Do You Ever Get Bored Of Blogging?

Comments (Archived):

1. Do you think you’d feel the same way if you had no (or a tiny) audience?

   1. Great question and it probably is at the heart of Emily’s questionWhen I started I didn’t have an audience but it grew slowly and surely. Iwas meeting new people who were interested in the same things I was. And Iblogged about a lot of things I don’t blog about at AVC anymore. Every postgot at least a few comments.I think that is the key. You need engagement to keep goingBlog communities like Tumblr, where Emily blogs, are good because there is abuilt in audience and engagement is high. But it is also light. Tumblr hasno native commenting system and that is on purpose

      1. Your point on Tumblr is spot on.I use it for photos, quotes, snapshots of the day. Functions like a deeper more interactive Facebook page to a broader community. But even after I’ve put Disqus in as the commenting system, the sparcity of my posts doesn’t drive a lot of conversation.Tumblr seems to know what its good at and its true value.

      2. When you first started, how’d you get the first eyeballs?Converting eyeballs to commentors and commentors to subscribers is, depending on the platform and environment, increasingly easy. But that initial step is a doozy regardless of platform, unless you focus on follower development by churning in and out potential follow-backs. (Which is not fun.)Similarly, I don’t think Tumblr has a built-in audience; or, at least, it’s Tumblr’s audience, not Emily’s. Emily still needs to work for reblogs and follows much like anyone in 2003 would have needed to work for link backs, blogroll entries, and RSS readers. Tumblr makes that easier, but doesn’t complete the job out of the box.And by making it easier, I wonder if they devalue the audience. As you said, Tumblr’s points of engagement are light. Is someone who is following Emily’s Tumblr blog aware of *her*? Would they follow her if she left the Tumblr ecosystem and went to a WordPress blog? I’m guessing no, x2. On the other hand, your audience is incredibly portable.

         1. I have no idea how I got the first readers. Maybe typepad promoted it a bit?There was no twitter no techmeme no hacker news back then

            1. Good Old Word of Mouth, I would think?

            2. As to how you got some of your early readers, I suspect there was a group of people who gave the same advice to multiple questions. For example, I’ve been asked: I’m thinking about starting a company. What should I do? I’m thinking about raising VC money. What should I do? Do you know anything about HD radio? Does anyone you know have a Sonos? How did you hear about that album? Part of my answer to all those questions was “You should read Fred’s blog.” I’m sure I was not alone.

            3. Thanks steve. You helped create a monster 😉

            4. Not for nothing…but I’m sure you were already a monster…Steve just helped promote one! =D

            5. In some ways you demystified the VC mystique drawing the light into the shadows and showing that the magic men really had no magic at the end of the day.You made Everyman a member of Skull & Bones.

            6. A scorched earth strategy? My favorite business model

      3. Meeting new people who shared a similar interest and writing about it is one thing.But would you have used say just a editor like Word, written your thoughts and shared it internally at USV by putting it on the shared network drive or just a HTML page etc.I do believe that the inherent desire to write was there and the tech tools (blogger) etc played the role of catalyst for you to want to share your thoughts.I am guessing you did not write a daily document that you shared internally at the places you worked at or when you started USV. While you had some tools out there to do so it did not seem like expending the energy possibly to make it happen.Engagement is also a form of acknowledgement, ratification and attesting ones thoughts and as humans we tend to need that to sustain oneself and try be better people.This engagement will also very fast critique you as and when necessary to keep you fresh not bored ….

      4. I actually liked those posts.

   2. Readership is different than engagement I think.I blog to get my thoughts out on the things I consult on and my passion for wine.At the beginning just having someone read it was a blessing in the silence of it all. A retweet or share was like a love tap. But without comments, without some facet of exchange or community, I couldn’t sustain it.Funny…I find that i quickly grow tired of blogs that don’t have the comment stream as well. The old phrase that ‘comments are content’ is the real truth.

      1. Yeah, mere readership is definitely different than engagement — whichis why I used the term “audience” 🙂 Audience assumes somemeaningful level of engagement, and I really wasn’t focusing on linkbuilding or SEO or “digg” bait. But “audience” is much larger thanengagement.I’ve written a few blog posts, on different blogs (inc. my own), whichhave independently been engaging, as evidenced by tweets and commentsetc. That’s great, but there’s no relationship between me and thereader independent of that post. There’s no sense that they’re myaudience, as I defined the term.

      2. I would have absolutely no interest in a blog absent the comments.

         1. Agreed on that one.

      3. Good point. A handful of engaged readers (or even one) makes a big difference. The idea that someone has heard you and knows what you’re getting at.Long before blogging, Stephen Crane expressed that basic insight in this little poem of his:There was a man with tongue of woodWho essayed to sing,And in truth it was lamentable.But there was one who heardThe clip-clapper of this tongue of woodAnd knew what the manWished to sing,And with that the singer was content.

