Putting from the Fairway

The last few times that I've played golf, I've used my putter from the fairway. The elusive 25 yard chip is often problematic; its about touch. Sometimes you just don't have it and sometimes you do. Its the same in billiards, dancing, ping pong , and well any other thing you can think of that combines not full effort physical activity and emotional intensity.

The result of my putting from the fairway has been relatively consistent, however. I can basically get it up to the green and in the hole with 3 strokes every time. That's not great but its steady. Its like if I just use my 7 iron on the golf course. I think I could beat my score everytime with just a 7 iron and putter - no joke. I used to do this when I grew up in South Carolina. I'd walk around carrying a 7 iron and putter because I hated using a bag.

My point here is about consistency and its related to investing. It seems to me good investors are consistent. They consistently find good companies or deals at the right time and valuations. They control their emotions with patience and can balance the excitement of the deal with pragmatism. Its very hard but they have the touch. Its not the golden touch but the touch of consistency. By being consistent, they can keep playing the game, sustain, and then put themselves in position to make the big hit which may only happen once every few years. At that time they hit without really having swung for the fences. At that time it was just a consistent allocation of capital of which this investement was one.

Well, there are a few venture investors with different strategies. Buffet doesn't even believe in full portfolio diversification. He finds something he knows and bets big. Another one of those would be Vinod Khosla who only swings big. He swings so big it moved the entire world into clean tech. He thinks I'll lose 20 times but the 1 time I'll hit it will make so much money that it will dwarf my losses. Those two guys are amazing and are probably the two smartest investors in the world. And then that reminds me of a few of my old sayings, if you don't think big league, you'll never be big league. The other is SWING BIG or GO HOME. Otherwise, its not as fun.

I had an old baseball coach who described our second baseman as "steady at being steady" - there is a lot to be said for that. Then we had a 5 hole hitter who was as hot as he was cold and he said he only swung to hit the ball as hard as he could everytime. Why else would he play?

So this brings me back to strategy lesson #102, don't get stuck in the middle. Pick one strategy and be the best at it.

Truman on Leadership

1. Know their stuff, defend their men, be a man.
KD: Take one for the team if you have to.

2. Power, money, and women will destroy a man. Note he said women not a woman.
KD: I wouldn't know about the first two but the last one definately will make you crazy.

3. Ride the Tiger by mastering your job.
KD: To be great at something you have to be obsessed by it. That means that one would have little time for anything else. BLING BLING!

4. Give Hell and Get it in Return.
KD: If you don't get it in return, then the people you are with aren't warriors.

A Train from SF to LA

if there were a train from SF to LA
my flight would not have been delayed

if i didn't have to wait in a security line
i wouldn't have to arrive an hour b4 time

if i were in a mag lev bullet train
i wouldn't have to worry when it rained

even if it didn't save me time from door to door
i could relax, sit, stand, surf the net, and do lots more
if and only if i were on a mag lev bullet train.

god, i wish there were a train from SF to LA
I'm going to build that bullet one day.

KD

Making Bombs

Peter Guber tells the story of his first meeting with his Sony bosses in Tokyo, after they installed him at what was then Columbia/Tri-Star, and he told them his business plan: make about 14 movies a year — 6 will do okay, maybe break even; 2 or 3 will do a bit better, and have franchise possibilities; 2 will be hits; 1 will be a monster hit; and at least 3 will be total losses, total bombs. They listened respectfully, then one of the older guys asked (through an interpreter), “May I ask Guber-san why he bothers to make the bombs?"

KD on KCs

Thus was the quote from the lady I bought my shoes from today. I like shoes; i have lots of shoes. I have running, hiking, basketball, baseball, soccer, black dress, brown dress, loafers, spanish shoes, british shoes, japanese shoes, white kick around shoes, slippers, sandals, cowboy boots, steell toed boots, and soon bling shoes with a big $ sign on the front. Most of these I never wear but I'm ready when I need them. Lately, i wear sandals to work and so has the rest of FunMo caught on.

I have a Kurtism,"shoes can make the entire outfit look good." For that is a strange Kurtism as it was Tim Robbins in Shawshank Redemption who quoted as walking out the front door of the warden's office wearing the warden's shoes, "whoever looks at your shoes anyways?"

