Disqus - Latest Comments for Davealevine

Re: what is life

Davealevine — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 07:15:00 -0000

As always, love your writing. I wonder about a few questions: What if your income could be built in a way that is consistent with your values and purpose and how you are living now? What if what you are doing is consistent with what that looks like? Is it possible to build a financially stable life that is consistent with personal and emotional evolution and growth? What if what you are doing is the exact right thing to achieve that mutual existence? What would a "team" and "company" look like that would allow you to find this consistent existence?

Re: Trapped In A System

Davealevine — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 08:51:46 -0000

Very cool @Alex. More folks should know about this stuff and perhaps more programs like it should exist. But even the UX of the website demonstrates the challenges of government programs.

Re: Trapped In A System

Davealevine — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 07:43:02 -0000

Maybe a better idea would be universal basic access to "startup capital" where people get 80% of the upside in the equity value of the businesses and innovations they create, supplemented by universal access to basic education and skills training. We need more jobs and risk takers in my opinion and the concept of providing basic income without work seems to eliminate the incentive to take risk / work hard with the added cost of needing to be supported by the aforementioned regulatory morass (not to mention funded by the risk takers and innovators that remain).

Re: Trapped In A System

Davealevine — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 07:23:46 -0000

Clearly the system resists change for this reason, but also the regulatory apparatus that supports failing unions also keeps things the same. Whether it is local beaurocrats making it hard to get laws passed (or worse, say blocking a ride-sharing app!), or central bankers bailing out failing old guard companies, regulation does a lot to preserve the "old ways" of doing things. So this is my major hesitation with basic income. It seems to be yet another regulatory impediment to innovation. Perhaps instead we should do more to encourage entepreneurship and disruption and less to bail out old ways of doing things.

Re: Experiment and Scandal

Davealevine — Sun, 22 May 2016 16:21:52 -0000

The key benefits of institutional venture include diversification across a curated portfolio. Seems possible to replicate these basic risk management features in the "brave new world". Maybe makes it a little less "brave" but perhaps more resilient.

Re: The Twitter Contradiction

Davealevine — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 20:09:57 -0000

I also own the stock and am a huge believer in the company. But I see this is a failure of communication by Twitter with Wall Street. When many of the board members don't Tweet and the company hires a CFO who rarely tweeted before joining the company, it is unsurprising they do a poor job of conveying what the company is about: how could they possibly understand if they don't use the product?
Twitter will be fine and eventually the company should be able to convey a more accurate narrative of its huge social importance and long term value creation (you barely scratch the surface). But one place to start would be to ensure that all executives and board members know what the company does - by actually tweeting.

Re: The Blurring Of The Public And Private Markets

Davealevine — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:03:09 -0000

IMO public company communications will look much like Kickstarter does today in about 10-15 years. Transparent and much more genuine. Twitter and others are moving in this direction. Private companies that seek outside financing will also move this direction. The lines should blur in most regards.

Re: BIJAN SABET

Davealevine — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 10:37:47 -0000

My daughter Autumn is in her 3rd week of life. And while the roller coaster in the markets, the continued thrill of building my first entrepreneurial venture and other stuff were intense. The countless hours spent rocking her back to sleep makes all of it seem like noise. She is pure, perfect signal. Enjoy the weekend with the family!

Re: writing for broken people

Davealevine — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 01:42:52 -0000

Me too :-)

Re: Less is more

Davealevine — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 17:02:11 -0000

Who knows for sure :-). We'll know a lot more when it finally comes next year. Thx for the thoughts!

Re: Less is more

Davealevine — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 16:10:59 -0000

I thought you were going to say you were going to preorder it *because less is more.
Why reach into your pocket for a supercomputer or a wallet when you could instead with a quick glance see what you need or pay with your wrist?
Why use a "phone" to tell your loved ones you are thinking of them when a little tap to the wrist can send them an intimate reminder right on their own?
To me, the beauty of this device is it will allow us to do more. With less. And leave more time for those more important things in life. Like smiling with our friends and family in between.

Re: Blogging, again

Davealevine — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 22:22:38 -0000

love it but agree...keep writing on medium!

Re: The Personal Blog

Davealevine — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 09:52:07 -0000

I hear you about the history with other media sites - I think that is primarily driven by the traditional old-media driven ad-model which is analogous to the newspaper in the way advertising works - and therefore content sharing and production mirrors that - buckets / editorial control etc.
My belief (which is I'll admit fairly far-fetched) is that Medium is building a different concept of content sharing that will serve as a better tool for content production and discovery if executed well.
Now of course that means getting people to be happy to share content so maybe having a more open API makes sense. Unclear why they shouldn't allow that other than if I were them I'd put 100% of my resources into making the UX for writing and reading content better - they have a lot of work to do on mobile in content creation / editing (reading is already beautiful).
Ultimately, if Medium is successful it could be like Twitter is for headlines and simple ideas - we filter what content we receive and share it much more effectively than any other previous tool.
Perhaps Medium could be a destination where we learn about various topics and discover all sorts of relevant and interesting content to our interests in a longer form.
As it stands, personal blogs are too far flunged and discovering new ones for folks other than people like Fred who already have a big personal brand is a horribly inefficient process.
Twitter helps because we "network" there in a more interest-centric way, so we meet new people.
But nothing really works for finding new thinkers / new ideas.
Could be all of this is pointing at a deeper issue around our social networks - but I'll save that for another comment thread :-)

