Disqus - Latest Comments for Mrinal

Re: Overnight success takes a long time

Mrinal — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:27:41 -0000

Its interesting to note that you EVEN have to write this post - Good to Great would be a great read for those seeking silver bullets.

Re: Building a Successful Startup is like Building a Pyramid

Mrinal — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:24:15 -0000

The book 'Good to Great' is ALL about that and draws metaphors with the flywheel! No silver bullets to greatness!

Re: My brother Om (Scripting News)

Mrinal — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:31:35 -0000

Loved the rubber and glass ball story, Dave.

I have a favorite and it is about the teacher who comes to a class with a container full of big rocks and asks the students if the container was full. When the students said yes, she poured some pebbles in that dribbled down the side of the rocks. When she asked again if the container was full, the students said Yes.... the teacher then added sand to the container which did the same... dribbled down by the side of the rocks and pebbles. When asked again, the students confidently said Yes this time only to be disappointed - she finally filled the container with water.

now imagine, if you had started (life) with water or dont recognize the rocks :)

Re: The need for iPhone app folders and search is quickly approaching

Mrinal — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:02:54 -0000

So what you are your top 5 apps that you use the most (apart from games :)? whoa - no FB or Google Connect to leave a comment? :)

Re: My Techmeme Obsession

Mrinal — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:56:32 -0000

Ah - sorry that I did not dig in deeper. I though Allen Stern had a post on something like that but I obviously didnt look at it harder.
There is no question to your participation on FriendFeed :)

Re: My Techmeme Obsession

Robert Scoble — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:20:08 -0000

Mrinal: sorry, you really need to look at FriendFeed again. It does NOT suggest me to new users. It only will suggest me if you add someone as a friend who already has followed me. Even then, there are far more popular people who are suggested like Arrington, Calacanis, Laporte (who usually appear on the recommended list higher than I do). So, why do those people have far fewer FriendFeed users than I do? Might it matter that I participate there a LOT more than they do?

Re: My Techmeme Obsession

Mrinal — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:46:02 -0000

Wouldn't you agree though that you got so many followers faster because there was a template of users like you who were bring suggested to all new users? It was a smart thing to do on their part to get the influential crowd hooked :)

Re: A Voice Of Reason

Mrinal — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:43:14 -0000

Being originally Indian, from the day I "got off the boat" in 99, I have NOT had one bad experience and consequently I have loved America and the people. I tend to compare immigration/foreign travel with that of a baby's initial phase of life and how they are raised - the first few (months, years) dictate your perspective and prejudices about that country (or life in the case of a baby)
I personally dont believe in even countries, Fred - we are all the same and we are all different.... some personal posts on it here: http://mrinal.vox.com/library/posts/tags/imagine/

Re: Capital Efficiency Finds It's Moment

Mrinal — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:08:00 -0000

Having my student visa to come to the US rejected (95), then finally making it here in 99 for B-School with SGI experience and graduating in 01 to be "CEO, Vocationally Challenged, Inc." during the dot-com bust days for almost 3 years, I strongly believe that crisis or challenges, imho, is absolutely the best opportunities - competition withers away, it becomes less noisy and its a chance to stop being a commodity through creativity. Its definitely the time for the hungrier and to thrive for some!

Re: Breaking: Facebook Launches Live Search Integration

Mrinal — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:09:05 -0000

Nick - the big bucks for FB is search in the billions of feed items. Interest and intent :)
This will help a little too of course

Re: Is online advertising heading for a cliff?

Mrinal — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:19:36 -0000

Crisis, imho, is another term for opportunity. If you deliver value and are a need or have "become" one (from a want), its a time to differentiate and stand out.
CPC and CPA would certainly seem more compelling since that measures results.

Re: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/10/free-vs-paid.html

Mrinal — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:05:08 -0000

I couldn't agree more with you, Fred - its all about failing fast and keeping that cost low! Specifically in the consumer space, its about URL - Ubiquity first, revenue later :)
I do have some baggage since I have seen it work at my alma mater - LinkedIn.

Re: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/10/hacker-news-tec.html

Mrinal — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:14:29 -0000

Apart from the ones you mentioned, I would recommend Popurls - one source for all other social sites.

Re: Portable Contacts is now Plaxo's primary API

jsmarr — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:18:34 -0000

Portable Contacts will empower sites and tools like FriendConnect to let you link in your existing contacts from any compliant address book or social network.so it's another key "building block" like OpenID and OAuth, both of which Friend Connect also uses under the hood.

We recently did a quick video on this subject, which you may find informative: http://www.thesocialweb.tv/blog/2008/08/episode...

Re: Portable Contacts is now Plaxo's primary API

Mrinal — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:46:15 -0000

Joe - one of the things I love about the Plaxo blog is how I learn about new cutting edge social technologies through 'grandma-friendly' language :)
So is this comparable to Google's Friend Connect, Facebook's Connect etc.? Portable Contacts seem to be about one's address book and not specific social networks (like FB, Orkut, gtalk etc) How about a post explaining these for this not very technically inclined :). Since Greed is Good, pls log a glossary request too :)
Hi to Todd

Re: New York Times syndicates VentureBeat

Mrinal — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:42:52 -0000

I am VERY happy for all of you guys, Matt! Congrats on the big deal! I love the way you are converging the two media by bringing experiences from both!

Re: Online computer help software company Crossloop gets $6M

Mrinal — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:16:49 -0000

Thanks from all of us at CrossLoop, Eric!
Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Re: Reblogging Comments

fredwilson — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:54:54 -0000

when i reblog a comment onto my front page, it really doesn't need to be aggregated

Re: Reblogging Comments

Mrinal — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:23:00 -0000

retweets, reblog/comments, friendfeed - how can we aggregate it all this well, Fred?

Re: CrossLoop: A free and very easy to configure screen sharing app

lonseidman — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:36:42 -0000

You are quite welcome. I needed to walk somebody through a rather complex process this afternoon and this was a huge lifesaver. Keep up the great work, can't wait for a Mac client!

Re: CrossLoop: A free and very easy to configure screen sharing app

Mrinal — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:45:43 -0000

Lon - Thank You from us all at CrossLoop. We appreciate your recognition and the fact that you shared it 'with the world'. Means a lot to us!
As far as your only complaint - coming soon to a blog near you ;)
Have a great weekend

Re: 12seconds extends its 15 minutes of fame with an API

Mrinal — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:46:30 -0000

We love how these are enabling our users to share their love for CrossLoop!
http://12seconds.tv/channel/loudmouthman/4271

Re: Ten Things I Want On My Mobile Phone

Mrinal — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:43:55 -0000

I want a LinkedIn app for the Blackberry that integrates with the wsjmobilereader.com (or integrated with NY Times, if they create one like WSJ)

Re: The Human Piece Of The Venture Equation

Mrinal — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:34:48 -0000

Corporate America says 'Anything that can be measured can be managed' and hence as you right point out
"It’s the human piece of the equation that is so hard and so few get right."
Its ALL about people - they start cos., they build the product, they sell it, they invest in it and they together create legacies.
Knowing oneself, being to be able to acknowledge it objectively (i.e. being secure) and aligning success (for all parties) goes a long way for the team

Re: The Lazy and Smarter Web

Mrinal — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:07:59 -0000

Weird coincidence or I am not paying attention but your prior blog post recommending Roger Ehrenberg post inspired me to ask 'What Are Your Top 3 Startup Sins' on LinkedIn (being an alum) - it got a huge response (78 Answers as of now)

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/startups-small-...

And that also just made me lazy :)