I always check people's shoes out. It COULD tell a lot about the person. Are they flashy, fashion conscious, conservative, frugal, frivolous, and so forth? Think about it for a second....

I always pushed our baseball team's to polish their shoes, it looks good, professional. Crash Davis in Bull Durham told Nuke Laloosh, you have to polish your shoes until you make the show, then you can grow fungus and the press will think you are colorful.

So while stumbling along Canal St (kind of chinatown?) in NYC in between meetings I walked into a few hole in the wall shoe shops. I found one particularly interesting with my favorite brand, Kenneth Coles. KC's cost a lot in SF like $150 a pop. I was wearing the same KC's I bought in HK in 2002, newly polished, but the heals were slanted and I've been looking for a new pair of the old version. I'm bow legged and my heals wear out on the outside.

The shoes were priced at $70-$80. I couldn't believe it. I checked Zappos on my iPHone and they are pricing at $125 (I think). I kept prying; these have to be fake, knockoffs. I couldn't find anyway to figure this out. They passed all the KC tests - solid soles, strong leather, and shoe strings that you could pull a horse with. I asked the lady, how these can be so cheap. She said, well it depends where you buy them. Then I flashbacked to econ 101, discretionary pricing - pricing a product depending on the area or wealth of the consumer. Is Canal Street that different from Times Square? The store was run by HKese so that means it was a rip-off or they actually had a good deal. I was putting the odds on the latter. I also realized that they weren't the new editions but a year or two old so I thought that factored in.

So what did I do? I bought two, turned in my old shoes for a new pair and got a cool brown/black pair to go alongside. So 2 shoes for the price of 1 in SF. I just hope they are real - please don't tell me I was duped. So far, I think they are. KC's break in tough, they give me blisters so I think they are real. Conversely, fake shoes give me blisters too. I bought a few pairs in China.

My hometown, Greenville, SC, native, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson used to get terrible blisters on his feet because of new shoes. He knew they were good because they gave him blisters and after he broke them in they would be great. So in the middle of games he would take them off because the blisters hurt too bad, that is how he got the nickname "Shoeless". Anything that is good breaks in tough, e.g. a good baseball glove takes forever to break in but when they do it fits the intricacies of your hand so exactly. I'd think that also goes for a lot of other things in life like relationships and good deals.

Let's hope my KC's are for real.

Rise of 'Nam

Did you know that 60% of Vietnam is under the age of 25 and GDP growth has eclipsed China's GDP growth in the last 2 years. In fact, the growth here is so fast that both IDG and DFJ have setup venture funds in the region.

I have grown to appreciate the Vietnamese culture after leaving Asia. While living in San Jose, I interacted with several vietnamese who ran local stores, bakeries, and of course PHO shops. I find them to be a very open, friendly, and hard working culture.

The food is quite good as well. Nothing beats a bowl of pho or some vietnamese catfish. The meals are light yet filling. Another interesting stat is that over 50% of the catfish in the US is imported from 'Nam. Don't tell that to the rednecks, who love cajun catfish, they'll stop eating it.

Recently, I have interacted with some technology companies in the region and was quite impressed with their abilities to build and bring products to market. While they are quite far behind in innovation, they will undoubtedly serve the needs of executional development help. And isn't that where it all starts?

With the upcoming recession, US companies will look to outsource more. India and China are quite mature in this realm with much higher labor rates. Compounding the reduction in both withholding taxes and tariffs on imports like textiles as well as talented low cost labor, Vietnam is the place to be.

I'm long 'Nam, but this is a hold for 5-7 years. How about Yum in 'Nam? I think they would have to expand into selling beef and not just chicken. Look for beer companies to make a big move that is always a tip for a rising economy just as Bud bought into Tsingtao 5 years ago.

Rain

Now that I've lived in San Francisco during the rainy season, I have learned about a new type of rain.

Most of you aren't familiar with Carolina Rain, which is a great song by Carolina Rain. Some of the quotes are "rain feels like heaven when the water hits my skin" and "nothing washes my soul clean like Carolina rain."

