Chris Sacca's 'What is left?'

Thank You, Auctomatic

Today, my portfolio company Auctomatic announced their sale to Canadian acquirer Live Current Media. There are so many things I could type after working with the founders this past year, countless lessons learned. However, typing from the back of a cab in Los Angeles on an EV-DO connection, I figure I have sufficient battery for just one real message -- thank you.

Thanks to Kulveer and Harjeet Taggar for being the most prototypical examples of entrepreneurial hunger I have seen. When I met these guys during my annual visits to Oxford, they couldn't write a line of code. Never did they seem to let that dim their prospects of being web startup guys. Instead, they just bubbled with an enviable energy and drive and never hesitated to do whatever it took. They are wicked sharp yet instinctively recognize and humbly learn from mistakes without slowing a step. They and their other founders lived in the same room from which they coded. Sleep was rare and there was certainly nothing sexy about their startup existence, but their belief in their mission was unwavering.

Thanks to co-founder Patrick Collison, and his brother John, for making the accomplishments of my youth seem downright inane by comparison. These guys, 19 and 17 respectively, write new operating systems in their spare time and were the jockeys behind the guts of what makes Auctomatic special. I loved that I couldn't take the Auctomatics to a bar for a company meeting. I also admire that despite being off-scale geniuses, both of the Collisons were such likable guys with great attitudes and balanced lives.

Thanks to Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston over at YCombinator for taking a chance on the Taggars. Never before had YC admitted non-coders. But Paul and Jessica struck a deal agreeing to let these two guys participate in YC if they committed to learn to hack. I think both sides were pleased with the outcome. More importantly though, Paul and Jessica are the most effective startup coaches and investors in the world right now. Their religion of focusing relentlessly on user experiences and staying lean and engineering-driven are helping change the face of the entire startup realm in the Valley and the Auctomatics benefited immeasurably.

Thanks to those along the way who gave a helping hand to these guys. I am grateful to people like Evan Williams who gave this ragtag group a place from which to work until they found an apartment and helped them chew on some of their biggest decisions. Paul Buchheit was incredibly helpful when it came to scaling their infrastructure, going so far as to buy servers for them without any formal arrangements in place. The team at Live Current Media, including Geoff Hampson, Jonathan Ehrlich, and Mark Melville,  really understands the Auctomatic vision and clearly can see what these guys are capable of accomplishing. That makes me happy. I am even thankful for the other companies that spent time with the us looking to acquire Auctomatic. Though we obviously didn't get a deal done with these other folks, it was great to be reminded of how small Silicon Valley really is and what a pleasure it is to do business here compared to other more mercenary markets.

Above all else, thanks to everyone involved for giving me the opportunity to rediscover that my true passion is for working with startups. When I left Google, many publicly and privately told me I was crazy to do so, and I certainly left some money on the table there. Yet, working with companies like Auctomatic, I find I wake up with so much vigor, thrilled by the prospects of what challenges the day has in store. It is hard to ask for much more out of a career than that. So, one more time, on my last shred of battery power, thanks.

Not So Clear For Me

My friend Brad Feld recently posted a ringing endorsement for Clear, a company contracting with the TSA and individual airports to offer accelerated passage through security check lines. Essentially, for $100 a year(after a pre-screening that costs an additional $28), the Clear program employees escort participating travelers to the front of the security line. As I still find myself flying once or twice a week, I can sympathize with Brad's assessment that paying a mere $100 to skip the line maze is worth it considering the value of the aggregate time saved.

If the hundred bucks were all I was conferring to Clear in exchange for this privilege, I would not hesitate to sign up. Yet, after learning more about the program, I became concerned. You see, to qualify for Clear, a candidate needs to first provide some biographical data including a social security number, home addresses for the past five years, and a current credit card. If accepted, then this potential new customer needs to pay an in-person visit to a Clear station in which they 1) provide two forms of government-issued identification, 2) have their picture taken, 3) produce fingerprints, and then 4) submit to an iris scan.

Wow. If we join, remind me what we get in return for providing all of that data? Do we get to skip the metal detectors and xray machines? Do I no longer have to take my laptop out of the bag? Hopefully, I can now bring on fluids of normal size?

Nope. A Clear membership just entitles you to move to the front of the herd that is waiting to be moved through the futile theater that is our current security screening program. All Clear participants are still required be screened as thoroughly as any other passenger. Clear solely moves you to the head of the line.

So, why could Clear and, presumably, TSA want all of this background information? What bearing could any of this history or biometric data possibly have on whether I am fit to stand at the front of the line for the security check?

Reading the fine print of Clear's privacy policies, I learned that the social security number is not actually required and the credit card is just used for their billing purposes and neither are shared with TSA. I particularly enjoy what great lengths to which they go to explain how they protect such information when, in the next section, they discuss the process by which they ship everything else directly to TSA to let the sanctioned invasion begin:

"The TSA makes the necessary security threat assessment that will determine if the applicant is cleared for membership in the program. TSA makes this Threat Assessment using a variety of terrorist  threat-related databases. TSA does not transmit to Clear or to the airport any information about the applicant or any reasons for its decisions.  [Clear's emphasis] TSA tells us only that the applicant, having gone through the TSA threat assessment process, has received either an "Approved Security Threat Assessment" or has received a "Not Approved Security Threat Assessment."

Thus, if I am determined to be a national security threat, the way I am dealt with is by denying me a Clear card and thereby forcing me to spend more time in line? Not so fast. It seems I would first get a chance to appeal the unbearable consequences of being forced to wait in line:

"The TSA's policy is that it will establish an adjudication process for those who are denied enrollment and wish to question that decision. However, the nature and effectiveness of that process is beyond Clear's control."

I do have to hand it to Clear in that last sentence. They certainly seem to illustrate a solid understanding of the agency and political administration with whom they are dealing.

All told, I just don't see the risk/reward playing out in favor of joining Clear. Though I am certain there is already some dissident file on me within the government bowels, I am not exactly racing to ensure its completeness by paying for the privilege of voluntarily populating their databases with my biometric data. Instead, I would much rather the government stick to its time-tested techniques of otherwise taking it all by deceptive means or forcibly compelling its production. 

In the meantime, I will tip my hat to Clear's founder, Stephen Brill, the founder of that venerable American institution CourtTV, and the 85,000 brave, patriotic souls who have elected to participate in this noble program because, as we know, if we wait in line, we have let the terrorists win.

 

Will Ads and Short-term Gratification Save Us?

The TED Conference officially kicks off today in Monterey and already this small town is abuzz with the good intentions and lofty goals of the actively curious and benevolent who find their way here each year.  There is a palpable energy, with ambitious and inspired social entrepreneurs preaching their messages and appealing for support and collaboration.

Last night, at a pre-party thrown by Google (thanks for the invite!) I was treated to a host of intriguing conversations aimed at addressing social problems including personal health, disease, fossil-fuel addiction, drug discovery and the like. One after another, TEDsters shared staggering insights from their work and research and were now hoping to start projects to get this information more widely disseminated to the masses so we can all start taking care of ourselves and our planet and living better.

