Fun Friday: Do You Blog?

Arnold suggested we find out how many of the AVC community members blog. So let's do that.

First, here's a poll. I suspect the number of bloggers will be 10% or less of the total audience. But we will see.


Next, let's create a "blog roll" of the AVC folks who do blog. I've created a Hackpad where everyone who blogs can add their blog. The format is blog title, blog url, blog author (comma delimited). I've embedded the Hackpad here so we can see it evolve as the day goes on. It is super cool to watch people add their blogs live. It started happening about thirty seconds after I hit publish.


View The AVC Blogroll on Hackpad.

It would be nice to figure out how to export this blogroll as an OPML file. But I am not smart enough to figure out how to do that. Maybe someone else can.

So that's it. Let us know if you blog and if so, where.

#Weblogs

Comments (Archived):

  1. jason wright

    no, not yet. thinking about it.

    1. Avi Deitcher

      Don’t think, do. Just start. It takes on a life of its own. After a month or two, if you are unhappy, you can quit, but at least you will have tried and known.

    2. Avi Deitcher

      To add flavour: I have blogged irregularly for years, sometimes once a week, sometimes 3 times a week, sometimes once a month, whenever I could find the time, and it was worth it, and etc.About 2 months ago I decided that if it was worth something, I had to do it at least daily. So I just did. Been a great experience, and it is only getting easier. I am now at the point where on any given day I have 2-4 (and sometimes 5 or 6) drafts sitting waiting to be published for the rest of the week.Just find something you love – for me its the business and tech – and write.

    3. JamesHRH

      My issue is I have seen what it takes to do it well – daily diligence.Not sure I have reason to do it well, at the moment.

  2. Kasi Viswanathan Agilandam

    I did for 6 months (in 2007) upon reading one of your post during that time….But honestly when I went through my posts after 6 months and I could not stop laughing at what I was blabbering on the net.(and one of my friend commented that he can now see how small my Homer brain is :-)).The blatant truth is ….You need a solid thinking, knowledge base and of course a user base to blog…orelse it echos like a drunkard talking to himself after 8-pegs-on-the-rocks :-).P.S. I have voted no.

  3. Avi Deitcher

    Dang hackpad won’t send the verification email, checked my inbox and spam regularly. And I won’t use my Google Account because hackpad.com asked for permission to manage my contacts. Last thing I need is one of their bugs deleting or changing one of my contacts.

    1. awaldstein

      Same issue. I signed in with Facebook.

      1. Avi Deitcher

        Eventually it showed up.Their request for permissions to manage contacts, ease vs trust and the limits, gave me great fodder for another blog post. Just wrote it!

        1. awaldstein

          I couldn’t wait. Busy day and need to jump off line shortly.

  4. Donna Brewington White

    It was really tempting to start chatting with people as they were making entries at the same time as me. I love how we can actually see the Hackpad embedded here.This is a fun idea. Thanks @awaldstein:disqus.

    1. awaldstein

      I’m really curious and interesting at seeing this list. My bet, smaller than you think but really interesting discoveries.

      1. Donna Brewington White

        It will be fun. But I will have to exercise discipline and not spend all day clicking on links. Full day ahead.

        1. Avi Deitcher

          Agreed, Donna. The Internet is a dangerous place for two types: the easily distracted and the intellectually curious. There is just *so* much to read that actually is interesting.The worst is good ebooks. They end up on my iPad, and cut into my non-business reading time on airplanes or in bed at night.

          1. Donna Brewington White

            I have a son who is all the above — ADHD and a genius — plus has insomnia.He is constantly relaying these random obscure facts. Me: How do you know this? Him: The internet.

          2. laurie kalmanson

            we’d all be lost without it

          3. Steven Cohn

            Donna. I have a son the same as your son. and while not calling myself a genius, I am similar to your son. best thing you can do is teach him to code. he probably has a great math/engineering mind. and his curiosity will push him to create things. people like us like to get lost in big projects overcoming big challenges.

          4. Donna Brewington White

            Thank you, Steven, I really appreciate this.You are more spot on than you know. My son is headed off to college next week and the plan so far is to major in computer science.He was deadset against going to college until about two months ago — applied to one on a whim (they pestered him incessantly after getting hold of his ACT score — that he did not study for!).One of the pivotal experiences was finishing a Codecademy course and realizing that he loves coding — he’s done little hacks but this time it really clicked.Of course he may change his mind a thousand times but for now that’s where he’s headed. I think that if he does an internship next summer at a startup that will seal the deal. He has an entrepreneurial soul. I’m going to be unashamedly reaching out to tech founders for a favor!

          5. Steven Cohn

            reach out to me when he is ready. steven @ prodthink . com

          6. Donna Brewington White

            That is kind, Steven. Thank you.

        2. Anne Libby

          Leaving for a meeting, thinking, wish I could play with this today!

          1. Kirsten Lambertsen

            You are my favorite person of the month.

          2. William Mougayar

            Oh no! :)Nice responsive design on Kuratur. Seeing them now lined-up on mobile iPhone.

