Burgher Jon - The Internet Home of Jonathan Cavell

Risk from Partnerships on the Web

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 21, 2012 / Leave a comment

One reason I think that technology investment should be left to technologists is articles like this one in the Motley Fool. It discusses how companies can end up screwed over by Google when Google decides to compete directly. The example they give is WebMD which has a very high portion...
Book Review: Switch by the Heath Brothers

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 20, 2012 / Leave a comment

A former colleague of mine recommended Switch by Chip and Dan Heath a few weeks ago. It’s a book about Change and how to be an effective agent for it. Little did I know that the next few weeks of my life would encompass a great deal of change as...
Sauerkraut Sunday: The Cecilia und die Sauerkrauts Edition

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 19, 2012 / 1 Comment

That picture is an album cover. I’m going to present it without comment and give you a link to where you can download the CD. On to the purpose of Sauerkraut Sundays… As I go through the week, I use Twitter to send out little updates and links. I realize that I do...
Microsoft Will Win By Forfeit

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 17, 2012 / Leave a comment

The world is going to change. It’s moving in to the cloud. It’s moving on to your phone, your tablet, your netbook. In 5 or 10 years, you won’t use a desktop (there’s a good chance you already don’t), you probably won’t even use a laptop as we know it...
Finding Talent When You’re Not a Big Boy

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 13, 2012 / Leave a comment

The Pirates seem to be close to a deal with the New York Yankees to trade a minor prospect or two to the Yankees for veteran starting pitcher A.J. Burnett. The deal, on its surface, would seem to be the exact opposite of the Pirates’ MO. It’s not though, it is anticipated...
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 11, 2012 / 1 Comment

I came face to face with the downside of working for a startup this week. Unlike a super-sized corporation, small ones have a tendency to change directions in a hurry. The company I have spent the last few years at decided last week to make the strategic move of cutting a fair...
The Technology/Humanities Pendulum

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 8, 2012 / Leave a comment

As I read Steve Jobs biography I became very interested in just how non-technical he was. Don’t get me wrong; he had a grasp for technology and probably as much engineering skills (hardware and software) as most people in technology, but he didn’t become Steve Jobs and Apple didn’t become...
Sauerkraut Sunday: Super Sauerkraut Salad Edition

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 6, 2012 / Leave a comment

It’s late on Superbowl Sunday, so you’re not getting very interesting Sauerkraut bits today. All I could find on short notice is the above recipe for “Super Sauerkraut Salad” (find the original here). Since it’s Superbowl Sunday, it seemed appropriate enough. On to the purpose of Sauerkraut Sundays… As I go...
$100M Without Sales

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ February 4, 2012 / Leave a comment

I have mentioned Atlassian on this blog before. But this caught my eye. Atlassian has surpassed $100M in revenue without the use of sales people. Not just that, but they accomplished this in Enterprise IT. Part of me wants to say that they’re my heroes because they rely strictly on...
Have You Caught The Irony in Criticizing Romney for Bain Capital?

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ January 31, 2012 / Leave a comment

I have a feeling it’s going to be a theme for the next 10 months or so to criticize Mitt Romney’s role at Bain Capital. This is just raw ignorance, it shows a lack of understanding about private equity, struggling companies or capitalism in general. Unfortunately, there’s a very sad,...