Carolina rain usually derives from initial thunderstorm that puts the fear of God in you. It is famous because it can be a sunny day, 95 degrees, and bam! here comes the rain from out of nowhere. The clouds convey an ever changing color from dark to green to purple giving one the feeling they are gazing upward into a giant kaleidoscope. The winds swirl, shift violently, and scream as if the grim reaper were coming for you. The clouds, which were once at a safe distance, have run at a pace like a pack of buffaloes that they are on top of you. If you are outside and it comes, It is so sudden and violent that you run for cover in a stranger's garage or curl up in your car praying that the lightning won't pierce the roof. You'll never see the streets clear out faster than when a Carolina thunderstorm rolls in. As they say down south, "Get the women and children off the streets!"

After the initial onset, though, the rainy aftermath may differ.

There are two types of Carolina Rain which is differentiated by the moisture. First, there is "wet rain" which is brought on by a constant deluge that last for hours and will soak your clothes for days. In fact it even seems that after you wash and dry your clothes they are still wet. The water also keeps your skin moist; it has a lasting effect that prevails for days.

On the other hand there is "dry rain". After the heathens from heaven disappear, almost like they never came, dry rain can appear. Dry rain is more than a mist but less than a shower. It will have become a completely sunny, blue clear sky, with only a small dark blob in the distance. Often, one would wonder where the rain comes from. And when the rain hits your skin it evaporates as if it were not raining.

Just as a corollary, I'll throw in a bit about the Japanese rainy season which is a steady rain with a constant mist subsuming the atmosphere. The rain is moisturizing and soothing and has an invigorating scent blending cherry blossoms and honey sickles and I used to call it "sweet rain".

Well, I've noticed in San Francisco something that is somewhat different. I call this "cold rain", not because it is somewhat cold when it rains but when the rain hits your skin it sends a chill all over your body. It sends a chill down your spine that will run to the back of your knees, down your shin, into your pinky toe, and then back up suddenly into your left earlobe. And as I sit and write this, my skin still feels as if it had a cold plasma layer right under the top layer of my skin that has little crystals embedded within the membrane. These crystals can keep one cool for hours until they seem to gradually sublime .

I'll take any rain over this cold rain. By the way, you may wonder why I've noticed this. Well, I've never used an umbrella. The Japanese thought I was the strangest person ever. I used to just where my Mizuno baseball rain jacket everywhere.

Austin

I departed the plane in the chill of night
Only to be greeted by warmth and nice
For one can tell the culture by those they meet off the flight

I walked down the road facing a sharp wind
Only to be aroused by the sweat smell of BBQ tamarind
For one can tell the culture by the food made from the kin

I drank in the bars with heavy beer in hand
Only to be entertained by the melody of the bands
For one can tell the culture by late nights in the decadent land

I smiled at the the ladies as they walked on by
Only to be acknowledged by open and inquisitive eyes
For one can tell the culture simply by the reaction to a simple hi

And the women wear black jeans and cowboy boots. Hoowee.

Low Hanging Fruit

Low Hanging Rotten Pears.
Low hanging fruit is low hanging because its rotten; why do business people go after low hanging fruit.  That's a rotten business strategy...

BYO Chopstix

Did you know that China produces 68Bn disposable chopstix per year? That is roughly 60/person. Most of these are sold to small restaurants implying that the average chinese eat out once out of every 6 days. Hmm, I don't think KFC uses chopstix nor does McDonalds so that would even increase the number of times the Chinese eat out.

In fact, this rise in usage of chopstix has really taken the country's environmentalists at heart. The go green environmental policy has taken ahold so strongly in China that Li Yuchun, last year's China Supergirl winner, (China's rendition of American Idol) sang a song about the need to stop using disposable chopstix to save the environment and she won. I feel the Chinese are starting to hate on chopstix...

I personally hate those disposable chopstix because I occasionally would break them unevenly such that I would poke myself with shredded piece of wood in the side of my mouth or unfailingly would flip one off my rice dish onto the floor and ask for another pair. Dui Bu Qi, Qing zai lai yi ge kuaize. My chopstix ratio: meals eaten were well over 2:1 during my time in China.

So after reading this, it made me think if I were to choose my own chopstix to carry around with me and eat out with which ones would they be?