         1. Thanks for this.Love seeing a poem here!

2. I only discovered this blog a few months ago. I read all posts and usually comment, especially if I’m early into the conversation (when there are already more than 100 comments it’s usually difficult to catch up and I don’t want to repeat or make pointless comments).For me it’s absolutely amazing that you are able to post every single day. Many times I read what you’ve written and I feel I have no ideas to add. So making it everyday with a new post… hats off. And a huge thank you. I enjoy a lot here.

   1. I couldn’t agree more on the 100+ comment point. Sometimes you make a comment knowing full well it’s going to get buried, so then you reply to prominent citizens comments in a hope to get in on the conversation.. but that never feels completely satisfying.

      1. I read ’em all

         1. Thanks you for this. And for all the rest of the “work” as well. Your blog is amazing!

   2. I also really appreciated your blog work.Blogs are very powerful but, IMHO, an underdeveloped (i.e.: blog search engines, helping finding blogs in the “long tail”) place on the web. They have more potential, widgets like Disqus also helps crossing the line between blogs.

3. How do you manage “comments’ to keep the conversation on topic or is that possible?

   1. By replying to the good ones and generally engaging and shaping thediscussion

4. It’s seems a little like being the host at a party. It can be a tough and boring job hosting a party, working the room and making sure everyone has a good time. Worth it though.OT – A Disqus feature I’d like is a check in button, so that when you open the community box you could see a list of people who had checked into AVC that day

   1. An open bar wouldn’t hurt

      1. …..an open bar is a must. Maybe Fred should start issuing pappy tokens…way better than badges

   2. I think One True Fan ( http://onetruefan.com ) is working on a project related to ‘check-ins of a web page’ … it wouldn’t be as integrated or accurate as if Disqus did it like you mention…but maybe something you would like given your request.

      1. thanks Kevin, I’ll take a look.You haven’t played with the facebook php sdk by any chance have you?

         1. I have played with the php SDK, but I much prefer to just work with the social graph API directly (pretty clean RESTful experiene) -> http://developers.facebook….All the facebook stuff I’m doing with knowabout.it uses that approach (as do a number of my other smaller projects).email me at info at falicon.com if you want to talk about anything in more detail though. Thanks!

            1. thanks Kevin

   3. that is a super cool feature request

5. I’d add the fact that there is also many people that read your blog/twitter/tumblr without giving feebacks, not because they don’t want to, be (in my case) because there is nothing to add 🙂

6. Careful Fred, your passion is showing.

   1. Careful about what?

      1. Just saying… It’s a duh for me, and probably everyone who follows your blog – it’s your passion.And while your blog has been very educational and fun for me, it also inspires me to follow my passions.And for that I thank you.

         1. Got it. You are right

            1. It’s simple Fred, you know a lot. And about very intriguing topics, important topics. That’s attracted a crowd, of which many in the crowd know a lot too (and of whack some are very entertaining). Great job!

            2. Sorry, meant “and of which some are very entertaining”

            3. Seems totally unfair to translate your first comment into something that makes sense. I have been looking at your original comment and trying to figure out what it meant. Worst thing is that I think I was making progress!! I was thinking it was something along the lines of “wicked” smart.

            4. I love the entertainers in the crowd

            5. BTW Fred, as you undoubtedly know, many of your blog followers are also start-up entrepreneurs, me included.In my research for my start-up I found you on a Techcrunch link doing a sit-down with John Doerr.Being an east coast guy myself, I naturally listened to your words carefully.I was not only taken by your business knowledge and experience, but with your personality as well.You came across as someone who would actually give me the time of day with regard to whatever interest I had.This blog has solidified my notion of your vast knowledge, and especially your well-grounded principles and values, whether it is business, family or social.For those reasons, when it comes time for my company to seek VC, you will be the first person I call.

            6. I hope you are working on an idea that strikes my fancy

            7. The idea now has legs thanks to my awesome engineer partner.It’s a totally unique website – there are currently no other web sites like it! (And it is absolutely perfect for mobile!)At last year’s World Economic Forum, major players in social networking concluded that social networks needed to: “go beyond socializing” and “find a purpose.”Our web site does that – and more. It’s built on a purpose and goes far beyond social networking.I know you will be impressed with the direction we are taking social networking, as well as some of the new and innovative concepts that we have integrated into the site.I know for a fact that you would use the site every day and will absolutely love the purposeful interaction.Not sure whether we’re going to bootstrap or look for an angel investor.I’d love to have an evaluation from you if you could find the time.

            8. Best comment…ever. =D

            9. i setup an online poll of who won that beef, fred or bubbles doerr, and fred got 75% of the votes

            10. I voted for Doerr

            11. doerr is probably my least favorite VC. i don’t appreciate the way he mixes politics and business — i regard it as uninformed and irresponsible.but on a positive note, i’m glad you beat him in the beef. i think you will outperform him as an investor over the next few years, he has some good companies in his portfolio but since he’s in the habit of paying way too much that’s going to be a big problem, probably going to spoil the whole portfolio. i hope you will brag and rub it in when the results come in.

