Disqus - Latest Comments for shannonclark

Re: The Best OLED TV

Shannon Clark — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 20:47:23 -0000

You are flat out wrong. I had an OLED. LG had them on the market in 2014 and 2015. I know what I bought and it was not an LCD.

I am not going to run wires along my floor or ceilings - completely out of the question (I have a five year old who plays in this room and I’m not paying thousands of dollars to put wires in my ceiling - may not be that expensive in your part of the country but in the bay are contractors are very had to find for small jobs.

In any case I replaced it with an LG 4K tv which was <$500 on a serious sale from Costco and am very happy. Not OLED but a good image and cheap enough that a future accident isn’t a big deal. And I like LG’a smart OS features which having cut cable is important to us.

Re: The Best OLED TV

Shannon Clark — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 02:43:52 -0000

I had one of the LG OLED screens (curved) which I purchased in 2015 (55", 1040p) which my toddler just killed with one thrown toy.

So now considering what to replace it with (and if there are any ways to resist thrown toddler toys) - previously it was the best TV I've ever own (which isn't saying much - in 40 years I've only bought two TVs and owned only 4 total tvs ever). I don't own any external speakers so sound is also a consideration (should I get a sound bar? does it work if I mount the tv? what /where do I place the subwuffer? (sp? not really sure what that is/where it needs to go - audio tech isn't my speciality) - we've also recently eliminated cable and never watch sports - so all content will have to streamed via the smart TV, from my Playstation 4 or Xbox 360 (both of which I rarely turn on) or our BluRay players (which is also 3+ years old so not 4k/HDR as far as I know) - I may buy an AppleTV 4k or a Roku box to supplement whatever services the tv I now buy has. The room with our TV has sliding glass doors to the outside (but they do have curtains) so it does get a lot of sunlight in the daytime - but we also largely only use the TV at night after my son is asleep.

So suggestions? OLED? or LED? Having had the OLED for three years three months and a few days I'm reluctant to go back to anything else - but not ever having had 4k or HDR (which I've never actually deliberately seen- so no even sure if I can see the difference or have any content to watch) I don't know if a regular tv with the latest tech would look as good as my old OLED 1040p three+ year old tv?

(and given the chance of future damage from thrown toys I have to consider that as well) - previously the OLED was a treat to ourselves. One I had thought would last closer to the 10+ years we tend to own tvs (heck my mom still uses the one other tv I bought nearly 20 years ago)

Re: threadbase

Shannon Clark — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 17:13:50 -0000

Can you add data about 2xl and larger shirts?

Re: Network Equity

Shannon Clark — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 15:20:33 -0000

For companies such as Uber etc while I understand they want to limit the number of shareholders prior to going public but I don't see what the problem would be to extend their equity (or option) grants to the folks who are literally building their business their drivers. Private companies grant shares to outsiders all the time - Facebook famously paid an artist in shares to create art for their offices but all companies unless they have a clawback proviso will eventually have employees who have vested shares (or options) who leave the company to work elsewhere. And companies have been granting shares to outside advisors, partners, board members etc for decades. In the case of "sharing" economy businesses other than greed what is preventing a company from granting their contractors (whom I think in many cases should be classified as employees but that's a different discussion) equity.

For example in the case of Uber they might set a threshold and a time requirement for equity grants (for example a driver may have to have completed some X number of rides and have been active and not in dispute (i.e. poor ratings etc) for some specified period of time at which point they get a small equity grant subject to the same vesting and "insider" rules. So the grant might include a vesting schedule, it might include limitations on 3rd party sales etc.

Yes this might trigger rules around outside shareholders so there may be some complexity that would have to happen.

But there are likely solutions - for example instead of directly granting Uber drivers shares in Uber what about the following option. Uber creates an entity whose entire purpose is to own shares in Uber on behalf of Uber's drivers and partners - grants made by Uber would flow to this entity (which would be one external shareholder) and Uber's drivers (and possibly other partners) would instead get grants of an interest stake in that new entity.