Would they be the delicate, well designed, and delightful Japanese chopstix that are so pointed on the end they could be used to thread a button on a sleeve or as a discreet Samurai weapon. During my Sunday night dining fests with my host family, I used to poke myself so much that I could only drink miso soup on Mondays. On another note, you'd better not bring those, there are some things that the Chinese and Japanese have tremendous competitive spirits over and one odd thing is their chopstix. I once had a Shanghai girl tell me, "I'd never eat with Japanese chopstix; I'd rather starve to death."

Perhaps the cold, silver, steel, kimchee stirring chopstix from Korea would be a good option? Afterwards, you could use them as a pair of nunchuks. How about the dark wooden Yew Taiwanese chopstix that preserve the taste of dan dan mien so sumptuously that your tongue cannot stop linking them? It is kind of like you how can't stop licking your fingers after eating glazed Krispy Kreme Donuts and 3 hours later you have a quick lick hoping to get the taste just one more time.

Don't forget the Vietnamese who have made plastic chopstix so that pho broth will bead up on it like a raindrop on a lily pad and bean sprouts will stick to one of them magically, without falling. I always had the feeling if I waived them around enough, something magical would happen.

Well, at last, I guess you could always use the porcelain chinese chopstix which have a square end by your hand and a round dull point at the end and break when you drop them on the floor, like everything else does in China. Or better yet, bamboo chopstix from Tibet which I once shot a spit ball through at my buddy Nate while drunk in a Tibetan jaozi shop which we remembered because we thought they were 'jaws' of some animal.

Well, there is no point to this other than my amazement of how many chopstix are used in China and how well I remember the different chopstix in Asia. If you go for the Olympics, save the environment and bring your own, but definately not the Japanese or you may go hungry.

Thinking and Throwing

There seems to be an inextricable meditative link between throwing and thinking. This afternoon, Stephen Lee and I tossed a nerf football outside the Scribd office and I felt a cool breeze over my new haircut along with a new and completely untainted flow of thought. Just 2 hours before, we were in heated strategic discussions:

ideas for every I,
thoughts for every theory,
strategy for every step.

But twas the throwing and thinking mended my mind.
It was soothing and scintillating all at once.

I was in the flow:
the ease of new ideas,
the condensation of confusion,
the strength of strategy,
the vicissitude of changed vision
dawned all at once.

Then I reminisced about my baseball days and remembered that it was only the first 5 minutes of practice that I really liked. The first 5 minutes of having a catch with your buddy, chatting about the follies and foes, girls and gossip. Those 5 minutes were inescapable and only now imaginable.

So I shall start to throw once more...
This deserves an ode.

Chaos

Great businessmen seem to have the ability to make chaos into structure, or at least ostensibly so.  

On VC's

It seems that the best VC's have mastered the art of meddling in other people's affairs.

Mobile SNS Report

Social Network Influence

A great author once wrote not knowing what to do in the confines of one's own room is a great cause for sadness and depression.

Kurt's Excerpt: Then came social networks, and the common man now never has to leave his room to feel acceptance and purpose.

Kurtism: Salary

Everyone gets a base, the rest is just a bonus.

Kurtism: Startups

Startups are 50% hard work, 50% intelligence, but most of it is just luck.

Kurtism: Time

Time moves to fast when you are not paying attention

Mountain Biking

I went mt biking yesterday at Saint Teresa Park in San Jose, CA, just before a round of golf. Upon arriving, I noticed a group in the distance but didn't think much of it. So I grabbed my two wheeled terrain hopper and took off. In the middle of my ride, I hear a gunshot and about 3 minutes later a pack of dudes come up behind me. One of the guys yelled Berkeley get out of the f'n way! I thought who is Berkeley, looked back, and peeled off the course and flopped on the hill.

Then I, clad in a bright yellow under armor shirt and navy blue shirts, realized that I was Berkeley. The guys who rode by me were in Stanford, Oregon, Nevada, Chico State, and Berkeley uniforms. I continued along after them, faintly thinking I could actually catch them, and stopped to speak to a cameraman who said it was a Pac 10 race! What are the odds that I stumbled upon a Pac 10 race!

By the time i got off the trail, 45 minutes later, my wheel was in a 90 degree angle and when I lifted it up on my car rack it completely fell off! I'm glad it didn't fall off while I was riding.

"Never a boring day"

Kurtism: Pain

Pain goes away when it stops.