      2. ShanaC

        thanks arnold

      3. William Mougayar

        156 yes votes (so far), so that’s already 15%+ of commenters population.

        1. awaldstein

          Commenters or readers ?Not the same?

          1. William Mougayar

            Not the same. We know that. I think estimates are 1,000 commenters & 225-250K readers. Fred can validate.

          2. LE

            I still want an answer to the question of whysome people read but never ever make any comments. I’d love to get behind the psychology of that.

          3. awaldstein

            Since less than 1% do (guessing) might be better to ask why they do?And honestly since of that 1% less than half do with any consistency, start with that personality type(s) of which you are one!

          4. LE

            Well I still stand behind as far as (my thoughts on) research why people don’t comment vs. why people do as being more significant. I can probably reverse engineer why any particular person regularly comments here I think. Or come very close. Because I spot patterns. Not that I will cover every motivation obviously. I comment because it gives me an opportunity to say what is on my mind and because there are people here that I recognize (my “why do kids like mickey mouse” [2] theory) and also because I’m not running a popularity contest so I will just say what I want (all in general I do hold back on somethings obviously).For example my sister would never comment here because she is running a popularity contest and wouldn’t want to make enemies etc. and wants to be liked more than anything.I don’t comment on NYT because there is no “mickey mouse”. I do comment on HN somewhat (but for other reasons not mickey mouse). On domain blogs people are low class so I rarely comment. (Also not interested in educating competitors I’m old school like that, right? (Note that I think I have something important to say something that could be reverse engineered from my comments like that!))The reason I want to know why people don’t comment is that if that can be discovered (with patterns) then something can be put in place to remove the issue or issues that prevent people from commenting. I can fix that.Let’s take lulitonix as an example of this concept.We can ask why people buy that product but you probably can answer that question already much easier than finding out why I don’t buy that product. (Where “I” is anyone). I’m not the target market for the product at all. Wouldn’t it be great if I was though?What about the website or concept makes me not consider buying the product? There are more people that don’t buy than buy. That’s the problem to be solved.I just was dragged out to Las Vegas (wife wanted to take the kids to the hoover dam and canyon) and it’s the last place I wanted to go. [1] But once I was there I thought it was pretty nice and would consider going back. Odd, right? The question is what about their marketing (and image) caused me not to know that I would have a good time? What about cruise ship marketing would make you not think you would have a good time?[1] My wife did sell me on the “taking pictures aspect” in her “marketing” to me about a reason to go. Something that really resonated that I hadn’t oddly considered as a big plus. Vegas was great for photography I shot thousands of pictures and videos.[2] Mickey mouse: Kids relate to mickey because he is easily identifiable in a confusing world to a kid (like me in a city I’ve never been to) (and more that’s the short answer).

          5. awaldstein

            Predictably interesting response!But I disagree.You sell to why you know something has value and objection handle around that. That’s the opposite of what you are saying about LuLi if I understand you.You do channel development around who will indeed relate to core value. Mature markets, markets stuck in a rut, companies out of touch ask why people don’t buy. Growing companies, early stage, ask just the opposite and look for positive matches.Changing the market or educating the masses or shifting behavior is something I avoid always.

          6. LE

            YP, MP I don’t understand all this industry and MBA jargon! [1].”Mature markets, markets stuck in a rut, companies out of touch ask why people don’t buy. “Definitely not doubting that is true and you are right. Just not the way that I think about things in the business world. (That said see below why I included lulitonix)Not doubting either that first order of business with luli is to go for the low hanging fruit by crafting a way to attract that market. Just feel that the time to do what I am saying is way before “markets stuck in a rut”. (You are not anywhere near that stage starting out for sure.)In any case all this is art not science.The other examples I gave were certainly mature (AVC, Las Vegas).I was just trying to plug lulitonix (shows what happens when I don’t keep an arms length relationship to what I am commenting on, eh?). Will happen again I’m sure.[1] Boogie nights recording studio scene.

          7. awaldstein

            I do seriously like your comments my friend.There are many opinions, many of them right. No one way for everyone.And I do seriously think Boogie NIghts is a great film BTW.Have a great weekend.(BTW–appreciate the positives towards LuLi. I really believe this company will make it as it so knows what it is about and understands its customer connection as well as any I’ve ever seen. Just because it needs to redefine distribution completely seems a small matter!)

          8. Donna Brewington White

            Or you could look at it in reverse since actually commenters are in the minority. Why do some people comment?@fredwilson:disqus — that might be an interesting “fun friday” — where only people who have never (or rarely) commented are allowed to do so — or maybe they are the only ones who can initiate a comment and regular commenters can only comment in response to a comment. But I don’t know the question to ask to spark the conversation.

    2. Aaron Klein

      It was fun to be able to insert myself right between two great friends…you and @awaldstein:disqus.Cool idea, Arnold!

      1. awaldstein

        I’m a big fan of yours and Riskalyze blog (which you should put up).I read yours honestly to get me in touch with the work you’ve done around adoption. Inspiring. And Riskalyze as an example of a company blog that has really found its voice to its customers. Watched it from day one and it is really on pace now.