Since that entity is unlikely to go public itself there might be provisos that in the event of Uber going public (or being acquired) those shares held would be distributed to the owners of that entity and the entity disolved.

(I'm not a lawyer or an accountant so I'm sure both would need to weigh in to figure out the actual structure).

Potentially this entity which Uber drivers would now collectively have an interest in (after they meet some thresholds and subject to some rules) could over time also offer other services or benefits to drivers (in which case that stake in the entity might have more value than just the shares in Uber that it corresponds to - for example such an entity might evolve into the vehicle via which Uber drivers buy as a group insurance, vehicles, health insurance, tax services etc)

A similar model might work for other "sharing" economy businesses - done well it might even help solidify the arguments about who is/is not an employee - and where/when Unions come into the picture this external entity might have a direct relationship with the respective Union(s). In any case it seems to me that some creativity - but equally a real desire to make it happen could indeed make the participants in a "sharing" economy share in the upside of the business but it would have to start with a real desire to actually share with them.

(on a separate note I think Easy did a pretty nifty job of letting active participants in their marketplace have a chance to participate in the IPO but many other companies haven't even made a token effort to reward their early and/or active users. LinkedIn for example I think could have and perhaps should have made a gesture towards their very earliest users when they went public - and yes, full disclosure, I was among their first 1000 users)

Re: Cooperstown Remembered…Twice

Shannon Clark — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:03:21 -0000

A great story - and remembering my own dad who died a few months ago I was crying on my commute to work this morning, nearly had to pull over. So you got me. Fantastic piece if also a bit of a gut punch. I haven't been to Cooperstown but I remember fondly the handful of trips my dad and I took together.

Re: A tech conference with perpsective

Shannon Clark — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 22:25:45 -0000

I was reacting to the first paragraph in particular which seemed to me to imply you wanted people who had achieved their success in their 20's and 39's. My point was that ideally such a gathering would also include folks who were innovating now whatever their age and irregardless of what they were doing in their 20's and 30's (they might have been doing entirely different work perhaps in very different fields)

I do really like this idea and would be happy to help however I can.

Re: A tech conference with perpsective

Shannon Clark — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 16:19:27 -0000

Why limit it or assume that people over the age of 50 have to talk about something the achieved while in their 20's or 30's? Plenty of folks in their 50's (and older) who are just going about doing things now that are interesting (or who did things when they were in their 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's etc.). Perhaps it is because I'm in my 40's but I fully expect to have many future accomplishments - and all around me I have seen and see examples of people not in their 20's and 30's accomplishing things today (or in the past). My grandfather (who died last year) had a long and accomplished career at Aerospace corporation running their satellite division where nearly every satellite they sent up to space was a first of its kind (and most were top secret). He did that while in his 50's and 60's (was forced to retire by Aerospace's then mandatory retirement age I thin of 65). I think the idea for this conference is great - I just think you shouldn't limit it to people looking back 20+ years to past accomplishments in their "youth" but should include folks who are still doing things today (or who had their accomplishments at an older age).

Re: The Best Subcompact Hatchback

Shannon Clark — Fri, 08 May 2015 14:23:52 -0000

The discussion raises one my of biggest issues with ALL car shopping, review and comparison sites - they assume that consumers care about car industry classifications (and even understand them). As a consumer I couldn't care less if something is a "subcompact" or a "compact hatchback" (or an "SUV" vs a "Crossover" vs a "Wagon") - what I care about are FUNCTION - and then stuff like drive, space, efficiency, cost (to buy and to own) etc. I don't care about the classifications a single whit. But almost every single site assumes that not only I do care but that I also know ahead of searching/researching which models fit into which classifications. I would really prefer if you focused your reviews less on industry classifications and more on functions - i.e. "best cars for a 1 or 2 child family w/young children", "best cars for commuters", "best cars for college students" etc. And then included cars ACROSS industry classifications (and explained which were in which classification for folks to know when pricing/searching out further information)

