karlo.org

“The GF1 is a near perfect travel camera.”

Craig Mod’s fantastic travelogue / photo-essay / camera review. Earlier this year I wrote why I suspect I’m not going to travel with an SLR any more; getting this camera would just seal the deal.

One of my photos from a trip to Vegas earlier this year has been featured by Slate in their slideshow Dubai to All That: A gallery of the trophy assets and projects that sank Dubai’s ship. It’s number 2, MGM Mirage City Center — I’m happy to get a credit, though a link would have been nice.

“The project I am working on will be more successful than twitter within a year. When I sell the project for 40 million dollars I will ignore any emails from you begging to be a part of it and will send you a postcard from my yaght (sic). Ciao.”

This piece is brilliant. There are far too many “entrepreneurs” out there that confuse “being enterprising” with “not paying people for their work.” This page made me laugh out loud knowing how many folks (including myself) have had similar experiences when interacting with self-styled Internet entrepreneurs who are completely dependent on others for execution — but can’t afford to pay for it.

To paraphrase the author: Yes. I can write a web site for you in a weekend. But I spent 15 years working on web projects so that I can do that. If you’re not going to pay me to do it, why shouldn’t I just spend the weekend building a site for myself, or learning how to do it better for the folks that do pay me? And how come your time is so valuable that you’re not willing to learn to do it, if your idea is so fantastic?

Don’t get me wrong. I love entrepreneurs and I love when they discuss their projects with me. I’m just annoyed by the guys who think that 90% of the value is coming up with the idea, but at the same time haven’t the slightest idea what execution will actually entail. It’s the other way around: an idea is worth maybe 10-20% at most, and execution (both business and technical) is where you win or lose.

Read It’s like twittter. Except we charge for it.

• Build your entrepreneurial confidence. Try these tips on for size …
  (tags: business inspiration entrepreneurship psychology)

Maverick, originally uploaded by karlo.

10-week-old French Bulldog seen today on the boardwalk at Venice Beach. Super mellow at being carried around. Posting him here in case the owner visits the site.