Disqus - Latest Comments for tomhigley

Re: Simple, Complicated, and Complex Systems

tomhigley — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 16:05:32 -0000

This is so great to see. I've been focused on complex adaptive systems for the past 5 years. We started with wicked problems and soon realized that these problems clustered in complex adaptive systems. When you and I get together, we'll have a lot to talk about. Lots of reading, learning and new ways of thinking.

Re: Birth of An Entrepreneur

tomhigley — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 18:12:53 -0000

Stan, I'm sorry I missed sending you a "happy birthday" this year; so "Happy Birthday!" By giving birth to Brad and Daniel, and by investing in the future with them, you have given birth many times over to entrepreneurs throughout the United States and abroad. But it's more personal. I remain deeply grateful for what you, Brad and Daniel have given me. Thank you!

(I say this after talking just an hour ago with my own 90 year-old Dad.)

Re: Unintended Consequences of the Upcoming Drone Apocolypse

tomhigley — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 14:40:05 -0000

Thanks for this. The distinction between unintended and unforeseeable feels important here. While not all unintended consequences are foreseeable, many are. In a world where change and consequences are increasingly exponential, those unintended consequences that are both potentially catastrophic and irreversible (the bell that cannot be unrung) deserve more attention than they receive.

Re: The Secretly Lucrative World of Solo Piano Music

tomhigley — Sat, 03 Nov 2018 14:27:41 -0000

My sense is that you have underrepresented the size and scope of the changes in taste and technology that have given rise to the opportunity and perhaps also minimized the size of the opportunity itself – while ostensibly calling attention to it. Numerous Spotify artists in the solo piano category have millions of monthly followers – including Joey Beving, Dustin O’Halloran (who composes and performs as a solo pianist, but also has a growing filmscore catalog), and many more.

Re: Why Founder Market Fit is So Important

tomhigley — Thu, 25 May 2017 18:33:51 -0000

Over the past four years, I've been focused on this notion of founder-opportunity fit and the founder's due diligence process (a process that doesn't really exist for the most part). A search led me to your post, Alex. (I plan to link to this in a related article I am publishing later today on Medium.)

Nearly every significant change in entrepreneurship/venture investing over the past 10 years (YC, TechStars, Steve Blank, Eric Ries, etc.) has focused on what happens *after* a venture is created. I'll go out on a limb here and suggest this: the largest increases in value over the next 10 years – for both investors and entrepreneurs – will come from beginning to focus attention (and capital) on what happens long before new ventures are created. Your post – and Josh's Tweetstorm from April of last year – are great signposts along that new path.

Re: one: My First Art Show

tomhigley — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 03:15:39 -0000

I'm so sorry to have missed this. I love your photographs.

Nanette and I were talking about the notion of "art" and "artist" yesterday as we walked along Cherry Creek here in Denver. She's a weaver. She dyes the yarn. She then puts it on big floor looms.

You've touched on some elements of that conversation in this post – creating something that is unique and powerful and subtle, that has an impact on the viewer (or listener/audience).

We talked, too, about the notion of the artist and the role played by "craft" or technique. It's not that craft or technique doesn't matter. Often it does. And sometimes it matters a lot. But it's also true that sometimes craft/technique matters far less than people think.

Which brings me back to your perspective: an artist helps us see or hear or notice something we didn't see or hear or notice before. Even if what we now notice has always been there. Especially if what we now notice has always been there but hidden or invisible or just "unnoticed." Maybe a big part of being or becoming an artist is about getting people to pay attention. And maybe the biggest part of getting people to pay attention is about having something different to say. Or showing something familiar in a different way. Or maybe being or becoming an artist is mostly just about starting to pay attention yourself so that you start to see and hear what you couldn't or didn't see and hear before.

Separate note, Wyeth came to Denver this morning to visit. You introduced us years ago. One of my favorite people in the world. Thanks, again, for that intro.

Re: MOWO! vs HERB ALPERT

tomhigley — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 20:48:22 -0000

This happened nearly 10 years ago, but it's still amazing to me! Love what you did. Love that Herb himself played on this! Love what he played.

Re: one: Hiring Your First "Sales Guy"

tomhigley — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 08:55:26 -0000

Good post, Jud. Back in the dark ages, before Steve Blank had written Four Steps to the Epiphany, I fired many more VPs of Sales than I like to admit because I made exactly the mistakes you were keen to avoid. In almost every case the problems they encountered weren't their fault. The truth is, I was their problem. Too often, we hadn't yet figured out who the customer was or understood the real value proposition (much less developed a repeatable process).

