VivaBusiness 2.0

Well, there are probably a few surfers who have been dragged across the bottom at Mavericks who could hazard a guess, but some undersea maps released today by California and federal agencies explain it in geologic detail. Basically, the energy from big, long-period swells with a lot of west in them get funneled toward the rocky bottom extending out into the ocean from Pillar Point. The wave itself occurs because of a rocky shelf that sits above the rest of the sea bottom. When the right size swell gets forced up and over the shelf, the wave jacks up and collapses on itself, or breaks.  Much surfing ensues. Check out  what it’s like it to be a swell coursing in towards Mavericks here. You can see how the abrupt change in the depth of the sea bottom forces the ocean to stand up and deliver huge winter surf.

A new layer powered by Google Earth dropped today in conjunction with this American Institute of Architect’s site to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the U.S.-based architects’ association. Google Earth users can  now view 3-D images of the nation’s 150 most popular structures down to the trees. Some of the "buildings" that made the cut for the most popular list include: No. 1, the Empire State Building, Fenway Park, the Apple Store on 5th Ave. in NYC, the Twin Towers and the Golden Gate Bridge. A very cool use of Google Earth.  Just like the Crisis in Darfur project, it shows the simple power of the technology.

First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman lays out how he evaluates pitches from entrepreneurs, and what you should be thinking about when you are pitching any VC (Kopelman in particular).

Kopelman writes on his blog: "Lately I’ve found myself in a number of pitch sessions where I’ve quickly realized that the entrepreneur’s pitch did not correspond to the framework I use to analyze a company. All investors have some type of mental model and set of proxies that they use to help them evaluate a company and how it fits into an overall market. This model will often drive the types of questions that a VC will ask. This is not rocket science - rather, just some common sense.  For example, if you are entering into an existing market with entrenched players, a VC will place a lot of importance on understanding the competitive landscape.

To really deliver a knock-out pitch, an entrepreneur should have an understanding of how the model works, and frame their presentation squarely within it. This allows them to anticipate the questions that the VCs are likely to ask before they ask them."

The first step is to decide which model your company fits into. Kopelman continues in his post to describe the framework he uses when analyzing a company, and that you ought to be thinking about in describing and pitching your startup.

It’s a very good point that Kopelman makes. Both in the specifics, but also in the overarching point that you ought to gather as much information as you can about a VC before you pitch them. The same pitch will resonate differently with different VCs. Do some legwork on how the folks you are pitching work and think, and you will have a better sense of  how you can best present your idea or startup to fit within their investing framework. And if it doesn’t fit, you need to know that going in, and either change your pitch, as Kopelman suggests, or find another VC.

Mobio, a mobile application startup that made our Next Net 25 list this year, launches a public beta of its service  tomorrow. What they have done is group 50 mobile applications and widgets into collections that serve different purposes, for example: stepping out or outwitting the kids or sports center.  Check here, to see if Mobio will work with your phone. If it does, check it out and lemme know what you think.

I have not been a big user of mobile apps, but the combination of hardware and software is starting to make the experience much better. Still, aside from email I haven't been sold  yet. Mobio could change that.

Stanford Professor and author of The No Asshole Rule Bob Sutton  and startup guy Guy Kawasaki along with the gang at LinkedIn have ginned up a checklist of 10 items  to help  assess if a prospective boss is likely to be an asshole. What Kawasaki and Sutton recommend is that before you take that job offer, do a reference check on your future boss (using LinkedIn as the tool to find the references, of course) and then ask the following questions:

1.      Kisses-up and kicks-down: “How does the prospective boss respond to feedback from people higher in rank and lower in rank?” “Can you provide examples from experience?” One characteristic of certified assholes is that they tend to demean those who are less powerful while brown-nosing their superiors.

2.      Can’t take it: “Does the prospective boss accept criticism or blame when the going gets tough?” Be wary of people who constantly dish out criticism but can’t take a healthy dose themselves.

3.      Short fuse: “In what situations have you seen the prospective boss lose his temper?” Sometimes anger is justified or even effective when used sparingly, but someone who “shoots-the-messenger” too often can breed a climate of fear in the workplace. Are co-workers scared of getting in an elevator with this person?

4.      Bad credit: “Which style best describes the prospective boss: gives out gratuitous credit, assigns credit where credit is due, or believes everyone should be their own champion?” This question opens the door to discuss whether or not someone tends to take a lot of credit while not recognizing the work of his or her team.

5.      Canker sore: “What do past collaborators say about working with the prospective boss?” Assholes usually have a history of infecting teams with nasty and dysfunctional conflict. The world seems willing to tolerate talented assholes, but that doesn’t mean you have to.

6.      Flamer: What kind of email sender is the prospective boss?
Most assholes cannot contain themselves when it comes to email: flaming
people, carbon-copying the world, blind carbon copying to cover his own
buttocks. Email etiquette is a window into one’s soul.

7.      Downer: “What types of people find it difficult to work with
the prospective boss? What type of people seem to work very well with
the prospective boss?” Pay attention to responses that suggest
“strong-willed” or “self-motivated” people tend to work best with the
prospective boss because assholes tend to leave people around them
feeling de-energized and deflated.

8.      Card shark: “Does the prospective boss share information for
everyone’s benefit?” A tendency to hold cards close to one’s
chest—i.e., a reluctance to share information—is a sign that this
person treats co-workers as competitors who must be defeated so he or
she can get ahead.

9.      Army of one: “Would people would pick the prospective boss
for their team?” Sometimes there is upside to having an asshole on your
team, but that won’t matter if the coworkers refuse to work with that
person. Use this question to help determine if the benefit of having
the prospective boss on your team outweighs any asshole behaviors.

10.  Open architecture: “How would the prospective boss respond if a copy of  The No Asshole Rule appeared on her desk?” Be careful if the answer is, “Duck!”

You couldn’t swing a dead cat yesterday at Coupa Café in downtown Palo Alto without hitting a VC, an angel investor, a  startup CEO or five wanna-be startup CEOs.  Clearly this small spot (get the Venezuelan spicy hot chocolate) is the meet-and-greet place of choice for the latest generation of startup stars - especially the Web 2.0 crowd.

I walked into Coupa waiting for Antonio Rodriguez, CEO of Tabblo, a photo site recently purchased by HP. In one corner sat LinkedIn’s Kay Luo, talking with a former SimplyHired colleague. Hunkered down at a nearby table was Greylock’s David Sze, in conversation with Polaris Venture’s Mike Hirschland, and  heavy-hitter angel Brett Bullington (Bullington and Reid Hoffman recently invested in build-your-own Flash game site Kongregate). There were also two other gentlemen I didn’t know who were of the startup entrepreneur flavor.

In walks Antonio, who since he’s from Cambridge, Mass. knows Hirschland. Brett was on the board of Flickr, Antonio just finished meeting with Flickr’s co-founder Stewart Butterfield. Anyway, you get the picture, the place is lousy with the startup eco-system of the Valley. The final connection was of a lower-tech variety. Turns out Antonio’s family, which is from Venezuela, actually owns a food conglomerate that sells the spicy Venezuelan chocolate.

So, if you are interested in watching pitch meetings go down for your own startup education,or simply from an anthropological perspective the address is: 538 Ramona Street.