Despite the laudable aims of these efforts, I have a major concern and it has taken me a while to admit it: I don't think we, as humans and citizens, have been trained to be good decision-makers. In fact, any instincts we did have to make good choices have been systematically neutered. In an advertising-driven realm, we have consistently been programmed to allocate our thoughts, resources, and energy to satisfy perversely short-term cravings, invariably at the expense of longer term benefit and this behavior has been rewarded by the delights of instant gratification and pleasure-associative feedback.

The result is that, despite the recent deluge of science showing us the concrete path of enlightenment for ourselves and our planet, and notwithstanding our conscious intellectual embrace of such ideas, we continually fail to make good decisions.

We know a fascinating amount about the impacts of carbon, but we still drive SUVs. We have at our disposal rich troves of information demonstrating irrefutably the damage inflicted by smoking, drinking, eating poorly, and yet, we are gluttonous. In these realms of convenient consumption we are veteran Pavlovian instruments obediently perpetuating our conditioning. Our foundations for informed, analytical decisions have been consistently undermined by targeted sensory engagement and sensationalized rewards that tunnel into our primal instinctive brain layers and get cozy. Any attempts to supplant this automation by informing us as to the global implications of climate crisis or obesity seem impersonal, distant, abstract, and ethereal.

Can this be overridden? Can we overcome decades of indoctrination in the principles of indulgence? I am pessimistic. Our exposure to marketing and advertising continue to increase and there is no reason to think that this torrent of manufactured messages will ever abate. Moreover, the science used to craft and deliver such missives is so finely honed as to deliver them almost hypodermically to our minds. So, what to do? I am starting to believe we should abandon our futile appeals to logic and reasoned decision-making, and instead pursue two parallel approaches.

1) Create new neural pathways that bypass conscious thought. In the Summer of 2006, I posted a picture to my blog illustrating how much oil it took to transport a bottle of water to California and displaying that quantity within the bottle itself. Friends of mine who were all previously well-versed in the perils of bottled water consumption, nevertheless had a wonderfully identical reaction even weeks and months after seeing that picture - every time they put their lips to a bottle of imported water they smelled gasoline! They were on the verge of ingesting perfectly clean water, but that one image seared the association of bottled water and petroleum deep into their brains and their senses responded with visceral rejection.

I am deeply interested in how this might scale across other issues and cultures and what could happen if we used the same skills and techniques that the most effective advertisers utilize but for benevolent and social ends. We have seen interesting experiments whereby talented folks have started campaigns like the anti-smoking Truth messaging. However, despite design aesthetics and theater worthy of praise, these attempts fall short of truly shocking our brains into reflexive action.

2) Create short-term incentives to make good long-term decisions. As you might have noticed, I don't blame each of us for being bad decision-makers. I am not sure it is completely our fault considering the daily regimen of advertising to which we have been relentlessly exposed since childhood. Whatever the cause, despite living in such a narcissistic age, we are notoriously poor at doing what is best for us. In that case, I think it is helpful to consider others who might hold stakes in the outcomes of our decisions and see if they might help.

For example, consider our personal health. As a nation, we have continually shown we are incapable of making good choices for ourselves concerning diet, smoking, and exercise. Who else should care though? Our health insurance companies? I recently spoke at a dinner of healthcare CEOs and learned that the average tenure of a patient with any one particular insurer is just 18 months! Thus, our insurers do not consider themselves as having vested interests in our robust longevity and don't invest in the preventative care that would be indicative of good decision-making.

At the same time, employers are starting to realize that poor personal health practices by employees are having deleterious effects on productivity, efficiency,  and health care costs all at levels that are material to the bottom line. Realizing the scale at which these issues are effecting their companies, some employers have underwritten creative schemes that bait their employees into making better decisions in the short-term by appealing to the same senses of recognition and gratification that pattern our obsessively consumer lifestyles. Virgin HealthMiles is one such project where companies hire Virgin to create tiered incentive structures so that employees who actively wear pedometers and meet certain walking goals can earn cash and prizes. Client companies see absenteeism improve, health care costs drop, and productivity increase. Yet, the underlying participants are merely hoping to win a few bucks. It is no accident that the CEO of Virgin HealthMiles is Chris Boyce, co-founder of Upromise, a pioneer in the world of using self-interest and consumer behavior to establish the largest private funding source for college in the U.S.

In the weeks that come, I will lay out more of my thoughts in this space including more examples in which I see these tradeoffs being made. For now, as I consider each of the new projects I am being pitched here at TED, I can't help but pause to consider the interests and motivations of individual users and why they would feel compelled to contribute or participate.

In the interim, I have run these ideas by friends and colleagues and they seem to resonate but I am curious to hear what you think. Will appealing to short-term self interest save us all? Are we just stooping to the level of predatory marketers? Is there an alternative path?

If it's easy, and it works, high usage shouldn't be a surprise

With interest, I read recent accounts of Google's new mobile leader, former MSFT exec Vic Gundotra, exclaiming his shock that iPhone users sent fifty times the number of queries to Google than other mobile device users. "We thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs again,” he relayed to the Financial Times.

Yet, when I discussed this theme with former colleagues at Google and others, no one else seemed as moved or surprised as Gundotra, nor did they think it was the result of anything new the Google mobile team had done. Instead, I hypothesize, there are two reasons for the high query numbers:

a) iPhone hardcoded Google queries right into the navigational chrome of their mobile browser. When using iPhone's browser, you have two navigational options. You can either enter a URL or directly search Google. Because the iPhone spellchecker does not autocorrect entries when entering 'Net addresses, it is often easier just to enter a query and navigate by the results. The traditional process of using Google on a mobile device used to be

1) launch mobile browser and wait for carrier homepage to load
2) direct browser to google.com (or m.google.com or the like) and wait for page to load
3) enter query

iPhone's configuration reduces this to one step

1) enter query (browser is already on and queries will be directed automatically to Google)

Mitigating all of that user effort and creating a concrete funnel for queries would very predictably increase total search volume, and hats off to whomever on the Google partner team secured this placement. However, I think the more important aspect is the second half of this equation, the browser itself.

b) iPhone users have access to a full Internet browser allowing users to surf anywhere, even if slowly. Having higher confidence that search results pages will be accessible and readable has dramatically inclined users toward querying in the first place. In the same way that Flash finally made users feel comfortable clicking on video links, iPhone users feel increasingly sure that the page resulting from their search will be worthwhile, despite the relatively slow network connectivity.

I am no Apple fanboy and I will not heap unqualified praise on the otherwise closed device Jobs and AT&T launched. Forbidding the download and installation of third party applications is something against which I have rallied consumers and lawmakers. However, I will give credit where credit is due.

Until this year, American consumers have known their mobile devices almost exclusively as a means for 1) making calls 2) sending texts and MMS 3) buying ringtones and, 4) in the case of Blackberry devices, sending and receiving email. Thanks to the iPhone, Americans are now realizing they have the Internet in their pocket. 

