A Neophyte’s Guide to the Singularity
I have capitulated. I have stopped avoiding the Singularity. For the past couple of years–at least–I have been catching threads of chatter about the concept of the Singularity–loosely, the point in time when, through Artificial Intelligence, genetic engineering or other technological manipulation, a superhuman intellect is born. I have heard just enough to be weirded out. So I’ve [...]
Truth, Reconciliation and Financial Markets
In April Bradley Fried, former CEO of the UK arm of South African Investment Bank Investec, wrote an OpEd for the Financial Times entitled Mandela’s Lessons in Truth for City High Fliers. The article came to mind this past Sunday morning, when I received an event invitation via email, tagged by the subject line Will the [...]
Transparency Trustfund
Back in June I wrote a brief note in which I enthused about just-launched flash sale site Fab.com. My ardor was fueled not only by the site’s great product and design, but also by founder-CEO Jason Goldberg’s commitment to a level of transparency surprising in any company, especially an early stage, venture-funded one. From Day [...]
Innovations in Finance: Minibonds
A small group of UK consumer companies has taken matters into their own hands. Growing, privately held, faced with a difficult credit environment, armed with a base of loyal customers and led mostly by passionate founder-CEOs, these companies have gone straight to the public to raise capital. They’ve done it in the form of debt, [...]
Tension of Either-Or
Back in July Seth Godin published a blog post entitled No Such Thing as Business Ethics. I’ve never read a book by Godin. I’m not a regular reader of his blog. So, I didn’t happen to see the post until mid-August. It’s stayed with me since. Around the same time that I read Godin’s piece [...]
The Sex Appeal of Freight Rail
As President Obama prepares to address a joint session of Congress on job creation and the state of the economy, he would do well to consider casting a light on the freight rail industry in his remarks. Freight rail? Freight rail–a surprising pocket of growth, investment, hiring and innovation in the much-maligned US infrastructure network. [...]
A Little Bit Obsessed
I am a little bit obsessed. Which is exactly what Elizabeth Cutler, Julie Rice, Denise Mari and Holly Thaggard want me to be. These four women are founders of three great companies whose terrific products make my life a little bit better, easier, happier and healthier. And they do it with flare, smarts and style–which, [...]
