Archive for May 2008

By: Tina Nanez

I’ve been working in the Valley for several years and have met some great people and experienced so many different cultures. As most of us know, Silicon Valley is full of diversity. Working in this diverse environment really opened my eyes and inspired me to step out of my own element. There’s so much to learn and experience but so little time. My last great adventure was to that storied Bay Area stomping ground called Burning Man. I had such a wonderful time last year; I’ve been planning my return this year! All of that changed on the evening of April 8th as I watched HBO’s documentary, “The Greatest Silence: Rape in The Congo”. I can’t explain how or why this specific documentary touched me the way it did but I felt a visceral emotion unlike any other.

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By: Venky Harinarayan

Two months ago, we were at Accel’s CEO summit. It was a fun event with great speakers — opened with Steve Ballmer and ended with Eric Schmidt!

Also on the agenda: each start-up CEO doing a 30 second elevator-pitch on their company, on the spot. Ambushed thus, Anand and I drew straws – I lost, and had 5 minutes to prepare.

While preparing, I thought of an NPR program, where they discussed describing your life in six words: “Cursed with cancer, blessed by friends”, and “No wife. No kids. No problems”. Hemingway was once challenged to do a story in 6 words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”. That was the origin of the Six Words. Smith Magazine (http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/) recently revived interest in this format. They sought out and published a collection of 6 word memoirs titled “Not Quite What I Was Planning”. It is catching on: the New York Times had articles in the last couple weeks, where healthy eating is: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants”. And good investing is: “Index (mostly). Save a ton. Reallocate infrequently”. Seven words, but it is the Times after all.

Why is a thirty-second elevator-pitch interesting? Economy with time forces clarity and focus. You have to pick what’s most important. Economy with words has the same effect. But 6 words? Well, if people can describe their lives with 6 words, surely we can describe a company in 6 words. So let’s do Kosmix in 6. I’ll cheat a little here, since we’re a media company – I’ll use 3 words for the consumer and 3 words for the advertiser. Here it is (I’m sure your six will be different J). Ta-dah!

Kosmix: “Organize the Web. Targeting AND Reach”.

Back to the Accel event, I chickened out and did the traditional 30 second pitch. “I should have gone with six!”