Re: The Best Hybrid Car

Shannon Clark — Fri, 08 May 2015 13:33:55 -0000

Will you be looking at other alternatives for fuel economy? Specifically modern diesel cars or high mpg gas vehicles? (VW's TDI diesels or Mercedes Diesels options in particular are ones I am considering - looking for options for a family with a toddler so back seat space is really important for me, as is trunk space. I'll try the new Prius V but every Prius I have driven in the past has had really bad blind spots & made my physically uncomfortable (possibly the later is solvable with enough seat adjustments but I could never quite get it positioned for me to feel comfortable driving on Priuses I have rented in the past)

Re: Should We Crowdfund ReadWrite? - by Owen Thomas

Shannon Clark — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 18:23:20 -0000

a few thoughts:

1) if you crowd fund you should look at 99 percent invisible's second campaign as a model - they raised far more than in their first campaign (over $600k to fund Radiotopia which is their network of podcasts - see https://www.kickstarter.com... - I was a proud backer). But as well you should look at a model that builds a REOCCURRING revenue stream not a one-time fund (either raise enough that you can fund operations from the earnings on those funds - i.e. a true endowment) or find a way to make whatever you do a renewing process not a one-off - that will let you plan for the future

2) the key to successful crowd funding is ongoing community engagement - before, during and after the crowd funding. Done well you have a deep pool of people invested in the success of your business who are already "customers"

3) keep it simple. Really really simple. Don't get too fancy with the backer levels (and especially not the rewards) and remember that anything you offer which isn't directly related to your core businesses will take time away from the main thing folks actually want to support. That said, you should also plan for success - what are "stretch goals" that you will be able to commit to doing if your support levels exceed your initial goals? And get creative with a few "out there" backer levels (one immediate thought - work with your parent company and see if you can offer a reward tier for something like $10k (max level for kickstarter but perhaps higher if you use another site) which might give that backer access to the early betas of all companies that are part of Wearable World's accelerators and might also include access to all of your events for a year etc. So really nice but actually not overly costly for you to deliver upon. What you shouldn't do is have levels that undercut your existing relationships (i.e. don't undersell your current advertising relationships for example)

4) be as brutally transparent as you can be - this is what often trips up folks doing kickstarters or other crowd funding - the more transparent they are about the costs they anticipate the more they demonstrate thoughtfulness, attention to detail and pre-planning that can lead to a long-term successful business. But if you can't disclose things like your actual costs (which get sticky as they are largely folk's salaries) and other related revenue streams then it is harder for potential backers to judge if your numbers are realistic relative to what you are promising (i.e. if you raised $100k but promised that you could hire a bunch of additional full time staff for that number and cover stories across the globe I would be skeptical and I suspect I wouldn't be the only one who would be. Pebble is a pretty good model here and if you look at most of the recently successful to a large scale crowd funding projects they generally are very realistic about how each additional stretch goal will enable them to deliver more - and how their base target level gets them to fulfillment of all that they have promised and beyond.

Re: What is the Definition of a Seed Round or an A Round?

Shannon Clark — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 16:33:05 -0000

as an entrepreneur and friend to many entrepreneurs (and investors) this is great advice. In general entrepreneurs who are obsessed with names and perceptions often miss the biggest part of building a successful business - not what you call your rounds, or the titles you give employees and yourself but do you make something that creates value and can you repeat that at scale. Back in the 1990's I interviewed at a "startup" - by the time I had walked past the multiple VP's offices to the office of the person interviewing me I was certain that both I wouldn't take the role and that the company however well funded would fail. Likewise if entrepreneurs I talk with are obsessed with what to call a round or even with trying to set all of the terms of their deal (before they even are negotiating with investors) I take that as a sign of inexperience at a minimum.

