Disqus - Latest Comments for steveray

Re: PredictIt | What will be the Electoral College margin in the 2020 presidential election?

steveray — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 14:34:20 -0000

Biden's odds on 538 for winning in a landslide are 36 in 100. Over a quarter of the maps in their probability weighted distribution are D +280. Texas is 31 in 100 D. All of this speaks to D+280 being priced about half what it is truly worth.

Re: PredictIt | What will be the Electoral College margin in the 2020 presidential election?

steveray — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 17:56:52 -0000

Biden just needs to win TX for D+280 to happen. It's a 1 in 3 chance that happens. You can get 6 to 1 on this site.

Re: Thanks, Piers Morgan, for Teaching Us What Empowers Us, Personally, As Women

steveray — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 15:49:55 -0000

Piers is an idiot. This post would be more retweetable if it didn't have a sponsored link to "17 Hot Celebrities With The Biggest Melons in Hollywood" at the bottom.

Re: The Early History Of The Streaming Media Industry and The Battle Between Microsoft & Real

steveray — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 11:56:55 -0000

Excellent recap. I worked closely with Windows Media in 2001-2007 while at MusicMatch and Yahoo! Music and it was evident at that time that Microsoft was playing the wrong game, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. Microsoft was saddling content companies with ridiculously convoluted DRM protocols that made the delivery of today's generation of streaming music and video services (ie Pandora, Spotify, YouTube) impossible. As often happens big technology companies stumble when trying to understand the media business.

Re: Watch Beyonce's Surprise New Video 'Formation'

steveray — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 13:23:35 -0000

It's Beyonce's world and we are all just living in it.

Re: Vanishing Mediary

steveray — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:05:47 -0000

Thanks so much for writing this. I sold the company I founded and helmed last year, and have stayed aboard for a successful transition. Being the "former CEO" in merged organization is one of the most ego-challenging things I can imagine going through! Empowering my team to assume leadership roles in my stead while offering feedback to my new bosses when asked, and not getting bent out of shape when I'm not asked.

Done successfully, you become completely and utterly useless! (Quietly negotiating my early departure - as a corollary, never agree to a 2 year transition!)

Re: El Chapo Sends Death Threats to Donald Trump, Calling Him A “Whitey Milksh*tter”

steveray — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 17:05:50 -0000

Not happy at all, he and Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal are the best!!

Re: The Complicated State of L.A. Restaurant Culture

steveray — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 19:10:42 -0000

I hope Bucato survives/thrives and Mr. Funke lands on his feet. The restaurant has a great vision and creativity. Gratifying to see that both sides are resisting any mud throwing.

Re: Elapsed Time: Why Video Discovery Startups All Fail

steveray — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 18:41:26 -0000

You are still right, but the game is changing. In the time since you have written this some killer brands have emerged, both individuals and media company owned, and some really well-funded platforms are coming after YouTube's pie. The lesson they seem to have learned is that new entrants need to take more risk in order to have a chance, locking down IP and content creators, spending big $$ on marketing, focusing on specific demographics, etc. Its not a lean-startup type of endeavor at all.

Re: James Blunt: "My Record Label Told Me to Stop Tweeting"

steveray — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 12:05:32 -0000

Social media has allowed artists to bypass "executives" and create a direct relationship with their fans. The reality is it doesn't matter what the executives think, the balance of power has shifted into the artists' favor. Engaging with trolls on the internet is generally a bad idea for the same reason it is a bad idea in real life - you spend a lot of energy for very little return. Blunt seems to be having fun with it, good for him.

Re: This new bike bottle fills itself with water

steveray — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 16:57:57 -0000

great idea - won't work here in California I'm guessing because of the low humidity. You should list its generating capacity as a rate for the article to be useful. ie 17 oz/hr.

Re: Zach Galifianakis Says Everything You Want to Say to Justin Bieber Right to His Face

steveray — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:33:15 -0000

I can't tell whether Bieber was in on the joke or not. If I had a gun to my head I would need to flip a coin. Baffling.

