Entrepreneur, Explorer, Angel.
Sometimes all at Once.
Search by tag: digital-media
09TH March 2023
Angel Investor - Entertainment - Entrepreneur - Family Office - Miles of Movies - Mobile - Movies - Reelay - Timely - TV Picks - What to Watch
Tik Tok banned in Canada, eh?
Recently, the Canadian government made the decision to ban the popular social media app TikTok from all government-owned phones. As of 2021, there were approximately 290,000 employees working in the federal government of Canada, including departments, agencies, and Crown corporations which is less than 1% of the total population. While the reasons for this ban may not be entirely clear, It did get me thinking… The first reason is related to concerns around data privacy and security. As a Chinese-owned company, TikTok has faced criticism from some quarters for its handling of user data. In particular, there have been concerns that the Chinese government could use the app to gather information on Canadian citizens and government officials. No brainer. They do. Secondly, there have been concerns about the spread of […]
18TH February 2023
Friends - Timeless
Everyone grieves differently. Even AI
Writing for Mark was brutally difficult, but a catharsis.
15TH August 2021
Culture - Entrepreneur - Family and Friends - Geopolitical - Legends and tales - Uncategorized
Five Fantastic Qualities of Russell Kagan
A dear friend and confident passed awhile back named Russell Kagan. I always favored calling him Russ, but one walk down the Croissette in Cannes changed all that as people on every block yelled his name, in every accent known to man… “KAGAN!” It was 1998 and the dot.com boom was in full swing. Media properties began to realize content could go multiple places…. and be sold multiple times. This was manna for Russ, a consummate deal maker/salesman in TV distribution throughout Europe and Asia. Of course everyone flocked to the south of France twice a year to shop for media content and enjoy the lifestyle, but Russ was already there waiting. And that’s where the true magic of Russ’ investment in mankind payed off. He was Kind. Russ didn’t seem to […]
10TH February 2021
Geopolitical - Mobile - Timely
Holy War
Apple is a tool. Facebook is a distraction. Or so says Tim Cook, rather elegantly, in his recent speech in Brussels for International Data Privacy Day… which BTW sounds like a wonderful holiday! No doubt, the fortunes of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon have been tightly woven together since the iPhone launched. They all existed before 2008, but having devices in hand rather than at a desk was wildly disruptive in how people spent their computing time- and where. But let’s think about each company- and their products- in terms of one ratio; utility vs. distraction. Apple seems the handiest, a really useful tool. Why does one pick up an Apple device? Aside from Phone, Facetime, text and music? For the… Camera- if I want to record events from laundry […]
24TH January 2021
Creative problem Solving - Family and Friends - Legends and tales - Timeless - Uncategorized
The greatest risk is taking no risk at all.
You can ski in any number of safe trails to the bottom. So why would anyone choose to ski down on the difficult black diamond run instead? Most passionate skiers would ask the question differently: why wouldn’t you? The point of skiing isn’t to get to the bottom. The point is how it feels on your way there. I grew up scaring myself half to death, and was a VIP at my local ER. And this despite my upbringing which basically discouraged medical treatment and put prayer as the first choice in healing. We had nothing against doctors, mind you. We just thought that 80% of our so called “medical issues” were mostly in our heads, included the risk and the fear that came with it. In retrospect, perhaps I […]
23TH April 2020
Creative problem Solving - Entrepreneur - Family and Friends - Mobile - Parenting - Timely - Uncategorized
Hair, in the time of Corona.
We didn’t have a cure for Corona. But it sure had a cure for us. It’s like we were all swimming nicely in warm waters… when suddenly the tide went out, and all of humanity’s stark realities were there on display for most anyone to see. Startling. Hair; We like it more than we knew I probably didn’t think much about hair before Corona. My Dad and Grandfather passed a full head on to me, though Vitalis is no longer on the grooming essentials list. On a regular basis- monthly I’d say- most of us had some version of this routine (for men- women please add steps as you see fit). Call ahead to salon (or spa, or barber, whichever), to see how busy they are. Maybe book a time […]
20TH June 2019
Entrepreneur - Social - Uncategorized
Is Shark Tank “Real” Enough
It’s been 20 years since I was in the studio for MoneyHunt; not a week passes without the same question… “is that like Shark Tank (previously, Dragon’s Den). I explain the similarities, and the differences, and conclude… all that is worth, like, one Chai Latte at Starbucks, give or take. On MoneyHunt, we were nuts enough to write the check on the air. No broken deals, no weaseling out of agreements on arcane terms. We considered it a cost of business, and didn’t expect much from the outcomes (our expectations were met!). But we did a whale of a job marketing our little VC fund, a seminal outperformer in the dot.com rush. So what people ask me about SharkTank is this: Do they really do what they say they do? […]
10TH May 2019
Angel Investor - Culture - Entrepreneur - Family Office - Leadership - Uncategorized
Introducing Incredulous… a little show about cultural shifts, discomfort and opportunity.
Over the past few months, I’ve worked with the best PR firm in the nation, Gregory FCA, to develop something we talk about at the dinner table each night. Incredulous is about culture, emerging trends, generational conflict… and some damn silly stuff we get upset about. Sometimes it’s an opportunity. Other times, it’s just something to laugh about. In this flight… For Boomers, the party never ends! Jimmy Buffett opening a Retirement Home Erasing History at Washington & Lee. Is that really what we want to do? Sign of the Times; Giuliani Gets Booed at Yankee Stadium Duh! English Teacher Corrects White House Letter Trumped; Social Media more powerful than White House visit. Teach your parents well. Mom Fired For Kid’s Instagram Antics FOMO built this. Beanie Babies Empire won’t […]
30TH April 2019
Angel Investor - Business Tricks - Family and Friends - Geopolitical - Good Story - Incubator - Legends and tales - Social - Timeless
The Black Tulip…springtime flowers, trends & bubbles. Yeah!
Tulip futures, anyone? It’s tulip season around here; The New York Times had a wonderful story today on Rembrandt and dutch tulips. They’re pretty, but I love them for more than their looks… A very special person to me loves tulips. I do too, and I also love them as a reminder of bubbles- financial ones. Tulips are the first great bubble in modern recorded history, as detailed in the wonderful book called Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It’s an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. It’s still in print, and cited by financial wizards from Bernard Baruch to Michael Lewis. Tulips had quite a run in in the 17th century. As the flowers grew in popularity, professional growers paid […]
18TH April 2019
Angel Investor - Business Tricks - Family and Friends - Timeless - Uncategorized
Busy could, sometimes, just be BS
We’ve been talking an awful lot about work norms. Goldman Sachs no longer requires suits. IBM allows flex time. MasterCard permits video attendance at weekly touch base calls. This is all terribly progressive, and probably helps with attracting, retaining, and motivating A Players. But one thing remains a fallacy; the common safe place called “being busy”. Maybe it’s the old puritan work ethic. Maybe it’s from back in the days when people- most- billed by the hour. Those warriors who worked on weekends. Brought files along on vacations. Always had a conference call, or a reason to burn the midnight oil. How impressive. What a workhorse. Such a team player. An animal. We gave you a pass because you were full on, all day. Frantically moving from one thing to […]
- Growth Rules
- March 23, 2023
- Care for less people, but More
- March 23, 2023
- Lonely by choice
- March 22, 2023
- 10 Things to ask before Investing with someone
- May 08, 2014
- Angel investing for Family Offices: What if you knew ‘Zuck… back then.
- July 10, 2013
- Now I really want to be like Peter Thiel
- June 11, 2016
