Thomas Korte

Weekly Twitter Summary for 2010-03-07

Thomas Korte — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Agreed! Game developers, embrace kids games (& let me fund you) RT @mnouz: Why iPad is the 'Children's Toy of the Year' http://bit.ly/9EReEv #
Oh no – the new failwale is a crygirl by @foursquare (picture) http://twitpic.com/171y6k #
Awesome! RT @mattcutts: After being purchased by Google, reMail goes open-source: http://goo.gl/1uLD #
Comming soon: The Zombie-Mosquito X prize – sponsor requests welcome send to @PeterDiamandis in reply to PeterDiamandis #
"only 40 percent of Californians have made family disaster plan" http://bit.ly/9ax34Q >> Make an Emergency Plan now! http://bit.ly/dtTh3j #
#donate old cycling stuff at @sportsbasement for http://www.tripsforkids.org/ http://twitpic.com/16nf7w #
+ stop checking twitter every 5 mins LOL >> Improved Productivity: A 12-Step Program http://bit.ly/bZC8rp via @WebStartupGroup #
Full of good stuff & quotes >> RT @venturehacks subscribe to daily tweet digest via email (http://j.mp/1bWT9j) or RSS (http://j.mp/cd4fc) #
If investors don't have experience in design, developmt or mkting, you probably don't want their money http://bit.ly/dmSYLU by @davemcclure #
Why am I excited about funding tech-startups? Look at these numbers: (video) http://bit.ly/9Ef6WP thanks @JESS3 #
Bay Area Hackers, win free pass to Google I/O http://bit.ly/a1z7Jz deadline Thursday 3/4 9AM pst. >> Please RT #
Just finished "I Bought Andy Warhol" http://bit.ly/c3QnRz > Learned a lot. In comparison to the art world, angel investing seems really sane #
You will never notice, but something huge just happened #wordpress enables #PubSubHubbub http://bit.ly/cd75if thanks @bradfitz @josephscott #
25 Apps to Grow Your Business http://goo.gl/fb/qKr2 << I'd add #googlevoice >> via @sprouter @neilpatel #
+1 RT @rchen @amitp: If you love them, let them go. Link to other sites instead of trying to keep visitors on yours. They'll come back. #
Can't wait to fund some #ycombinator / #ipad startups. http://bit.ly/bQcLuP thanks @cryptograham #

Weekly Twitter Summary for 2010-02-28

Thomas Korte — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Stop obsessing over SEO, start optimizing landing pages >> 8 A/B split testing case studies worth reading http://bit.ly/csUIOS ty @wingify #
"The true impact of Google could come more from all the things that Google people go on to do after they leave Google." http://bit.ly/bENgnl #
2 days left to contribute to earthquake relief efforts in Haiti and deduct your gift on your 2009 tax returns via @PIH_org << please RT #
Amazing Vancouver 2010 pictures http://bit.ly/bTcPx2 #
#spam #symantec does not comply with CAN spam laws http://bit.ly/bezWou – no opt-out, no adress @symantec read this: http://bit.ly/9YontV #
What you think is real might not be real at all: amazing green-room animations: http://youtu.be/clnozSXyF4k via @tomh's blog #
Startup mistakes @SubMate 1/no tech founder 2/roommate co-founders 3/raised $ before product launch http://bit.ly/9hwj26 thanks @laurentk #
Startup Visas Create Jobs! Sent to @nancypelosi via @2gov Support Startup Visa: http://startupvisa.2gov.org #startupvisa << Please RT! #
Its official, I am old: Scored 69% on HOW MILLENNIAL ARE YOU PEW Quiz http://bit.ly/drURnn via @kevindewalt Full Report http://bit.ly/dqRevI #
Good thoughts by @giffconstable: "rigorously and continuously testing your assumptions as early as possible" http://bit.ly/d3rjYe #
+1 >> RT @rchen: I admire many things that come out of Italy. This legal judgment is not one of them. http://bit.ly/cijyqg #
RT @triplepundit: Bloom Energy Finally Comes Clean in Packed Press Briefing http://bit.ly/b8hZDY << I want a bloombox! #
RT @TechCrunch Mobile Location-Based Services Could Rake In $12.7 Billion By 2014 http://tinyurl.com/ya7pexs < "could" … #
RT @venturehacks: New investors asking for intros to StartupList startups: @pejmannozad, @fbishara, @thomask. Apply: http://j.mp/bfSPUX #
When I am approached by a startup, I check their jobs page. If they hire only engineers and product managers – I am excited! #
just joined @sprouter via @SarahPrevette http://bit.ly/chmJ1S interesting, but yet another place monitor & post: needs twitter integration! #
OMG! Kevin Dick at #FOF "Quantity, not quality, is king in the seed stage" http://bit.ly/cRIkfo << how about "quality in large quantity" #