Channeling Decision-makers

For reasons I won't get into here, before the Microsoft bid to buy Yahoo, I had been spending a lot of time learning about Yahoo and considering its prospects.  In parallel, during the days preceding their latest earnings release, a number of journalists had been interviewing me for perspectives on Yahoo and, specifically, Jerry Yang and his management style as perceived by competitors. Most of the pending stories were likely shelved to make room for extended takeover coverage. Yet, there was one insight that the occurred to me that I thought was worth sharing nevertheless:

At Google, Eric, Larry, and Sergey are ultimately responsible for the decision-making. There is no doubt about that. Nothing significant can get done without their buy-in, and they come to unanimity with remarkable frequency. Yet, in a company of 16,000+ people, it just isn't possible to have ELS (their much more efficient moniker within Google) weigh in at every stage of the product conception, creation, distribution, and refinement process.

Instead, those guys have done a remarkable job (with the help of many around them) of building a core set of principles and ideas that embody what Google believes and how individual products can serve Google's mission. This codification and notes from discussions as to how it was applied in each case are then shared liberally throughout the company. In most cases while big decisions are being made, in addition to 6-12 senior executives at the table engaging the presenting team, there are usually 10 or so junior people in the periphery of the room watching and learning from the exchange as well. If that isn't enough, the triumvirate is available on stage at the weekly TGIF all-hands meeting to close any gaps in understanding.

The result is that product managers and engineers working on new efforts can almost channel Eric, Larry, or Sergey and role play how the discussion might unfold with them in the room. (One Googler executive I spoke to about this observation wanted to know how soon before there was a Larry Page Ouija board to actually channel him. Hmm, good idea.) By the time product and related decisions bubble up to the big guys there tend to be fewer surprises and the level of debate and discussion is more informed. Sure, there are anomalous outcomes, but generally Googlers walking into executive meetings understand what Google is aiming to accomplish and if ELS are likely to support the proposed path to that end.

From what I hear from friends at Yahoo, there is no consistent and universal sense of Yahoo's mission, let alone a consistent sense of how the brass will think about things. From a variety of folks, I heard that the company used to be logjammed at the top and the decision-making process was opaque, with only conclusions being communicated. It was thus extremely difficult to build an institutional sense for how outcomes were reached and how to presage such events in the future.

In an attempt to create a more nimble organization, decision-making was distributed deeper into the ranks among what Kara Swisher has reported to be in excess of 300 vice presidents at Yahoo. Yet, without any common feel for what the company's goals and values were, and as a result of alarming inconsistencies in how each of the newly minted decision-makers perceived Yahoo's future, Yahoos have had no reliable compass by which to guide their efforts. The impact on Yahoo morale has been palpable.

I won't begin to speculate as to how the new bosses at Microhoo might deal with this issue, but I am curious to hear your thoughts.

 

Big Company, Small Company

Google has done a better job of any outfit I know at retaining a small company feeling despite massive growth in its employee ranks. The shared information, distributed decision-making, and entrepreneurial encouragement all give Googlers a stronger start-up sense than has ever been possible while juggling 16,000+ employees. Just how many people is that? Click here to get a staggering sense thanks to Google Blogoscoped.

Yet, despite Google's efforts, it is nearly futile to replicate the nimbleness and commitment to execution that one finds in a startup where the three coders all live and work in the same apartment. Case in point, this email exchange lifted from the blog of my portfolio company, Auctomatic.com:

On Feb 7, 2008, at 2:12 AM, Vincent wrote:

Hi,

I just found your site. It looks nice but I have a question: do you support ebay NL (Netherlands) ?
Regards,

Vincent

Yes, that is 2:12 AM Pacific Time. Most of us are asleep, but the Auctomatic boys have just fired up another bowl of ramen and are on top of things:

On Feb 7, 2008, at 2:23 AM, Harjeet Taggar wrote:

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for your email. We did not support eBay Netherlands ten minutes ago, but we’ve worked on it since your email, and support is now available—please test it out, and let us know how you’re finding Auctomatic.

We’re adding new features all the time, so please do feel free to drop me an email with any feedback you have.

Thanks,

Harjeet

Come on! At 2:23 AM, within eleven minutes of the original request these guys added international site support and got back to the user!

I love startups and I love Auctomatic.

Snowkiting with CRV

Every venture capital firm here in the Valley has its own approach to staying connected to entrepreneurs, early stage investors, and likely acquirers. Some teams throw lavish parties, some hold retreats with motivational speakers, others just woo folks with the old faithful dinner and wine routine. Thanks to Bill Tai and Saar Gur, Charles River Ventures has taken a very different approach: kite junkets.

Bill started the tradition a few years ago when he invited a couple dozen folks from Silicon Valley to join him and a smattering of professional kitesurfers in Maui for a few days of riding perfect winds in warm water and geeking out about technology whenever the winds were light. The trip was an instant hit with folks of varying kitesurfing abilities making the trek to Maui and learning one of the more thrilling sports I have experienced. I was lucky enough to be invited last year and had an unqualified blast.

This weekend, the CRV guys outdid themselves, however, as they invited a group of us to join them in Utah for a weekend of snowkiting. Yeah. Kitesurfing on snow!

We were buried in fascinating amounts of snow during the trip, making the entire venture difficult. Nevertheless, thanks to capable guides like the trio who kited Mavericks and the Farallons, Jeff Kafka, Chips Wasson, and Steve Gibson, we were soon being whipped around an 11,000 foot ridge outside of Mt. Pleasant, UT.

Kiting on show is surreal as it is possible to travel in all four directions, including heading uphill! That said, the stakes are raised when jumping and crashing as hard ground tends not to be as forgiving as water. Ouch.

I will skip over a detailed review of what transpires when two dozen adrenaline junkie nerds descend upon a quiet Mormon town's sole watering hole and encounter a one man band who we soon convert to a karaoke format. Let's just say that the power of rock was palpable.

On Sunday, the snow came down even harder making kiting at high elevation impossible due to lack of visibility. Discouraged, we pulled stakes to head for some resort skiing in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Along the way up Interstate 15, Chip scoped out a large field just off the road in Draper, UT and thought it might be worth throwing up some kites. Far from the wonderfully isolated park in which we had kited the day before, let me be clear. This was a 10 acre field just off the road with a Cabela's superstore on one side and the neighborhood embodiment of the subprime mortgage crisis on the other. In fact, our field was probably intended to be "Phase 2" of the development before the financing dried up.

Needless to say, kiting in suburbia was a hoot. Chip, Steve, P-Air Wolff, and I pumped up our kites and cheered as each of them took to the sky. Dozens of trucks (people in Utah don't drive cars, it seems) pulled over to make heads or tails of what these wahoos were doing. We ripped back and forth, popped airs, and laughed out loud for a couple of hours. Such a memorable day.  To make it even better, Steve let me know he has officially named the spot "Subprimes."

All told, I love new adventures and snowkiting was no exception. More than just the individual thrill, there is something so incredible about tackling fresh challenges with friends. On this trip, I made some great new pals and got closer to some old ones. Thanks again to Bill and Saar for putting this together and I look forward to seeing you all on the snow, or the water, soon.

