e burbidge #idealab12

Eileen Burbidge (@eileentso)

Taken: July 20, 2004 (Tallinn Estonia)source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/43922369

Howard HartenbaumTim Draper

Steve Jurvetson Mark TluczTaavet Hinrikus

Mike VolpiDanny Rimer

Niklas Zennstrom

Jaan Tallinn

Janus Friis

Ahti Heinla

Toivo Annus

Priit Kaselu

Kaido Karner

Had never heard of the companyNet2Phone, VoIP available (MSN, AIM, etc)Personally “meh” about the product/USP I avoid talking on the phoneDistributed team (remote dev)Founders didn’t look me in the eyesNo real officeLast-round interview at the pubNo employment contract (no senior title)

KaZaA founders“Something” thereSkeleton crewMystiqueCost of living coveredKaZaA foundersKaZaA foundersKaZaA foundersKaZaA founders

Shit smart (wit+common sense) Insecure; worked to impressMan-crushing on everyoneWorking hard, playing hardESOL precise (no bullshit)Asked questions all the timeMutually respectfulGot shit done

Laser-sharp vision Intelligent + insightfulWorked all the timeTrusted his developersGreedy

Conflict-aversePassive aggressiveGreedy

Laser-sharp tacticsCrazy smartWorked 24/7Hired the bestSlave-driverPainfully directAggressive aggressive

Work your ass off (quality with quantity)

Always get something out of itMake the choices that make you

nervousYou never know what will be the

next big thing (Skype, Twitter, Rovio (Angry Birds), OMGPop (Draw Something), Instagram

be passionate about your market, users, product

be the co-/founder, CEO, leadprotect from dilution at all costsonly raise from big-brand VCs

…but it helps!

"What Skype is doing is like a toy," says Hossein Eslambolchi, AT&T's chief technology officer and president of AT&T Labs. "They will realize they can't scale it, they don't have a brand like the AT&T brand, and they don't have the local footprint, which we have. It's going to be very hard to compete with someone like AT&T."

Fortune Magazine, Feb 09, 2004

You have nothing to lose

You can always get a job at Siemens or Google

Go work with amazing people (weird is good)

Find complementary sets of individuals/skillsLearn from the process; make shit up If decisions aren’t scary, it’s too easyBe paranoid about being found out

“The Internet isn’t going to work in Europe.” (1996)

Robert Dighero

“Why would I use Twitter?” (2007)

“Microsoft Excel and business models are a sub-genre of science fiction.” (on-going)Stefan Glänzer