        1. Aaron Klein

          Very kind of you, my friend. I forgot about the Riskalyze blog! I’ll post it.

    3. Kirsten Lambertsen

      I had that same thought, ha!

  5. David Semeria

    Arnold, as JLM would say, well-played!

    1. Aaron Klein

      +1. Extremely good idea.I have to say — I’m not thoroughly impressed with Hackpad though. Perhaps they’re just trying to grow, but I got like six email notifications yesterday that were totally useless — just gobs of the whole hackpad and no meaning about what was changed.Even so, I don’t want that coming to my email so I hit unsubscribe at least twice and they just kept coming.Got back to my Mac this morning, hit unsub again on the same email and it says “you’re already unsubscribed to THIS USER’S changes.”Might have to delete my account to get this to stop. Very poor design.

  6. Donna Brewington White

    I am incredulous at how quickly you write your posts, Fred. I think you once said a half hour or less. It takes me one to three hours. Occasionally, I will pop one out more quickly. And as Mark Suster has pointed out, it can actually take longer to write a shorter post.I have a whole file of partially written posts and ideas for posts. I guess it is more fun blogging here in the AVC comments. More readers too. ;)edited for length 😉

    1. falicon

      My ‘best’ stuff takes forever as well…lately I’ve taken to just doing random thought dumps instead of trying to write in-depth, high-quality stuff…What I’ve discovered over the years is that since I don’t really have a large audience, the point of my blogging is really to share my current thoughts with my future self…and then on a secondary level, share some thoughts/opinions with the three or four close friends I have that actually do take time to read my blog…and only finally last is the intent/hope to reach out to the wider internet/audience and touch random outside people.Once I started thinking about it in these terms, it became a lot easier to write quick, short, random thought posts…they prob. don’t add a ton of value to the internet as a whole, but they help me (for now)…

      1. Drew Meyers

        I take the same approach with my personal blog, which doesn’t have a huge audience. I find it fascinating to read my writings from 5-6 years ago…and I’m sure 5-6 years from now, I’ll find it fascinating to read my thoughts from now.

      2. LE

        Part of what you are saying is of course true and part is rationalization.It’s certainly far more helpful than if you did the same thing and only kept it locally on your machine with no possible distribution at all.Writing it where somebody can see it is similar in a way to why people play the lottery knowing there is only a small chance of hitting it big. (In addition to all the other obvious benefits). Even though a small chance (and very little if any reinforcement people still play and why playing with fake money (or stock picks) just doesn’t hit the spot.

        1. falicon

          Everything I say and do is part true and part rationalization…but don’t tell anyone else 🙂

      3. Donna Brewington White

        I have not spent as much time on Tumblr as I’d like recently — or anywhere on the social web for that matter, but I’ve seen your posts as I’ve glanced through my dashboard through and a couple or so jumpled out at me. Made a mental note to go back and read when things tone down some.

  7. Tom Labus

    Congrats @awaldstein:disqus A great ideaI’m amazed at the output and maybe inspired too

  8. William Mougayar

    Hat tip to Arnold for this great idea.If we were entering as a Google Form, it might have been easier to export the RSS into an OPML. I’m pretty sure Dave Winer or some whiz person will figure it out otherwise.10% of the 1000 or so that leave comments – that’s about 100. I think we’ll exceed that, because some that don’t comment will come out.

      1. William Mougayar

        Cool. I couldn’t find it. Are you with Hackpad? But these are urls, not RSS. Feedly is good at finding the RSS from any page.

        1. Sebastian Wain

          I just sent you the link of the AVC blogroll OPML file via twitter.

  9. Donna Brewington White

    10% ?Don’t underestimate your influence.Although as the day wears on, I do predict the number will shrink.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      If we had full poll participation it may be 10%.I think Fred may have a bias towards following the 1/10/100 percentage rules though. And it’s not 1% or 100%.. 😉

  10. laurie kalmanson

    #becauseawesome i blog ocasionally; ux stuff, obsolete technology, etc. i’d been using blogspot, but it’s so clunky — invited to medium and jumped on that but while its easy to promote your “collection” on medium with a tweet, your “blog” doesn’t have a name the way a blog on other platforms does. hmmmmmm. i

    1. Anne Libby

      It’s also hard use search — anywhere — to find a specific writer’s Medium post.

      1. laurie kalmanson

        yes, true.

  11. Ana Milicevic

    Lovely idea @awaldstein:disqus ! Looking forward to discovering some good new reads from all of you.

    1. Kirsten Lambertsen

      +1

    2. Kirsten Lambertsen

      Love the “Sponsored by” on your blog!

  12. Steven Cohn

    I blog about entrepreneurship, but my audience isn’t other entrepreneurs or investors. My audience are my two sons, who are 5 and 2 years old. I want to create a digital record for them to read when I get old and am long out of the game. How I wish my grandfather (who was a great businessman and an entrepreneur), had a blog. It would be so wonderful to read his thoughts now that he is gone.

