August 9, 2012

Interesting stuff (during a week in Asia)

From Aug 5th, until Aug 11th, I’m in Asia. I was in Taipei on Aug 7th, where I had the honor to deliver a Keynote at one of the most important IT events in the area (Business IT Next Forum & Expo 2012 Taiwan), just before the Taiwanese Minister of IT. We then had lunch together and enjoyed a very nice conversation. After that, I flew to Singapore, where I’m meeting some old friends, and spending some time in the Amazon Web Services office.

The Taipei airport seems to be all about Hello Kitty, see pictures here and down below. Eva Air even has a “Hello Kitty” special economy class.

** Today I want to talk about Venture Capital, investments, startups**. I collected a few notes that I believe are worth sharing. ** Josh Kopelman**, a well respected VC that operates out of Philadelphia, writes about the Founders Club, a “secure web service that gives investors unprecedented access to startup investment opportunities”, as they state on their website. You can browse innovative startups, screen them, and invest in them. Seems very interesting. If you had a chance to try it out, please comment here and leave your impressions.

Let me add another picture taken at Taipei airport.

Quinten Farmer (Startup Geekonomics) writes about how to apply for jobs at startups. Definitively an interesting read. Interesting pieces taken here and there: “…almost anything is preferable to letting yourself end up in  the resume stack…”. “…If you really want to earn a role at a startup, then “applying” in the traditional sense isn’t going to get you anywhere.

Ok, I promise, last “Hello Kitty” picture.

A few more things worth sharing.

What’s a good place to learn new things, for free? Well, you should try the No Excuse List. Simple and beautiful.

If you learn something cool, and then want to participate to a local Hackathon (hacker + marathon), you might find this article useful: How to win a hackathon.

Finally, Episode #9 of the Amazon Web Services podcast is now live. Check it out.

Talk to you soon, and/or see you in San Francisco in a few days. (and if you’re moving there and looking for a place to live, take a look at what the Bold Italic suggests).