DISQUS

Fred,
Yea, but you do let the cat out of the bag when you praise a business (Wasabi, for example), just before you make an investment (I just knew that a USV investment was coming after your posts). Nothing wrong with that at all, and I like it. Your not doing anything unethical, and your giving a little insight into what kind of investments you believe in, and why. All are good things, and one more reason I read you faithfully!

Fred,

On McCain you wrote; “I don't agree with him on many positions, but I think he'd be a fine leader for this country.”

I don’t get that. It’s like hiring a well respected architect who specializes in, and is a fanatic about ultra modern to design your house when you want a colonial. Sure he/she will get the job done, but will it be the job you wanted?

Also, I think Courtland is right. I have seen glimpses of McCain’s temper, and it can be pretty nasty (remember when he cursed at Maria Shriver in 2000)!

McCain deserves my respect for his service, but not never my vote for president.

Yea, but I'll still bet on your kids!

Steve

Fred,

And they will (run such businesses, or run other very profitable concerns that benifit us all)!

No doubt, the apples don't fall far from the tree!

Steve

Fred,
Glad you and fam. had a GREAT trip!
Sounds like jetlag to me. It will disapate over the next few hours (you sure wrote a lot since landing!). If your like me, the internal clock will chime, you will hit the sack, and you will be at the office by nine.
Great appreciation for your take on Josh's view. He sounds like me at his age (curious, but also outspoken). Without the two, we don't learn.

All the best, and Welcome Home!

Steve

Fred,

My point exactly.
There is so much, and so very many oportunities out here right now, and it is all do-able!
It's where we want to go, and what we want to do.

Steve

To the Douglaskarr,

Your missing it. Fred is not saying that you can’t build a successful, very profitable “mom and pop” web business, especially if you use and understand the tools at your avail. It’s just that these models are not what private (VC) funds are looking at, as far as an investment that will provide the returns limited partners, and the fund managers are interested in.
No offence to you Douglaskarr, but it’s apples and oranges. Your 100 profitable sites are great, and may make you a bundle, but your not going public, or going to be bought out by a larger player on the scale that counts in the private equity (includes VC) world.
On the positive side; Stick around! Fred is a good guy, very smart, and if you’re here to learn a little, or just wet your beak, this is the place!

Steve

Josh is a fortunate one indeed, and I guarantee you, if he doesn't understand all of this just yet (he probably does), he will one day!

Fred,
I was so happy for you and your son (and just a bit friendly envious, until the broken finger thing happend). I remember seeing Zep at Cobo in Detroit, long, long ago. Sometimes it's like a real good old flame. Memories are better than reality.
If you hook up tix to anything upcoming that we don't know about, please let me know. I have credit cards, paypal, and pigion drop for ZEP!
What a great way for us to shake hands and say "hello"!

Fred,
GOOD Lord, are you soooo back on track ! I love it!
I also agree with you, completely.

Funny thing only the guys commenting think of this! GIB (give it a break) Ha!

You HAVE ONE (life, that is), and it's COOL to discuss these peripheral things. The things we spot, or pick up on, are all part and parcel to the larger picture, and how we read them is important.

Azimuth,
You are correct in what motivates most of us, Vs the true creators (like them or not), and I would put Apple in the former catagory, just like I would the hotels that you mention. Not that this makes them bad. Not too many marketers today are capable of real "creation", most use a variance of something that already works, and with that variance, comes some sort of evolution, that leads to something new, and different, and that's what drives us all.

To Dave, do we not like aesthetics? Look at the stark, almost bleak, but very efficient architectural designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. A master for sure, and I have been in many of his creations, from Pasadena, to Chicago (Oak Park). Personally, I’m not a fan, but some jump through hoops to see a Wright, or a Mees Vanderow “Glass Tower”. It’s all about Marketing. I think most of us get that, and if a glass spiral will bring in onlookers, some will become buyers.

