Today the startup community mourns the death of CEO and co-founder of Ecomom, Jody Sherman. Ecomom is a site for eco-conscious and health minded parents, connecting eco-friend products to responsible consumers.
Op-Ed
The popular ‘hacktivist’ organization, Anonymous, has stated in their most recent video that the US Government is now a target to what may very well be their biggest threat of coercion, a WikiLeaks-style exposure to the US government’s sensitive secrets. This is in response to the tragic death of Aaron Swartz, the 28 year-old programmer and founder of Demand Progress who was facing 35 years in prison for allegedly downloading over 4 million illegal documents from JSTOR.
A young visionary with old wisdom whose success is a direct reflection of his intense focus and ability to wholeheartedly overcome challenges from the genuine intention of doing good, Aaron Swartz will forever be remembered as a modern day vigilante leading the battle against the injustice of the government suppressing our rightful freedom of knowledge. This article is not just another report on the case of Aaron Swartz but serves to be a tribute to the life and awe inspiring personality of a complicated, principled, and brilliant man.
Many people in business think they need to cheat and lie to gain wealth. They call it negotiations, marketing, positioning… Call it what you will, but it has forever been against my moral integrity to be anything other than transparent and forthright. Being a top business woman has been my dream since I was a child watching my parents grow their own businesses. It’s sad that several times I’ve felt forced to question my moral integrity wondering if being this way would hold me back from truly being ‘successful’.
The other day I was sitting in my dentist waiting room, which surprising enough is one of my favorite places. Yes, I do like being there. Conversely I really don’t like being down the hall in one of the torture chambers equipped with a dental chair.
Every conference is different. The format, the layout, the presentation, the venue, the motives of people attending and presenting. The one common thread is interaction with people. Even if you’re the shiest of shy, you’re bound to interact with at least one person while you’re there.
There’s no doubt fall is a great season for sports fans. With the MLB playoffs and football season around the corner, fantasy drafts, trash-talking and tailgate recipe research is in full swing online. Thanks to technological advances, sports and sports fans have gone mobile as sports enthusiasts, like other consumers, embrace connected devices in just about every aspect of their lives.
There are so many activities and events that have sprouted this year to support the thriving tech scene in Southern California. From LA Demo Day to Silicon Beach Fest to Crowdstart LA to hackathons to Startup Weekends, companies and entrepreneurs alike have joined forces to feed the startup ecosystem. With all these many activities and so many people coming together it becomes inevitable that situations may arise that can interfere with the community’s best interest.
A look around technology industry, perhaps the heart of the global revolution, shows a happily working international community all pushing for the common goal of innovation. The reality, however, of the coexistence between immigrants and their American peers is proving to be a one-sided pursuit, with qualified immigrants struggling to stay in the country to join the companies that they have co-founded.
Klout, PeerIndex, Kred, and even Empire Avenue need to go away. These metrics-application rely on our need to know our “value” and will only continue to perpetuate the dilution of online engagement. This is an open call to the people that use these services, or are simply indexed by them, to opt-out and delete your presence on Klout, Kred, PeerIndex and Empire Avenue.