Re: The May Report: Final Report – No Really

Shannon Clark — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 17:36:18 -0000

Ron - I remember meeting you in the mid-1990's, in the midst of the first Web 1.0 tech boom long before you had started your report and getting your advice about interviewing, my resume and my career.

While I didn't end up joining that company you had called me about, I'm glad we remained friends in the many years after.

As a fellow University of Chicago attendee (and fellow not quite graduate) we shared a wide ranging conversations over the years. I moved away from Chicago back in 2006 so missed your more recent reporting on the Chicago tech scene - but I'm sorry we won't be able to continue our conversations when I get back into town in the future.

I hope your contributions and newsletters will be preserved as the bits of Chicago history that they are. While you were most definitely a character I know I'm far from alone in already missing you and your unique voice and contributions.

Re: Should Jensen Do Epic Sh*t Or Just Disrupt!? | Net Minds Blog

Shannon Clark — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:11:06 -0000

I'd vote no - but not for language offensiveness reasons but for simple discovery and promotional issues - any non-traditional words will make it all that much harder for people to search for and find your title as people write it out differently in reviews, blog posts and tweets. I'd probably say if you are going to go for it - go all the way and don't use the Sh*t form but just come out and say "Do Epic Shit". I also find the "25 Successful habits for an extremely disruptive world" a bit repetitive (and long) for a book titled Disrupt! - but that's a personal preference.

Re: a16z

Shannon Clark — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:20:57 -0000

Congratulations Chris. Is a16z hiring - perhaps for that research group? (after years of being an entrepreneur, consultant and event organizer I'm looking for a position where I can have a larger impact than I can independently)

Re: $1m in 1 Day: Meet Double Fine, the New Kings of Kickstarter

Shannon Clark — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:34:07 -0000

Marshall,

A few other points to track:

1) 10 people have already (as I write this) committed $5000+ for original artwork, one person over $10,000 (at least), 57 people have pledged $1000 for having a portrait of them being made by the game artists and over $600 have pledged $250 for a signed poster. Also over 2125 have pledged $100+ for the poster (unsigned). And over 9000 have pledged more than $30 for the HD access to the documentary film as well as the digital soundtrack.

2) The filmmakers here have some gaming industry "cred" as well - they filmed a year long documentary about Minecraft (which as a reference point has made well north of $15M in sales of their alpha/beta product - done directly via their own website.

3) Just earlier today the first Kickstarter project to hit $1M happened (the Evolution Dock - a design project by a relatively unknown designer) what's really interesting about Kickstarter at the moment is that Double Fine is showing the amazing growth potential when a celeb (at least in his niche) uses the site effectively - but at the same time massive success by unknowns with a great product idea and execution as still possible.

I think Kickstarter is one of the most important things happening (online or offline) right now

Re: After Four Years as ReadWriteWebâ€™s Lead Writer, Hereâ€™s My Next Adventure

Shannon Clark — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:59:14 -0000

Marshall,

Congratulations on the move from blogger to entrepreneur. When Plexus Engine is up and running I may have some possible clients for you - we should chat (perhaps in early 2012 when I'm back online from my honeymoon).

Re: BetaCandy - Connecting startups with early adopters

Shannon Clark — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:13:29 -0000

Doodlescan looks like it should feed into Evernote (among other products)

Re: Flying to a Higher Altitude with Altimeter Group

Shannon Clark — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:32:50 -0000

Congratulations to Brian and to the team at Altimeter - a great addition! I still need to get down and see the office someday, sorry I won't be at SXSW this year.

Re: Nordstrom Acquires Flash Sales Site HauteLook For $270 Million

Shannon Clark — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:48:26 -0000

In addition to the companies you mention at the end of this article I would imagine that Macy's (formerly Federated Department Stores) owner of Macy's and Bloomingdales (and late Marshall Fields among other older brands) would be a highly logical acquirer of a deal site - and could leverage their hugely successful and popular existing rewards card holders to boost the membership of such a site. I could easily see them leveraging a deals site as a premium reward for their Gold and Platinum (etc) tier rewards card holders - folks who are already spending $1000's each year at Macy's.

