Quickthink

I thought that I was pretty cool. After all, I had modified my negroni recipe more than once. But … I have to confess. I have not dabbled in aperol. NYT thinks I am outre.

I don’t know about you, but I am getting seriously annoyed by something I don’t see on the web. I read articles about stuff that happened at the Olympics. And some — not many — embed a video clip.  When I click on the video, I get a message saying that it has been taken down due to a copyright claim.

Oh come on. This is ridiculous. Whoever is policing the web to insure that no video gets out except through authorized channels has guaranteed at least one thing. That I stopped caring about following what happens at the Olympics.  I’ll take it in at a distance. But do I care if I get to see a video of an event? No. Not when I feel the hot breath of the copyright police. That takes all of the fun out of the Olympics for me. Instead of being a great amateur sporting event, it feels like the whole thing was bought and sold.

Making it worse, what video does one find? Video of Lolo Jones crying about her dissing by NYT, and then video of her team mates piling it on, saying that they deserved more media attention. Hello. This is supposed to be an athletic event, not a reality TV show.

And of course, the above isn’t the only evidence of the commercial nature of the games. The Olympics is also about branding. Big time branding. Tech Dirt informs us that this goes all the way to the Olympic brand of free condoms given out to the athletes.  I am not against branding per se. But hasn’t this gotten a bit out of hand?

Fred Wilson is offering a skills share course on “sustainability” this October. Fred knows a thing or two about it as a VC. But we can already imagine some of the things that Fred will talk about.

• Is your idea in a field/market that you already know something about? Starting from zero means having to pivot a lot. Branson seems to enjoy doing that - but he is good at pulling the plug too.
• Do you have an idea worth sustaining? As per Mr. Jobs, saying “no” to good ideas is the best way to focus on finding “great” ones.
• Does your idea link to a growth market? Great ideas in shrinking markets are for romantics only
• Does the story line connect to a long term adventure? If not, your great idea may be just a “one off”
• Can you get other talented people engaged in the process? Yes, I mean forming a great team. You can’t sustain anything on your own.
• How will you “out-iterate” the competition? Steve Blank offered a thought on this the other day.

It will be fun to see how much the above tracks Fred’s more nuanced thinking.