Who are Millennials: The next Generation (PEW Research)

Thomas Korte — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:10:48 +0000

Fascinating research about the next generation, the Millennials: more confident, more connected, open to change! Download pdf or view below:

Stuff I noticed around February 25, 2010

Thomas Korte — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:07:33 +0000

These links are random collections of pages I found useful this week

Startup Lessons: Know Your Market [new tab]
Honest and interesting article about the lessons learned from the failure of snaptalent.com
February 18, 2010

Customer Development Checklist for My Web Startup – Part 1 [new tab]
Worth reading
February 18, 2010

Free Customer Development Survey [new tab]
Interesting approach to test (or rather “survey”) if your product is ready for massive adoption.
February 15, 2010

Stuff I noticed around February 14, 2010

Thomas Korte — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:42:24 +0000

These links are random collections of pages I found useful this week

Video: Secret History of Silicon Valley [new tab]
Steve Blank’s 62 minute history of SV is most interesting.
February 12, 2010

Books/Blogs for Startups « Steve Blank [new tab]
Read this, then buy all the books – read all of them.
February 12, 2010

Say Hello To The Buzz Button. Google Didn’t Make It, So We Did. [new tab]

February 11, 2010

Notes on customer acquisition and viral marketing from First Round Capital CEO Summit [new tab]
Some good things to remember when building stuff and trying to get customers.
February 1, 2010

Free Ski Lift Tickets [new tab]
Get 10 gallon of gas and get a “buy one get one free” voucher for a day of skiing.
January 28, 2010

tap tap tap ~ The design session [new tab]
Really good blog post about (Iphone apps) design
January 27, 2010

Freeware: Cleanup Assistant – delete files of PCs [new tab]
Used this little app and it seems to work well.
January 27, 2010

Free Antivirus Software: avast! [new tab]
if you still run on microsoft, this free antivirus software is a good option
January 23, 2010

How to cold-email me (or anyone else)

Thomas Korte — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:55:44 +0000

Since I have been added to Angellist @venturehacks.com, I have received three times the number of “pitch emails” than I usually get. This inspired me to write this post about how to contact me or how to contact anyone you don’t know and can’t get an introduction to.

Alright, so here is the “cold-email” (as in cold-call) format that I find most useful when being approached. I use this format myself if I can’t get an introduction. The example in italics is an imaginary email.

Who are you and where are you located?
Hi Thomas,
I am a engineering student at MIT, I will graduate in 2010 and ….
How do you know me or who introduced you?
… I saw your presentation about “social search developments at Google” when you visited MIT in 2007….
Why are you writing to me? What is your idea/ product/ vision/ company?
This is your elevator pitch – do yourself a favor and spend $9 on the Pitching Hacks book.
… Inspired by your presentation, I started to work on a product that aggregates a users social graph (FB, LN, Friendfeed), analyzes the content of posts to determine the users subject knowledge and uses that information to rank users for specific subjects. So, imagine you need to plan a wedding: You just login to FB and find your friend most likely to be helpful with weddings. Your friend might not even be aware that he/she is the most knowledgeable person you know about the subject matter in your social graph ….
Give me more info (in the attachment)
Or even better, send me a login to your alpha site
… Attached is a presentation/ document/ thesis/ article that explains the idea/ product in more detail…
How can I help you and why do you think I can help you?
… I am currently looking for $50k to work full time on the alpha product launch. You would be a great person to get on board, both as an investor and advisor given your background of social search at Google and the patent you published in 2004 …
What do you want the next steps to be?
… If you are interested, I am in SF on …. and would like to show you an early version of the product.
(Extra Credit) Get me excited!
… During the visit I am also meeting with xxx (smart angel investor) and yyy (smart product person at great company e.g. google)

