by Diane Tate

G+ Deja Vu All Over Again?

A quick Google search on “Pinterest growth” emits the latest Silicon Valley effervescence (yeah, recommended Googling that too ;). It’s true that rarely a day passes when I am not notified of at least 2 or 3 new “followers” on the service. And for some reason, I feel compelled to “follow back” out of courtesy. At least, I used to. Now the follows come so furiously that I’ve lost track.

Which feels like Google+ Deja Vu All Over Again. After the whackamole frenzy of adding G+ Followers my own Circles, I also soon stopped, exhausted and scratching my head at why it was even meaningful.  But Google was quick to assure the world that in its first month, it attained 40 million users.

Um, and…what is usage? Turns out this can constitute simply clicking +1 at the end of any story. Because this feeds back to your Google+ page, this means you are a Google+ “user.” At least, to Google+ and the blogging that perpetuates these frothy myths. Continue reading →

by Diane Tate

If it’s been said already…

…it may still merit saying!

So much has been said about doing email introductions properly … and so much of it feels like common sense. So the only amazing thing is that people continue to do it so badly. And perhaps one of the worst parts of this phenomena is that the people making the poorly-formed requests tend to blame the person asked for not responding, when the responsibility really falls on them to make the entire process effective.

How can we eliminate this ill will and save lots of people time? It’s hard to top these posts by the prolific VC, Mark Suster…so I’ll just underscore some of these points with my own twist in the hopes that this in some small way reduces some frustration and wasted time for all in the future.

(1) Make it Forwardable: This is my ongoing mantra and listed as Suster’s #4 here. I’ve lost count of how many long email threads I have with friends or contacts sussing out how well I know someone, how I suggest reaching out to them, etc, only to end in, “Thanks!” The expectation is then for me to package up all the thinking (and whatever attachments) were embedded in the previous emails to create a version that is digestable by the prospective intro. Making me realize my friend etc. is absolutely clueless or zero in the empathic category. Continue reading →

by Diane Tate

It’s like a Mach piece, really.

It’s hard to disagree that This is Spinal Tap is one of the best comedies made (but if you do disagree, I will be too flabbergasted to even argue with you).

What I wonder is, just how many rock ‘n roll bands Rob Reiner observed before being inspired to write this opus? So much of this film’s beauty is how insanely well it identifies common themes among rock bands…. truly making this phenomenon stranger than fiction [a small sampling; (1) the ridiculous lyrics; (2) the frustrated manager; (3) the absurd outfits; (4) the divisive spouse].

I propose that we are at that point with technology entrepreneurs. This month alone has featured a preponderance of stories on two well-known Silicon Valley founders and it’s easy to see some common themes emerge…: a genius since childhood….a few failed projects early in the career….an insane dedication to the endeavor….an incredible vision. When I read the latest in today’s New York Times, featuring a photo of the entrepreneur as a 5 year-old, I had two thoughts: (1) Why in the world do I care what this person did at age 5?; and (2) This proves it: the time has come to create a Spinal Tap for Geeks.

I’m not sure we can ever match the brilliance from 1984’s epic piece but….kind of curious what Rob would think….

And, if you don’t know what this headline means….