7. Blog? I thought it was an online forum and a community…:)Not to belittle blogs, but you’ve got something that other blogs don’t even come close to (not even Quora in their best discussion threads). You’ve got focused and smart discussions.You get part of your research done here. I think your blog is part of your work, not just serving the audience and managing the persona. These are means to an end, which is to keep you on top of things and connect you with people you need to know about.

   1. All true

   2. the reason it is a community, and a thriving one at that, is that fred is a person and we are people. he has his job + objectives and we have ours and we explore all of those things. like at a cocktail party other things come out, especially as we get to know each other better and drop by every day.we know that whether fred counter-comments or not, he reads each comment. so there’s a sense of being “heard”. whether one wants to admit it or not, i promise there is an emotional need being met when you feel “heard”.it is not possible, structurally, for a media/publisher blog to do this. we don’t have meaningful conversations with institutions, we have them with people. when a blog/article is a news or journalism piece, the writer by definition is not an actor in the situation but an “objective third party” (i say that with a grain of salt). they’re observing an interaction, not actually interacting, inside the action. at best, it’s “i wrote this piece now tell me if you like it or not”. a meaningful conversation requires character tension/interplay for it to progress.i’d also observe that many of us more active commenters live in isolated places, not in the center of the action. andy, charlie, me,…we don’t geographically reside in “the scene” so perhaps we rely on this digital means as our exclusive way to be connected to smart people in our biz. days i’m working at home, this is my water cooler. otherwise i’m talking strategy with my 4-yr old.finally — let’s call out the elephant in the room. fred is a very prominent VC. lots of people want to impress him and possibly be funded by him or do deals with him. this natural tension encourages people to behave and be civil! (could anyone ever *get* something by being brilliant in a TC comment? hell no)not to say there’s not some X-factor specialness going on here — there absolutely is — but this relationship setup is unique and I think a precondition for the types of convos that go on here.these preconditions should be paid attention to, for other communities:(1) people talk to real people(2) having individual agendas is good — it creates reasons to interact and also an incentive to be civil and try hard to say smart thingsttfn….my water cooler has timed out. 🙂

      1. “otherwise i’m talking strategy with my 4-yr old”Priceless! You are a hoot.Big question — how IS the tyke on strategy?

         1. well, often we have misaligned objectives in the near-term but i find that if i let her have her “feeling storm” and vent, and then give her a 30-sec hug, then i can get her to do whatever i damn well please.then again, that works with other people too (usually with just the vent, as a hug would be a bit weird).you learn some great management skills as a parent.separately, i actually brought my 7-year-old to my demo at Stamford Tech Meetup on monday and we won!funniest part was she raised her hand during the Q&A. i’m like, uh, do i take her question or not?in fact she was asking a very very good question. i told her — “honey, you know the answer and it’s a secret between you and me. so if someone wants the answer, they’ll have to invest in our company.”that seemed to please all involved. LOL

            1. Funny, I have two kids that 4 & 7 too.I think its okay to ask the 4 year old about strategy, just not okay to listen … kind of like talking to yourself.I have found that my 7 year old asks better questions, well, more meaningful questions then a lot adults do. 🙂

            2. the thing with the 4 y.o. is, until + unless you meet her needs first, you will get nothing accomplished. it’s a transferable skill!

            3. But doesn’t every single person in the world default to being a 4-year old sometimes?

            4. precisely my point!but some are, er, a little more plugged in to that instinct than others.

         2. Yes she is

      2. People talk to real people. That’s why stack and quora work so well and whycomments on MSM don’t. Great insight Tereza

         1. people also compete with people.think about a leaderboard. really works when you show up and you know people on the board, with their pictures involved. it becomes very personalparticularly works well when you see someone you hate just barely far enough ahead of you that you could beat him if you tried.release the kraken!crazy things just “happen” like type in 100 emails in 25 minutes the afternoon of the deadline.{cough.} hashable {cough}but hey maybe that’s just me.the epic battles are between people.

            1. I think that the competition side needs to be explored more fully – we’re not training people to compete civily, and that winning has its problems if you pushed everyone aside to get to the top in a mean sort of way.

            2. i don’t disagree with you shana. some people are more naturally competitive than others, and one of our roles as parents is to both foster a competitive attitude (if we wish to) but more importantly to compete with sportsmanship.you can only learn that by doing, by being in high-stakes (and emotional) situations and managing those emotions — and the other people involved — effectively, with aplomb and (i hate saying this word but…) class.at my mom’s funeral a woman came up to me: “Hello, you don’t know me, but my name is Linda. I’ve been a competitor of your mother for many years. She was excellent at what she did, and I always liked being on the other side of a deal with her. She was always fair, always got the job done, and was always a pleasure to deal with.”very powerful to hear.people may or may not remember if you won; they will always remember if you were a jerk about it.but….competitive tension, applied at the right places….it’s what makes America great!

