msuster's comments

re: "I'll risk a 50/50 gridlock in decision making over having someone tell me what to do everyday at "my" company any day."

why not just make sure that you're the majority owner of your next company.

I can see the resentment this situation is causing you. But it might possibly be because the CEO isn't pulling his or her weight. If they were pulling CEO weight you might - perhaps - feel differently.

I accept that this is possible.

If I were Twitter in this case then at worst I would issue a public statement of why they don't support UberTwitter's moves and I would encourage users to migrate over 72 hours if they saw fit.

Then at least the user community would be more on Twitter's side. What they did today is block us from using their product on our mobile devices. I'm not sure that's sound policy.

empowerment of people to socially engage & communicate is the basis on which all democracy is built. That is what is beautiful about Twitter.

Shutting down competition or dissension is decidedly undemocratic.

I'm not sure which bit was misinformed. If I learn that some bit was I will correct it.

My premise holds: - issue a public warning to UberMedia & its users and allow 72 hours - if not resolved take action then - don't issue an advertisement for your mobile product the exact same day you block a large mobile client. It is in poor taste and this is evidenced by the majority of the Tweetstream that trashed Twitter on this issue

I'm all for fair & hard competition. But if I were an investor this is what I would have counseled. And if Twitter or its investors know something I don't (which I concede is possible) I would suggest that they have a marketing offensive to make more information available.

ha! awesome!

re: Twitter - it's not that it "replaces" email. I just find that when I land on a plane and reach for my blackberry and have a choice between email or Twitter I find myself doing the latter.

I get way too much email. I read it all. But it's hard to process it all. Writing back, deciding whether to accept meetings, giving answers to questions, etc. is so time consuming and people are rarely brief.

On Twitter I get to meet new people, interact with friends, have debates, discover information, send private (and short) DMs. Well, on most days I do. Yesterday, my service was cut off because I use a product that Twitter doesn't endorse. That's what prompted my post.

You're totally right that Twitter "has a right to enforce their trademarks to reel in other people trying to make money off of their product."

That isn't in question.

My argument: - today they affected millions of users - they should have first issued a public statement to major media outlets that service would be cut unless UberMedia fixed problems in 72 hours. Users would then have a chance to migrate if they wanted - I also think it's bad policy to cut off 3rd-party developers. Even mildly competitive ones. My view: let the ecosystem innovate on their dime. Then you either buy them or tax them.

My reaction today was as a user of UberTwitter who felt caught in the crossfire. And as such it felt like Goliath attacking David.

Thank you! I'm glad somebody on HN got it!

It was called irony. It was meant with humor. My views were already publicly expressed & known on Quora.

See: http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Twitter-suspend-UberTwitter/ans...

I didn't say I don't use email. I just use it much less than previously. It's funny but the opposite is also true. The fact that people can write really long, verbose emails can be as much of a productivity drain as anything else inside of companies.

It's why I'm a big proponent of these guys http://three.sentenc.es/

thanks. if you have specific questions about how VC works make sure to ping me. I'll cover on This Week in VC.

Basecamp in my mind (I wrote the article) is establishing a product that gains adoption and reaches a set of realistic milestones that can be achieved within 2 years rather than focusing on the summit (how big this can ultimately become). I'm going to update the article to make this clear. Thank you for prompting.

Watch the show. He talked about trying $13.99 and other price points. Nothing converted better than $12.

As I wrote in the article the interpretation is left to the investor. It could be product features shipped. It could be biz dev deals signed. It could be talented people hired. Whatever. The point is that you get to see how the person accomplishes things that they set out to do. If you meet them only briefly over a 2-week period you don't have enough data points to decide.

I don't assume that at all. I'm arguing in favor of investors getting out and spending time with entrepreneurs now that they might want to fund later so that your line becomes someone else's dot.

All you do is choose different words than I do but I suspect we're not a million miles off. You talk of "not being a bully, not being a softie." That is sufficiently vague as to be acceptable and populist. But it is a hard line to walk and it is at the heart of what I was getting at with heat vs. light. I suspect if we sat and talked about it you'd find that we aren't that far off each other in management style. I am neither phony or manipulative. Although I can see why nuance is lost when I write quick blog posts and choose words that don't resonate with you.

Perhaps my language didn't properly reflect my thoughts. I did mean the latter. thank you.

I understand why you would be uncomfortable about it. But I firmly believe that giving an employee time to reflect on what went wrong & why is important. And they need distance to achieve this. If you're immediately chummy with them after a failure then this time of reflection is less likely. I know it doesn't sit well with everybody so I'm not asking you to adopt my style. But it is not manipulative and actually is quite effective.

Yeah, it's true that the buyer needs to be convinced, but don't underestimate the persuasion of well-connected, senior-level VCs

It was an error - sorry. I meant to put it under KP. thanks for spotting.

Obviously depends on your interests.

I do a video & podcast every week that covers startup lessons, venture capital advice and deals funded for the week. It's called This Week in Venture Capital. http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-venture-capital/ (there are links to there to the free iTunes download.

Also, This Week in Startups is great because it profiles startup CEOs and talks about the week's news. Hosted by Jason Calacanis and is here: http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/

Other recommendations: www.mixergy.com - Andrew Warner is great and profiles successful founders.

And I live TED talks.