healthy for Google to get over the whole “don’t be evil” thing. It’s not like anyone was buying it.
Even Googlers. Especially Googlers. (more…)
The rumor mill today has it that Facebook poached ex-Apple engineers to build a Facebook phone due out sometime next year. Previously the company has reported that its mobile presence is not so good. But was the hardware really the problem? Here is more of the story.
The past few days have been big days for romance here in the Silicon Valley.
Almost immediately after the Facebook IPO, billionaire Mark Zuckerberg married his long-time girlfriend, Priscilla Chan. Sure, he may have waited until the day after the IPO in order to protect his money from California’s communal property law, but nobody can say the backyard ceremony wasn’t sweet and sentimental.
Hot off the heels of Zuck’s nuptials, there was yet another Facebook wedding; long-time employees Christina Holsberry and Paul Janzer tied the knot in front of several other Facebook-ers. Check out the list below for three more of Silicon Valley’s power couples.
1. David Goldberg and Sheryl Sandberg – SurveyMonkey + Facebook
Image from: IndiaTimes.com
This duo may give Zuck and his bride a run for their money. David is currently the CEO at SurveyMonkey, after working at high-level positions at Yahoo! and Benchmark Capital. Sheryl should need no introduction – she is the COO at Facebook and has been named of the 100 most influential people of 2012 by TIME magazine. The couple has been married for nine years. (more…)
Two current facebook employees who were both with the company pre-2006 got married on Saturday May 12, 2012 in San Francisco. Christina Holsberry is a UEX Manager and Paul Janzer is a PM. Both appear on the quora list of just seven early facebook employees who are still with the company. Talk about a power couple. Tons of facebook’ers were in attendance. Here are some photos from the wedding.
Photos by: denniskwanweddings.com
Sorry, ladies: Mark Zuckerberg has changed his relationship status to “Married.” He wed his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan today, and posted this picture to (where else?) his Facebook Timeline.
As far as we can tell based on this picture, his wedding suit does NOT have a hoodie attached, but if he starts suffering from withdrawal, he can probably borrow Priscilla’s veil:
Also no word yet on how much the catering cost, but there were only about 100 guests at his home in Palo Alto, so Zuck probably hasn’t spent all of his IPO cash quite yet.
According to a source that talked to the AP, the Facebook CEO gave his new bride a “very simple ruby” ring.
Breakfast at Buck's: Tales from the Pancake Guy
The restaurant, a now-renowned VC hotspot for breakfast, brunch, and lunch, opened in 1991, and the attention started not long afterwards. In 1992, Bob Metcalfe (who was the CEO of and a columnist for InfoWorld Magazine) mentioned Buck’s in his popular tech column. In 1994, Jamis says, one TV crew showed up to interview him. By 1995, he estimates that 100 TV crews came to visit.
On stupid pitches and ideas
Some of the many entrepreneurs that filter through Jamis’ restaurant even try to pitch him, the self-proclaimed “pancake guy,” which he discourages. “You’re probably pitching the wrong person. But I listen to a lot of restaurant pitches.” (more…)
Chris McCann has kept careful tabs on (former Don of the PayPal mafia) Peter Thiel’s startup class at Stanford. (For those who don’t recall, Peter Thiel once paid students to drop out of school; he is now teaching a class at Stanford.) Anywho, Chris has compiled notes from Peter Thiel’s class in his blog. Here are some of the highlights:
How a company can own a market
If monopolies do exist a new startup should set out to own an entire market. For a company to do this it has to have some combination of brand, scale cost advantages, network affects, or proprietary technology.Of those, brand is hardest to understand and identify in advance. BUT if you build a brand you build a monopoly. Scale advantages, network effects, and proprietary technology are more easily understood.
- Scale advantages work best when there are high fixed costs and low marginal costs. Think about Amazon.
- Network effects lock people into their particular business. Think about the iPod and iTunes.
- Proprietary technology is technology, for whatever reason, no one can use besides yourself. Think about a new drug.
In other news, the Datafest kicks off at Stanford today. Over the next 48 hours they’ll be developing new ways to analyze campaign finance data. Follow them here.
Also, we expected to see giddy Facebookers partying it up in Palo Alto last night night, but besides from the group ordering champagne at the Peninsula Creamery the town seemed pretty sleepy. Any idea what’s up with that?
To monitor Facebook’s IPO realtime, check this out. (Facebook stock is now trading under the ticker symbol FB.)
Will Facebook‘s new millionaires be Palo Alto’s latest Unpretentious Pretentious? Check out the NYTimes article:
“The message here is, ‘Keep shipping product,’ ” said a Facebook executive who requested anonymity while discussing internal matters. “If someone buys a fancy car and posts a picture of it, they get ridiculed and berated.”
Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist in Menlo Park, tells what happened when he began working as a Wall Street analyst in Manhattan in 1993, fresh out of business school. A colleague turned his tie over to check the label. “My first day at work,” Mr. Gurley recalled, “I was told to replace all my ties with Hermès and never to wear brown shoes again.”