      3. “finally — let’s call out the elephant in the room. fred is a very prominent VC. lots of people want to impress him and possibly be funded by him or do deals with him. this natural tension encourages people to behave and be civil! (could anyone ever *get* something be being brilliant in a TC comment? hell no)”Social pressure to drive civility. Love it!<green card>

         1. That is not true. I have been a regular reader of this blog for more than a year now and comment occasionally. I don’t have any intention of impressing fred or in fact anyone from this community.I live in India and don’t have any plans to live in any other country then why should i impress anyone in this community?I believe the community drives the natural civilian and decent behavior. I find the whole community full of thoughts and discussions thought provoking … many a time the comments are more interesting than the actual post.Culture is never forced or pressed it is nurtured.

            1. Not forced or pressed, but culture, i would argue is a tangible thing that is the sum total of tangible levers combined with all the personal motivations that come to the table. And these building blocks make up “the community”.An individual’s motivations are stronger or weaker, given a specific context, and impact the degree to which they engage. (resulting in e.g. non-commenters, occasional commenters, and power commenters)Motivations may include:–desire to learn (broadly or specific, and including “keeping finger on the pulse)–desire for exposure–boredom–loneliness (to meet new people, or, to see people you already know)A counter-motivation is fear. If you’re scared you won’t do it. And if other motivations overcome the fear, then you jump in.So there’s a big difference between one’s first time, and subsequent times. Marketers spend a lot of time thinking about and analyzing “trial” versus “repeat” numbers, because they’re very different personal decisions with different levers.But to get to know this, I wouldn’t focus on a marketing class. I would take a class in theater or theatrical improvisation. All drama and comedy that’s worth watching is at a moment when people’s objectives, talents and fears intersect. each one is in motion. This is eternally captivating and it is the core human condition.AVC is a modern-day Odyssey. There’s this guy named Fred. He has an interesting life and has professional and personal objectives, which force him along a path of really interesting choices and observations. He’s taken us along for the ride; we are his greek chorus. And guess what? We can impact the story.Anyone here ever write scripts for theater, or do theatrical improv? If you have then nothing I’m saying here is very surprising.There are techniques + structures that have existed for millenia. They’re finally creeping their way into social networks.That’s a good thing.

            2. UNDERSTAND HUMANS FIRST. THEN UNDERSTAND WHAT HUMANS DO EASY.UNDERSTAND WHAT HUMANS DO WITH NOT UNDERSTAND HUMANS HARD. THIS MAIN PROBLEM WITH ECONOMISTS AND PROGRAMMERS.

            3. yeah. i know we knock ‘humanities’ types all the time, but this stuff is basic blocking + tackling for them.

            4. CULTURE AM CROP THAT GROW ACCORDING TO WHAT GROW NEXT TO IT.BUT IT STILL REQUIRE SEED TO START.MUCH EASIER FOR START CULTURE WITH CIVIL SEEDS THAT HAVE ULTERIOR MOTIVE THAN CHANGE A CULTURE THAT GROW UNCIVIL (TECHCRUNCH).

            5. your brain is growing too big for the tiny space your dinosaur body allots for it.careful — i don’t want you to get a headache.

8. Also, writing becomes a habit that’s hard to break. For the readers too, it’s a habit that’s hard to break. I’ll admit, it’s one of the first things I read in the morning.I’m complaining now…Fred: Your blog is like a drug, it’s addictive.

9. You do a great job. I still haven’t figured out how to write every_single_day. I get bored of all of it….and then someone says “I love your writing” IRL or comments on something and I get all fired up again.Just when I think I’m out……they pulllll me back innnnn.It’s a combination of vanity/ego, genuine love of “interacting”, and respect for the community of people that I interact with that keeps bringing me back.Comments are the currency of the web….and every once in a while you just need someone dropping one of those coins in the machine to get you crankin again.

   1. So true, Andy.

   2. True. If I got more coins, I’d blog more frequently.

   3. Much like a savings jug, when you or someone else adds a few coins a day, after a few years you’ve got a hefty pile. I write daily to clear and focus my thoughts, and often research the topic I’m writing about. I don’t expect nor could I handle heavy feedback on every post, but it’s appreciated when it comes. I can’t imagine reading 100-200 comments a day where at least 10-20% are blog post length on their own, Fred’s got his hands full. I think he’ll have problems handling 300-500+ comments a day and hit the popular news sites comment wall. Maybe this year, or next year?Positive and negative feedback are precious signals in the flood of content washing away relevance on the web.

