College Advice

Over Thanksgiving dinner, I talked with my neighbor, a smart high school senior, about where he wanted to go to college. But before we got too far in, he told me a number that shocked me: $20,000. That’s the cost of instate tuition, fees, books, and dorms at the University of Wisconsin. When I…

Why I Deleted Facebook and Twitter from my iPhone

In early January I was in LA and my parents invited me to go a whale watching cruise for a few hours. I’d never been whale watching and decided it sounded like a great way to spend an afternoon with my family. About an hour into the voyage, the…

Real Starters: Entrepreneurship Classes at Universidad Católica

I had the privilege to moderate and judge demo day for the entrepreneurship classes at Universidad Catolica today. It all started two years ago in November 2010. My fellow Startup Chile pilot round entrepreneurs Enrique…

Facebook’s IPO Confirms the New Role for Capital Markets

Many are calling Facebook’s IPO a bust because it didn’t pop on the first day. Others are decrying the fact that Facebook “took all the profits for themselves” at the expense of individual investors. Facebook’s stock may or may not…

The New Deadmau5 Track and the Internet: The Way of the Future

About a month ago, Deadmau5 (pronouced Deadmouse) was creating a new track. Instead of hiding for a month in a studio and then releasing the track to the world, he decided he would live stream video of his creative…

Travelogue: Buenos Aires

In October I returned from my third trip to Buenos Aires in the last year. This time it was for four short days with my friend Jesse who was visiting from Wisconsin, but other times it’s been for business. There’s so much going on in Buenos Aires that I didn’t feel like it was worth…

The US Economy Needs Chemo

There are two huge trends affecting the world economy. First, the world is going through the biggest economic shift since the industrial revolution. New technology is changing every industry and it’s happening fast.

A Funny Story about an Acquisition that Didn’t Happen

In startups, as in life, you cannot have regrets. Here’s a story about an acquisition offer that I rejected in 2006 that would have been worth millions today.

Fixing My Relationship with Facebook

I’ve always had a rocky relationship with social networks. I joined Facebook in Fall 2008, pulled in by the girl I liked who kept pushing me to join. It was awesome in college. A great way to meet new people. A great way to stay in touch with my high school friends…

Startup Chile Pilot Round Companies: Statistics After One Year

Starting in late 2010, the Chilean government spent $880,000 ($40k/company) to initiate Startup Chile’s pilot round, bringing 22 startups comprised of 33 entrepreneurs to Santiago. It’s been just over a year since the last…

How to Ask Me For Help

I get a few emails each week from people asking for help. Whether its about startups or anything else, I enjoy trying to help out.

I get emails from people I know, others are via introductions. Some are completely cold. I try to answer every email I get quickly…

Why I will Vote for Obama in November

I am going to vote for Barack Obama this November, but not for the reasons most people will. I didn’t last time. I didn’t vote for McCain either.

I believe that Barack Obama has been a bad President. He has shown little to no leadership…

Travelogue Colombia: Cartagena, Isla Baru, Tayrona, Taganga

Last month, I headed off to Colombia’s Caribbean coast with six Chilean friends for some much needed vacation. Through a fluke of holidays, my friends could take a two week trip with only 5 days off from their jobs. Colombia is…

What I Learned from Jesse Davis

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote,”every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.” It’s one of my favorite quotes. This post is the first in a series that highlight some of the awesome people I’ve had the privilege to learn from.

The Biggest Problem Starting Up Outside San Francisco or NYC

Quick, what’s the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs starting their businesses outside of San Francisco and NYC?

Most entrepreneurs outside of these cities will say “MONEY! We need investors!”…

Taxing and Spending

[caption id=”attachment_2161" align=”alignleft” width=”200"]

cc: bornsquishy.com[/caption]

On the first day of my freshman year of college I was 5'9 and weighed in at 150 pounds. That’s 1.75m and 68 kilos for my foreign readers. I was in…

#FixYoungAmerica

Since the Great Recession started, young people have weathered a disproportionate amount of the shocks that have resonated through the economy. Four years later, youth employment is at a 60 year low and student loan debt, which you can’t even get rid of via bankruptcy, is almost $1T. That’s…

How to Renew your Chilean Work Visa

I’ve gotten a bunch of questions lately about how to renew your Chilean work visa that you got as part of Startup Chile. You have three options:

1. Let your visa expire. You must leave the country within 2 weeks of your visa’s expiration or…

Santorum: The First Ungoogleable Presidental Candidate?

Rick Santorum finished a surprise 2nd place in the Iowa Caucus yesterday after gaining a ton of ground in the past two weeks with a huge grassroots campaign that took him to every county in Iowa. Santorum finished a surprising 8 votes…