Josh Guttman

Forming an investment philosophy

Josh Guttman — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:41:29 +0000

I met with a young venture capitalist today who has been investing aggressively in consumer internet over the past 18 months. We discussed investment philosophies and it got me thinking about my own. I began making angel investments in 1999 through Bayview Partners, the Robertson Stephens partner fund. Some went well. Most did not. After [...]

It’s not just about SEO

Josh Guttman — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:14:21 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Outbrain blog. One of the most common questions we get from publishers evaluating our products — both on the distribution and traffic acquisition sides — is “are we SEO positive?” While the true answer is “maybe” (I’ll explain in a minute), our party line on this is “No, SEO [...]

Integrated, native, in-stream – Call it what you will, it’s an old story with a fancy new name

Josh Guttman — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:44:20 +0000

The blogs have been aflutter recently with renewed discussion of “in-stream advertising”. Mark Suster wrote an eloquent piece in TechCrunch last week proclaiming “the future of advertising will be integrated”. My friend, Jon Steinberg, of BuzzFeed has written several posts on the topic, including one entitled Native Monetization, touting monetization that is native and [...]

We’re merging with Outbrain!

Josh Guttman — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:22:35 +0000

We have some big news to announce. We are leaving our comfy home of the past nearly three years at Aol and returning to the land of startups by merging with Outbrain! Technically speaking, Outbrain is acquiring us. As the two leading content recommendation and discovery platforms for online publishers, this is a natural fit [...]

The much-anticipated, full and unadulterated review of the iPhone 3g – three months in

Josh Guttman — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:48:20 +0000

It’s been nearly three months since I began my second iPhone journey and if it’s any indidcation, the gist of this post has changed several times before I’ve managed to write it. The iPhone is a device that commands both loved and hated sentiments (but rarely anything in between), as Om blogged about last week. [...]

Pitt Basketball is No. 1

Josh Guttman — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:27:39 +0000

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been rooting for University of Pittsburgh sports teams. My dad, grandmother, grandfather and scattered other relatives all attended Pitt and so it’s been natural for me to root for them, sometimes even ahead of my own alma-maters. So it’s particularly exciting for me that today, Pitt Basketball [...]

Why Facebook has crossed the canyon, changed the way we communicate…and should buy Twitter

Josh Guttman — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:49:33 +0000

Facebook has crossed the canyon. If the “chasm” is the leap from early adopters to mainstream, then the “canyon” is the leap from mainstream to mass commercial appeal. Facebook has taken that leap. In the past few months, my dad, uncle, aunt and the mother of a high school friend have all joined Facebook. Facebook [...]

Thoughts from the sky

Josh Guttman — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:23:25 +0000

I’m on UAL 673 from LGA to Chicago right now. It’s been a little while since I flew one of the old-school U.S. airlines – I’ve favored JetBlue and Virgin America recently – and while it wasn’t a carefully considered decision, now I know why. A few years ago, I lived on United. At one [...]

President-elect Obama: Please invest in our country’s future, not it’s past

Josh Guttman — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:52:11 +0000

Future White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, was recently quoted as saying “You never want to let a crisis go to waste…it’s an opportunity to [get things done]….” I sure hope that Barack Obama is smart enough and courageous enough to listen to his appointed advisor. There are two immediate areas where we have [...]

Obama, Detroit and The Bailout

Josh Guttman — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:44:07 +0000

Everyone seems to have an opinion lately of how the government should handle the current economic crisis. Normally, these would be easy to dismiss, given our relative inexperience compared to the authority of those in charge, however watching Hank Paulson waffle back and forth, seemingly each week, on the best strategy to secure the economy, [...]