Small Talk

Congratulations!  You aced the phone screen, survived the (potentially grueling) interviews, and your offer letter is in the mail.  Awesome! You should absolutely go out to celebrate, but before you mail in your acceptance, you may want to figure out what if any strings are attached to the offer. I was too naive when I got my first job offer to think about things like employment agreements (or even to do a good job...

Before Baydin, Alex and I started another venture. Without going into too much detail it was a mobile, social game with an end goal of making users feel camaraderie with their fellow guys and gals. Who doesn’t want to make friends and feel the exhilaration of potentially meeting a significant other? We were on a mission to do great things for society, and by society, I mean the 18-30 year old singles who feel alienated after...

What do an irrational fear of rejection, the inability to talk to girls at a bar, and a startup in “stealth mode” all have in common?  I was riding the Orange Line en route to our Central Square offices last week, and I saw a sign advertising a study on Social Anxiety Disorder.  They asked if you worry too much about what other people think, worry that people might secretly think you’re stupid, and get more nervous than...

I was at a talk, recently, where the speaker mentioned “a lot of data driven people fall into the trap of wanting more information to make a decision. The problem is that the world does not always give you complete information.” I thought about my own experience. I remember at times presenting a new product idea and getting the feedback, “we need more *fill in the blank* information.” Usually, they asked for...

As Baydin has started, I’ve heard a number of different voices on how cheap a startup should be.  Those voices have almost universally concentrated toward the extremes – they advise either being incredibly, incredibly cheap (buy nothing, get furniture from the sidewalk when people throw it out, trade time for money always) or spending money like a sailor in port (buy everything, buy luxury, hire expensive service providers, trade...