10. As a wanna be fiction writer myself, I find writing an extraordinarily solitary activity. As an occasional blog writer, it’s a different process. The writing is to feed discourse – something I’ve been thinking about that I want to know what my peers think, something i was discussing with someone that I want broader thoughts on or something i want to rant about etc.What’s interesting about AVC is that the community itself is as (if not more) interesting as the writing. It would be a fun exercise to deconstruct it to see the archetypes, understand the underlying dynamics et. al 🙂

11. It comes in waves. Sometimes you are full of inspiration, sometimes you are not. Only fill the content pipeline when you are inspired. Pretty much the same issue artist struggle with. You know it, and your audience knows it, when you wrote a post because you had to.

    1. Agree completely with your observations. I think one of the most interesting things in life is to see how interesting people are when they are not “on”.One of my interesting experiences in life was the ability to meet with and dine with all of the Democratic Presidential candidates over 3 election cycles. [I used to own a huge catering company and we were always doing Democratic fundraisers. Very, very few Republicans because they already owned the State.]The candidates eat before the event so they don’t starve. I would drop in and dine with them because the hosts and staff are always busy. I would serve them the “good stuff” while the guests were eating something less.I spent 3 hours with BHO before he got traction and I would say that that insight makes nothing a surprise. The guy is a chain smoker and used to light a cigarette from his last one. Whip smart but naive as hell. Charming as anything. Skinny and an unlimited appetite.I like seeing people from an unguarded angle.

       1. The chef’s table in the kitchen is always the best one in the restaurant.

          1. Boulevard in San Francisco has something close to that — a counter that faces their open kitchen (you can see a pic of it here) on their site). It’s fun to watch experts at work.

12. Your posts are educational and entertaining. I never get tired of reading your blog and am so glad I discovered it on bloomberg. Your blog is my number 1 read every morning!

13. I’m still amazed that you blog so reguarly, I am just trying to blog more often.And yes, I get extremely tired of of the public persona. And I find parts of the web makes it worse – the web wants me to be a certain way. What if some day I want to be a totally different part of myself? I find it so hard to be that one person all the time.*sigh*

    1. you could have different blogs that represent those different persons you are on different days. You can visit those different parts as the mind operates.Also neither of these have to be connected to each other if you so wish .

       1. Fred actually has a Tumblr in addition to this.I tried the two blog thing once. It turned out to be 1.5 blogs too many.

          1. You know – lots of people say my one blog is two too many for them! =D

             1. Heh.

       2. I’ve thought about this. Actually I thought about this a lot. What makes me nervous in all of this is the problem of the public persona, there are things I want to talk about, but not necessarily with the entire public.We’ve kind of killed the idea that I can detach things from myself and have semi-private conversations when seo came along.I in fact keep semi-anonymous names on a few different places where I comment (not here) for that reason. I don’t necessarily want my thoughts on religion, or what weird questions about makeup I have, tied to me all the time. But I want to know I can get an answer or think about a subject as I need to. It is extremely not optimal. I kind of hate it.

    2. ME, GRIMLOCK, HAVE EXACT SAME PROBLEM.

       1. Well, what are you doing about it?

14. Imagine, for a moment, the real size of your audience…… People like me, who read but rarely comment (once) but enjoy the nice mix of personal and professional content. Like today.Sometimes the banter back and forth in the comments is like watching a tennis match… very entertaining.People are naturally drawn back to something that intrigues them… Consider me intrigued.The open bar wouldn’t hurt.

    1. Clearly the open bar concept has legs. Pappy is the official drink of AVCthanks to Andy Swan

       1. Naturally, Andy is the bartender. 3 cubes.. no more no less.

15. And since that shows, and this place has only improved in content and excitement, we don’t get bored of commenting.Like I implied in my comment yesterday re Twitter http://bit.ly/h31zeu, there’s a strong cross-entertainment element.

16. I have been amazed at the power of twitter and tumblr to help cultivate the urge to write. It’s not something that comes naturally to me, but over the past several years, these smaller format outlets have greased the skids and magically unlocked my ability to publish.It can become a burden to contemplate a “big boy” blog post — but sending a tweet or clipping something to tumblr is easy. Way less pressure, way easier to get started. It’s unlikely that I’d be able to blog with the frequency that I do (which still isn’t that much) if I didn’t have twitter and tumblr as places for me to push ideas out there leading up to longer posts.This year, I’ve been experimenting with a blogging schedule — trying to do a post every week. So far, it’s actually had somewhat negative consequences for me — I’ve found myself scrambling to get something up by week’s end. Whereas before, I blogged whenever I really felt the urge, which resulted in less frequent, but more heartfelt postings. But I’m going to stick with it and try and find the right rhythm.Couldn’t agree more about the power of feedback (comments, notes, etc.) to fuel the fire.