Re: The Personal Blog

Davealevine — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 09:31:44 -0000

That was my comment Fred. Did you see the follow up? Turns out I'd already read and enjoyed her content - actually shared it on Twitter.
The thing that is hard about Medium is it puts the content first, so this makes it harder to retain control / amplify personal brands in the near term.
BUT because it puts the content first it allows for new voices and ideas to be discovered.
Which over time actually allows for more authentic personal branding to emerge.
I've previously encouraged you to write on Medium and I know you resist, but as an author the experience is far better.
Also, commenting is way easier.
They need to improve the mobile UX a lot, but in browser it is the future of content. It puts writing, sharing, and enjoying the content ahead of everything else. And that is the whole point of the Internet to me.

I also agree wholeheartedly with the flexibility that personal blogs allow but Medium actually takes that further. By being able to write across topics without centering around a personal brand it is even more flexible. Anyway, keep blogging and sharing in whatever form. I'd just encourage folks to give new platforms that put the content first a shot.

Re: The New Foursquare

Davealevine — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:26:59 -0000

Ok. here now.

Re: The New Foursquare

Davealevine — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:06:51 -0000

Still not in the App store :-(

Re: App Constellations

Davealevine — Sun, 18 May 2014 10:40:18 -0000

With the Swarm and Foursquare integration and seamless UX between them, they only seem to be lacking distribution.
Maybe another "constellation" should acquire them to bolt this on.
Could even be Facebook whose own check-ins attempt doesn't work.
But maybe more likely is a Google who could plug this local/social adjacency right in.

Re: Some Thoughts On Tweeting Vs Blogging

Davealevine — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 17:59:18 -0000

Try it for awhile and you will understand.
Many people say the same thing about Twitter at first.

Re: Some Thoughts On Tweeting Vs Blogging

Davealevine — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:20:29 -0000

I'm more sharing because I think it is awesome.

Different than selling.

But I hear you.

Biggest challenge with new paradigms is you can't convey the value until you've experienced them.

Twitter takes months to appreciate. And I don' think the value can truly can't be conveyed until experiencing.

Could be that I struggle with articulating the value. That is probably part of it.

But part of it is some things just must be experienced to be understood.

Wrote about that on Medium also if you have interest:

https://medium.com/we-progr...

Re: Some Thoughts On Tweeting Vs Blogging

Davealevine — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:10:40 -0000

Fascinating stuff.

One of the prerequisites for that kind of connecting is "identifying" / "seeing" others.

That is what Medium is so good at.

By unleashing the content, it illuminates the idea, and thusly, the author.

My experience is it actually helps with self-discovery and in so doing, it increases self-expression and vice-versa.

Here's just one angle of what I mean, on *why* writing is powerful: https://medium.com/we-progr...

Re: Some Thoughts On Tweeting Vs Blogging

Davealevine — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:57:49 -0000

I agree that the community aspect of Medium isn't as straightforward as something like a Discuss-plug-in at the bottom of a URL-centered blog.

However, my experience is that I'm developing closer and deeper relationships by sharing on Medium than I ever have on Twitter or through blogging than in the 7 years I've been using both.

The concept of "community" that is built there is broader and extends beyond the platform itself.

Hard to explain, but I think what it enables is really connecting and getting to know a broader group in a more genuine and meaningful way.

Re: Some Thoughts On Tweeting Vs Blogging

Davealevine — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 10:56:06 -0000

I get the desire to use one's own domain.

I struggled with this at first also.

But the platform is just so much better for content creation.

If you want to embed the content at your domain, they've now added that functionality. In fact, way more easily than just embedding tweets like you do above.

Here's the directions:

https://medium.com/p/3eaed6...

By eliminating the "author" and "following individuals" from the content creation, they've elevated the content to the center of the experience.

But more than that - the UX. Is. Just. Better.

Like most new technologies, you really have to experience it to appreciate the difference.

They have brilliantly fixed even small things I never realized were broken about writing on screen.

Try it.

As a writer, you will love it.

And as a personal brand, they're adapting it in many ways that will make it easier to achieve other goals you want.

In fact, they're ahead of Twitter in that regard, and I'd imagine they will continue to make strides in this area if smart writers ask for it.

Re: Some Thoughts On Tweeting Vs Blogging

Davealevine — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 10:42:31 -0000

It is worth spending time on @medium.

They now let you embed posts on your domain if you care to center the the content around an existing brand.

But if your goal is to really work through ideas, share and generate discussion, it is a much more powerful platform than a blog.

And as a writer, the experience is night and day.

Re: Rebuilding

Davealevine — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 18:45:58 -0000

Can feel the magic in the words. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Is this what true free market looks like?

Davealevine — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 12:11:25 -0000

Other challenge here is that barriers to creating networks in markets like NYC are high so the incumbent quickly becomes monopolist - especially without individual driver price competition within the network.