

Google IO VC Panel - tbrooks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPyBQG5cMog&feature=player_embedded

======
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.

------
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.

~~~
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.

~~~
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.

------
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.

