Everyday Innovation / Jonathan Bruck

No Idea doesn't mean you have no problem or opportunity to solve.

jbruck — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:31:16 -0700

Dustin Moskovitz: Y Combinator’s says “No Idea” Round is Bad. His logic is.

People who decide first that they want to be an entrepreneur and then go looking for an idea are getting it the wrong way around, he said. “The only reason you should be an entrepreneur is because that’s the only way the idea will come into the world,” he said.

I’m not a super fan of Y Combinator to begin with as they take a disproportionate amount of equity for what amounts to nothing more than a Good House Keeping seal of approval.

However, I think Dustin is over emphasizing the importance of the idea here. It isn’t the idea that’s important but the problem or opportunity a team is trying to solve. I will take a clear problem statement over an idea any day and believe that is what Y-Combinator is trying to accomplish.

No idea / No problem teams is what being an EIR (entrepreneur in residence) at a VC is about. 6-12month paid time to look for a new problem / opportunity to go after.

How cool! What a great business idea to have people pick a...

jbruck — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:05:43 -0800

How cool! What a great business idea to have people pick a character and add their iPhone app icon for a personalized mascot.

10 questions from the most actually-read “Read Later” author on the internet

jbruck — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:26:11 -0800

Insights are so much fun wrapped in humour. Drew Magary on his winning formula.

Simplicity Matters: The US Debt

jbruck — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:19:00 -0800

The current defecit debate would leave one thinking we are totally f$%k’d. However, the New York Times has a nice infographic and analysis showing how 2 simple things would return us to sustainable even surplus levels.

What are they?

1. Repeal the Bush Era tax cuts

2. Stop the wars

Both are long over due and were unecessary and added over 3 trillion dollars to our deficit. For the tax cuts most people would only pay 2% more a year in taxes. Something, I could handle so our economy isn’t mistaken for something going off a cliff.

The Week has a few more culprits as well.

Simplicity Matters because it helps focus and put things in perspective. From the NYT analysis this is a solvable problems.