HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

⬐ pvdm

pg mentioned in passing that he would not get involved with Android projects. He'd rather fund Chrome projects. Wonder if he would elaborate on that ?

⬐ pg

I didn't say I'd rather fund Chrome projects, but that it seemed Chrome might do more to protect us from an Apple monopoly on smartphone apps than Android.

The more powerful Chrome lets browser-based apps be, the less developers need to build native apps to do what they want. At the limit of that process, the iPhone and iPad are merely beautiful devices that run browsers. Safari, of course, but if Chrome took the lead in adding features to browsers to let apps do more, Safari would have to follow suit, however grudgingly.

⬐ pingswept

One of those dudes looked at his cell phone while he was talking to the audience. That is just sad.

⬐ tbrooks

That's Brad Feld. He has a rule that if his wife calls, he picks up the phone no matter what.

I do the same thing with my wife, I think it's reasonable.

⬐ pingswept

Is it frequently the case that your immediate attention averts disasters? My own experience is that I rarely avert disasters, especially over the phone. In fact, I don't know of a case where that's happened.

Of course, I don't really begrudge you your rule, but if you were giving a presentation, I don't think I'd show up, unless it were a play about a person who answers his phone a lot.

⬐ oldgregg

Totally missing the point. It's not about averting disaster it's about living a life. If your wife is a higher priority than impressing an audience then it makes perfect sense. Brad just has different priorities than you, ie, he doesn't give a damn if you show up or not.

⬐ tbrooks

I have the rule for two-fold: a. if my wants to talk to me at any time she can - this makes her feel special and b. other people need to know that my relationship with my wife takes precedence over every other relationship.

I agree with you - I probably won't change the outcome of a disaster if I know immediately.

⬐ pingswept

That's interesting that it has nothing to do with crisis (that was just my assumption)-- your wife probably appreciates it.

My revulsion (at Mr. Feld, not you) comes not from the importance of his relationship with his wife, but from the implied disrespect to the audience. When I'm speaking to a crowd, or even just talking to some friends, I think that I should focus on doing that-- listening to what they say or telling them what I think. I can't think exactly of how to explain why that kind of focus is valuable to me.

In the context of a wealthy VC talking to aspiring startup folks, I also think it's pretentious. Maybe Mr. Feld is an exception, and this is just his one quirk, but it seems like part of a type of subtle control game that I don't like to be around.

⬐ tbrooks

http://www.techstars.tv/watch/5878120-the-question-is-why

Fast-forward to 5:50, you'll hear Brad explain this. I've met him at a couple TechStars events and he's taken calls mid-speech. He explained it and everyone thought it was funny.

Not that I know the guy personally, but I think he's far from pretentious and would argue that, besides Fred Wilson, he's one of the most accessible VCs in the game.

⬐ abstractbill

I tend to have the opposite reaction. If I see someone putting their family ahead of other things it makes me think that person probably has good character (because the path of least resistance is often not to do that).

Good character counts for a lot in my estimation of people (e.g. when I'm trying to decide whether I would like to work with someone).

⬐ pingswept

I agree on the high valuing of good character.

But I don't think Brad Feld was putting just his wife ahead of the audience-- he was putting anyone who dialed his number ahead of the audience. In the video, I believe it turned out to be his aunt calling.

If he had some wife-specific ringtone, or some other way of making it a wife-specific alarm, I'd be 100% on his side, but as it is, I still think it's inconsiderate to the audience.

⬐ abstractbill

I have the same rule (combined with an understanding that my wife will generally text or email me instead, unless it's a real emergency). It works for us.

⬐ ique

This is sort of off topic, but check out pg's thighs toward the end of the video, he looks ripped!

Do you like, do bike-marathons or something pg?

Edit: Downvote? Really? I'm not being rude or anything.. I'm just saying; the guys legs look great.

⬐ peregrine

Dave McClure comes off pretty poorly in my opinion, everyone else came off very intelligent with excellent points.

EDIT: To back up my point about Dave, he focuses completely on building profits. Its easy to say "Hey Apple makes 7cents on the dollar" but it shows a lack of foresight.

⬐ mrshoe

Except he didn't say that at all.

I believe pg commented that we're all slaves to Steve Jobs and Dave McClure remarked that 70 cents on the dollar is not a bad wage for slavery. His point was that you can hardly call it slavery when your cut of the profits is significantly bigger than your master's.