Re: Forget \"Brand Conversations\" on Social Networks

Shannon Clark — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:39:30 -0000

I will write a longer reply on my blog (which is in part all about Branding - see http://slowbrand.com) but I think Rushkoff is completely wrong.

Brands matter now more than ever before - in no small part because more companies and products are competing for attention & sales than at any time ever before in history. No longer are (most) consumers in the global marketplace limited to just a small handful of choices and options - across almost all categories (other than some which are geographic services and in most cases protected by some form of legalized monopoly or oligarchy - i.e. Internet access in the US, phone service, power etc)

It is also well worth remembering that most "brands" compete with each other even across what is often thought about as "different" categories - i.e. the movies you choose to spend money seeing compete with the games you choose to play, the types of food you buy especially meals out and all the other discretionary ways you have to spend your money and your time.

In this environment strong brands have a great deal of value - they cut through a lot of clutter, they offer clean and simple and (hopefully) authoritative ways for a discussion about a product or service to occur.

Rushkoff is also wrong in that the "Keebler Elves" are NOT the brand. They are an advertising campaign - the BRAND is Keebler (or even more specifically Keebler's products). Pepperidge Farms has a great ad that illustrates this which is currently running on many food related cable channels - in the ad they highlight the ingredients that go into a number of their different products and then promote each of those product brands (Milano cookies for example) all under the larger rubric of the brand of Pepperidge Farms.

Without brands (and Rushkoff is his own brand) it is very hard to have a conversation about a product.

Consider the dilemma most current laptop makers and most car companies face at the moment - they have "brands" which are so cluttered and overburdened it is nearly impossible for one ThinkPad user to talk about their laptop in a way that would allow another person to buy the same product. Can you explain to me the differences between the Letter & Number combo brands for most european car companies? (BMW, Mercedes Benz and Audi in particular are egregious here). Even if you want to if can be hard to recall which letter & number combo describes the car(s) which are appropriate for a particular person in a particular stage of life & family.

In contrast strong modern brands carve out a very clearly defined message and identity. .Apple is a master of this (though they failed slightly with the iPhone 3 vs iPhone 3g) but generally Apple restricts their product lineup and defines each product (including their OS versions) with a clear brand identity and name. Mini Cooper in the car world is also quite focused even as they have been expanding their car lineup. Ford has been doing a better job than many in defining and creating new brands for their modernized lineup of cars (though they do face an uphill battle with some of their brands that have legacy implications such as Focus)

In short (okay in some length) I think that Brands are more valuable now than almost ever before - a clear, well defined brand is in many ways the price of entry to being able to be the topic of conversation between people - if you do not have a brand people can refer to when talking about your product or service then mostly those conversations won't happen - and if they do happen you (as in the company) will almost never be able to listen or react or contribute.

Smart companies whether large or brand new know this and use clear and unique brands to form a starting point around which social engagement can occur and along with that actual sales.

Re: TechCrunch Giveaway: Tickets To The 2010 Crunchies #Crunchies

Shannon Clark — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:18:46 -0000

I've been to most past TechCrunch events but don't, yet, have tickets for the Crunchies later this month... so would love to attend & see this year's awards

Re: An industry challenge: build “MicroSXSW” to bring back fun times at SXSW

Shannon Clark — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:29:09 -0000

yup - plenty of sources for booze - my thought is that if the microsxsw events don't have it that naturally will help both keep the crowds down a bit and rotate people in and out of the party (as even light drinkers go elsewhere)

of course I'm a very very very light drinker... :)

Re: An industry challenge: build “MicroSXSW” to bring back fun times at SXSW

Shannon Clark — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:24:07 -0000

A few immediate thoughts:

- parties without alcohol will likely attract a different crowd

- networking can happen at other times than the evening - perhaps sponsor a series of breakfast or lunch events (or help organize groups of people to go get lunch or dinner?)

