Posts I like

Here’s a somewhat random assortment of posts that I like – updated June 19, 2013.

Investing and growing companies

Investing on the dotUsing Syft as a case study of when to invest.

Investing with appropriate speed – Balancing decision and execution speed with the amount.

Blame directors for failure, CEOs for success – and make sure you have good directors

The Baupost story – An amazing investment track record

Are you an angel? Probably not – Unless you invest frequently quickly and offer good advice.

Dissecting the close-down of MiniMonos – and their next steps. I’m just glad founder Melissa Clark-Reynolds agreed with this outside in assessment.

IPOing in NZ – notes from the (first) NZX and Xero presentation – A masterclass

Don’t do big deals – McKinsey research

Trade Me has added at least $3 billion to the NZ economy – At least.

 Xero’s second round  – deserved praise 

 

Starting up your own business

Set up an email account in your own name – A good place to start. Really.

Five ways to increase your free time – and then you can start a business.

So you’ve got a good idea – now what? – How to start a business – or not

Making sure you make money from your business – Notes from a BarCamp session that I facilitated

Why living in NZ sucks – and how you can profit – Take advantage of our remoteness and start a business here.

Idiot taxes mean business opportunity – Don’t buy cables at Dick Smith – why not sell them yourself?

 

Focus on the end users, the products

A series of posts from Better By Design events.

Top lessons from Steve Jobs’ biography – It’s the products

Buyers and Sellers guide to Web Design and Development firms – Resonated with a lot of clients and firms.

Selling your house – the third way – with 200 Square

Much ado about strawberry jam – Focus on end users please Air New Zealand. A follow-on from a 2009 post about lousy cookies.

How to win back customersin 4 not so easy steps that Air New Zealand did well.

Air New Zealand is the best – here are some reasons why.

Well done Green cabs – now how about that website – Robust discussion on Green Cabs,  CEO responds

Bank homepages in New Zealand – We’ve seen some improvements since, and a massive shift to mobile.

Apple is clueless about international people – I’m an Apple fan, but they are not there yet

Xero cops the flak, but is doing things well – And oh how well investors have done since.

Ten tips for better (business to business) pitching – land more business at higher prices

Integrity – what to do when your academic paper is challenged – My experience with Yale’s Prof. Paul MacAvoy was wildly different from the Reinhart/Rogoff debacle. 

 

Technology trends

The resolution war is coming – That’s video resolution

Meeting the high resolution challenge – An earlier take

Plotting Apple’s next steps – Giant screens, retina displays and so on.

The media is no longer the message – Who do you trust to get your news from?

Notes on the iPad – First thoughts on the USA release day – I happened to be there. 

NBR’s Barry Colman replies – defending paywalls after this earlier post on NBR’s traffic performance. A good conversation.

 

Living in NZ

Let’s make New Zealand the 1 percent. This went off the charts with international traffic

Lessons from Webstock: We’ve come a long way, now let’s move on up – Go NZ

10 ways to stop the cyclist killings – It’s madness.

Time to fix the jury service – 10 ideas as to how.

2 shots were fired – Self restraint from our Police makes NZ a wonderful place to live

Should I stay or should I go? – Shopping around for places to live

Let’s stop MPs drinking and lawmaking – Seriously

10 alternative suggestions – made in response to the Labour/Greens proposal to restructure the electricity market made during the Mighty River Power pre-IPO period.  

Can we replace the Tiwai smelter with a data center? – No.

West Australia recollections for comparison purposes

Photo Op – with Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Heubner

 

Companies operating online

How to twitter if you are a corporation – this positive post attracted 16 comments

How not to twitter if you are a corporation – while this, negative post, attracted 43 comments.

How to manage your company’s online reputation – Mainly about blogging as it predates the twitter takeoff

What makes for a good newsletter? – Webb Henderson performs well

Trade Me trounces eBay, and eBay is in real trouble – Trade Me leads the way

 

Motorcycling

Failingpictures from an ignite talk, mainly of motorcycles on their side.

Getting the KTM 950 ready for Safari – Big tanks, lots of orange – Australian desert bound

Want to motorcycle the world? It’s easy – Just get on the bike and ride

Extreme sport and adventure motorcycling – The biking isn’t that hard

Rapid tour of NZ – 2009 – over New Year with a US friend

Brass Monkey 2012 – the Captain’s last one

Brass Monkey 2011 – the big wet – it was wet

Brass Monkey 2010 – snow time and before the snow

Brass Monkey 2009 – a photolog – It didn’t even snow <– prescient

Brass Monkey 2007 – Early days for me

Aussie bush excursion – sand and trees

Never buy the warranty – fix it yourself – Complete with motorcycling pictures from Pakistan.

The road near Alice, Not Ayers rock, and the great sandpit – from Aussie.