Rahul Pathak : My Personal Blog http://www.rp0229.com/blog Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:50:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 The Tennis Ball — The greatest dog toy ever… http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/09/16/the-tennis-ball-the-greatest-dog-toy-ever/ http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/09/16/the-tennis-ball-the-greatest-dog-toy-ever/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:50:21 +0000 Rahul Pathak http://www.rp0229.com/blog/?p=1215 ]]> http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/09/16/the-tennis-ball-the-greatest-dog-toy-ever/feed/ 0 Are you an entrepreneur who’s raised (or is raising VC)? Get ‘Venture Deals’. Get it now! http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/09/06/are-you-an-entrepreneur-whos-raised-or-is-raising-vc-get-venture-deals-get-it-now/ http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/09/06/are-you-an-entrepreneur-whos-raised-or-is-raising-vc-get-venture-deals-get-it-now/#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:20:18 +0000 Rahul Pathak http://www.rp0229.com/blog/?p=1234 After Dave posted about Venture Deals, I ordered a copy and read it cover to cover. I wish it existed when I was raising money — I would have ended up with a better deal that cost me less in fees.

Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson, from the Foundry Group wrote the book, and it is terrific. They cover all the key terms and I especially love the entrepreneur’s perspective they provide in each section.

  • If you’re considering raising money, get it immediately.
  • If you’ve already raised money, get it and review your deal. You’ll have some face-palm moments like I did, but this is good. You’ll be better next time. Also, Brad & Jason talk about how to fix things in subsequent rounds.
  • If you’re selling your company, the final chapters discuss that process too.

In short, if you’re in a startup founder, you need this book. Buy it from Amazon (non affiliate link)

]]> http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/09/06/are-you-an-entrepreneur-whos-raised-or-is-raising-vc-get-venture-deals-get-it-now/feed/ 0 Thank You to the Apple Genius Bar for your generous, and Excellent Customer Service. http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/05/31/thank-you-to-the-apple-genius-bar-for-your-generous-and-excellent-customer-service/ http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/05/31/thank-you-to-the-apple-genius-bar-for-your-generous-and-excellent-customer-service/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 01:12:14 +0000 Rahul Pathak http://www.rp0229.com/blog/?p=1225 Apple replaced my laptop’s: case, lcd, keyboard, trackpad, battery covers, and main logic board. This was a $1000+ repair they did for no cost. Basically, I have a brand new laptop.

I’ve had multiple experiences like this with Apple, and I’ll be a customer for a long time.

]]> http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/05/31/thank-you-to-the-apple-genius-bar-for-your-generous-and-excellent-customer-service/feed/ 1 Sun + Patio + Beer = Awesome http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/05/16/sun-patio-beer-awesome/ http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/05/16/sun-patio-beer-awesome/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:44:45 +0000 Rahul Pathak http://www.rp0229.com/blog/?p=1228

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While I’ll never understand why rush hour supposedly ends at 6pm, I did find this at the SDOT website:

Federal law gives marine traffic the right-of-way over vehicular traffic. The City of Seattle must apply to the U.S. Coast Guard for exceptions to that rule. The exception for bridge closures during rush-hour periods is granted by the Coast Guard

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]]> http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/03/13/rainy-sunday/feed/ 0 Big Ass Fans & Big Ass Batteries http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/03/10/big-ass-fans-big-ass-batteries/ http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/03/10/big-ass-fans-big-ass-batteries/#comments Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:21:58 +0000 Rahul Pathak http://www.rp0229.com/blog/?p=1194 I was at a great talk yesterday by Professor Donald Sadoway who spoke about his Liquid Metal Battery technology. I’m grossly oversimplifying but Prof. Sadoway is trying to use the technology use in Aluminium smelting to create a huge, cheap battery that can store energy to help smooth out renewable power contribution to the smart grid.

I found it fitting that when I walked into what was a talk about big-ass batteries, I saw a panel on the wall:

Which controlled a big-ass fan:

For context, the diameter of the fan was larger than the length of the Nissan Murano sitting below it.

]]> http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2011/03/10/big-ass-fans-big-ass-batteries/feed/ 0 The 2nd Law of PR… http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2010/03/08/the-2nd-law-of-pr/ http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2010/03/08/the-2nd-law-of-pr/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:33:52 +0000 Rahul Pathak http://www.rp0229.com/blog/?p=593 Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb has a post on his posterous blog about how RWW’s competition ignores stories when they are broken on RWW. The post is interesting and well worth reading but the following nugget from a comment by Adam Ostrow of Mashable really jumped out at me.

Nonetheless, we still welcome an email, IM, etc when you think you have something that we might want to link to. Often that little nudge from someone that knows what they’re talking about summarizing why something is important in 2-3 sentences (as opposed to the lengthy pitches we spend all day looking at …)

is all we need.

The emphasis is mine. While there’s no guarantee that your email will get their attention vs. a note from Marshall or Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) who also has some great thoughts in the comments (“I didn’t get releases from any of these companies, so why didn’t they make sure they covered all their bases?”), I think the idea in bold is telling – send a short email, engage and follow up from there.

So, if the first law of PR is build something remarkable, I posit that the second law of PR is keep your pitch short. (I know I’ve been guilty of violating the second law in the past – that stops today.)

]]> http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2010/03/08/the-2nd-law-of-pr/feed/ 2 Railroad Tracks at Night http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2010/01/18/railroad-tracks-at-night/ http://www.rp0229.com/blog/2010/01/18/railroad-tracks-at-night/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:36:32 +0000 Rahul Pathak http://www.rp0229.com/blog/?p=590 Went for a walk last night and took this photo of railroad tracks from Dravus. Taken with my iphone and tweaked slightly afterwards.

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