- the party bus idea is a good one - I recall fondly the Karaoke Bus from years ago

- a simple trick - the more well lit the space, the less likely it is to attract a crowd focused on drinking/partying

- I used to run my MeshWalk series of conferences which were held in motion - the format encouraged people to talk in small groups (it is very hard to talk to more than a few people while you are all walking) perhaps Rackspace can sponsor "parties" which take place WITHOUT actually having a venue? i.e. a big walking party (perhaps between other events which would peel people off) but with the sponsor (i.e. Rackspace) picking up the tab for a few things along the way - coffee, tea, late night tacos ? (walking would also require this to be an alcohol free party)

- one of the biggest issues at SXSW, especially as the crowds grow, is the need to get back to your hotel to drop off bags etc - if Rackspace sponsored a secure bag check that would be a huge win for attendees stuck at farther out hotels

- given the high probability of rain at SXSW the walking idea may have some issues - but handing out branded umbrellas would both make it each to find the group and be deeply appreciated....

I may go back to SXSW this year, though the cost of hotels is a worry...

Re: The Rise Of The Gentleman Hacker

Shannon Clark — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:29:36 -0000

The danger however is that it is all to easy for such a venture to be akin to similar projects that Paul Allen (Vulcan - lots of cool projects but somehow now focused on being a patent troll - but I knew a guy who was working for Paul Allen building custom audio equipment for all of his homes & boats including a submarine) or Mitch Kapor (yes Mozilla is fantastic but his long running Chandler project's failures were the subject of a great book by my friend Scott Rosenberg - Dreaming in Code - which chronicled the challenges having a well funded but perhaps too large & too isolated from business pressure development team can bring).

But I would also agree that 2011 isn't the early-mid 2000's, that even smaller teams can do far more now than ever before - and a bunch of hackers with funding and resources could indeed build a bunch of really interesting things - and likely could lead to some successful businesses.

And heck as a serial entrepreneur with far too many ideas (but not enough capital) I wouldn't turn down such an opportunity to explore ideas with some resources behind me.

In other fields than technology this sounds very very similar to how many "Think Tanks" work - bring a bunch of smart people together, give them resources & stable incomes - let them loose to create though typically driven some some overall focus & mission (however loosely defined).

Re: The perfect Thanksgiving meal online?

Shannon Clark — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:39:23 -0000

Robert,

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Last year I cooked for 22 friends, this year we're hosting my gf's family.

I go for the very simplest dishes - almost nothing I make has more than a handful of ingredients (but I get them fresh and local where possible).

Start with the best turkey you can afford - fresh, organic, free range and if possible heritage make for a dramatically different bird. I always stuff mine (yes I know the risks) and use a rack, simply rub butter (or olive oil) salt and pepper and rarely do not do anything complicated. I don't baste etc.

My stuffing is bread cubes, sauteed onions, celery and poultry spices. That's it. Stuffed in the bird and then on the side for vegetarians (moistened by vegetable stock)

Cranberry sauce I make is fresh whole berries, sugar and water. Again keeping it simple. I've found that mixing the sugar and water & boiling it to form a syrup then adding the berries and cooking until they pop works really well.

This year I'm also roasting carrots, green beans, cauliflower & golden beets for four nice simple sides (olive oil, sea salt roast in a hot oven - 400+ until nicely done, finish with balsamic or other nice vinegar)

And I'm making mashed yukon gold potatoes and yams - I made this last year without adding any butter or milk. I quartered the potatoes (skin on because I like them), boiled them in two big pots, drained but left in the pots and mashed in the pots - resulted in very creamy and tasty potatoes.

And I make a couple of pumpkin pies usually entirely from scratch though this year I will probably use canned pumpkin but I make my crusts from scratch.

For me Thanksgiving is all about simple, classic flavors. I avoid complex recipies with lots of ingredients. I'm not much for gravy (partially because my turkey is always moist)

Have fun cooking!

Shannon