Unsolicited Advice

Money as the Root of All Good

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ July 16, 2012 / Leave a comment

I thought I’d do Ayn Rand a favor and cut Francisco’s BRILLIANT speech at Jim Taggert’s wedding in Atlas Shrugged, down to what needed to be said. Rand likes to spend too much time personifying and attacking the enemies of capitalism instead of embracing the meaning of it. This passage...
The Facebook IPO’s Effect on Software Startups

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

Two of the heavyweights in the startup world have now weighed in on the Facebook IPO and how it impacts the early stage software world, so I figured it’s time I did to. Paul Graham has warned the companies in Y-Combinator about the dangers of needing money at a time...
Entrepreneurial Lessons from The Great Gatsby

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ June 5, 2012 / 1 Comment

And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes – a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s...
Technology Perceptions

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ May 25, 2012 / 3 Comments

Pittsburgh tech blogger Jaclyn V (@Jvesci) was in a car wreck this AM and the twitter post she made about it above struck me as interesting. Just a few days ago I was having a conversation with a friend of mine (who’s not much older than Jaclyn) where he explained...
Unapologetically Competent

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ May 23, 2012 / Leave a comment

I have been called egotistical. I don’t think it’s a fare accusation at all. As someone with big dreams and plenty of self-confidence I do my best to make sure I know and acknowledge my many weaknesses. All you have to do is point out that I’m easily lost (awful...
A Thought on My 29th Birthday

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ May 16, 2012 / 1 Comment

This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease. - Robert F. Kennedy Last year I...
Zuck’s Sweatshirt

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ May 15, 2012 / 1 Comment

Mark Zuckerberg goes on TV to ring the bell in 5 days and the big question is, will he be wearing his Sweatshirt or will he put on a suit jacket? I’m not planning to invest in Facebook, but if I were, I would be hoping he sticks to his...
Vivisimo Shows You Don’t Have to Sell Fast

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ April 30, 2012 / Leave a comment

Thanks to the Instagram sale there’s another frenzy of articles and people who want to talk about how VC/Seed funded startups “work”. They want to tell you that startups come up with a good idea, prototype, get funded, create massive growth, and then sell… just like that. This worked for...
Twitter and Patents

Posted by Burgher Jon
/ April 18, 2012 / Leave a comment

I, like many of the innovative people in the startup world, am very uncomfortable with the way patents are being used today. Market economies succeed because c competition based on usefulness and price. Today, instead of trying to innovate in ways that will increase usefulness or decrease price, too many...
Life’s Risky Business

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

I’m doing some work with banks lately and it always impresses me the size and importance of their risk departments. They study counter-party risk (the risk someone you’re doing business will fail), credit risk (the risk that someone won’t be able to pay due to other obligations), market risk (the...