Curiouser and Curiouser! on investment http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic investment Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Markets hitting bottom? Fri, 12 Jul 2002 21:05:11 +0100 <P><A href="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jul2002/nf20020712_0407.htm">Business Week</A>.&nbsp; Accelerating mutual fund redemptions shows that we have finally reached the classic bear market capitulation phase.&nbsp; Another couple months of this and we could finally see a bottom in the market.&nbsp; Excellent time to start getting funds together to begin investing again. [<A href="http://jrobb.userland.com/">John Robb's Radio Weblog</A>]</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P>» One of the things that is hitting me, as I read up about starting a business, is that although I have exactly 1 employee and no customers right now, I need to be thinking about what my business is will be like in the future and then plan how I get there.</P> <P>That means that, as inconceivable as it is to me now, at some point I am going to need funding to grow.</P> <P>Guess I better start understanding this stuff then...</P> <P>&nbsp;</P></BLOCKQUOTE> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000183.html My company will be like this Sun, 14 Jul 2002 22:03:43 +0100 <A href="http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13325">Be Creative Or Die</A>.&nbsp; I particularly like the explanation of the three T's that drive the growth of 'creative communities' such as those found in San Francisco and Boston. See: <BLOCKQUOTE>My theory uses the three T's: technology, talent and tolerance. You need to have a strong technology base, such as a research university and investment in technology. That alone is a necessary but not in itself sufficient condition. Second, you need to be a place that attracts and retains talent, that has the lifestyle options, the excitement, the energy, the stimulation, that talented, creative people need. And thirdly, you need to be tolerant of diversity so you can attract all sorts of people -- foreign-born people, immigrants, woman as well as men, gays as well as straights, people who look different and have different appearances. </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>I think I am going to have to buy this book ... [<A href="http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/0/E79924B9B266C48A80256B8D004BB5AD/">Gurteen Knowledge-Log</A>] <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P>» As someone thinking about growing a business (okay actually I'm thinking about how to pay rent but at some point it's gotta grow yes?) this is interesting. <P>It describes some key factors in creating an ideal workplace: <UL dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <UL> <LI>strong technology base</LI> <LI>excitement, energy, stimulation</LI> <LI>tolerance & diversity</LI></UL></UL> <P dir=ltr>Of course it's a monumentally wierd idea to me now to be considering the kind of workplace I want to create for my future staff... <P dir=ltr>&nbsp;</P></BLOCKQUOTE> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000193.html Business Journalling as investment Sun, 23 Mar 2003 10:29:48 +0000 <P>I've had an old friend come visit from Yale so I haven't been slave to the keyboard for a few days -- I'm catching up though.</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P><A href="http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1592530">Blogging = Investing</A>. I don't spend much time reading good old paper off-line and since I was reading a book at the time I missed until today <A href="http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1592530">this article</A> on an almost one month old issue of The Economist. </P> <BLOCKQUOTE>For the past decade or so, sociologists have been pushing one more concept, "social capital" - trust or community, in one of its guises - that is now also being taken up by economists. Crudely speaking, the more people trust each other, the better off their society. They might work more efficiently together, for example. In business, trust might obviate the need for complicated contracts, and thus save on lawyers' fees.</BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Besides using "social capital" to measure countries' economic power, I belive that the same concept can be applied to any community. Applied to the weblogs community, this concept help explaining the huge power that has been unleashed by blogging. Reading other people's weblogs creates trust and efficiency, and it's an excellent base to build businesses and relationships. This is interesting also for k-logging (or "business journalling"): if a country with a better community is richer, then also a company with a better developed trust and efficiency amoung its workers is going to be better off than others. So, no, we are not wasting time writing on our weblogs, <EM>we're investing</EM>. [<A href="http://paolo.evectors.it/">Paolo Valdemarin: Paolo's Weblog</A>]</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>I've little to add to a good piece by Paolo, other than that we are also exploring the ways in which companies can develop the infrastructure to allow employee's to make these investments and in how they can reap the benefit of their investment.</P> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001313.html Dial-a-lunatic Mon, 12 Sep 2005 23:15:58 +0100 <p>So Skype have been acquired for $2.6bn? I heard that their recent revenue was $7m. That gives them a P/E of about 371. What kind of crack are the ebay boys smoking? I've seen a couple of people talking about synergy between Skype and ebay. Sounds like a lot of post-fact justification and nonsense to me. The only rational analysis I've heard is ebay defending their patch by preventing other large communities offering auction services. If that's true this is the most expensive anti-pissing campaign on record. So if you're planning to join (or start) a VOIP company I'd do it soon. Equity is like a pyramid scheme, the big weasels cash out early and leave everying else in the shit. That time will be soon.</p> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002898.html