Thoughts by Ryan

Willy Wonka on “The Avengers”

Mon, 07 May 2012 22:43:05 -0600

Willy Wonka on “The Avengers”

bijan: Rare to see founders share this view of the world. I...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:00:05 -0700

Rare to see founders share this view of the world. I remember the day @jack showed it to the Twitter board. Healthy and important perspective.

via fred-wilson:

Joel Spolsky’s org chart from this guest post he did for me today. I love the marketing organization!

Amazon Circumvents Apple?

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:53:14 -0700

I just read in Website Magazine that Amazon has figured out a way to circumvent Apple’s App Store fees. It’s nothing too tricky… they’ve simply build an iPad optimized online Kindle Store. When you browse to amazon.com/iPadKindleStore from your iPad, you’ll be prompted to add the Kindle Store icon to your homescreen. It also lets you access your books via the Amazon Cloud Reader.

The part of this story that gets me excited is the fact that yet another Internet superpower is using the open web to bypass the proprietary nature of the mobile app ecosystem. I’d like to see more companies doing this. Building an app specifically for iOS or Android should be equivalent to building a website and stating that it’s “best viewed in Internet Explorer”.

What are some other examples of companies embracing the open web?

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:13:04 -0700

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. —Bertrand Russell

(via bigbags

"You become who you hang around."

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:55:51 -0700

““You become who you hang around.””

- BRYCE DOT VC: You Become Who You Hang Around

GarrettDimon.com: Tenacity

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:48:06 -0700

GarrettDimon.com: Tenacity:

garrettdimon:

Lately, I’ve been reading biographies and stories by athletes, business people, and politicians. The one attribute common to all of them is tenacity on a level that most of us can’t even imagine. The problem is that on the surface, we only see the success. We don’t see the work that went into…

This just made my day. Brilliant. /via brit

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:26:18 -0700

This just made my day. Brilliant. /via brit

brycedotvc: There’s a meme that says when it comes to funding...

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:40:38 -0700

brycedotvc:

There’s a meme that says when it comes to funding startups, “it’s all about the team”. And I believe that’s true.

I’ve been thinking more and more about the people and skills that comprise an effective team. There are a lot of great developers, great sales people, great product designers, great business developers, great systems architects and great operations managers. But individual skills and pedigrees rarely capture what makes a truly great team.

There are plenty of dysfunctional teams stacked with exceptional people.

Over time I’ve come to appreciate one attribute that makes for really great teams:

Chemistry.

Chemistry is the thing that turns a Saturday lunch date into an 8 hour (and sometimes life long) conversation. Chemistry is the thing that let’s people with opposing views focus more on learning and understanding than being right. Chemistry creates a very real place that compels teams to exchange, collaborate and win together rather than simply keeping an eye on the clock.

This video of Jony Ive’s tribute to Steve Jobs reminded me of this.

In it he described countless interactions with Steve that began simply as “hey Jony, here’s a dopey idea…” Many of those ideas didn’t make it out of the ether, but a few of them that may have started out truly dopey were nurtured and developed until they emerged as breathtaking. It’s clear these two shared a special chemistry. One that allowed them to handle the most fragile of ideas with care:

And just as Steve loved ideas, and loved making stuff, he treated the process of creativity with a rare and a wonderful reverence. You see, I think he better than anyone understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily just squished.

I see so many teams stacked with skills and talent without any chemistry. Going through the motions of talking, planning and building without the passion, energy and understanding that chemistry captures.

Jony’s talk is a reminder to me of just how powerful the right chemistry within a team can be. I believe it’s this chemistry we’re talking about when we say “it’s all about the team”.

PS- I planned to post this as required weekend viewing on Saturday night, but fell asleep on my laptop. Belatedly posted now. I hope you’ll find time to watch it.

"When engineers working on the very first iPod completed the prototype, they presented their work to..."

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:56:16 -0600

“When engineers working on the very first iPod completed the prototype, they presented their work to Steve Jobs for his approval. Jobs played with the device, scrutinized it, weighed it in his hands, and promptly rejected it. It was too big. The engineers explained that they had to reinvent inventing to create the iPod, and that it was simply impossible to make it any smaller. Jobs was quiet for a moment. Finally he stood, walked over to an aquarium, and dropped the iPod in the tank. After it touched bottom, bubbles floated to the top. “Those are air bubbles,” he snapped. “That means there’s space in there. Make it smaller.””

- Steve Jobs: What are some great stories about Steve Jobs? - Quora (via david-noel)

startupquote: Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:36:02 -0600

startupquote:

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.

- Steve Jobs

(Steve Jobs Special Issue #1)

Target.com Redesign

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:02:05 -0600

Target.com Redesign:

Wow, how’d I miss this news about this? I’m pretty sure someone made an argument like this at some point in the design process — and won:

Look, everybody uses the search bar or those big fat categories strung across the top anyway. So, why not have a little fun with the rest of the page?

Update: For those asking, since it may not have been clear in the sarcasm: I’m quite impressed by the new design.

/via cameronmoll

It never ceases to amaze me what creative people can think...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:02:23 -0600

It never ceases to amaze me what creative people can think up.

Printing with water. Looks gorgeous. /via brocatus

"While Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal and CNET continue to drone on about the impact of the..."

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:45:06 -0600

“While Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal and CNET continue to drone on about the impact of the Steve Jobs era, I won’t be pondering the MacBook Air I write on or the iPhone I talk on. I will think of the day I saw him at his son’s high school graduation. There Steve stood, tears streaming down his cheeks, his smile wide and proud, as his son received his diploma and walked on into his own bright future leaving behind a good man and a good father who can be sure of the rightness of this, perhaps his most important legacy of all. —Lisen Stromberg”

- Cameron Moll / Designer, Speaker, Author: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs

Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:46:25 -0600

Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success. —Biz Stone

"While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to..."

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:13:57 -0600

“While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.”

- —Warren Buffet

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich - NYTimes.com

(via fred-wilson)

Rockin’ the new lenses. (After 10 years of contacts,...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:21:41 -0600

Rockin’ the new lenses. (After 10 years of contacts, it’s time to change things up a bit.) (Taken with picplz at Westbury Way in Lehi, UT.)

Dinner of champions. (Taken with picplz at Westbury Way in Lehi,...

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:13:01 -0600

Dinner of champions. (Taken with picplz at Westbury Way in Lehi, UT.)

Breakfast of champions. (Taken with picplz.)

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 10:21:55 -0600

Breakfast of champions. (Taken with picplz.)

If Harry Potter were a coming-of-age teen comedy, it might look...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:53:36 -0600

If Harry Potter were a coming-of-age teen comedy, it might look something like this.

[thewlisrox / rofl.]

I have a new found respect for George Clooney. What are your...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:53:57 -0600

I have a new found respect for George Clooney. What are your thoughts?