Rather than Bill Gates

I was interested in a story about Bill Gates Sr's presentation to
Rotary International.  I've often wondered how much better-off our society would be if,
rather than attempting to emulate Bill Gates Jr, young men & women would
emulate Bill Gates Sr.  They would try their best to inspire hard work,
creativity, dedication and curiosity in their children.  THAT is a sure
deal.  Becoming Bill Gates Jr. is a long shot.

Luddites & the Long Tail

On the subject of the complexity of technology (James Gaskin sent me this link)

It's important not to be sucked into the narrowmindedness of a Luddite. The reason manufacturers put too many features in your phone is that you needed feature 'F' and that got combined with features 'A' through 'Z' to aggregate demand for all the phone buyers needed to justify the manufacturer's R&D for the phone. Since they can't possibly make only 'F' phones, you need to trip over the user interface for all the other features (some of which are mutually exclusive, contradictory and inconsistent - oops!)

There is a great book on the subject: Inmates Are Running The Asylum. (I'll try to rescue it from whereever Beth Ann hides my unfinished books and finish it.)

One consequence is The Long Tail.

More tomorrow.

Entrepreneur analogy

You're skipping a stone across a pond.  Everyone skips a few times then sinks...some skip more than others, some fewer, but they all end up at the bottom.

But one skips once, twice and then a bird swoops into its path, snatches the stone from the air.  You watch as the stone climbs higher and higher until it disappears from sight.

That's what every entrepreneur sees with every venture.