Appart from cold-emailing me, you should consider this:
1. Get introduced to me by someone I know, your chances of getting a response are very high.
2. Get to know me before contacting me: read my blog, my tweets, my FF stream and hackernews, my shared Google Reader. If you dig, you’ll find a few more places where I post and share my thoughts. (On a related note, if you are/want to build a product that can aggregate and distribute all my social streams – email me *right now*)
3. Respond to my posts, comments and other creative outbursts – start an online conversation with me.
4. Catch me in person – (well, unless I pick up my son from school or have a romantic dinner with my wife.) I use 4square, Rummble, Gowalla (rarely), placepop (as of last week), yelp check-ins (sometimes) and mytown – sometime soon I will decide which one I will use exclusively. Also, most of my tweets are geo-tagged. If I attend conferences or other events (hint: meetup.com), I usually tweet it a day or so before.
5. Consider the venturehacks startup list. The email I get from them has almost *everything* I need to know. And if you go through the hassle to answer all their questions, I certainly appreciate the effort and realize that you are serious.

You made it this far, so here is the real secret to get my attention: Use the venturehacks startup list and use the form email they send you to email me with the format above. That way I really have everything I nee

Stuff I noticed around January 23, 2010

Thomas Korte — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:06:35 +0000

These links are random collections of pages I found usefull this week

pdf: Quantcast Mobile Web Trends 2009 Report [new tab]
Android is already larger than PIM’s blackberry ….
January 22, 2010

Raising capital – The 50 or so things you should read first [new tab]

November 8, 2009

Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. | JonBischke.com [new tab]
Great article about “quitting”
January 20, 2010

Stuff I noticed around January 1, 2010

Thomas Korte — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:59:16 +0000

These links are random collections of pages I found usefull this week

Five ways to generate momentum in your venture or angel round | from This is going to be BIG! – Comments on New York Tech Community, Startups, Venture Capital and Career Education [new tab]
Entrepreneurs- read this.
December 31, 2009

Buy Google storage and get a free Eye-Fi card [new tab]
no-brainer …
December 17, 2009

Google browsersize tool [new tab]
nice tool for designers and webmasters to see how much of the screen is visible by visitors.
December 17, 2009

P2P Lending: Prosper.com vs. Lending Club – an experiment

Thomas Korte — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:23:49 +0000

I have been intrigued by peer-2-peer lending for a while .
So, last night I signed up with both prosper.com and lendingclub.com and I will post my experience and impressions from time to time.

My goal for this experiment is to further understand p2p lending, evaluate if it could be a viable investment for a larger amount and achieve a net return of LIBOR + 6% – so currently about 6.5% . I don’t really believe the %-returns both sites advertise: 7% to 14% – we’ll see.

Read my first impressions and status so far >>

First impression of Prosper.com:

Looks and feels very professional
Signup process requires SS#, driver licence number and a credit check (why?)
$50 bonus to “play with” while a bank transfer is completed
Up to 2% bonus for lenders on investments (appears somewhat desperate)

Status so far:

Funded prosper account with $500
Invested $50 signup-bonus in two individuals, got outbid and re-listed.
Trying to get my head around the bidding process and the borrower profiles
Asked a borrower two questions – no answer so far
Created two “portfolios” with $100 each, to be invested in AA and A borrowers

First impression of Lendingclub.com”

The name implied a less professional company to me – don’t know why
I signed up to lendingclub after reading multiple blog posts about it outperforming prosper
Signup was less involved (no #ss number or driver licence, no credit check)

Status so far:

Funded with $50 via paypal (that was nice and easy)
Waiting for bank account to be verified to transfer money
Funded two individuals with $25 each

Blog posts that helped me decide to invest in p2p:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Comments are welcome!

Stuff I noticed around November 11, 2009

Thomas Korte — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:12 +0000

These links are random collections of pages I found usefull this week

The perfect pitch – Danny Robinson [new tab]
worthwhile looking at.
November 8, 2009

PDF: Seismic Retrofit Guide (do it yourself) [new tab]
Very useful guide to retrofitting a single family home (seismic upgrading). I don’t think I will do it myself, but it is good to know what to expect before meeting the contractors ….
November 4, 2009

PDF: Flu Home Care Guide [new tab]
62 pages of great information about flu home care
November 4, 2009

Google Voice Desktop Application [new tab]
Manage Google Voice on the desktop
November 4, 2009