    1. falicon

      You sir, are awesome. +100.

    2. James Ferguson @kWIQly

      Lovely thought – I think this will help me do a bit more

    3. Drew Meyers

      I have to admit, that is part of why I blog too — even though I don’t even have a family yet. To make sure that a record of my thoughts and life exists for future generations.

    4. andyidsinga

      +1 on the digital record.I was once gave a guy unsolicited critical feedback about a series he was writing ..and how to make them “better” for a technical audience. He replied that he was doing them partly for his own kids so they could read them later. I gained a new appreciation for the posts ..and the digital record concept.

  13. panterosa,

    Go Arnold!I did a guest post for a site which got great reception. I was asked to more, lined up 7 posts and now the site is in transition due to funding issues. I keep getting asked to put those posts out by others, but not sure I want to host them. My site is a placeholder for that decision to be made, and currently empty. The posts were on inspiration and fueling your creative engine and psyche.I will have to blog for launching new venture. Not sharing links yet since they are not live yet.Not sure what to answer on the poll really….

  14. panterosa,

    I have a great idea for fun friday.

  15. Abdallah Al-Hakim

    I answered No to the above question but the truth is that I blog very infrequently. Seeing this list makes one want to blog more 🙂

    1. William Mougayar

      What are you waiting for? http://www.tumblr.com Show us pics of your baby 🙂

  16. Jacob

    Does posting to twitter count as “blogging”?

  17. falicon

    This is very interesting….two things I want to add:1. I suspect many people have a blog, but very few actually blog.2. I will add any of these to gawk.it if people want. Just ping me at info at falicon.com

    1. awaldstein

      I would like to parse this list not by that but by who are the top commenters.Blogging and commenting are about having opinions, not just having knowledge. They should go together regardless of the format differences.Results from a glance are that I may be incorrect.

      1. falicon

        A lot of people ‘comment’ instead of blog…it’s just easier and more natural to react than to act.And I suspect those that really blog, spend their energy there more so than distributing their attention and actively commenting in other places (for example, Fred comments around the web, but it’s pretty rare and random — I suspect mostly out of lack of time because his engagement and focus is here and in his ‘real’ work). Hard to do both (especially since neither is a real job for the 99% of us).

      2. James Ferguson @kWIQly

        Arnold – Agreed – I think many AVC have eclectic interests whereas many blogs are focussed (mine certainly) so I would expect that I contribute more original though in comments than blogs and that only a few people in my B2B area would care much about the blogs I occassionally post.

        1. awaldstein

          Agree

    2. Kasi Viswanathan Agilandam

      You should go like …”I will add all of these to gawk.it … just ping me at info at falicon.com if you don’t want me to”not a good marketer mr.falicon 🙂

      1. falicon

        I actually don’t want to put them all into gawk — I’m pretty happy with what the product/service does at the moment (it serves my needs) and so I’m mostly in maintenance mode with it (110% of my energy is in something else)…and to be totally honest, I kind of like that it’s a somewhat exclusive/high-end service right now.That being said, I really appreciate this community and try to give back as much as possible…so that is why I’m willing to take on the temp. distraction to get any of these set up that might want their stuff to be searchable via gawk. 🙂

      2. William Mougayar

        It’s well intentioned. Good to see a technical person market themselves!

  18. JimHirshfield

    I said “yes” even though I haven’t blogged in a year…until I just did 5 minutes ago. 😉 Ben meaning to get back into it. Thanks for the nudge.

    1. bsoist

      🙂 Fred didn’t put a frequency criteria on it. I’ve posted less than 3000 times in almost fifteen years.

      1. JimHirshfield

        That’s a lot!

    2. Kirsten Lambertsen

      I had no idea you had a blog. Can’t wait to look.

      1. JimHirshfield

        Enjoy. Hope it’s not too stale.

    3. James Ferguson @kWIQly

      Jim – I guess I will be dusting mine down tonight !

      1. JimHirshfield

        How long has it been?

    4. LE

      “Thanks for the nudge.”I think it has to be something that you do spontaneously. If you fall out naturally so be it. I don’t think it should be like an obligation.

      1. JimHirshfield

        Agree 100%

        1. LE

          I’ve been working on a concept around this idea.Actually its something I just thought of while on vacation (you know the mania feeds creativity as I had mentioned to Fred last week in a comment).So the idea is how can you get a bunch of people together and put up a blog where there are perhaps three or 4 posts per day from a total of perhaps 10 people. Numbers are arbitrary but roughly correct.Those 10 people would jointly contribute to the blog and write whenever they wanted about whatever they wanted.But only a limited amount per day. That way there wouldn’t be an obligation but if something moved you you would write and it would go into the queue to be published at the next available slot. And hopefully there would be a reason to log in everyday like there is with AVC because you would get to know the suspects.Each contributor has it’s own distinct flavor so people would tune it because they either liked the particular person writing or like the people who consistently showed up to comment.I’m interested in what several people on AVC have to say but don’t have the time (or interest) to read what they say every single day. But a combo of many of them would hit the spot.Add: This isn’t like anything out there already it’s not medium or anything like that. And it’s not driven by revenue it’s driven by influence.

