Stories that repeat – part 4

Posted on by
Reply

The story

One of my favorite children’s books is “The adventures of Dunno”.  Yes, you can find it on the Internet, just Google the title. One of the stories there was about two artists. They would both do portraits of girls. First will do very realistic portraits and wouldn’t listen to girls demands. The other one would listen to what girls are asking for. She noticed that they pretty much wanted the same “the eyes bigger and the mouth smaller”. She got smart and created rubber stamps with the portraits in demand. Not only her job became easier but she became very popular and wealthy too. Well I may have made up the part about the wealth.

The repetition

Well this story repeats quite often look at Hollywood for example where they rubber stamp popular movies. The reason I am writing though is the housing in California in late 90’s and until now in 2007. They have built more Tuscany houses in California for the last 10 years than in Tuscany for the last 100 years. Come here folks the rubber stamps are out and we are churning them houses hot from the press. Unlike the old Tuscany homes everything is fake in our California homes – the stone, the wood, the fireplaces, but who cares. The business is good.

Stories that repeat – part 3

Posted on by
Reply

The story.

I was a teenager in the late 60-ties with plenty of time on my hands and very little money. Beatles were hot and vinyl was expensive. Couldn’t afford tape recorder either. One day I noticed an article in one magazine explaining how the tape recorder works. It was showing a simple diagram with 3 parts – magnetic head, amplifier and speaker. Wow, I said to myself it, why don’t I buy those 3 parts and build a tape recorder. In the process I have learned that there are thousands of other parts going into the tape recorder and I gave up on the idea as quick as I have embraced it. Hey don’t judge me I was in my very early teens.

The repetition.

I have noticed that many venture capitalists look at businesses the same way I looked at the tape recorder diagram. They look at revenues, expenses and profits and do not see the many parts a business is made of. That’s why the role of the people who know is extremely important as it is for the venture capitalists to put the right management team in place.

Stories that repeat – part 2

Posted on by
Reply

The story.
It happened sometimes in the middle centuries. A Spanish ship got damaged and thrown by the winds at the shores of an unknown island. Fortunately for the sailors the islanders turned to be friendly and would even provide water and food in exchange for whatever the sailors got. Sailors would have few golden coins with very high value and many copper coins with little value back home. They were not home though. So the sailors decided that they will get more if they pretend to praise the copper coins more than the golden ones.

The repetition.
Mister X of a big law firm has worked hard for long years and has built a strong reputation. He and a colleague of his Mr. Y decide to start their own law firm. First thing they realize is that no reputable attorney is willing to work for them unless as a partner. They do not want to take too many partners so they proceed and hire second and third level attorneys and junior attorneys. Here you have your two expensive golden coins and many inexpensive copper coins. Our friends X and Y reach the wisdom of the Spanish sailors quickly. Sell the golden coins cheap and charge solid for the copper coins. They would approach new customers with their own resumes and skills plus attractive discounted rates. Naive first time customers would be impressed and hire them in an eye blink. What happens thereafter is a fast switch to your copper coin attorney at a rate which is anything but discounted for what you get. Mrs. X and Y love the model for administrative cases and discovery phase of litigation. There is little or no responsibility there and the model flourishes. Mrs. X and Y will advise you to quit when things get tough. The work in advanced litigation stage becomes too complex and too difficult for a junior to do. The model is not working anymore. Mrs. X and Y understand that their participation is needed and this is not want they want. This is against their model. So they would advise you that you have no chances in said litigation and it is your best interest to quit.

Stories that repeat – part 1

Posted on by
Reply

The story.

It happened somewhere in California lately. Hard working family opened a pizza place. They wouldn’t spare the time and effort to turn the place into the best pizzeria in town. They managed to do it. They were living the American dream. Customers were piling up and the business was flourishing. They landlord didn’t think so. As soon as the lease expired the Landlord did not renew it. Instead he moved into the space and started his own pizza business trying to take advantage of his tenant’s hard work and success.

The repetition.

Yahoo was just a directory, search engine and a web information portal in the early days of the Internet in mid and late 90-s. Our company Aplus.Net used to advertise web hosting and domain name registration with them. Once in a sudden, out of the blue we have received a letter from Yahoo saying that they will not renew our advertising contract because they consider us a competitor?!? The web hosting business was just one of the many businesses Yahoo entered at that time. Online dating, travel, jobs, domain names come to mind. It seems that Yahoo examined their advertiser’s list and found the most successful online industries and got involved in those. Yahoo’s CEO Mr. Terry Semel stated in an interview that he used to run theme parks and he has noticed that people would buy pop corn and other stuff when they walk around the theme park. This is good point Mr. Semel, however you have to get those folks in the theme park first. They won’t come if the rides suck. This is exactly what happened. While Yahoo was busy imitating us in the web hosting and domain registrations, Google came in and ate their breakfast in the search engine space. What goes around, comes around.