    1. TRY PLATFORMS WITH TIMED RELEASE. WRITE LOTS WHEN IN MOOD, TIME THEM FOR PUBLISH OVER LONG SPAN.THIS JUST SUGGESTION OF ROBOT DINOSAUR WITH TINY BRAIN. ME FIGURE THING THAT WORK FOR TINY BRAIN PROBABLY WORK FOR HUMAN WITH BIG BRAIN TOO.

       1. Good advice, from one tiny brained creature to another. Thx.

17. You have said a few times that you could not do your work without your blog. That is the best rationale I have seen for your daily blogging. True for me as well. My blogging is integral to my work. I am early stage, so I am even more dependent. Blogging is also like working out for the mind. It feels like doing push ups and is great fun. Blogging is one of my favorite things to do online. I would be a less intense consumer of content if I had not been an avid blogger.

18. You completely nailed it on the end. Blogging is always fun. Putting together something creative and interesting is fun. If you ever don’t have a topic, it’s easy to go and read a few things online and a number of topics just come flowing in (and this applies regardless of topic). At least this is the skill that I think you, I and others possess and others have a hard time grasping.The point about audience is so true. Having an audience takes part of the fun of blogging away and adds in new parts that are fun. However, the responsibility of delivering for that audience does add up and weigh on your shoulders more than I realized until recently. Add in paid advertisers and the weight becomes even heavier and takes out a little more enjoyment since you feel obligated to not just post, but maintain readership and traffic levels.To solve this issue, I often find myself launching new blogs. Those new blogs are refreshing since I don’t feel the pressure to deliver. I can just post whatever I want with no expectations. Of course, little by little it’s following grows and then I the cycle repeats.This explains why I have a couple networks of blogs. It’s also why I’m a full time blogger and LOVE it!Next up is to sell off some of my old blogs so I can build more. Building a blog is a bit like a startup entrepreneur. Some people are better at the predictable blog flow. Others prefer the excitement of building something from scratch. Too bad the market for selling blogs isn’t quite as liquid as other internet startups.

19. Blogging is a way to organize your thoughts and to test your thoughts in the village square. It requires the courage of exposing your intellectual capital to the world absent a bit of the Emperor’s threads.One literally cannot predict the direction a conversation is going to take once you fling your post over the transom. And therein lies the attraction and interest.You have absolutely no appreciation for the retail value of your comments because you are so generous — in a wholesale manner — with your thoughts. The encouragement that you provide through your battle tested insights is invaluable to your audience.You may have literally looked at 100K Term Sheets but your audience may be looking at #1 and what you see as routine they see as revolutionary. More importantly, your post is being made in real time rather than the 24 months it takes to get it into a book.I would also say that your demeanor provides an attractive chum which has brought to your site what is easily the most interesting, knowledgeable and well behaved audience — international audience — with which I am familiar.Your comments are particularly pithy. It is a rare combination of a detailed post and pithy comments.It is obvious to me and others that you draw energy from the process of writing and from the observation of the direction that it takes.Never ever be troubled by creating a public audience or persona — no great idea ever got communicated by an invisible mute.

    1. It has made me a great communicator. I sometimes so der where the soundbites come from

    2. HUMANS SOCIAL ANIMALS. IDEA NOT EXPOSED TO OTHER HUMANS ONLY RUN THROUGH HALF OF HUMAN OS.

20. i’m way more prolific in comments (to the chagrin of many of you) almost specifically because i don’t “have to” do it. when someone says something and it gets my gears moving, well, get out of the way. :-)i do wish there were more direct integration with my comments and my tumblr so that i could rapidly tumble the comments or at least have them automatically get thrown over to my Drafts queue in tumblr, so i can clean ’em and post ’em right away. because otherwise it goes into my To Do list which becomes work, not fun. (if this does exist then, please Mr. Helpdesk, tell me what/where/how)i know i could post my comments to twitter; maybe i should….but i dunno, i’m not sure they work out of context. so i never do it. i generally feel there’s a need to do a few up-front sentences to set up my rant.i have about 25 phantom blog posts i simply have not gotten around to writing. hell, probably more.i could fuel an industry with my brainfarts. LOL

    1. OK, so now we know where the Global Warming is really coming from?Snow in Austin, TX today! Gave everybody the day off. They’re all like 3rd graders texting me at 5:00 AM to see if I would cave quickly.Of course, I am easy.

    2. Tereza if you use the Share on Tumblr bookmarklet you can highlight your comment and queue to your drafts.

21. Good blogs, in my opinion, are more than just writing, they are a community. The fact that everyone has the ability to share information this readily makes it easy to know what is happening in the world.I remember when Wikipedia was not considered to be a good reference, and not it is considered more accurate than most encyclopedias. User generated content is quickly becoming a powerful way to communicate and share information.I am excited to see what will happen in the future.

22. I’ve found the Notes feature in Tumblr is its most sticky feature. I can go days and days without posting, but when I do and I get some Likes and Reblogs, I want to keep engaging with the community.