          1. JimHirshfield

            Sound like a curated or invite only e-zine.

  19. William Mougayar

    What if you could read all these blogs on a Web page? I put this together using our very own Kirsten Lambersten’s Kuratur curation Tool. Have a look. There’s some really good content! (am still adding entries- Kirsten need your help to finish it)http://kuratur.com/AVCBlogg…

    1. bsoist

      nice idea, could also roll the feeds together for something like paper.li

      1. William Mougayar

        The thing is it’s a manual process for now. I wished there was a way to export the links and plunk them into a reader that publishes in HTML. Kuratur allows that but you need to enter each RSS feed.

        1. awaldstein

          I think this blog roll is really fascinating.Not at all sure that contextually avc in a paperli format holds.avc gels cause the interest fingerprint of the commenters is so interesting as the blog roll surely shows.I want the people behind that fingerprint talking about different things bringing their perspective, not an aggregate of what they are writing about.I’m the outlier here.

          1. bsoist

            avc gels cause the interest fingerprint of the commenters is so interesting as the blog roll surely shows+1000

          2. Kirsten Lambertsen

            Context is… contextual 😉 In other words, keeping up with all the AVC community bloggers may be something that I (and maybe my blog audience) want to do.But here’s one I made a year ago for USV, just to show what can be done http://bit.ly/QhpDcr

          3. awaldstein

            Glad to be wrong on this.Ill be thrilled to find an auto aggregation solution that pulls me in,

          4. awaldstein

            Finally not reading this on the subway and about to go through your format and see where it takes me.Thoughts later if that is ok?

          5. Kirsten Lambertsen

            That would be fantastic. I would value your feedback very much.

          6. awaldstein

            If you want send me something that shows me more about this.I’m curious and interested.

          7. Kirsten Lambertsen

            I will do that. Thank you!

          8. William Mougayar

            The Kuratur page is a step that gives some color to who’s behind the community via their blog. I was pleased to see the variety and global nature, from politics, to music, to lifestyle hobbies, wine, etc…It’s dominated by technology and business, but still it’s an interesting slice of mosaic.

          9. awaldstein

            Interesting it most certainly is.More and more this idea of horizontal communities is coming under question.True and deep context comes from flash connections around a topic or post informed by the broader community but really defined by the moment.

        2. bsoist

          I haven’t tried it yet. It actually looks like a great tool for something else I’m working on right now. And I’m sure we can find a way to automate it a little. 🙂

        3. ObjectMethodology.com

          I think what would be great is a way to create a “blog query” to build a blog list dynamically that brings back all blogs that fit the query. So every morning my query is run and I get a list of blogs to look at. I don’t want to maintain the list. I will maintain the query parameters. This way my tastes are “expressed” by the query and the results are fulfilled when needed.

      2. Kirsten Lambertsen

        Ya, but nobody from Paper.li is an AVC regular 😉 (that I know of)

        1. bsoist

          Good point! I noticed Kuratur before, but didn’t have a use for it at the time. It might be just what I’m looking for right now. I’ll give it a go later today.

          1. Kirsten Lambertsen

            Awesome. Ruthless feedback welcomed! I’m at kirsten at kuratur dot com.

    2. Kirsten Lambertsen

      Thanks, William 🙂 I’m adding now!It’s great to see it in the wild and learn something right away – we should add a tool to upload a csv or similar file of sources that you want to use to make your page.

    3. Matt A. Myers

      Fucking eh!! That’s the excited Canadian coming out of me..

      1. Kirsten Lambertsen

        +1000 🙂

        1. LE

          Kirsten very nice!One suggestion I have is to see if it can be done as two columns instead of three.Or perhaps:twotwotwoonetwotwotwooneetc.Reason being is the eye has a hard time scanning three columns that aren’t all at the same level and of different sizes. People will tend to go toward the outward right column and center (mostly right though) [1] and pay less attention to anything showing up in the left. Prime real estate is right not left.I fully understand that this is done all over and very typical but I don’t think its based on sound design principles from my graphic and observational experience.

          1. Kirsten Lambertsen

            Thanks for that feedback 🙂 We do offer a two-column layout. I think once I add titles to all the items on this page, it’ll get easier to look at.

          2. Anne Libby

            Really beautiful.

          3. Kirsten Lambertsen

            Thank you! I appreciate it 🙂

          4. Dave W Baldwin

            Stay with 3.

          5. Dave W Baldwin

            Can you add a rolling comment at top encouraging readers to promote a particular blog post on page? Eventually the culture would turn away those who promote their own too much.

      2. LE

        “eh!!”Didn’t know “a” is “eh” in Canadian.Although I guess “turnabout is fair play eh?” I did know. I just thought the other phrase was “a” (like in the deer hunter).

        1. Matt A. Myers

          Eh? It’s always been spelt ‘eh’ as far as I know. 😉

    4. Elia Freedman

      Don’t forget to add us west coasters who are just adding our blogs. 🙂 Really cool, by the way, William and Kirsten. I’m going to bookmark the site so I can check back in.

