Category: Tech

Interesting times.

~ michael_msft ~ 1 Comment

Alibaba buys Lazada.

Amazon supposedly tried to buy Redmart. For the record – I would have took that deal.

Now Lazada buys Redmart. I don’t know the deal specifics but clearly this was not a sale from a position of strength. Redmart needed cash and I think this was the best option – versus going out of business.

Now Amazon announces they are coming to Singapore. Personally I am stoked. It is hard to not want some sort of Prime Singapore situation. I buy stuff from Lazada from time to time but it is kind of a crappy experience. It works but it is not amazing. Give me fresh, books, video and Alexa all working locally and I think it will be awesome.

Globally no one is equipped to rival that. No one. Sure Alibaba has some of the pieces and they may weave together something similar from the remnants of Lazada, Redmart and all the other products/properties they own but I doubt it can rival Amazon. I also doubt I will have any interest in it.

Some may see this a harbinger of things to come – the global guys coming in but for me I see this as something deeper and far more exciting. SEA is now on the map big time. It’s an ecosystem big enough to care about and if you happen to be here, building for this scene. Cry tears of joy.

Carry on.

Still on the fence…

~ michael_msft ~ 2 Comments

Another :: http://www.asymco.com/2016/11/02/wherefore-art-thou-macintosh/

More :: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/11/01/bjarnason-macbook-pros 

Have to admit – this is a good read :: https://chuqui.com/2016/10/how-apple-could-have-avoided-much-of-the-controversy/

Day to day I use an iPad Pro with the apple keyboard. When I was in the market for a new machine about 6 months ago, I figured the best hardware out there was the iPad Pro. I love the battery life, the true tone display and the always on Internet. Notice I picked the best hardware since I feel that is what you buy – the latest hardware. I figured I could get by with iOS for most of my day to day work.

There are times when this is painful. Crappy websites that don’t handle mobile browsers well, some aspects of file management and Google docs. Google docs tends to just suck on iOS apps and I bounce between iOS and the web version from time to time to accomplish certain tasks. 

However I generally like the ease of carrying around something so small that is always connected. I use it for note taking, reading and just getting shit done. It could be better but I get by.

I was assuming that as soon as apple announced their latest macbook that I would grab it. Now I am not so sure, but there in lies the issue. Apple is introducing doubt among their most ardent fans. I am waiting for the real life reviews to come and to go play with one before I decide. I would like to have a machine at work with a monitor and keyboard and the macbook pro will probably be great for that. 

I would have loved for apple to delighted me so much that I was ready to buy the moment I could. That didn’t happen and apple should see this as a canary in the coal mine.

I also may look for a killer chromebook and force myself to try that world as well since I think it is a glimpse into what the future may look like. For sure I won’t entertain anything from Microsoft cause honestly I think windows still sucks. I spent about an hour the other day making a printer work on windows that just magically works on iOS and MacOS. Microsoft is making some killer hardware and they are getting better at their craft but let’s face it, Windows still sucks hard. No thanks.

I think this post captures my feelings pretty well :: http://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/10/27/new-macbook-pros-and-the-state-of-the-mac/

Adding this link for another opinion on the matter :: http://macdaddy.io/apples-new-macbook-pros/

Whither twitter

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

This is one of the more honest reads about twitter in a long time.

http://brontecapital.blogspot.sg/2016/10/some-comment-on-twitter-buyout-rumours.html

The bottom line is twitter makes money, isn’t growing much, has way too many employees and isn’t innovating much. As someone from the video world I don’t buy the tech feat around all the video since video at scale is pretty easy now. The hard part is local relevant ads, both making it perform and selling them. Twitter hasn’t innovated on any of that since the live streams I have watched in Singapore had no ads. Video is not that hard anymore. 

So video won’t save twitter. 

I myself thought Disney might have made a good buyer but I think Disney knows it will be a mess to clean it up.

Salesforce made zero sense. None.

I tend to agree with this brutal assessment. Reminds me of Yahoo. Marissa should have cut costs, focused and made Yahoo super profitable. Twitter should do the same but guessing it is too late. A 10 year old company has to do better than burn money.

But Twitter is past that. Somewhere near half a billion dollars of costs need to be taken out almost immediately. And that involves firing people and being a general tough-bastard. It’s inevitable anyway – because Jack Dorsey burning half a billion dollar per year isn’t a sustainable business. The cash eventually runs out. 

The problem is if you mix this with a Salesforce.com or similar company it will be really hard to take costs out in a disciplined fashion without upsetting the culture of the home company. Instead this should be fixed (with extreme prejudice by a disinterested outsider) before it is sold again to a strategic buyer.

Or – in summary: the best bastards are from Wall Street. And this needs a Wall Street bastard. 

I use twitter. I love it. It confounds me how little innovation there is.

– the clients suck compared to the non twitter ones.

– their is so little personalization. Like scrubbing my feed for shit it knows I don’t like for example.

– their developer program is a joke

I could go on and on. Problem is I would miss twitter if it goes under. I hope someone fixes it.

Life is better with twitter.

Empathy

~ michael_msft ~ 2 Comments


When I had the chance to answer this question for the Today newspaper –

What traits do today’s leaders lack most?

I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. I was thinking of techy stuff. Then was thinking about the future.

But then I started thinking about people.

This post hints at why :: https://bothsidesofthetable.com/venture-capital-is-about-human-capital-4d51da6b2b87#.limhpd6rw

So I tell people we’re fundamentally in the people business. Our core skill is being able to identify talent and how to persuade the most talented people with whom we have access that we would be valuable to work with. We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. We help founders through difficult moments, we help coach, we act as sparring partners, we help them resolve conflicts when they’re fighting with co-founders and we help them deal with adversity as well as successes.

I am learning. I am a VC in training, but I know everything is about people.

I think we are all so spoiled sometimes that we forget how lucky we are.

That is what my answer to this question was and is, empathy.

I suggest more of us should put empathy first. It makes everything better.

🙂

BEA and Warburg Pincus

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Had a great time at the Deal Street Asia Event :: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/events/

I think my panel went pretty well and hopefully I can join the crew in some way again next year.

To my left, your right, is Jeffrey Perlman who is the MD for SEA Region of Warburg Pincus.

In talking to Jeffrey I was reminded of my BEA years and working with Bill Janeway. I told Jeffrey about my BEA experience and he immediately commented that this is still one of the single best returns that Warburg ever had:

In 1992, the firm funded the launch of OpenVision Technologies, which subsequently merged with VERITAS Software in 1996. In 1999, Warburg Pincus also was the founder and sole investor in BEA Systems. Warburg Pincus eventually distributed its positions in both companies to its limited partners, realizing total returns of $750 million in VERITAS shares and $6.5 billion in BEA shares on investments in each of approximately $50 million.

6.5 billion on 50 million. Insane. 

Has to be one of the best deals not only for Warburg but for the industry.