Monthly Archives: December 2013

Why People Hate New Ideas

Posted on December 22, 2013 by brendansterne

“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas.  If they’re any good you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats”  – Howard Aiken There are many bad reasons why people hate new ideas – and a few good ones.  Scott Berkun … Continue reading →

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Revealed: The 4 Reasons Amazon Web Services Got Approved

Posted on December 19, 2013 by brendansterne

In the summer of 2003 Amazon was a fast-growing online bookstore.  Nine years old, it had pioneered many innovative components of e-commerce that we take for granted today: customer reviews, a personalized shopping experience, relevant product recommendations, and frictionless buying. … Continue reading →

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Recommended Reading: The Log, what every software engineer should know

Posted on December 18, 2013 by brendansterne

Today I found this absolutely superb article on distributed systems and the central role of the log:  The Log: What every software engineer should know about real-time data’s unifying abstraction It’s a technical-but-readable exploration of the role of the humble log … Continue reading →

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What is Google’s Mission?

Posted on December 17, 2013 by brendansterne

With all the talk about whether Google is the new Bell Labs (or isn’t), and the curiosity around their recent acquisition of Boston Dynamics, I thought it would be interesting to look at what Google says their mission is: Google’s … Continue reading →

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Entrepreneurship: The Coin-Flipping Biathlon

Posted on December 12, 2013 by brendansterne

Entrepreneurs are participating in a coin-flipping biathlon – they just don’t know it. I was listening to an old Marc Andreessen presentation at Y Combinator’s Startup School in 2008, and I love that he talked about Nassim Taleb’s Fooled by … Continue reading →

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Lean Startup Conference Livestream at Indeed Austin!

Posted on December 6, 2013 by brendansterne

I’m super excited to announce that Indeed Austin has been chosen to livestream next week’s Lean Startup Conference!  Full schedule of talks below. When: Mon/Tues Dec 9th/10th.  10am doors open.  11am livestream starts.  8:00pm livestream ends.  Free food and WiFi … Continue reading →

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Today’s Psych Lesson: The ordering of words matters

Posted on December 5, 2013 by brendansterne

Twice as many people will volunteer for an “Experiment at 7AM” versus a “7AM Experiment” (56% vs 24%).  So mentions Zach Hamed  in a great post “The 20 Best Lessons from Social Psychology“. The examples most relevant to a product manager … Continue reading →

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Is Marissa Mayer a Classic Short Sleeper?

Posted on December 3, 2013 by brendansterne

Business Insider published an outstanding biography of Marissa Mayer that I just discovered last night and couldn’t stop reading. It’s absolutely fascinating and I highly recommend it if you have any interest in Marissa or what’s been happening at Yahoo since … Continue reading →

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Google’s Principles of Innovation, according to Marissa Mayer

Posted on December 2, 2013 by brendansterne

I recently found this old video of Marissa Mayer speaking at Stanford about Innovation at Google.  The talk was organized around 9 slogans, and each was accompanied by practical examples: Ideas come from everywhere.  “In an environment like Google … … Continue reading →

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