23. I get far more bored with myself if I’m not blogging than I ever get with blogging itself.Even if it’s just to post a picture or a song, I find it really helps me stay balanced.

24. Well, we’re all grateful you’re not bored, Fred.

25. Bored of blogging? Only if there is no one on the other endI love people in general. Even if they are hiding in their housesSlice of life

26. Blogs are amazing at building personal streams and I’m glad that you separate the blogging and writing parts. Often we want to share things outside of these streams, and that’s exactly what we are trying to solve with checkthis.http://checkthis.com/about

27. I like getting instant feedback too. I know that offline contact is just as important but the idea of sitting on the phone talking for a long time about old things just doesn’t resonate with me anymore.And yet, I have some old associates who don’t get internet stuff at all and so our friendships have fizzled to some degree.I’m not sure how to handle this. In an ideal world I’d like for all of us to be connected because we could keep in touch, quickly, and with value and not have to revisit a lot of stuff offline when it is inconvenient.Now don’t get me wrong; there is a time and place for all types of communication and sometimes a warm chit chat on the phone is it. But not all of the time as it was under old media. Curious on your thoughts.

28. spoken like a true blog star. those that are in the game for the fame, the fortune, the sex, the drugs…..they won’t make it. only those that are in it for the love of the game will last.

29. “I love putting the puzzle that are my thoughts together every day.”Agreed. I recently made a commitment to start blogging more frequently for exactly this reason. It forces me organize my thoughts and solidify my opinions on a wide variety of topics.

30. Great post Fred. I personally appreciate the fact that you write every day a lot.

31. I was introduced to your blog through a friend and I have been reading it on daily basis. It actually encouraged me to start writing my own blog. I like every topic being discussed and I think that such forum is more than a discussion, it’s a school for those who want to learn about anything in the sphere of the internet in an informative yet personal and entertaining manner. Some of the commentators have fascinating views and ideas and they’re also a joy to read. Learning curve couldn’t get steeper on one page like on avc.com. Thank you for inspiring us.

32. This is another solid entry about the merit of blogging that you might be interested in: http://tworegularmen.blogsp…

33. Short one this time:Love is in the airIt’s an ongoing love affairYesterday, Twitter got loved againToday, readers are loving Fred’s acumenWho knows what tomorrow will bring?It must be a Valentine thingLove is the killer app someone saidWon’t get you funded, but will get you ahead

34. I read your blog for your views on investing. But I’d also be interested in how you decide what goes here and in tumblr. Just as there are many and confusing sources of content (Twitter, Quora, RSS feeds), there are also many confusing sources of how to distribute content. Any insights? Thanks, Rick Harris

    1. blogs are for long form contenttumblr is for short bits of content – photos, videos, music, quotestwitter is for short thoughts, observations, and links quora is for the techcrunch community to ask questions to each other

35. SO i have a question that may be ‘stupid” but is tumblr supposed to be a blog? or is it more of a place to post kitchy little images and quotes?

    1. i use it for the latter. my partner albert uses it for the former

36. booyah

37. Fred, i recall you saying ina previous posy that you like to online chat with start up founders before your invite them to an in person interview. What service do you use for that?

    1. skype

38. I get real bored. it gets tiring at times.

39. I worry about the reading skills of readers on the Internet, we skim, we poke, we think more about how we are going to comment than reading the post. Blogging gives the writers a sense of instant satisfaction, there is justice in being read.I have a mental equation for reading Blog, I keep a small score in my head. A good Blogger somehow engages me once every 10 post, there is the 1 in 10 that I read well, completely and try to carry along with me in my memories.You wrote, “I love putting the puzzle that are my thoughts together every day.”I have now Blogged about 5000 times on my HoboTraveler.com travel Blog, sometimes I want to stop, but I cannot, the putting the puzzle together in real word, and pulling all the abstract fuzzy concepts out of my head, that is where my puzzle is kept.Clarity is what I want from a writer, that one liner that makes everything clear.

    1. 5000 posts is huge!we have a similar amount of outputtypepad says 5266 posts to date here at AVC

40. Hi Fred – Similar to you I have found many of the same benefits of blogging. I recently read Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson where he discusses commonplacing. He describes it as having enough order (structure) to later recall your ideas when needed, yet enough chaos to allow for meandering unstructured thoughts which may lead to new discoveries. I consider blogging to be this sort of commonplacing for me.

    1. that’s exactly what i thought when i read about commonplacing in steven’s book

41. Great question, and I don’t think people who enjoy blogging or have an audience can just stop a blog, as everyone is looking forward to your next blog post. I enjoy your blog, and I’ve told some people about it. You’ve got more people reading the blog than commenting, so you’ve got more of a following than the comments show. I don’t always comment, yet figured it’s good to comment on some blogs that I enjoy reading. I think entrepreneurs want to know who the best VCs are in tech, so they follow you, the other VCs want to follow you as well, then there’s others in between. I’m sure you’ve got VCs who are trying to figure out how to blog like you do, and get an audience as well. I think a lot of people who read your blog are hoping you’d invest in their startup or startup they are working on as well. Most of your readers seem to be entrepreneurs or those who are looking to start something.