Openness Wins

A quick check of the FCC Auction 73 site this morning reveals that the bidding in Round 17 pushed the provisional winning bid for the nationwide C block of 700MHz spectrum over the $4.6 billion reserve price. As a result, openness principles will now apply to all use of that spectrum.

While the auction is by no means over, and I am as curious as anyone to see who ultimately emerges as the highest bidder, congratulations to everyone who worked tirelessly, took great risks, and spoke up for what they believed to make this crazy idea a reality.

Twenty Years of Eric, Larry, and Sergey

I am frequently asked how long I think Eric, Larry, or Sergey will stick around at Google. Folks query, "Those guys have made unfathomable amounts of money and must have other things they would like to do with their time, no?"

I have never known how to respond to such a question. In my time there, I didn't ever get the sense any of the three of them wished they were doing anything other than their jobs at Google. Yet, there would seem to be some implicit limit as to how long a tenure you could expect from mere mortals, right?

Thanks to Adam Lashinsky's recent interview with Eric, Larry, and Sergey in Fortune, we no longer have to hazard a guess at their plans for staying on at the company:

Lashinsky: Will you all work at Google for the rest of your careers?

Schmidt: We agreed to work together for how long, gentlemen?

Brin: Twenty years.

Lashinsky: Really? When did you make that agreement?

Schmidt: Two years, seven months, and four days ago. But who's counting? Actually, we agreed the month before we went public that we would work together for 20 years. I will be 69, and according to Google I'm going to live to 84, so I should be fine.

Web Geek Needed For a Start-Up in NYC

I am backing an edgy little content company in New York City that needs their first full-time tech lead. This is an opportunity to get in at the ground level of a rapidly growing web property, which already has tons of sweet press, sick and steadily growing traffic, and some very passionate users.

Required characteristics:
- Expert knowledge of PHP 5, DHTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Ninja skills with relational database design and deployment for dynamic DB driven sites using MySQL 5
- Deep comprehension of HTML design capabilities and constraints of various platforms and browsers
- Minimum of 3 years of strong Object Oriented design and programming experience
- Familiarity with MVC/tiered architectures
- Fancy front-end chops (AJAX)
- Experience with Apache, SVN, SSH, etc.
- SEO know-how
- Understanding of ad-serving and optimization
- Start-up hunger and ambition
- Strong preference that you are located in NYC. Remote superstars will be considered nonetheless.

Keeping the lid on the property name for now until the site that YOU build gets relaunched, but it isn't porn, gambling, nor an outpost for fascist propaganda. That said, this site is extremely cool, currently being courted for acquisition, AND chicks dig it.  I am quite willing to bet that working with these guys will get you laid.

Come one, come all with the resumes/URLs.

A Brief Interview With [me] by John Battelle

[As you likely heard by now, I am leaving Google to start an early stage venture capital fund. For weeks, I have been thinking about the blog post I would write to spell out my timing, my reasoning, and what is next for me. However, John Battelle, author of a fascinating book on the early days of Google, covered all that and more in an interview I did with him earlier this week and I thought I would just restate those answers here. Many thanks to John for publishing the piece and thank you to Google for the best times of my life so far.]

________

A Brief Interview With Chris Sacca 

I've enjoyed my professional relationship with Chris Sacca, who is leaving Google to pursue a career in investing. When I heard of his move, I pinged him in email, and the resulting dialog can be found below, verbatim, despite the fact that Google PR was cc'd on the thread. Thanks for your time, Chris, and good luck!

Why leave, and why now?

A few reasons. First, I feel like the wireless team I built is in great shape and poised for some amazing achievements. I am proud of what the team accomplished this year and it makes me smile to see Verizon and AT&T fighting over which is more open than the other. Hard to say more about that without triggering the anti-collusion rules of the FCC around the 700MHz auction. That said, though I love Google and my colleagues here, I vested this Fall and it occurred to me how much I miss working in small, entrepreneurial environments.

It's refreshing to hear "I vested" as part of an answer – even with PR listening. It's such a powerful force. You also won a Founders Award while at Google. What for, and how much was it for?

I was part of a team negotiators that won one of the first Founders Awards at Google recognizing us for the hundreds of millions of dollars of cost savings we had achieved in scaling Google's infrastructure. There are a lot of unsung heroes in that part of Google's business whose names are not well-known, but whose impact is humbling. I won't say exactly how big the award was, but I will say I am very grateful to the Larry and Sergey for their generosity. :)

I bet!
So as you leave Google, what do you think the best part of working there was? What is your greatest accomplishment? And, what frustrated you about the company?

I deeply admire how Eric, Larry, and Sergey are trying to build a 100-year company. Google encourages team leaders and entrepreneurs to take actions that traditional public companies, who are being managed quarter by quarter, would never be able to take. This allows Googlers to forget about short-term distractions and instead focus on accomplishing deep and fundamental changes to an industry or space. It's not fluff. I saw it every day and it was inspiring.

The wireless spectrum and openness stuff makes me smile. To see an informal, unchartered team come together over this past year and already catalyze some dramatic change in the US wireless ecosystem leaves me feeling good. Though I was hopeful about the impact we would have, I must admit that even I didn't expect Verizon and AT&T to be publicly feuding over claims they are the most open carrier. That said, I am most proud that it was entirely a team effort and there are some very strong Googlers who will carry the torch in my absence.

The one thing I began to miss at Google as it grows was the ability to be a generalist within the company. In a startup, it is easy and encouraged for folks to wear multiple hats. I used to buy data centers and fiber, manage an acquisition, work on Google Talk, pitch an access partner, receive a dignitary and give a speech about the future of media all in the same week. As a company gets bigger, inevitably, it begins to organize itself vertically and employees are pushed to specialize. As I focused my efforts almost exclusively around wireless, I began to miss the excitement and learning that comes with having touchpoints across the entire company on many different teams. One of the reasons I have enjoyed working with my portfolio companies like Photobucket, Twitter, and Auctomatic so much is that it reminds me of those early Google days.

So what are you interested in when it comes to investing? What gets your attention?

I think there is still a lot of opportunity in consumer web. Despite the fascinating number of funded teams in the space, it seems that many entrepreneurs can't get outside the Silicon Valley echo chamber long enough to identify problems that millions of users need solved. For instance, I loved the Photobucket investment because there was so much attention on flickr, many investors were essentially ignoring Photobucket despite its traffic being 3-4x larger.

Beyond that, I think we are starting to see the U.S. mobile industry wake-up and go open. As much as the iPhone frustrates those of us who have been fighting for user choice and unfettered distribution when it comes to mobile apps, I do think we need to give Apple some credit for getting American consumers excited to use their devices to access the broader Internet. This hunger for more utility, combined with increasing openness creates so much opportunity for sharp teams to build apps that users want.

I am also very interested in wireless infrastructure and equipment having focused on this space for the last couple of years. I am seeing a lot of innovation by great teams and already have a couple of projects that seem promising.

What gets my attention is when I find small teams that work well together and are comprised predominately of engineers. A long time ago, I wrote a blog post about how to pitch an idea to Google. It all still applies when working with me as an investor: http://www.whatisleft.org/lookie_here/2005/09/want_to_do_busi.html

With Nokia shrugging at the Android threat, Jimmy doing the same about knol, FB (privately) scoffing at Open Social - do you think Google's losing its magic touch?