      1. Donna Brewington White

        Speak for yourself. Was one of the first. ;)(But my husband says I am not human.)

        1. Elia Freedman

          Yeah, I don’t low what happened to me. I used to get up around 6. Now I struggle to get out of bed at 7 and am finally getting moving at 9. Been a weird few months from that perspective.

          1. Donna Brewington White

            A change in internal clock or situational? Summer?I guess the main thing is not the time but what get’s done, right?

          2. Donna Brewington White

            BTW @eliafreedman:disqus if it makes you feel better, I wasn’t up early, I was instead burning the midnight oil and still awake when Fred posted.

        2. Kirsten Lambertsen

          Wow – I need some of that.

          1. Donna Brewington White

            No, you don’t. Trust me.

      2. Kirsten Lambertsen

        Thanks, Elia :)I think I’m going wait until all the activity has slowed and then get everyone added. I’ll go look for you right now though.William is my hero for starting the page. He’s done the bulk of the work so far.

        1. Elia Freedman

          Wow! Can’t believe how many more people have posted their blogs! Can’t blame you for waiting.

    5. Tracey Jackson

      Great document you created William. I am going to make a point of checking out every single blog by week’s end. Next week’s end.

    6. andyidsinga

      be sure to get @falicon:disqus to add http://gawk.it search support

      1. Kirsten Lambertsen

        You hear that, @falicon? 😉

        1. falicon

          Yep – of course! How can I help?

          1. Kirsten Lambertsen

            Over beers soon…

          2. LE

            “How can I help?”Every time you get out they pull you back in.

          3. falicon

            Ha! Luckily I *love* helping people more than anything else! (so much that ‘helping people’ even sits at the core of my new thing).

          4. LE

            I think all of this is great especially the “even sits at the core of my new thing”.I love those connections and it will make great PR as a backstory when they write about “the thing” (especially how I hassle you about that an additional angle like Springsteen’s father telling him to shut off the guitar and study to “make something of yourself”) [1]Just noting that it has to not interfere with daily functioning (in terms of time spent unless of course you have a trust fund etc.)In other words like they say “you know you have a problem when it starts to interfere” (or whatever the DSM criteria is).Can’t wait to see the new idea.[1] Springsteen’s father was right of course how is he supposed to know that his son will be the 1 of 350 million that is that talented?

    7. Donna Brewington White

      Oh that’s so cool!And a shout out to @MsPseudolus:disqus — elegant product.

      1. Kirsten Lambertsen

        Thank you, Donna 🙂

        1. Roy Berman

          Kristen for CTO of USA !!

    8. mikenolan99

      I’ve been looking for a replacement for iGoogle… http://kuratur.com/AVCBlogg… might be a pretty good start!

    9. Mark Essel

      Cool aggregation William.

      1. William Mougayar

        You can thank Kirsten. That’s Kuratur’s. I just used it.

    10. Anne Libby

      I’ll help this weekend, if you need someone else on data entry…

      1. William Mougayar

        Sure. It’s in Kirsten’s hands. Kirsten? thanks.

      2. Kirsten Lambertsen

        Wow – you are awesome to offer :)Now that there are about 260 (!) of these to do, I’m thinking we need to break them up into several pages. My first inclination is to just organize them alphabetically. I’ve managed to get through A and B tonight, ha!I’m at kirsten at kuratur dot com. If you’re still feeling courageous enough to pitch in, I’ll send you the login credentials. I’ll also email you the spreadsheet that I generated of the list that’s all in alpha order.Here’s the A-B page, just to give you a previewhttp://kuratur.com/AVCBlogg…

        1. William Mougayar

          Wow, it’s looking really good. Much better than when I started it.

        2. Anne Libby

          Sure. (It would be neat if we could tag by category…and have category pages…)

    11. stevewfindlay

      Brilliant – thank you!Great to see the variety amongst the A VC audience…it’s not just 500 VC blogs…has to be credit to Fred’s open style and interesting narrative.

  20. bsoist

    I could not disagree with you more – I expect much higher than 10% and you are certainly “smart enough” to roll and OPML file from this.Let me know when you think the list is complete, and I’ll crank out the OPML for you.

  21. Jim Peterson

    Ok. There goes a substantial part of the weekend to check out all these blogs. Lots of discussion lately on the skyrocketing cost of higher education. Why does that have to be when so much is online and for free (like here at Fred’s place)?Fred, the quality, persistence, and scope of what you cover is just flat out profound.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      I believe scope is what happens when you allow yourself to expand, and have an end goal in mind to focus and bias your thoughts around a topic. From this you can find where the most impacting synergies exist, and then foster thinking and action around this – thereby further amplifying cycles and the value of interconnection and of intent. It’s all awesome.Similar with Elon Musk who wanted to solve big problems from his early twenties, which lead him to developing three technologies now – which are mostly unrelated – except for being forms of transportation (I think that is more coincidence) – cars, rocketships, and ‘flying cars;’ Tesla, SpaceX, Hyperloop. Oh yeah, I forgot about Solar City..Fred and USV, and Elon Musk, are equally inspiring to me.