Re: - Thisisgoingtobebig.com - Not All Startup and Venture Experience is Equal #getoffmylawn

steveray — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:14:27 -0000

totally agree. You are right, but the root cause IMO is way way too much
startup-culture navel gazing. If you've been to one "how to raise VC"
panel you've been to them all. 95% of the people who are sitting in the
audiences are never going to start a company anyway, so who cares what
kind of rot the panel is blathering on about. I generally don't attend
events that aren't very well curated (usually invite only) which means about 4
per year, and very few fluff panels.

Re: How to Make Chef Ludo’s Favorite Omelette

steveray — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:45:04 -0000

seems like he is using very low heat, would love to see a video of this.

Re: Republicans’ New Black Friend Is Either A Stock Photo Or Is Having A Very Interesting Day

steveray — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 19:43:36 -0000

how many sterotypes can you shove into one sentence? READY GO!! So meta.

Re: Sorry We Broke Your Game

steveray — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 12:22:35 -0000

This really sucks, we'd have better functionality with a Facebook Group and a Google doc. Unacceptable that you can't see your team's reflections all in one place. Apologies are fine, but your development process is shoddy by definition and you should consider a partial refund.

Re: Famebit Produced Over 1000 Videos, Paid Out Over $250K to Youtubers in July

steveray — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 15:52:10 -0000

250k for 1000 videos is $250/video, not $315.

Re: Goodbye Party Round, Hello Piggy Round: Should Seed Stage Founders Raise From Just a Single Investor?

steveray — Mon, 19 May 2014 18:09:02 -0000

Having raised a "party round" in 2012 and barely come out alive, the thing I like about having a single lead investor is that they are more pot committed and might stick with you when the going inevitably gets rough becaue the investment is harder to write off. I would absolutely make sure that they understood that investing early meant they may need to settle for an early single or double exit if the market didn't develop for a 10X return. Also make sure you get a board that will help balance out the founders' interests, and for sure make them pay a price premium for your loss of optionality.

Re: ‘Godzilla’ Screenwriter Explains Why There’s So Little Godzilla in ‘Godzilla’

steveray — Wed, 14 May 2014 17:06:19 -0000

In Alien the Alien doesn't really come into the movie until the final act. Lots of valid examples.

Re: The people of SXSW

steveray — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:01:30 -0000

in 2002 there was no hardcore tech at SXSW, just movies and music

Re: Please Sign In Blue Ink

steveray — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 14:12:57 -0000

Great post, this has been bothering me lately, we are in a complete free for all state. I try to sign everything in Adobe/Echosign (which can be authenticated to a LinkedIn account etc.) to maintain an archive of signed docs. So easy. Pen and ink signing is such a waste of time! Keep using green!

Re: Maker’s Schedule vs. Manager’s Schedule is a Crock, Just Manage Your Schedule

steveray — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 16:37:33 -0000

thanks for such a great comment on an old post. Your insight is correct, I do enjoy the social aspect of work and I guess I'm pretty good at it. Now that I run a company I have actually had to get used to the fact that I can sign up for even fewer personal deliverables because my schedule is full of meetings and is very fluid.

I fully appreciate the fact that there are those for whom the work bench itself is where the satisfaction comes from - I have a few of those types in my company now, and it will help to maintain an understanding of their different needs etc.

Re: Stephon Tuitt Was Ejected For Targeting On Pitt QB Tom Savage

steveray — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 00:31:34 -0000

Football would be amazing if tackling with your shoulder was a penalty.

Re: Stephon Tuitt Was Ejected For Targeting On Pitt QB Tom Savage

steveray — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 22:12:17 -0000

That thing that connects your arm to your torso is called a shoulder, not a crown of your helmet.

Re: House Conservatives Revolt

steveray — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 14:27:57 -0000

no the party needs to go further right and become less and less relevant. This all ends with the GOP splintering and a center-left coalition putting the country back on track. Let's get there faster.