I think two things are in play here: First, how would you expect Nokia, FB, and Jimmy to react? No way those folks would throw in the towel or even concede any threat. Instead, in the grand tradition of technology, they wear a strong face, inspire their teams, users, and investors, and get back to the lab to continue innovating. Soon it will be each of their turns to launch the feature or do the 'Google killer' deal and so the cycle repeats.

In parallel, it has always fascinated me to see the press impose upon Google the expectation that everything the company does will be a smashing success. This despite the stated fact the company prefers to launch new projects early and often and see what catches on. Will Android, OpenSocial and Knol all change the world? Who knows. (Actually, I am pretty sure Android will ... but I digress.) The important thing is that Google keep empowering entrepreneurs to take chances and try new and creative approaches to solving problems. Failure at many of those ventures is inevitable, but the successes will be worth it all.

The difference a year can make

[Please remember that posts here are my personal thoughts and not necessarily those of Google Inc.]

On November 20, 2006, in a small auditorium at Oxford University, I said the following:

"We've been getting notes from some of the telco carriers who are saying 'look, you need to stop our customers from downloading this thing' [Google Maps for Mobile] . . . They're inserting themselves in between you and an application that you want. I think that has scary, scary implications."

Though most of the discussion that day had been about other startups and innovation, a question came up about mobile and I just couldn't help but express myself with instinctive candor. Within hours, my response was all over the newspapers and the phone was ringing off the hook. A lot of folks inside the company were upset and worried that Google would suffer retribution at the hands of carriers. Quite simply, I was in the doghouse.

At the same time, I didn't regret what I had said. It was true. The state of neutrality for the wireless Net in the United States was woeful. We had inspiring entrepreneurs at Google building game-changing products and some users were not able to get their hands on those apps. It bummed me out. Thankfully, I wasn't the only person at Google who felt that way.

Turns out, a lot of people at Google cared deeply about these issues. So we built a humbling team of like-minded folks to explore what we could do to make the wireless industry more open. At first, it was comprised of all volunteers, though we have since grown to much bigger ranks including dozens of full-time RF engineers and policy gurus. In fact, we have now grown too big for the room in which we hold our meetings and chairs are scarce.

The group is cooperatively managed by a handful of us as peers. Our meetings are open to any Googlers who want to contribute and our internal mailing list is available to any of our colleagues who want to subscribe. Our mission is ambitious, but clear: do what it takes to inspire or create a mobile ecosystem in the United States that will allow user choice to flourish and level the playing field for new applications and devices.

I could write for a while about how busy this year has been and how much my teammates have accomplished. You can read some of our updates on the Google blogs, and in the event you get bored with facts and certainty, there is more than enough wild speculation about what else we might be doing.

In any event, we have seen openness and consumer choice thrust to into the national spotlight. The Republican chairman of the FCC, and three of his colleagues, heeded our call for more openness in wireless. Congressional hearings have been called with members, including Republicans, rallying to support the principles of openness. We have seen traditionally conservative business magazines and newspapers reverse course and espouse greater consumer flexibility and more choices for users. It has been such a rewarding time to work with this team and to see the impact we can all have working together.

In that light, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to recognize the sea change that occurred in the US wireless industry yesterday. As the largest wireless carrier in the country, Verizon Wireless announced that they would soon allow customers the option of bringing their own device to and accessing their own applications on the Verizon network. The news spread quickly with all manner of analysis and conclusions being drawn about why this happened. Did Google force Verizon's hand? Was this an auction signaling tactic? Was this some kind of gift to the FCC? I actually don't think any of those are true, though I will leave it to you to form your own opinions and theories.

What matters more to me than the motivation is the result. While Verizon by no means committed to the full openness principles for which Google has been advocating, and substantial risk remains in exactly how they choose to implement their ideas, I do think we need to recognize this as a very positive step forward.  Publishing technical standards for device integration and promising to host a developer conference are commendable moves. Offering retail support to these devices is also noteworthy and a very welcome development. I sincerely look forward to seeing Lowell McAdam's vision come to fruition and I congratulate him and his team on their new direction. I hope we have the chance to work together in the future.

In the meantime, yesterday's announcement causes me to pause and reflect on the whirlwind of this past year. There is a lot of work to do still, and the issues of openness and user choice in wireless are far from resolved. However, we have all come a very long way and it is clear that the good guys are building momentum. Thank you to Eric, Larry, Sergey, David and many other members of the Google management team who have shown their faith in our bold and admittedly unorthodox notions and who continue to give us the resources and support to try to change the world. Above all, thank you to the members of this team who have worked selflessly and tirelessly this entire year with no promise of reward or recognition. You all inspire me.

Guns. Sigh.

I watched a man get shot today and then helped apprehend his shooter.

(Not exactly what I figured the next post on my blog would say. I have been chewing over some thoughts about WiFi and the junk science that opponents and reporters alike love to sensationalize. I even spent this morning cranking out a lighthearted post about kitesurfing. I thought it would be great to get something up on the blog before I headed off on two weeks of travel in Europe and the Caribbean.)

My friend Nancy was coming by my house to pick something up before I left. I was waiting outside on the curb, got bored and started to type out a to do list on my Blackberry. Suddenly I heard two loud, distinct pops. I can’t say they sounded unfamiliar, but the potential to hear gunshots on a Monday was so distinctly out of the realm of possibility, my brain searched for other explanations. A car backfiring? Fireworks?

Any attempt to reasonably explain away what I had just heard was undermined by the report from my eyes. There I was looking at a thirty-year-old Asian guy clutching desperately at his loins as his legs gave out and he crumbled to the pavement. If there was any doubt remaining about what just took place, a silver Chrysler 300 squealed its tires and streaked right toward me to flee the scene. Holy shit. This car just shot someone.

Instinct kicked in immediately. Had I paused to consciously process anything, my next steps would have gone differently. The shooter, a black male behind the wheel, was pinned at the intersection of 3rd and Townsend. Stuck in the right hand lane, the traffic heading up 3rd Street left him no immediate options to escape. A large semi truck was in the lane to his left further boxing him in and simultaneously providing me cover.

Thus, I made my move and sprinted up toward the suspect’s car. I rolled my body along the edge of the trailer until I was able to catch the full license plate number just before he found a window to spin out across the intersection toward the Embarcadero. It wasn’t until much later that I started to digest that, at one point, I was a car length from an attempted murderer. Thank goodness the insanity of that adjacency didn’t occur to me in the moment.  Instead, I had one momentary obsession – write down that plate number before I forgot it.

By now there was shouting coming at me from all sides. “Did you get it?” “Hey, get down! Get down!” “Someone get that license plate number!” “Watch out!” While I just tried to steady my hands long enough to etch the digits onto my screen. The remaining items on my packing/to-do list thus soon read:

Socks (blue and black for Oxford)
Baseball cap
Jacket
Harpers and Atlantic mags
Take out the trash
Pull kite, harness, and lines from truck
5RLG375

Plate number in hand I dialed 911 – busy signal of course - as I ran back toward 4th to aid the man down. He was face down on the pavement. I don’t mean to say he was just on his stomach. I mean literally, his nose was buried in the asphalt, one arm splayed out above his head, like a dyke guiding the fluorescent red blood leaving him on its dash for the gutter.