To twitt or not to twitt that is the question

Posted on by
Reply

If you use the twitter to announce to your followers what you are doing at any moment such as taking a shower or going to the bathroom, than I am sorry for you and sorry for your followers as well. I have a simple “twitt” for you “get a life”.
Twitter is a broadcasting of short messages. How “broad” is your broadcasting depends on how many followers you have. Unless you are Bob Dylan, Julia Roberts or another celebrity your broadcasting is anything but “broad”.
Twitter is not instant either. For the geeks who spend their life in front of computer screens with several windows open all the time it is almost instant. For regular folks like me it is not.
If you think about it hard and long you may find some cases in life when the use of the twitter would be appropriate. If you think a little bit more though you may find out that other technologies such as SMS, e-mail, social networking, forums, BLOGs etc. may fit the bill. Actually, one of the most frequent use of twitter is by blogers to promote their blogs.
Finally, unlike the BLOGs, forums, social networks etc. the twitts are not searchable so that your “deep thoughts” will never make it beyond your followers.
In most cases the twitter is waste of time and a fashionable movement, which I predict will vanish. I commit to not edit this BLOG. Let’s get back to it 2 years from now and see. Meanwhile feel free to join me on Twitter. I do not post often, so that it is a win -win situation 🙂
🙂

In Memoriam

Posted on by
Reply

Michael Jackson taught us a lesson. There is not such thing as retirement. He died while working and this seems to be the right thing. Everyone is crazy about “natural” nowadays. Well let’s look at nature. Is there a retired fox or retired eagle. The eagle dies as it flies. So did Michael. Rest in peace.

Cherche la attorney

Posted on by
Reply

“Cherche la femme” goes the famous French saying, which translates literally “find the woman” but it actually refers to the assumption that for every problem, there is a woman who caused it (sexist but this is the way they have it).
Can I paraphrase this into ” Cherche la attorney” when it comes to the health care debate going on in the Congress and nationwide media nowadays.
For starters an overnight stay at Ritz Carlton will cost you $500 on average for a double room. An overnight stay in a top European hospital will cost you $1,000. An overnight stay in an average U.S.Hospital will cost $10,000. No way the doctors take it. No way the ordinary (not doctors) hospital staff is 2000% more expensive than the hotel staff nor they make 10 times more than their European colleagues.
Look for bankers and attorneys when large amounts of money disappear and you will find it. The insurance companies emerge on first sight as the sinkhole where the money go. No doubt they are part of the scheme, however some huge premiums go to cover for huge (often frivolous) lawsuits and related expenses. At the end the money trickle into the attorneys pockets.

That’s why I say to Obama “Cherche la attorney”.

I for example paid over $60K in attorney’s fees to defend a frivolous lawsuit, which settled for $7,500 and the only reason I settled it was because it would cost me another $30K to prove innocent. No justice, just attorney fees.

Wouldn’t an overhaul of the legal system put many things in place in this country. Please comment here.

Is Costco loosing it ?

Posted on by
Reply

I am a Costco member for 17 years now since the time it was Price Club in San Diego. They offer great service, take everything I don’t like back and have one of the best prices around. How do they do it – by using their enormous buying power to squeeze every penny out of their vendors and apply their own rule that their gross margin should not exceed 10%. Those two simple rules gave Costco enormous popularity and huge and steady revenue growth.
Few days ago I purchased gas at $2.97 at Costco just to realize that several gas stations sell it at $2.95. I ran to my computer to check Costco financilas and sure enough the gross margin has climbed to 12.44% (based on trailing 12 mo. results). Still not bad, but not where it used to be at 10% for many years.
As far as getting it from the vendors, Costco has loosen their grip there as well. I find often that their prices are not the best on variety of items. Also many reputable brands are not available at Costco for the reason that they will not negotiate their prices lower.
I am still hard pressed to find a better retailer and I (as many, many others) remain a Costco fan, but the shadow of a doubt lays between me and Costco now. Maybe it is time for the next entrepreneur to start the next Price Club like Sol Price did in San Diego 2 decades ago.

Why did I drop HBO

Posted on by
Reply

I have dropped my HBO subscription lately after I realized that the only show I was watching there for a while was the Bill Maher show. Comments by Bill that there is no party in the USA in the left space and that the Democrats are actually in the center-right, made me not regret that I’ve dropped HBO. I  will not miss such attitude by the funny man  Bill. I lived behind the iron curtain for 40 years and I can tell you that left and ultra left do not work. Actually one doesn’t need to go that far back. Most recent elections for the European Parliament  showed that people are tired of leftist Governments in Europe and vote for conservative right candidates.

Letters to ICANN

Posted on by
Reply

icannAllow more flexibility in case of string contention. Be applicant friendly not just ICANN friendly.

iThe current proposal calls for the applicant to voluntary withdraw his application, if the applicant feels that it is not worth his resources defending his initial selection. It is not clear how much of the application fee will be returned. One may argue that the applicant may take the refund and apply for another gTLD string, however this wouldn’t be possible if the string contention happens after the submission deadline.

Better action would be to allow the applicant to change his application to another gTLD string, without withdrawal and potential re-submission. In addition, ICANN may consider allowing applicants to apply for up to x ( x being a reasonable number like 5 for example) gTLD strings with one application with a mandate to reduce it to one after string contention check.

Judging from the previous round of gTLD applications, where I was a participant, it will be quite common for multiple applicants to apply for the same gTLD string.

That’s why it is important to have a smooth and applicant friendly process at this stage.

ICANN may charge “change fee” if such action leads to extra work for ICANN and to discourage frivolous changes.

In conclusion more flexibility in the gTLD string submission and contention resolution will provide for greater variety of strings and operators, which is consistent with the objective of the new gTLD initiative.

Thanks for your attention to this matter.