I’m frequently asked (by friends, and sometimes, aggressive strangers) to help them find someone to fund their company. Often, but not always, these people are happy to hear the following answer.
1. If you fund your company, even a little, you’ve just sold it. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but one day. That’s because rational investors are funding your company in the expectation that you are going to sell it and make them a profit. (sure there are exceptions, but not many). So, if you don’t expect that your company will be easy to sell for a big profit, or you don’t ever want to sell your company, it’s not a smart idea to raise money for it.
Monthly Archives: April 2006
AT&T Forwards ALL Internet Traffic to the NSA
Via Dave Farber; Ryan Singel:
AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers’ phone calls, and shunted its customers’ internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lawsuit against the company.
Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, submitted an affidavit in support of the EFF’s lawsuit this week. That class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco last January, alleges that AT&T violated federal and state laws by surreptitiously allowing the government to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants.
The Mishap at Mammoth
My inbox and voice mail are filling up with questions/concerns re the tragic accident at Mammoth Mountain today.
With 79″ of new snow, the ski patrol had to do a great deal of maintenance work to make the hill safe for skiing. In clearing up the Face of 3, a group of ski patrollers went to adjust a fence around a volcano vent on the far side of the slope. The ground collapsed and they were trapped and the latest report is three people died. It is not clear whether the fall killed them or the lack of oxygen or the volcanic gases.
It was very strange. One started to hear whispering. And then the upper lifts were running but they wouldn’t let anybody board. And then they stopped the upper lifts completely.
Different stories were circulated. One, that the snow just collapsed. Two, that by covering up the vent previously, the gases found a new exit and a larger area was rendered unstable.
Usha Lee McFarling notes the risks for those who work and play atop one of the nations largest active volcanic systems. Steve Hymon and Amanda Covarrubias have more.
Mammoth has had 638 inches (!) of snow this year. The lifts will be open until July 4th!
Honda to Add Google Earth to Cars
Honda will soon add Google Earth to its ‘internavi Premium Club’ navigation service in Japan. The advanced navigation system was first launched in 2003, offering a wireless connection to the internet to download the latest traffic information to the built-in computer.
When the Little Guy Helped the Wealthy Keep Their Tax Secret
The problem came to light during a Senate investigation of the 1929 stock-market crash: Some of America’s wealthiest citizens, including the banker J.P. Morgan and his partners, were legally paying nothing in federal income taxes.
The solution, endorsed by majorities of both parties in Congress: Make individuals’ income-tax information public, and shame the evaders into paying their fair share.
Under the Revenue Act of 1934, anyone who filed a federal tax return would also complete another — pink — form, with his or her name, address, income, deductions and total taxes paid. Everything on the pink slips was public information, available to reporters, nosy neighbors or former spouses alike.
Powell Warns Net Neutrologists Not to Be Naive
Former FCC chairman Michael Powell is up on the stage at the Freedom to Connect conference right now, and he warns the tech elite crowd here not to
be naive about the dangers of asking Congress for legislation on Net
Neutrality. As he explains:The legislative process does not work well when it has a weak understanding
of innovation and tech policy. You are talking about 535 members who need
to to get this. They have a very shallow understanding [of Net Neutrality].
If you go give them a quiz about the seven layers of the Internet, good
luck.
David Lazurus has more on the proposed legislation.
Dealer Activism for GM’s Embattled Chairman
Lee Hawkins, Jr., Monica Langley and Joe White:
Besides Mr. Fisher’s statement, Mr. Wagoner recently has won the backing of two prominent GM dealers. John Bergstrom, chairman of Wisconsin-based GM dealership chain Bergstrom Automotive, sent a letter to the board late last week to “share with you my total support and respect for Rick Wagoner…who has earned the respect of all of us in the retail network.”
Another dealer, Carl Sewell, who has 15 GM franchises in the Dallas area, recently began talking to other dealers to say, “We need to come to our company’s and Rick’s defense.” GM is providing his dealerships with “the best product we’ve ever had,” he said, adding that Mr. Wagoner is “a wonderful human being of intellect and integrity.”
US on Wrong Side of Technology Gap?
By several measures, the US appears to be less “connected” than many other countries.
Long Term Rates Creep Higher
Mark Whitehouse and Serena Ng:
After stubbornly resisting nearly two years of prodding by the Federal Reserve, long-term interest rates are on the rise, a trend that could eventually slow the nation’s expansion.
Yesterday, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the foundation for long-term interest rates — rose as high as 4.905%, matching a two-year peak set in May 2004. Some analysts believe the yield is on a run that will take it above 5%.
The upturn, spurred by deepening economic growth in the U.S. and abroad, is pushing up the cost of a widening range of consumer and business loans — including 30-year mortgages and corporate bonds — from extraordinarily low levels.
Paradox of the Worse Network – AT&T: “15Mbps Internet Connections Irrelevant”
At this week’s Media, Entertainment and Telecommunications conference, AT&T COO Randall Stephenson told his listeners that increased bandwidth was no longer of great importance to consumers.
“In the foreseeable future, having a 15 Mbps Internet capability is irrelevant because the backbone doesn’t transport at those speeds,” he told the conference attendees. Stephenson said that AT&T’s field tests have shown “no discernable difference” between AT&T’s 1.5 Mbps service and Comcast’s 6 Mbps because the problem is not in the last mile but in the backbone.
AT&T, formerly SBC is the dominant internet provider in Wisconsin…… Stephenson completely misses the point that bidirectional fast networks to the home will open up many, many small business opportunities.