      1. Jim Peterson

        “thereby further amplifying cycles and the value of interconnection and of intent”Thanks Matt. in the middle of that right now!

        1. Matt A. Myers

          :)P.S. I love concrete used in design. Looking forward to having time to look through your site. 🙂

          1. Jim Peterson

            Thanks MattGardendesign.com is the tsunami we are in the middle of right now! Huge passion group all over the world.

          2. Matt A. Myers

            Cool!I am visiting Montreal and I went to the botanical gardens yesterday. There’s a great exhibition on right now too – http://calendrier.espacepou

  22. leeschneider

    Define blog. Do I have a Tumblr filled with mostly pictures? Absolutely. Am I writing up interesting posts with unique content? Not so much.

  23. ShanaC

    not anymore – couldn’t keep up. I should really start again 🙂

    1. bsoist

      good idea

  24. Matt A. Myers

    Great suggestion by the way @awaldstein:disqus – this is the kind of thing this community thrives on. 🙂

  25. Nick Grossman

    Wow, what an amazing list, and an amazing list of contributors. Hackpad (and avc community) FTW!

    1. fredwilson

      watching hackpad update live on AVC is very cool

  26. Spencer Fry

    I would create a second poll: If you blog, how often do you do it? Monthly? Weekly? Yearly? And maybe create a third poll: Have you blogged in the past week? I think plenty of people blog, but most only do it a few times a year which doesn’t really equate to blogging for me.

    1. Erik

      I’d like to know what platform people use (i.e. wordpress, blogger)?

      1. Spencer Fry

        I actually programmed my own blogging platform in Ruby on Rails. It was really simple to do. I just have a basic admin that adds/edits posts and then displays them with special URLs.

    2. fredwilson

      yes, those who blog more than four times a month would probably be a smaller %

      1. Paul Sanwald

        I would bet less than 10% of the people who blog, blog more than that. I’d expect to see folks that blog every day, then a cliff until you get to the once per month people like myself.

  27. andyidsinga

    I voted “yes” – because I have a few blogs – but I’m mostly a poser – I don’t think I write frequently enough to claim to be a blogger.howeva – being a poser will certainly not stop me from adding my crappy blogs to the hackpad 🙂 🙂 🙂

    1. falicon

      You and I are kindred spirits (on this and many other fronts I believe)! 😉

      1. andyidsinga

        oh – that reminds me … I need to start setting up beer and/or coffee time for my NYC visit in september

        1. falicon

          Oh! Def. get me on that list please!I won’t be at the AVC event (that’s my wedding anniversary), but I’ll be around the city in general as always and would love to get a chance to meet up with you!

          1. andyidsinga

            sweet – lets sync on email.

          2. falicon

            +1

  28. andyidsinga

    watching the hackpad update is messsssmerizing

    1. fredwilson

      i know. it is so cool

      1. andyidsinga

        I think this is the most interactive AVC post to date (?)

      2. Matt A. Myers

        How about a ‘replay’ feature, and then we can catch who’s sneaking ahead in line.. 🙂

    2. Vasudev Ram

      Yes. Can see more than one person updating at the same time, even. Even more cool 🙂

  29. Andrew Kennedy

    I do not blog. My new years resolution for 2012 was to create a blog and digitize my maternal grandfathers newspaper columns that he wrote in a local paper (The Eastchester Record). He is my inspiration and the person I aspire to be. He passed when I was 15 and so digitizing his columns is my way of engaging with him as an adult. Not going to add this to hackpad, but will drop a link here: http://newyearsresolution20… . His wisdom is beyond reproach in my mind and I am so lucky to have had him as a role model growing up. If you get a chance to read one, I highly recommend “Grocery Bills”. I need to be more consistent with digitizing these columns. I have thousands of them in two large boxes. He saved every one, only one copy of each.

    1. Donna Brewington White

      I read “Grocery Bills” Loved it.This is pure wealth you have inherited here. But you know that.

      1. Andrew Kennedy

        really happy to hear you enjoyed it. i agree, it’s pure wealth and I am very lucky. I noticed that you have a son. I think you’ll enjoy “The Graduate” a lot. I also highly recommend “Cock Fighting” and “The Radio”. Thanks for the comment. Means a lot to me.

  30. John

    I actually have 25 blogs, but I only put the one that’s really relevant to this community.

    1. Drew Meyers

      I have 5….but you have me beat.

  31. fredwilson

    wow. roughly half of the AVC readers who have taken the time to complete the poll say they blog. i would have thought the number was less than 10%. clearly i missed the mark on that. which makes this post even more relevant and important

    1. kidmercury

      i think there is a self-selection bias here. i.e. bloggers are more likely to respond yes to the poll for reasons of pride; and if non-bloggers can’t be bothered to blog can they really be bothered to answer a poll?