Re: Two Root Causes of My Recent Depression

tomhigley — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 13:26:10 -0000

I have always been grateful for how open and transparent you are about many things. Not trivial things. Deep, important things. But I have most marveled at your ability to manage as your circle of influence and connections has grown. I don't know anyone who does this as extensively and as well as you. Both the 80/20 | 20/80 rule and the learning/teaching pieces of this resonate with me.

But the other thing this post calls to mind is something I noticed back in 2000. At the time, Raj and I had started Latis, and together we had raised $21 million, a significant Series A round. Within six to nine months, though, you could see things in the marketplace that were still unclear to me and to others. The bubble that some saw as *about* to burst already *had* burst, and you knew it.

I marveled at the scope of that visibility (out to the future's horizon), and I knew it had saved the company. It was also clear to me - even then - that you were far better connected than most of the investors and entrepreneurs I knew and that you were tapping sources of information that weren't readily available to others.

But now I wonder if that kind of prescience doesn't take its toll. Does it cause you to have to deal, over and over again, with people who are convinced they know what they're talking about but don't see the tsunami that is about to hit them? And these days, that prescience includes another dimension. Back then you were smart and were connected to many more smart people than most. But today, you also have the benefit of far more experience - your 10,000 hours times some multiplier - and that has to make the awareness gap even more difficult, like operating at Warp factor 9 when nearly everyone else is still constrained by the speed of light.

Thanks for the post.

Re: Startup Visa Act 2013 Introduced By Udall (D-Colo) and Flake (R-Ariz)

tomhigley — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:21:23 -0000

Brad, I'm glad to see this begin to get the traction it deserves. I know you have worked long and hard for this.

Re: Punk’s Not Dead

tomhigley — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 12:07:23 -0000

Truly awesome story. Love you, Ian, including what you've done and what you stand for. Some of that advice for Zoe is, of course, the perfect advice for you.

Re: Onto The Next Chapter…

tomhigley — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:24:23 -0000

Keep me posted, Matt. Can't wait to hear what you plan to do next.

Re: http://www.tweetdeck.com/twitter/nglaros/~L6UPa

tomhigley — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:20:37 -0000

Translation? Please.

Re: http://www.tweetdeck.com/twitter/nglaros/~L6UPa

tomhigley — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:20:24 -0000

Airplane (The Movie): "I speak jive." (Beaver Cleaver's mother, June Cleaver.)

Re: How We Create

tomhigley — Sat, 21 May 2011 16:38:20 -0000

These influences often help us to hear something we hadn't heard (or couldn't hear) before, or to see something new, or to think about something in a different way. Even as the artist, entrepreneur, writer or composer matures and develops greater individuality, those seminal influences often continue as touchstones that characterize the creator. Bach informs Mozart. Painters and sculptors influence Frank Ghery. B.B. King and Budy Guy become sources of inspiration for Eric Clapton. Stephen Stills generates an epiphany for Ray LaMontagne. And an early encounter with typography changes the way Steve Jobs thinks about design. Once the transformation occurs, the influences don't disappear, they become a fundamental part of the creator's way of hearing, seeing, thinking and doing, and in the process they become fused with and transformed by the creator's own genius and vision.

Re: VCs see tough and exciting landscape for game startups

tomhigley — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:04:09 -0000

For the foreseeable future there will be ample VC capital for game startups that are focused on creating great game companies. While the mindset and culture of game developers / game studios and that of tech startups has not historically been aligned, radical change is already upon us, and the opportunities in this space - for both innovation and financial reward - are enormous.

Re: NSFW: Yep, Montblanc Killed my MacBook Pro Today

tomhigley — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:58:35 -0000

I can't believe you didn't mention Montblanc's proprietary killer feature. C'mon. You can't possibly do a credible job of comparing your Montblanc and your MacBook Pro without calling attention to the Montblanc's "precious resin."

Re: http://dpstyles.tumblr.com/post/1406298558

tomhigley — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:34:50 -0000

As an entrepreneur, I have so often waned this to be true. But it isn't. A problem well stated is just that and no more. Or perhaps, it's analogous to an idea (vs the execution required to realize that idea as a product or a company).

Re: http://fascinated.fm/post/1161643099

tomhigley — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:54:06 -0000

Nah. Look at the sticker/barcode. The decimal is in the wrong place. If it were @50cent's, the decimal would be AFTER the two zeros.