Steve

Fred,
Once again I must agree with you. I have to say that as a long time ago, low level employee of a compny called "Guest Informant" (long before they were bought by Lin, long before more, and long before our tech age), I made a move to replace some of the markets the company was dropping due to lagging sales, with my own books, and was hit right in the face with the "legal team". I was not going to take any market share that the company had not already given up, but who knows where it may have gone.
The line is fine for sure, and I don't mean to press the point, but old media/ new media is not a fluid transition. As we endure this rocky road however, some of the old rules of business will always apply.
What I would like to see are the stats.
Who (not names, just stats) have either of your firms incured losses (had defectors) directly related to violations of the clause?

Fred,
You are so right on this subject! To all who don't get it, just imagine if a very few years ago, you bought an RCA (CRT) telivision, and it would only receive analog signals from NBC, which was an RCA owned company!
You always nail it on these things Fred, and for those of us old enough to really make the analog, old media comparison, we hear you!
Thanks,
Steve

I'm with you as far as opening up all divices = choose your own carrier.
As for poking and prodding, glad all went well (no gall stones, or inflamed organs), but that's so 19th century. What are your blood test results? I'm sure they are on target, and I hope so! That's where we really know if we are healthy.

Fred,

I have to say I agreed with Michael for a while, and I know that I have been “over the top” at times when expressing my thoughts. However, I never miss a day of reading AVC, and your most recent posts; “Peak Oil”, and “Technology Trumps Government”, as well as “Thanks” the cartoon is hysterically true for most of us, and all three posts are absolutely great!
We (your readers) are also interested in the person and the motivation behind the keypad, and I once criticized you for name dropping (WOW, did you pretty much stop doing that)!
Here is something I would love to see: A widget at the top of the right side bar of your blog with the header, and first story on “Fred Wilson dot vc”, and then your Voki below it. This widget would update automatically as you posted to fredwilson.vc. That would be great exposure, allowing people to look at it, if they are interested read it, and learn what tumblr has to offer without you having to mention it periodicaly, but I don’t know if such integration is possible.

Don’t get me wrong, you know that the better you are to begin with, the more we expect of you, and that’s both true, and somewhat unfair!
Hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving!

Steve

Fred,

I like you a lot, but you have way too much time on your hands! Don't flaunt it so much, or if you want to, go out and make a Taco, hand it to a homeless Mexican, and tell him/her why they should support the most politicaly attached and influenced mayor since Rudy!
Fred, your stuff is good, but you are getting farther, and farther away from the person you used to be, and the one I started reading.
Latter old buzzard...
Ha! Just Kidding (about buzzard)!

To "Fakerichardbranson"
I looked at your site, and agree with Fred. Your the kind of jerk that makes space shuttle jokes. The sort I walk away from in bars. Won't get into a dialog on Freds blog, but you are, well, what was it Fred called you?

To "Not a Deadbeat". While Fred's remark may sting to some, please remember that those who have never been there don't know. From what I understand, Fred could pay cash for neurosurgery, if he needed it, and I certainly hope with all my heart that he never does.
I went from rags to riches, back to rags, and then made a comeback again in my 47 years on the planet. It took me 7 years to re-build my credit. It was hard work, but I still realize that even though some of the situation that got me in that place was out of my control, part of it surley was.
Don't be so hard on Fred. I'm sure he didn't mean it the way you took it. I didn't.

Fred,
I'm not wealthy. My net worth is probably one tenth, and probably somewhat less than that of yours, but please, give your daughter a contract plan. Teach her responsability, by giving her some!
You seem like such a great dad, but prepaid is so expensive Vs. a plan, and if you are the owner of the phone, you have ultimat control.
Why would you go with pre-paid?

I couldn’t agree more with Fred.

First of all, kids today, no matter where you live, are exposed to all sorts of things at a very young age. Attempting to put the lid down upon what they can see and hear, will only make them more likely to seek these things out, as they think they are “cool”, because of the taboo, and will rebel against their parents for forbidding them. On the other hand, a parent who teaches by example, and who is involved in their child’s life (explaining, working with, and being a regular, full time, although working parent), can expect, for the most part, a kid who knows the difference between what one hears and sees on TV, YT, at a concert, or anywhere else, and the real world they are expected to be a part of.

Please don’t underestimate our kids. They are smarter than you think, and I would just bet that Fred’s kids are all going to turn out just fine!

As a New Yorker, I can't wait for the High Line fest, and I can't believe it won't become an annual event, and a venue for others.
Isure hope so anyway!