    1. i’m glad you comment every now and theni wish everyone would but i understand why they don’t

       1. Thanks, I don’t think there are many great VC blogs out there, and you do a great job at it. You’re definitely changing the game of VC. One thing I think is that many entrepreneurs don’t always feel comfortable commenting on their investors blogs, that’s why we don’t see your portfolio company entrepreneurs commenting that much. They may want to make you believe they’re working 24/7, and don’t even have time to read blogs. I think the reason why more of your portfolio companies are successful is because you are a great leader. I don’t think many of the companies VCs invested in would have been where they are today if they didn’t have a great VC backing them. It’s not just about the entrepreneur. You can tweet out to everyone about the companies you’ve invested in, and blog about it. Many VCs aren’t doing the same, do not have the following you do.

42. I can relate to this sentiment. I’ve been blogging for a few years. I don’t get bored, but I get a sense of not being able to post enough due to feelings of responsibility. However, I just had to come to terms that my real life takes precedence and if I don’t post, then the people in my virtual life will be fine with waiting until I do have time. I certainly don’t have as big a persona to maintain as you do, but maybe when my kids are older I’ll have more time to develop & maintain one.Like you, I lost my passion for twitter but I’m not sure when or how or if it will come back. Again, it boils down to the amount of time I have and where my online/offline strong connections currently reside.

    1. twitter doesn’t take time. i do it in the 30 sec downtimes in my daily routineblogging does take timethat was the singular difference that led me to call @ev and ask him if we could invest in twitter when they spun it out

       1. That’s true. Twitter doesn’t take too much time, but as a piece of the whole social online pie, the reasons for using it have changed over time for me. I started using it to connect/share with others mostly around my business. As I took on a full time job, eventually passed on my business to my partner, have two still fairly young kids, went through a family transition that I didn’t want to be too online about, the pull for me diminished re: twitter. Now my main online social activities online are blogging and facebook because my ‘real’ life and my one to one connections required more of my time as they should have.As things settle down, maybe my twitter and online activities will increase. As I mentioned, even my posting decreased.

          1. my wife, the gotham gal, is writing a book about some of the issues you’vebeen going throughit is called “What Do You Do?”

43. Being a thought leader is much more than just being a blogger.Was it your intention and vision for this media asset to become what it is today?It sounds like it was more by accident than anything else. Some great companies evolved and/or are evolving in much the same manner — Facebook being one of them.I like how your position has given you a sense of responsibility to serve. Many just use their influence as a license to steal, or at least take to enrich themselves.Much value can be created by focusing on inspiring, impressing and educating your audience in meaningful ways rather than focusing on how to ‘monetize’ them. Now that’s a worthwhile legacy to leave behind.I’ve enjoyed the inspiration you’ve shared with the social media community the last couple of days Fred — I’m sure many will be inspired by what can be accomplished by their social media efforts when done properly.

    1. i often talk about the accidental entrepreneur. joshua schachter is the iconic one in my mind. i guess i am the accidental blogger/thought leader. it certainly was not my intention.

44. hmmmmm… too much comments are indeed indigestible :)I believe that, the person, who possess the talent and ideas and knows the real trick to use his brain and communication skills, can never be bored of Blogging…. You too are among those… Indeed Em not buttering …..!! Hope to see more…

45. I think that blogs are public dairies :)They give us an opportunity to learn from other peopel’s experiences and insights. If you ask me about that, I do endorse the writer, when he says that he does not get bored of writing. The only important thing in this regard is that, we have to bear the objective, quality, background and content in our minds. Talking relevant to the context helps a lot in making communication process more effective……….

46. I think if you’re passionate about something, even though sometimes it is tedious, you make it happen, work it out and squeeze it into a busy life.

47. It’s tough when the business thing you’re focused on is something you can’t write about publicly.

48. I feel you here…suffer from your #1 and #2 all the time.

49. My closing comment was good. Everything else was weak

50. Let me provide some unindictable assurance and a bit of feedback tailored just to you — 27 is NOT late in life.In fact, from the vantage point of a couple of 27s+, you still have several lives left to live.Don’t settle for less than about 6-7.You have barely scratched the first one. But this is one hell of a time to be alive.Good hunting!

51. Don’t you think that you read, think, formulate your thoughts and then bring forth the intellectual goulash of that process?Sometimes you have to step back and absorb in order to be able to compose your thoughts.I knew James Michener when he was alive and writing in Austin. He explained his process of writing a book. He wrote over 40 books and they were big ones. It was incredible. He became a subject matter expert before he wrote one word.

52. OK, will keep an eye out for it.

53. oh I am with you, I am just trying to find a routine so I can get more out of it.