Re: GDC 2010 - Amitt's Space

tomhigley — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:39:51 -0000

The presentation you gave was exceptional. Quite.

Re: Law Degree for Sale

tomhigley — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:29:36 -0000

Bitter? Nah.

Re: Are We Already Working For The Computers?

tomhigley — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:17:51 -0000

I hope to see some new book (fiction, non-fiction and science-fiction) and film explorations of this before long.

Re: Where Do My Music Rights Start and Stop?

tomhigley — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:28:05 -0000

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I found it interesting that your response to Fred's post was so similar to mine. Where you created a Pandora variation, I chose Spotify. I took Fred's top 10 records of the year (from a few days ago) and created a Fred Wilson Top Recordings of 2009 Spotify playlist. It was sooo easy. I just searched for each recording and dumped the entire contents into the playlist. And just as your note to Fred (with the Pandora link) ran into licensing issues, Spotify has been struggling for months (years, actually) to reach acceptable licensing terms here in the US with the major labels.

I've been using the service since Daniel Ek first showed it to me two and a half years ago. (It has completely changed the way I connect with recorded music.) Even then, Spotify already had a working iPhone version of the app, but this has never been available in the US (without a proxy hack). And the one thing that keeps this experience out of the hands of US consumers? Licensing issues.

The music industry as we know it was built on the back of copyright and recording and manufacturing technologies. The licensing issues we wrestle with today grew up over decades and created powerful prevailing norms (and interests) that have become immensely frustrating to most consumers because (a) most consumers know full well that technology would support a far superior music listening experience and far more liberal access to content, and (b) most consumers know full well that the resistance to these technologies and capabilities has been (and continues to be) managed by people who act as though the old way of doing things (Albums, CDs, physical distribution, etc.) is the norm. Indeed it was. But that norm is never coming back. Not ever. But that doesn't keep the "rights holders" from blocking the dissemination of technology that would make our music world a much richer, more satisfying place.

And I think Samantha's distinction - between rights holder and rights enforcer (e.g., the PROs and other rights organizations) is interesting. PROs act on behalf of the rights holders, and the legal provisions and systems they enforce (that create obstacles for Pandora and many, many others) are really just the codified notions of "fairness" created during a time when a "record" was wax or vinyl, the copyrights were easier to police and enforce (because you could keep someone from making the record, and if they couldn't make it or manufacture it, they couldn't very well distribute it), and digital distribution was a figment of some sci fi author's imagination.

I loved your description of the machine / human / machine / human interplay; and I hope the answer to "who decides" doesn't turn out to be "the machine." On a related note, I wish we could see the interplay between Asimov and Ray Kurzweil. And I always secretly suspected Azimov himself was part machine, or at the very least lobotomized - so he could type separate books and magazine articles simultaneously with each hand.

Re: Why is Faster Better?

tomhigley — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:49:47 -0000

Years ago, when I was doing one of my first startups, I had a phone conversation with an older friend and angel investor in one of my companies. This is the guy who wrote the check that made him my first angel investor. At the time, tech was on a tear. Internet companies were springing up everywhere. I was traveling constantly. I was using every new electronic device and toy, each new app I could find to reduce the time it took me to do X, where X pretty much stands for anything I had to do or accomplish. It felt like I was moving faster (and seeing a little bit farther) than almost anyone I knew. Back to my friend, the angel investor. In this particular conversation, it felt to me like he was speaking in slow motion. I was four steps ahead of each word he spoke. I waited a week for each sentence. And suddenly, I heard myself speaking to him impatiently, without the respect an appreciation he deserved.

Yesterday, I was listening to the audio of a YouTube video as I drove to the airport. A police cruiser, flashing its red and blue lights, pulled me over. The officer who came to the window pointed out that my entire driving record was visible. And every entry said "speed." He gave me a warning and asked me when I was going to deal with "the problem."

These things are connected. Faster isn't better or worse. Newer isn't better or worse. But faster and newer can exert such a powerful influence over how we think, act, speak, etc., that we often embrace them as intrinsically superior to slower and older. It's almost always a good thing to stop, from time-to-time, and reassess the underlying drivers of our thoughts and behavior.

Re: Listening to Coaches

tomhigley — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:26:09 -0000

Great post, Andrew. I love how you talk about learning - from coaches, from your environment, from your current situation.

We went to Byron Bay in Australia several years ago because that was the place in Australia that Niel said we should visit. I think we've been back three times.