Power Pal

Read an article in Knowledge@Wharton about how VC firms approach their investments in today's start-ups that are primarily differentiated by their ideas as opposed to their technology. Because of Web 2.0, many new media companies can focus their efforts on developing a good idea that is going to gain critical mass rather than a new technology as there are many technologies that can be leveraged. An interesting exerpt about the current investment environment: For now, the VC funding keeps rolling in. PricewaterhouseCoopers' Money Tree survey revealed that first-quarter venture funding was $7.1 billion, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2001. Of that sum, Internet-specific companies garnered $1.3 billion, the highest level in five years. While the initial public offering market has been difficult in recent years, buyouts are prevalent. In 2005, News Corp. bought social networking site MySpace for $580 million. Yahoo purchased del.icio.us and Flickr. Google acquired...

I thought this short article in the WSJ was a nice, quick synopsis of the U.S. mortgage mess. The graphic is pretty nice as well. Basically, the sequence of events was as follows: As housing was booming, lenders made more subprime loans to unqualified borrowers (around 20% of mortgages were classified as subprime). The subprime loans were securitized and sold to investors (many of which didn't understand the real risk inherent in the investment as the complexity behind them were hidden by how simply they were packaged up). Delinquencies on these subprime loans remained low at first as home prices were rising. As home prices rose, borrowers were able to refinance their mortgages to continue to make payments. As the housing market leveled off, delinquencies steadily increased. Rating agencies have been downgrading all these investments and investors have no one to sell them off to.

Read an article in the WSJ this weekend about Terry Gou, the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry - also known as Foxconn . The company employs 270,000 employees primarily in a campus in Shenzhen outside Hong Kong. The complex has its own fire department, book store, dormitories, hospital, swimming pool, and athletic complex among other things. The manhole covers on the streets read "Foxconn". An excerpt regarding the company's revenues: Hon Hai's revenue has grown more than 50% a year in the past decade to $40.6 billion last year. It is expected to add $14 billion in revenue this year. That is roughly the equivalent of Motorola's adding, within a year, the sales of CBS Corp. This has got to be the biggest company that most people have never heard of. Apparently Terry Gou hasn't taken an interview since 2003 as he believes the lack of media deprives his competitors of information and protects the privacy of his customers, which include Dell, Apple, and Noki...

I read an article a few weeks back that seemed like such a great idea for one of those tear jerking, inspirational movies. The article was about how Liberian amputees, soldiers or civilians that were wounded in the many civil wars in Liberia, started a soccer league as a way to foster reconciliation, a way to reclaim some dignity for the amputees, and a way for the general population to change their perceptions of the amputees. Many amputees previously viewed as butchers are now viewed as heroes. Pretty amazing story. The video of these guys playing soccer is pretty amazing as well.

Read an article in Forbes about the best and worst school districts for the buck - i.e. what educational results do you get for the money that goes into the school district. Two of the top districts: 1) Marin, CA - $6,579 per pupil spending, 1133 college entrance exam 5) Montgomery, MD - $8,845 per pupil spending, 1090 college entrance exam Two of the worst districts: 89) Baltimore, MD - $8,599 per pupil spending, 1,025 college entrance exam 95) District of Columbia - $10,473 per pupil spending, 968 college entrance exam

Saw this article in the WSJ about how dirty airplanes are. Here's an excerpt: Still, the airlines say their schedules for cleaning aircraft haven't changed this summer despite the rampant delays. JetBlue Airways Corp. says its planes undergo a "maximum deep clean" once a month, same as before, a process that includes a thorough cleaning of the lavatories and galleys, vacuuming of carpets and cleaning of seats, seat trays and side walls. Southwest Airlines Co. says its deep-cleaning cycle is 30 days, too. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines says it also keeps a 30-day average. Continental Airlines Inc., like many airlines, says its planes also undergo an overnight cleaning, which includes replacement of soiled pillows and blankets, vacuuming of cabin floors and cleaning of lavatories and passenger seating areas. Between flights, though, the cleaning tends to be cursory. American says that it picks up trash and cleans seat-back pouches between flights, but that it doesn...

Read an article in the WSJ about one of the top selling cars in Russia having one of the worst safety crash tests ever. The Chery Amulet completely crumpled in the Russian crash test. The video on YouTube says it all. Scary.

Read an article in the WSJ called " In India, a Retailer Finds Key to Success is Clutter " about how Indian consumers are more comfortable shopping in cramped, cluttered, noisy, often dirty environments instead of more sterile, organized environments that are common with Western retailers. Kishore Biyani has built India's largest retailer, Pantaloon Retail, by attracting Indians that have traditionally been only comfortable shopping in open, public markets. Attracting people to big chain stores carries unique challenges. Biyani talked about three different "types" of Indian consumers: Mr. Biyani divides India's 1.1 billion people into three types of consumers. "India One," as he calls them, are those with good educations, good jobs, and much disposable income. They also are the target audience for many foreign companies seeking to sell their wares here. Mr. Biyani estimates that such customers comprise about 14% of the total population. Where he s...

Read an article in Forbes about how Jack Goeken is working on a company to popularize the LED lightbulb. The company Borealis Lighting (by PolyBrite International) currently have LED bulbs priced at $10 - $14 that will deliver six times the light per unit of electricity that an incandescent does. A 60-watt incandescent send out 13 lumens per watt, a comparable fluorescent 50, the LED 85. I can't wait until these are cheaper and hit the stores.

Read an article in the New York Times called " In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don't Feel Rich " about how entrepreneurs in the valley with millions of dollars of net worth still don't feel like they're rich and continue to grind away with their jobs in hopes of making more money. I also read an article called "Close to the Vest" in Forbes about how Google has produced a ton of young millionaires that are cashing out and creating spin-off companies of their own. One excerpt at the beginning of the article: Mr. Steger, 51, a self-described geek, has banked more than $2 million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. The couple’s net worth of roughly $3.5 million places them in the top 2 percent of families in the United States. Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls “the Silicon Valley salt mines,” working as a marketing executive for a technology start-up company, ...