      1. Drew Meyers

        agreed. many of the commenters blog, and they are the ones more likely to answer a poll

      2. LE

        Agree with that. Bloggers more likely to see and respond to a poll.Otoh could also be that bloggers more likely to read a successful blog because they want some of the pixie dust or derive more pleasure from observation of a successful blogger. In other words they see Fred’s value as a blogger rather than as a VC.(Let’s say Malcolm Gladwell starts to write opinion pieces for the NYT would seem that many readers of his opinion pieces would be aspiring “best seller” authors and be attracted by that halo effect)

  32. Dale Allyn

    Fred, your poll is incomplete. There should be an additional option: “Yes, but badly”. ;)I’ve started and restarted blogs several times, but blogging daily (or even weekly sometimes) can be a challenge. I truly admire you (and Joanne and others) for your consistent delivery and participation.

  33. baba12

    Many would say if they tweet a stream of thought then it is a blog post. What do you think Mr.Wilson?

  34. CalebSimpson

    Wow, way more than 10%, but how many readers actually voted?

  35. Vasudev Ram

    Brilliant idea, Fred. Just added my blog jugad2. Trying Hackpad for the first time and like the idea of it a lot. Great real-time update tech. P.S. I guess now you’ll have plenty of reading material – something you mentioned a few posts ago – and so will all of us 🙂

  36. FAKE GRIMLOCK

    ME, GRIMLOCK, BLOG, BUT NOT VERY MUCH, SO ME NOT ADD TO LIST.SEPARATE “THINGS ME WRITE” INTO TWITTER, BLOG, EMAIL, VERY ANNOYING.SOMEONE SHOULD INVENT JUST ONE THING. #TIMETOWORKONDECK

      1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

        WHAT AM IT?

        1. Kirsten Lambertsen

          It’s a way to put all your different places you write into one place and share with the world. You can put other people there too.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      YOU SPEAK TRUTH CONCISELY, NOT NEED BLOG

  37. Paul Sanwald

    I blog, but don’t really have a theme other than “stuff paul feels like writing about”. this has ranged significantly over the years, currently I write about travel, live music I go to hear, and occasionally boxing or technology.blogging is entirely an exercise in practicing writing for me, I don’t expect that a subscriber who’s not my parents would find the range of content all that interesting

  38. Andrew Kennedy

    Fred’s first A VC post (attached). 4 comments. You’ve got to start somewhere.

  39. LE

    “I suspect the number of bloggers will be 10% or less of the total audience.”Exactly what I would have thought so I’m surprised at the poll daddy results tipped over 50% of respondents to the poll say they blog!

    1. Matt A. Myers

      There’s probably a bit of a poll bias going on, where people who don’t are less likely to give their input..

  40. pointsnfigures

    I started blogging because I knew quite a bit about the financial industry and was really pissed off about what was going on. Retail customers were being taken for a ride (still are). Was really upset about the bank bailouts. So, I started a blog. President Obama gave me a lot of great things to blog about since when it comes to setting up economic incentives, he has the brain of a five year old. This led to me blogging about entrepreneurship in Chicago and the midwest. It becomes a stream of consciousness. I blog about whatever I feel like, food, sports, startups, politics, finance, whatever. It is a continuous work in process and I have no idea what it will lead to, and I don’t care.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      I’ll have to tap your brain at some point and get your thoughts on everything I am doing, as I slowly reveal them, that is. 🙂

  41. Donna Brewington White

    I find it funny that some people “butted” in line. Would have been disappointed if some did not. Gotta love entrepreneurs. Opportunists that we are.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      I thought about it after seeing someone mentioning how they squeezed themselves between Fred and someone else.It would be great / funny to see a replay of items added – so we can catch those sneaky / clever ones..

      1. Donna Brewington White

        Mama knows.And so does Santa.

        1. Matt A. Myers

          Coal for hackpad hackers!

        2. Donna Brewington White

          Matt A. Myers This is actually a mini sociological study. I love how some guy put AVC back on top of the list after people posted above Fred — who was the first to input.I’m sure he felt that once again all was right with the world. heheIt made me feel better too.

  42. leigh

    omg i just attempted to add mine (it will updated eventually to a new blog) and the font size was HUGE so i deleted it. seriously, i can’t get anything to ever work! UX designers nightmare 🙂

    1. Matt A. Myers

      I think you should just make it huge – stand out a little..

  43. awaldstein

    Fred–nicely done.As Charlotte might have said to Wilbur under a different context– “Some Community!”Or as E.B.White might have said–“Not often does a community come along that has so many good writers.”Sorrry–huge EB White and Charlotte fan here. And a brutal week now being nursed into smoothness by a quite remarkable BioD Pinot from the Bay Area of all places.

    1. Andrew Kennedy

      + 1

  44. Muskie

    I tried to add my blog to the list, not sure it worked, of course I managed to bust my WordPress install earlier today anyway…

  45. Aruni S. Gunasegaram

    I’m a day or two late to this game, but I just tried to add my blog. http://www.entrepreMusings.com Life has thrown me a curve or two, so my blogging frequency has dropped considerably, but one of these days I will have the time to spin it back up again.

    1. fredwilson

      done