We were helpless, the few of us standing there not knowing what to do. They didn’t cover drive-bys and massive trauma in the CPR course I took. A kind forty-five year old man placed his hand on the victim’s back repeating with inspired but dubitable confidence that everything would be all right. In that moment, an SF police officer rushed from across the street. He had happened upon the incident in the normal course and wasted no time in jumping into the fray. The 911 dispatchers had yet to answer my call, nevertheless, I was able to grab the cop and have him radio out the plate number that I read from the screen in my trembling hands. As his call went out on the air we could immediately hear the ambient echo of sirens firing up across the city. 

The cop rolled the downed man over onto his back revealing his injuries. What I saw I will never forget, and I won’t start to describe. To even type this now from my aisle seat high above the Atlantic makes me shake and my eyes well up. What the hell happened out there today?! There was so much blood. So much pain. So much panic and fear.

The paramedics responded with an urgency and feverishness to which I am not accustomed. They tore off the man’s clothes, working almost spastically to clean and stabilize his wound. I heard one announce that the bullet was still lodged in him while another declared that he was losing too much blood.

This searing montage was interrupted intermittently by the cop’s crackling radio as officers updated the pursuit. There was a shared but virtually silent celebration when we learned that the shooter had ultimately been cornered and taken into custody by police near the Bay Bridge. Notions of civil justice, despite what the movies may tell you, feel quite hollow while still peering down at a body struggling for its life.

It took a few minutes before a maintenance worker noticed a funny little copper object at his feet and asked if it might be a shell casing. Alas, it was actually one of the two bullets fired, the other still burrowed deep within the victim’s flesh. This errant projectile was surprisingly rejected by the steel and concrete baseboard of the Beacon building and now lying motionless and deformed in the sidewalk crack. I wondered how warm it might be.

I went home and tried to busy myself with continued packing but noticed for the first time how sweaty I was, my shirt clinging to my body and my brow dripping. I tried to distract myself by loading up my iPod and making sure my toiletries all fit in the TSA-prescribed plastic bag. But, I soon couldn’t hold back the emotion.

What the fuck?! Where to start? What is going on here? What could drive someone to do such a thing? How does this happen in San Francisco one block from the ball park in the middle of the day? Why do we take all of life for granted? What allows some of us to sloganeer in the fight to own firearms and yet be myopic to the empirical result of gun ownership?

I wanted to write another piece of this post. I wanted to talk all about what it is like to grow up in an Upstate New York town where working at the Lions Club Gun Show was valued as volunteer work. I also thought I would write a bit about living in El Salvador on the heels of their civil war where everyone carried a gun, literally, everyone, and how I often encourage staunch gun possession advocates to go spend some time there and tell me if they feel any safer after daily exchanges of fire.

But, I am frankly just drained and hoping that as I finally fall asleep in seat 31C, there is a gunshot victim recovering in a San Francisco hospital. I hope his family can be with him tonight. And, I hope that everyone who saw what happened today takes a moment to relate that experience to others toward the end that we may someday realize the undeniable folly of guns.

(Update: Here is a link to the press account of what happened: http://www.ktvu.com/news/13440784/detail.html)

It's hard

Sorry for the time away. I have realized that blogging gets harder the more public your "voice" becomes. Looking back, it became clear that over time that I stopped writing about the things that meant the most to me for fear it would usurp our formal PR process and I would catch shit. The few times I did venture to explain my perspectives on a company I dearly love, I shortly thereafter saw my posts sensationalized and included in top shelf news magazines out of context as illustrations of impending Google doom.

This was all made worse with the San Francisco WiFi process. What started as a push to bridge the digital divide and to inspire the world to take seriously their obligations to make the Internet universally available somehow devolved into a tiresome local political battle that forced me to unplug my home phone due to zealots calling at all hours and exposed me to bureaucratic self-dealing that would made anyone question the health of democracy.

In any event, my words here are always my own and never are offered on behalf of Google. Outside of this blog, I gave over 80 talks last year and am pretty well-known for speaking my mind and sticking up for those who may not have a voice with which to speak. I feel lucky to work for a company that lets me do that. I get to stir the pot and ditch the talking points in the name of end users. However, when it goes wrong, it can be lonely. No matter the accuracy of the lame quote, with the exposure comes the wrath. 

The result? I started to self-censor. Yet, the silence soon came to irk me and it has felt insincere.

In that light, I am back and hope to type about one or two things that have some meaning to me as well as a dose of the meaningless drivel you have all come to love. I will likely get in trouble, but at least I will feel like myself again.

In the meantime, Twitter has really emerged as my chosen form of immediate expression. I think Ev, Jack, Biz, Goldman and crew have done a phenomenal job building something fun, easy and shockingly powerful. So, if you are ever really jonesing for an update, check me out here.

My Favorite Day at Google: John Legend Drops By

I have been lucky to work at such a dynamic and exciting place for years. Google routinely plays host to amazing academics, political figures, and mind-blowing technologists. The culture is very open and our most important visitors are encouraged to spend their time with us, not locked away in closed door sessions with executives, but in rooms filled with employees from across the company for dialog and exchange of ideas. We have found that this is not only great for Googlers and the direct access it brings to such fascinating minds, but the VIPs who come routinely remark on how refreshing it is to visit such an unpolished and sincere place.

That said, a recent visit by three-time Grammy winner John Legend raised the bar on our tradition and put on a show that none of us will forget.

To grasp the gravity of that day, I think it is first important to understand that John is a geek. Yep, before his music career he graduated early from fancy schools, got insane grades, and did a stint as a BCG consultant. He uses Gmail, mixes rough cuts on his Mac, carries a Treo, and can hang in any conversation about DRM. The guy could very easily have been one of us and could likely get a job at Google tomorrow. Yet, the world of entertainment from which he now hails can sometimes feel far from the DNA of our company. Thus, when John offered to come to Google and do a quick performance along with some audience Q&A, I jumped at the chance.

His visit started like any other. I met him in our lobby and walked him around the campus pointing out some of the idiosyncrasies that make Google so unique. However, rather than engage in the traditional pleasantries, within moments John was debating me on issues of the digital divide and the populations of landlocked African nations. (I was off by 200 million on one number and he called me on it.) This tone never stopped. As we grabbed food from our wonderful chefs (thanks, N8, Will and Shon!) the discussions continued. How can the industry fix the music buying process for users? How to get the developing world access? How to find the best charitable organizations? What impact does blogging have on cross-cultural understanding? John was on it, and the the dialog was rich.

If the day had ended there, it would have been a success. But we were just starting. Because, just outside the conference room where John was warming up his voice, about 2000 Googlers had amassed on a Tuesday afternoon waiting to hear his stuff.

