The Cynosural Blog

Since getting my MacBook Pro, I've been using Safari. When necessitated by a web site not supporting Safari, I would use Firefox 1.5 on SLED10 under Parallels.

I know many folk like Camino, but I was pretty happy with Safari. Many things, though not all, seemed to go even faster in Safari vs. Firefox under my old Windows Dell laptop. I really like the true integration of applications that Apple has in its Tiger apps. Live spell checks in forms and the character palette come to mind.

But when Firefox v2 for MacOSX came out a few weeks ago, I installed the same day. I haven't hit an incompatible web site yet AND it seems to render even faster than Safari, especially on our blogs' administrative anti-spam page. The integration seems to be there as well, though I'm not sure if the Firefox spell checker uses the MacOSX spell checker dictionary or not, but the character palette works. My extensions [now called add-ons] that I used previously in Firefox all work.

Firefox is now my main web browser again.

Today at the ANZA Technology Network conference, I attended the Funding your Business in the US Forum. This year ANZA video taped all of the sessions. Viki Forrest, the CEO of ANZA introduced the moderator, Kevin Matsushita, Vice President Emerging Technology Practice, Silicon Valley Bank, and panelists:

• Jeremy Liew, Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners, doing early stage investing
• Jane Lindner, Managing Partner, Jane Capital Partners
• John Scull, Founding Managing Director, Southern Cross Fund
• Carol Sands, Managing Member and Founder, The Angels’ Forum and The Halo Funds both doing very early stage investing
• Saeed Amidi of Plug & Play and General Partner of Amidzad early stage VC [he gave an example of his recent activity where he helped a start-up raise 2MM$ that closed this week & will begin raisinq a 10MM$ Series A startinq next week with 90% committed by the seed investors

Here are some of the things I took away from this session.

1. USA/Silicon Valley and Australian/New Zealand funding; looking at total funding over life of company AND how the investors can make a lot of money; smart money vs. dumb money; look at corporations & grants as sources as funding; Investors are getting smarter all the time; ROI is first & foremost; A seed round is usually done because a company is not ready to go to market or there are market questions to be answered & may range from 100K$ to just over 1.5MM$ and smart investor does the seed to get seat at table for later rounds; if the Angel/Entrepreneur makes a stupid evaluation during seed it can block later deals; smart & right are judgement calls; LONG VIEW FIRST; Raising money is an ART not science; Equity & ROI for investors, founders, later management team, etc.; VCs looking at 25+ companies at any given time & will invest in one that quarter; the scarce resource is the time of the partners [investors], always speak truth & deliver on promises
2. Funding is an important part of overall strategy; milestone driven not comparative valuation; assume no revenue until B round; milestones are events & outcomes not time or simple events [traffic to a site not launching a site]; discussion of Silicon Valley investors funding overseas companies - technologists may be overseas but Executives & marketing/sales must be here; investors want to know that their message is being heard which requires face-to-face meetings & constant feedback
3. How does an entrepreneur better their odds of being the ONE company funded out of the hundreds of requests received; a "warm" introduction, especially from one of their portfolio companies' officers/founders; the ability & work required to get that introduction is akin to that required to get into a potential customer or hire a great recruit; an angel that was funded by a VC is a great person to give that introduction
4. What might entrepreneur hear that means it's not a good fit: “Keep in touch”; if a VC is interested they'll set up the next meeting; VC money is not the only source of funding; if you can't interest an Angel look for the signal in the noise - that is, what is wrong with your business model, idea, market, etc.
5. When founders flounder? Expect transition in management team; Board responsibility is to shareholders by assuring good management, good team, all needed resources; Lightspeed is founder friendly and doesn't necessarily follow this rule, but in many instances CEO is almost always swapped out especially by later stage investors
6. Q&A: Board of Advisors should be investors from start-up space, Carol likes Advisors in early stage not a Board of Directors, Angels often see great ideas from researchers/technologists who could never manage, whereas VCs rarely see A ideas from C teams

Many of these points I've heard many times over the years. One thing I would like to add is that as a founder of a company, one should always be reevaluating their position in the company and should ALWAYS hire a person to do a job better than they could do it themselves. That always applies, whether it is choosing partners as co-founders, hiring to fill out the management team, building out the full team AND MOST ESPECIALLY when looking at your successor for the many roles you'll fill throughout the life of your baby, er, company. You may start out as Chairman, CEO, President, lead technologist, lead sales, and chief cook and bottle washer. You may change roles as the company grows. You must always be aware that your role(s) at one stage of your company's life may be better served by someone else at later stages. The other part of this is that you must be able AND WILLING to delegate both work AND RESPONSIBILITIES. The two must be commensurate.

