At USV, we talk a lot about how the landscape is changing, as more entrepreneurs and investors get behind the idea of building networks around problems, communities & verticals.  And that means that we are seeing more competitors in each space we look at, especially compared to what it looked like when USV invested in tumblr, etsy etc. (i.e., the halcyon days of yore) I have a suspicion that -- while this is no doubt true -- that there was more competition around these ideas than we remember, especially because many competitors fell off as the leaders emerged, so we don't remember them anymore. It would make for a neat research project to look at modern-day category leaders across a bunch of categories, and map them back to the competitors around them at various times in their history.  Funding milestones would be an easy way to do this. Does any such thing exist?  Seems like something that could be done relatively easily using the Crunchbase API.

Saying no to things is something I've always been bad at.  I have always been (and to some extent, have prided myself on being) more of a "why not" guy than a "why" guy. This has many of advantages -- I'm open minded and I end up doing tons of interesting things w interesting people.  But it also has some obvious disadvantages -- like feeling overwhelmed, getting behind on things, getting spread too thin, not doing a good enough job on any one thing. I remember reading that one of the cornerstones of Warren Buffet's approach to life is writing up a list of the 10 things you want to do, prioritizing them, then putting the bottom six on a "avoid at all costs" list. And I believe in my heart that the projects / apps / ideas that are tight, focused and well executed are better than the ones that are broadly ambitious and try to boil the ocean. One of my favorite lines, from one of my favorite books is "half, not half-assed". But still, it's hard to say no to things.  Meetings, phone calls, projects, you name it.  It's just hard. But every time I look at my long to do list, or my inbox, or my calendar, and think -- what can I do to be more efficient and effective at doing all of this?  The obvious answer is to just do less.  That's by far the most simple and most impactful approach. How do you save money? Spend less.  How do you save time?  Do less. Easier said than done, but no doubt important.

At USV, we talk a lot about how the landscape is changing, as more entrepreneurs and investors get behind the idea of building networks around problems, communities & verticals.  And that means that we are seeing more competitors in each space we look at, especially compared to what it looked like when USV invested in tumblr, etsy etc. (i.e., the halcyon days of yore) I have a suspicion that -- while this is no doubt true -- that there was more competition around these ideas than we remember, especially because many competitors fell off as the leaders emerged, so we don't remember them anymore. It would make for a neat research project to look at modern-day category leaders across a bunch of categories, and map them back to the competitors around them at various times in their history.  Funding milestones would be an easy way to do this. Does any such thing exist?  Seems like something that could be done relatively easily using the Crunchbase API.

Saying no to things is something I've always been bad at.  I have always been (and to some extent, have prided myself on being) more of a "why not" guy than a "why" guy. This has many of advantages -- I'm open minded and I end up doing tons of interesting things w interesting people.  But it also has some obvious disadvantages -- like feeling overwhelmed, getting behind on things, getting spread too thin, not doing a good enough job on any one thing. I remember reading that one of the cornerstones of Warren Buffet's approach to life is writing up a list of the 10 things you want to do, prioritizing them, then putting the bottom six on a "avoid at all costs" list. And I believe in my heart that the projects / apps / ideas that are tight, focused and well executed are better than the ones that are broadly ambitious and try to boil the ocean. One of my favorite lines, from one of my favorite books is "half, not half-assed". But still, it's hard to say no to things.  Meetings, phone calls, projects, you name it.  It's just hard. But every time I look at my long to do list, or my inbox, or my calendar, and think -- what can I do to be more efficient and effective at doing all of this?  The obvious answer is to just do less.  That's by far the most simple and most impactful approach. How do you save money? Spend less.  How do you save time?  Do less. Easier said than done, but no doubt important.