The excitement was palpable when John took the stage (carved from the corner of our cafeteria) and launched into a few of his newer songs. I make for a pretty awkward MC, but nonetheless, had a blast interviewing him on stage between his playing. We talked about his songwriting process, his hopes for future products at Google, and then threw it open for some audience questions. Googlers are sharp, genuine people, and their questions were well informed, insightful, and thought provoking. John was having a laugh answering them and always found a segue back into his next piece. He had originally planned to play three or four songs, but the vibe was right and he was feeling good so this kept going - for an entire hour. It was a treat and we were all having a great time. Then, on the last question from the audience, the day took an unforgettable turn.

I had never before met Brian Bautista, a sharp young guy who works on the team that does user support for Google Maps. He is a really unassuming Googler of Filipino descent who dresses very modestly and is known for his trademark smile. Since I was traveling much of this past summer, I also didn't know that during the company's summer picnic, Brian had entered the "Google Idol" talent competition performing a rendition of John's hit "Ordinary People." So, maybe I shouldn't have been completely surprised when I called on Brian to ask John a question and Brian flat-out asked if he could come up on stage and try a duet.

I won't try to fully describe what happened next. I would rather let the YouTube clip of their collaboration speak for itself. Suffice it to say, the crowd went bananas. This little guy with the shockingly booming, sultry voice, up there with one of his heroes putting together a wonderful performance. John showed so much class in sharing the stage. You could see he was having such a good time himself and the audience felt it too.

I could ramble on about how this was one big metaphor for the future of the Net. Professional content, mashed up with user-generated performance, and direct fan access to artists, all just one click away from any viewer. . . 

Instead, I will skip all the analysis and just note that, for those reasons and more, this was my favorite day at Google so far.

Thanks to John Legend, Lisa Ellis, Seth Friedman, Jonathan Levine, as well as Googlers Sean Johnson, Will Wyer, Marty Lev, the Google Chefs mentioned above, Pam Shore, Michelle Stribling, and the indispensable Ronny Conway for making it happen!

12 STDs of Xmas or My Brother is My Hero

When I was nine years old, my mom borrowed the first VHS video camera I had ever seen from her University and brought it home for my brother and I to experiment. Within hours we assumed roles that would carry us through the rest of our lives. The nerdy older brother directing the collaboration and working behind the lens, while the eerily talented and good looking younger brother hammed it up for the camera.

We spent countless days filming myriad little movies (I have since learned to call them 'projects'). From Karatepiece Theatre (think Alistair Cooke meets Jackie Chan) to Larry is Loose (a precursor to Scary Movie) and Escape from Awfulwitz (almost got me expelled from junior high), Brian could always be counted on to bring some laughs and beauty to my hastily executed productions. We had no editing equipment in those days, so each take was do-or-die and our Crayola marker title sequences were the first bit shot. Somehow they all turned out to be sidesplitting.

Nothing makes me happier than to fast forward more than twenty years from those days filming in the yellow light of the basement and see my brother still cracking people up. Very few of us are fortunate enough, or as is often the case, determined enough, to have the opportunity to pursue as a career that which we truly do best, and that which we enjoy most. It has not been an easy path for Brian. Working shit jobs while acting for no pay and performing stand-up to frightfully challenging audiences, my brother has busted his ass in this quirky little business forever. Yet, this year, without a doubt, things have taken off for Brian.

As I have mentioned before, his comedic duo Pete and Brian has been selling out Pete and Brian's One Man Show on both coasts. Then came the writing gigs, new management deals, some big name ad projects. Plus, one huge announcement that I will let him tell you about himself. All told, 2006 has been breakthrough from Brian and I couldn't be more excited for him as 2007 is shaping up to be even better.

For now, just kick back and enjoy these holiday greetings from Pete and Brian as they regale you with the 12 STDs of Christmas.

Motoblog: Padmasree Warrior

I wanted to take a moment to welcome one of the sharpest and most disruptive minds I know to the blogosphere. Padmasree Warrior's resume and accomplishments speak volumes and place her among the most powerful technologists in the world.

However, what I respect most about Padma is her ability to reduce the most complex challenges to digestible chunks and her straight-shooting panache along the way. I have been fortunate enough to know Padma for a couple of years now and you can always be assured of a feisty debate if she is in the room.

In that light, I am delighted that she has started her blog Bits at the Edge. Her posts so far are full of insight and wit, and I am sure we have just scratched the surface. I will be staying tuned.

Why I Twitter

I really enjoy the idea behind Google's Dodgeball product, an SMS-based service that lets users tell their friends (and strangers) where they are. I think a lot about location based services, and I see Dodgeball as a catalyst for the inclusion of location data into a social network.

Despite that, Dodgeball never quite caught on for me and my group of friends. I used to think it was because I wasn't young enough, or because I was not part of the SMS generation. However, I soon realized that I just didn't care that much about broadcasting my physical location to anyone, whether my friend or not. In fact, as much as I like have a public voice, I tend to be pretty private about where I am at any given time. (Though, I certainly think there are many people who are quite the opposite of me.)

Thus, when Twitter launched a few months ago, I initially resisted using it. Nevertheless, my eyes were opened when I saw how my friend Eric Case had used Twitter to stay in touch while traveling through Africa. No Internet connectivity for email or blogging? No problem. Case merely sent SMS messages detailing his adventures to Twitter and they were broadcast to all of us who are his Twitter friends.

Put simply, Twitter enables the wide broadcast of anything one can fit into a text message. I tend to think of it as microblogging - blogging a sentence or two. A mobile and completely spontaneous and immediate channel for expressing the widest range of thoughts and experiences. Learn something startling? Deep thought shared with you? Need to vent a little? Anointed yourself the Fashion Police? Jam it into your phone or Blackberry and, instantly, your friends are all apprised. Twitter also serves as an archive of your messages, a chronology of all of these occurrences that can be shared and linked.

I think the beauty of Twitter lies in how it doesn't preordain how it should be used. Rather than tell users what to message or what problem Twitter is solving, Twitter instead just offers a powerful platform then leaves the door wide open and the users themselves evolve its application. I think that is smart.

Go here to try it for yourself and then you can find my profile here so we can keep in touch.

Fortune Brainstorm Canceled

I learned last week that one of my favorite conferences of the year, the Fortune Brainstorm, has been discontinued. I have heard a few varied explanations for why this happened, but none seem to convincingly answer why the powers that be at Fortune magazine would end this storied event, arguably the impetus for Fortune's continued relevance in today's attention market.

Brainstorm was notable for its incredibly diverse yet influential participants. Too often these days I find myself deafened by the echo chamber of technology-only conferences. Brainstorm merged my silicon geekdom with social and political actors, the hard sciences, law, and those oft-neglected brick and mortar businesses. 

Notably, virtually every participant at the conference was asked to share some time on a panel discussion during Brainstorm. This, combined with the intriguing and meaty subject matter, ensured that some real heavy hitters would make the trek to Aspen each year to join in the compelling dialog.

I sincerely hope the management at Fortune will reconsider their decision.

Charging for air . . .