As an entrepreneur, you should also be looking for complimentary talents and personalities to your own and your initial team. This is as true for the investors you may get as it is for your operational team. And always have fun.

I've been putting new faucets into various sinks around the house. Today's two hour job, starting at 11:30 AM, just ended a short while ago. The old faucet was very difficult to remove, though the new one went in as expected. The trouble started when I opened up the supply valve for the hot water under the sink - it began leaking, and tightening the screw holding the handle into the stem didn't help. Closing the valve didn't help either. Then it started to leak a LOT.

I drove down to Ocean Shore Hardware in Half Moon Bay and bought a replacement 5/8-inch coarse thread compression to 3/8-inch compression valve. Reading through a home repair book to dredge up old memories of working with my maternal grandfather, both a master carpenter and master plumber, 34 years ago when I was 16, I saw that the only way to remove a compression fitting from a straight copper pipe is with a hacksaw. And if the new one leaks, as the book says, hacksaw it off and start over. This is why I don't do this for a living, or even an hobby.

It leaked. A LOT. I knew this as I sprained my ankle slipping in the puddle it made in the kitchen. Actually, it wasn't so much leaking, as spraying while making a malevolent hissing noise. I turned the main valve to the house off again. I know when to get professional help...

So, I looked through the phone book to find an emergency plumbing service that works the Coastside. Rescue Rooter has a large ad in the yellow pages claiming that "We get there right away... and we get it right. Ask about our 60 minute emergency service". And they have a number for Half Moon Bay and the Coastside (650)761-1313.

Don't call that number. Fifty-five minutes after I called, I received a call back stating that their technician [Grandpa wasn't no technician, he was a craftsman] wasn't able to break away, so they would like to offer me a 10% discount if I could reschedule to 8 the next morning. I explained that the water was off to the whole house, and that my parents, in their 80's, live with me, and that simply wasn't an acceptable solution. So Daisy said that all she could do was phone me back in 45 to 60 minutes [never an hour, they hate when you call their 60 minute guarantee an hour]. She did so, to let me know that the "technician" still couldn't break away and the earliest their "Always Available - Nights, Weekends, holidays" [quoting their ad] service could get to me would be NINE AM the next morning. I told her again about my situation, and quoted their ad to her. It seems Rescue Rooter had no other plumbers, just the one. And I could take their 9 AM offer or go elsewhere. I imagine some other customer who couldn't be serviced tonight took the 8 AM time slot.

No one else listed as providing 24/7 emergency plumbing services on the Coastside even answered.

Luckily, second time was the charm. I had bought several valves at Ocean Shore, and I was able to get a successful compression seal on my next attempt. Of course, hacksawing off copper pipe, and going through all this takes time. So, my two hour job turned into nine hours. And the supply line going from the new valve to the faucet jammed in taking it off again, so I must get another.

I have a sprained ankle, metal splinters in my hand, and I'm very tired.

I DO NOT have any leaks. And water is flowing through all the pipes, except the ones leading to the new kitchen faucet. /sigh

AND... I have to be in Sunnyvale tomorrow at 7:30 [that's when I usually awaken] to volunteer at the ANZATech network 2006 event. I know Buzz Bruggeman will be speaking again this year. I'm not sure if Bill Daul will be there. How about you?

Many people have complained about heating problems with their MacBookPro's. I've experienced this as well, and have installed CoreDuoTemp.app to monitor the situation. With other apps running, such as Mail, iCal, Address Book, Safari, RSSowl, and the like, Audacity can get the temperature to over 80C, and cause a lockup. Normally, with these apps running, without Audacity, I run in the 50-57C range.

But working on the shaded deck of Café Cacao, with a cool breeze blowing, on a marble table top, I never got over 32C.

When I moved to the Bay Area some 22 years ago, I searched for the best, fresh roasted coffee beans I could find. Penninsula magazine had rated the fairly newly opened Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company as the best, so off I went to Los Gatos where I met the owner, Teri Hope, and developed a blend together that was perfect, to my taste, for use in a french press to be served au lait style. Teri named it Joseph Blend, and recently, even found the original rolodex card on which she had recorded the blend. Now, Michelle took the time to make a label.

Click to view original size

Thanks, Michelle.