[continued from chapter 1] …so we had a concept for a ‘build your own craigslist’ that was going to take over the world. After talking through the concept in detail with a few trusted friends and advisors, there was only one thing left to do: build something. September 1 rolled around and the news broke [...]

As you may know, Benny and I have killed off Friendslist and refocused our efforts elsewhere.  The Friendslist product was live for about 6 months.  In that time we disproved our core hypothesis: that we can compel people to build and run their own thriving marketplace. Few people used the product. Even fewer loved it. [...]

Talking with a Columbia student about his post-graduation plans: “I’d like to start a company” he said. “Cool!  Have any good ideas?” “That’s the most important thing?!” I was taken aback — partially at the abruptness of his question, partially because he followed up my question with a question, and partially because, well, he made a [...]

Today a long time dream is coming true: I’m getting the chance to work together on a new venture with Benny Wong. And I couldn’t be more excited about it! If this were a movie, I’d tell you about the day I first met Benny…how we randomly struck up a conversation about technology…how we immediately [...]

I recently had the pleasure of meeting two MBA students with big ambitions: they want to redefine online shopping. I sat back in my chair and listened closely as they pitched their ideas for an entirely new online shopping experience. 3D this, interactive that, Web 2.0 the other thing. As they laid out the extensive feature set [...]