Disqus - Latest Comments for sawickipedia

Re: Unhibernating For A While

todd sawicki — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:56:37 -0000

Welcome back! Hopefully you'll make it back to Seattle at some point!

Re: What the Loss of Reedy Creek Improvement District Potentially Means for DVC Owners - DVCNews.com - The essential Disney Vacation Club resource!

todd sawicki — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 15:41:20 -0000

That is something that is not as cut and dry apparently - if Disney decides to fight this then they are expected to sue to have the FL courts adjudicate this issue

Re: Top 10 Questions to Ask a VP of Marketing in an Interview

todd sawicki — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:33:51 -0000

@jasonlk - as someone who came up thru marketing and then eventually became a b2b s/w ceo - i would just clarify that this is specific to a b2b saas vpm. I often get asked for advice on hiring a vpm at statups and my biggest big of advice is know what role your hiring for - a marcom leader, a b2b lead gen, a brand manager if say b2c, etc. Your questions are fantastic for the saas b2b role but they wouldn't work for a b2c brand manager vpm role.

Re: Enjoy Every Day

todd sawicki — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 18:53:31 -0000

I frickin miss ted.

Re: Zemanta – From SeedCamp to Outbrain

todd sawicki — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 16:27:29 -0000

nope - it's a play on the word semantic (z's in slovenian are pronounced like s in english)

Re: Zemanta – From SeedCamp to Outbrain

todd sawicki — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 16:26:17 -0000

Thanks Fred! We couldn't have done it without you - let it be said - you were a mensch and a valuable advisor all along the way. Thank you for your support. Glad you were an investor.

Re: The role of Advanced Placement credits: Comparing Duke's policy under proposed curriculum with its peers

todd sawicki — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 01:37:57 -0000

As someone who used a combination of AP credits and extra classes/semester to help graduate in 3 years (Trinity '93) - I am a big believer in using AP credits to graduate early. Graduating early is one of those decisions that I still look back on, now over 20 years later, as absolutely the right thing to do. Given Duke's current astronomical costs - I think it would make sense for even more students today.

Re: Seattle

todd sawicki — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:25:44 -0000

As a Seattle resident & CEO of one of Fred's portfolio companies (tho not based in Seattle), I'll defend @fredwilson here a bit. From a deal flow, the data shows Seattle lags all the markets he suggests from a fundraising standpoint. At the same point there are some big outside Seattle firms who have done well here - Benchmark, Foundry, and even A16Z. From an exit standpoint, the data also shows an incredible rate of success (probably only 2nd to the Bay area). Never in any conversation with me did Fred ever say/hint at any disrespect for Seattle - trust me - Fred knows it's a great city for talent and startups.

Interestingly enough, USV has a lot of Seattle ties in its portfolio - Jeff Lawson, CEO - Twilio, Jason Tan, CEO - Sift Science, & Fred Sadaghiani, CTO - Sift Science, in addition to myself, all either came from Seattle or, like me, life there now. So let's focus on finding the right deal for USV and other non-Seattle VC's to invest in Seattle instead of worrying about some offhand comment that was never intended to be a slight.

And even better some of the best VCs in the world like Bill Gurley and Brad Feld - already are active in Seattle - heck I would argue that Brad has been one of the most active VCs in town over the last few years so Seattle doesn't have much to worry about IMO.

Re: Seattle

todd sawicki — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:11:15 -0000

@Sandi Lin - I've never felt a VC, especially a b2b vc, wasn't willing to do a deal in Seattle. Almost any serious firm is well aware of the many really great outcomes here with Zillow, Tableau, Zulily and many more with recent hugely successful exits. I've talked with many and Seattle was never a stumbling block. I think the bigger problem is at the angel/seed stages where being close to your deals is perceived to be more important. We struggle with early money, less with later money IMO.

Re: Seattle

todd sawicki — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:08:11 -0000

@bfeld I've been talking to @fredwilson and @gothamgal about visiting Seattle since I started working w/ Fred at Zemanta. Let's keep working on them!

Re: LiquidPlanner raises $2M to bolster online project management platform

todd sawicki — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 23:49:27 -0000

Congrats Liz and team - given the current fundraising environment - job well done!

Re: Debate: Venture capitalist and tech association leader spar over banning non-compete agreements

todd sawicki — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 14:38:09 -0000

I'm w/ @johnnyepp - Non-competes are awful. Given MSFT's use of non-competes to sue ex-employees - I'm not surprised by WTIA's stance.