I am spending this week at Said School of Business at Oxford University as part of their annual Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford event. Much more on this entire experience later.

Right now, however, I am in the midst of 50 MBA students from around the world who are being led through a fascinating process by innovation and creativity consultants Synectics to brainstorm and collaboratively problem-solve.

I was asked to pose the problem to be tackled by this eager group. I called upon these bright minds to arm the "good guys" in the Net neutrality debate with a metaphor/analogy/catchphrase which will help the masses quickly and painlessly understand the importance of an open and neutral Net. Up until now, the efforts of Google and its many allies on this issue have not succeeded in making this realm one around which the average layperson can wrap their head.

Nevertheless, it is vital that non-technical Net users understand the stakes here and be empowered to ask their representatives to protect the Internet. Similarly, the lawmakers themselves could no doubt benefit from concrete illustrations to help grasp the underlying concepts (look no further than the "Series of Tubes").

All told, this has been an exhilirating, eye-opening, and frankly inspiring session. The student body here at Said is wildy international and the diverse perspectives have been nothing short of moving.

Just a moment ago, one student, hailing from the developing world, said with all sincerity, "Charging for Google is like charging for air." Wow. A sentiment soon echoed across this room by students from the far reaches of the globe as they recalled life without the Internet and Google. Tales from Kazakhstan, India, and from across Africa each charged with such compelling energy and passion. The Internet is an escape, a laugh, an education, a weapon, it is medicine, it is family, it is resistance to oppression.

I need to jump back into the fray and work over some of these ideas with the students, but in the meantime, this is one of those days that reminds me of how lucky I am, and how lucky we all are. The Internet is nothing short of a gift.

Postcard: Necker Island

If I have been even harder to usual to reach, it is because I have spent much of this week as a guest on Richard Branson's private island in the British Virgin Islands, Necker Island. This has been a wonderful time, jampacked with every imaginable watersport during the day, then spontaneous roundtable discussions about the future of the Internet at night. I also learned all about the space rides being planned by Virgin Galactic, was taught the finer points of film financing, and even got to wrestle in one of those fat sumo suits. I feel very lucky to be here especially among a group of frighteningly intelligent people.

From here, I leave tomorrow heading for Oxford. While the English climate will likely shock my system after being on Necker, I am just as eager for this next leg of my journey and the engaging conversations I hope to have with many of you.

(By the way, this post would be replete with links if I were not accessing the Internet from a cripplingly slow Iridium satellite connection.)

Youth Speaks

Spent last night at the 2006 Annual Youth Speaks Friendraiser in San Francisco. I feel verbally inadequate trying to describe the power and poignancy of the poetry these kids spit, as well as the admiration I have for an organization that works so passionately to encourage intelligent and positive expression.

Last night, I heard a plethora of very young poets and emcees eloquently and rhythmically tackling the most difficult themes of our day with insight, humor, irony, and always a touch of style.

Though they were all very moving, Rafael Casal's piece about tossing out the existing Bill of Rights and replacing it with seven proposed amendments of his own earned the most raucous standing ovation. No rookie to this scene, he has filmed some spots on Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam, so keep your eyes peeled for this guy.

In the meantime, check out the Youth Speaks calendar of events for their next inspiring exhibition. While at the site, be sure to drop a couple bucks on this wonderful group.  These can use the help, and in turn, we can all certainly use more of the words these kids are speaking.

Knock, knock. I am coming to visit your blog tomorrow

Don't get me wrong, I love feeds. I use feedreaders to keep up on all of the intriguing things you type, and I can tell that a whole bunch of you, in turn, use feedreaders to visit my site. (I am a loyal Feedburner customer and it tells me so.)

All that said, I miss your actual blogs. This talk of widgets has me realizing that I miss the aesthetic of your sites, especially those of you with swank design and sidebar curiosities. So many of you have delightfully interesting links and photos that you can't/don't syndicate. Your feeds also tend to leave out your book and music recommendations. Harumph.

So, I figure it is time I dropped by. No need to leave out any snacks or anything. You'll hardly notice me. Just thought I would let you know I would be coming by tomorrow to check stuff out.

Did you get the memo about the new cover sheets we are using?

Every time I speak somewhere, people ask me what I think scares Google the most. Is it Microsoft? Abandonment of net neutrality? Some new startup that will out-Google Google? While those are all indeed worth attention, and while I do not speak for Google in this blog, my biggest fear is that Google could become a big company.

I don’t mean big just in terms of headcount. Google has grown at a staggering pace as the company has added amazing talent to offices around the world allowing for even more cool products to get built. Yet, as the company gets bigger, the temptation is to introduce additional layers of management and bureaucracy and these are the enemies of innovation.

I have worked with engineers from a variety of household-name big companies. Like some universal truth that transcends language, national borders, industries, or even market cycles, I hear the same two things from those in organizations that are no longer innovating: 1) They never get to work on teams smaller than 200 people and 2) They haven’t launched anything in years. Why? They are suffocated by myriad processes, hierarchies, templates, forms, and flow charts.

The leaders of Google have realized, from the earliest days, that the company’s own growth would be the biggest challenge and have toiled unflinchingly to build scalable and transparent systems for encouraging the freedom to innovate and collaborate without jumping through some of the unnecessary traditional company hoops.  I deeply respect the team that runs Google for focusing on this from the beginning and emphasizing it as a core company value.

Nevertheless, the potential big company pitfalls are always looming.  As the size grows, I see colleagues, particularly those who join Google from other companies, tempted to carve out fiefdoms and mandate SWOT analyses and extensive Excel spreadsheets littered with three letter acronyms. I have seen a few mid-level bosses evoke the traditions of Japanese management and schedule “pre-meetings” to plan, discuss, and approve what will be planned, discussed and approved at the actual meeting itself. MBA-speak creeps into the parlance and these new managers require the filing of more and more TPS reports.

The good news? Google’s culture of letting engineers and product folks build great stuff that users want is still winning the day. However, the company needs to remain vigilant and never hesitate to clear the way for inspired people to create the products we all love. For those of you from Google who read my blog, thanks in advance for your help in keeping it a place where freedom to innovate is the rule and not the exception.

Mobile Goog Is Where It's At

I tend not to shill for Google products on this site. I think Google builds a lot of amazing stuff, and I love working there, but I am certainly not an exclusive fan and use competitive products from a number of companies. For example, this blog is hosted by Six Apart's Typepad service.

That said, I think two Google teams have hit it out of the park lately:

Google Mobile Maps - I use GMM every day without exception. Built by the team behind Zipdash, GMM is a wonderfully rich client for our mobile device that fuses the best of Maps, Earth, and Local all in the palm of your hand. Whether I am looking for a place to eat, or just lost on the way to a meeting, GMM is a must have. It has bailed me out countless times. They even added traffic info lately! Just go to google.com/gmm from your phone's browser to install Google Mobile Maps.

GMail Mobile - This just launched to the public today. Wow! Such a wonderful way to interface with my Blackberry. It actually makes me look forward to getting messages. The UI is so elegant. Big kudos to the team that put this app together. Visit gmail.com/app with your mobile browser to install this beauty.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled blogging.