Re: Mentors 10/18: Hold Information In Confidence

todd sawicki — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:49:41 -0000

Years ago I was working w/ Sony and asked if they wanted us to sign an NDA as most clients want you to do when they are sharing confidential information. Sony said no. They also said - if you screw us over, then don't worry. They continued - don't worry because your company won't be alive to benefit. They would have no problem killing us cold. Scorched earth and all. Moral of the story is: sharing confidential information will cost you - it will cost you big time. So don't. You don't need an NDA to tell you that.

Re: The Lonely Life of Ad Tech Vendors

todd sawicki — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 12:12:53 -0000

As someone who has been on the vendor side (whether as a publisher like Cheezburger or now a tech/network at Zemanta), I couldn't agree more with Caree. What is interesting is that as I've started to reach out and develop relationships with the clients directly, the clients agree. I think the most successful clients - folks like Paul Marcum at GE, Adam Kmiec at Campbells and many more - actively seek out vendors because they understand the agency bottlenecks. Even agencies execs like Jeff Lanctot, former head of media for Razorfish, understand that the problem is that agencies aren't paid to be strategic, they are paid to transact media dollars. So at least the problem is beginning to be discussed. Maybe - hopefully - that will lead to a solution.

Re: Your Words Should Match Your Actions

todd sawicki — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 16:40:30 -0000

RE: Radically Transparent - I'm nowhere near as transparent as @RandFish (but he's the pinacle so likely no one is), but @bfeld I can't imagine an entrepreneur not sharing how much cash is left w/ employees or being honest about the real state of the business with them as well. That's not radical anymore, that's the standard IMO. Perhaps I've learned the hard way, but sharing bad/hard news with your employees and investors is often the best way for all of them to help. Hiding/lying/misleading is a path to ruin in your business and your career.

Re: Elapsed Time: Why Video Discovery Startups All Fail

todd sawicki — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:23:10 -0000

https://goo.gl/THZdjd&ucowe

Re: Elapsed Time: Why Video Discovery Startups All Fail

todd sawicki — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:04:25 -0000

https://goo.gl/7yRsu7&umyw

Re: Ex-Microsoft exec lands $4.5M to help make life easier for product managers

todd sawicki — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:33:57 -0000

Awesome to see Rich Levandov make his 3rd Seattle investment (Cloudant, Cheezburger the other two). Another example of a non-Seattle VC who once they do their first deal here comes back for more similar to Brad Feld (Big Door, Cheezburger and SEOMoz).

Re: Zemanta Hires Todd Sawicki as President

todd sawicki — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:31:07 -0000

Tom don't you worry I will!

Re: Samsung’s predicament

todd sawicki — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:10:23 -0000

Yes you are right that with a fork you lose access to Google's apps (Play, GMail, GMaps, GVoice) as pre-installed apps. However Amazon has shown that your app store can cover the Google forks of Android (Google's are as propietary as any of them since the Android base is open source). As a result of Amazon's success and other side load stores like GetJar - Android developers expect to list their apps at multiple stores at this point based on those I know. Google Play isn't that critical to me though GMail and GMaps _might_ be for the moment (though long term I'll disagree).

Re: Samsung’s predicament

todd sawicki — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:04:25 -0000

Amazon shows that forking doesn't cost you apps as their fork supports android apps just fine. That's the beauty of Android forks - you control the OS implementation and get a built in app ecosystem. So forking seems like the obvious move for Samsung.

Re: Samsung’s predicament

todd sawicki — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:21:33 -0000

Surprised you are not thinking of what is the most obvious answer - Samsung creates their own Android fork ala Amazon (and Hauwei).

Re: Todd Sawicki departs Cheezburger, eyes next big thing

todd sawicki — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:29:59 -0000

Thanks everyone - I truly appreciate the well wishes. Now to figure a Next Big Thing!

Re: http://tumblr.sawickipedia.com/post/31812712621

todd sawicki — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:11:17 -0000

downloaded of course

Re: Foursquare’s Path

todd sawicki — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:40:34 -0000

I have yet to find that most of non-tech friends/acquaintances use anything other then Facebook. They don't find they need twitter or foursquare. They share intimate moments in Facebook, they share photos there, they don't both with much else.

And for the few normal folks who use twitter - it's generally as an RSS. Extroverts like you, Andy and others use Twitter for sharing, but we're inside the bubble of tech (celebs use twitter but they are extroverts).