On March 5, 2010, Patrick Buckley was overcome with the desire to build something. Apple (AAPL) had just announced the iPad, and he had an idea: a retro case for the tablet that had the look and feel of a hard-bound book. “In my mind, I needed to have a product and a website ready to go for that launch day,” he says. Buckley, 31, is a serial entrepreneur. He has built add-ons for Web browsers and co-wrote The Hungry Scientist Handbook, which is something like a cookbook for geeks. He’s done a Facebook app focused on high school sports, an early photo-sharing service, and “a mobile analytics platform.” Making an iPad case wasn’t like building a Web app, though. He needed tools. So he ... Continue reading →
Last August, Google (GOOG) Chief Executive Officer Larry Page fulfilled a pledge made to one of his senior executives, a square-jawed former attorney named Dennis Woodside. Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook had been trying to poach Woodside to make him Apple’s head of sales, but Google had convinced Woodside to stay, in part by promising him greater responsibility at the search company, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Now it was time to make good. Woodside says he was speaking with board member Ram Shriram when Page asked him to run Motorola Mobility, the company Google had just acquired for $12.5 billion. “He said, ‘I know you’ve been looking for a ... Continue reading →
Michael Moritz, the prominent Silicon Valley investor who has backed companies such as Google (GOOG), LinkedIn, PayPal, and Yahoo (YHOO), is stepping back from some of his responsibilities at his firm, Sequoia Capital, and has disclosed to the firm’s investors that he has a rare medical condition. Moritz did not specify the nature of his illness. In a letter to limited partners sent on Monday morning and provided to Bloomberg Businessweek, Moritz wrote, “I have been diagnosed with a rare medical condition which can be managed but is incurable. I’ve been told that in the next five to ten years the quality of my life is quite likely to decline. Right now I feel fitter than ever and I hope that I’ll be one of ... Continue reading →
Michael Moritz, the prominent Silicon Valley investor who has backed companies such as Google (GOOG), LinkedIn, PayPal, and Yahoo (YHOO), is stepping back from some of his responsibilities at his firm, Sequoia Capital, and has disclosed to the firm’s investors that he has a rare medical condition. Moritz did not specify the nature of his illness. In a letter to limited partners sent on Monday morning and provided to Bloomberg Businessweek, Moritz wrote, “I have been diagnosed with a rare medical condition which can be managed but is incurable. I’ve been told that in the next five to ten years the quality of my life is quite likely to decline. Right now I feel fitter than ever and I hope that I’ll be one of ... Continue reading →
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In 2006, when he was 22, Mark Zuckerberg gave up writing computer code to focus on managing his rapidly growing startup. Like Jim Brown retiring from football at 29 or E.M. Forster abandoning the novel in his forties, the prodigy who programmed the very first version of Facebook was walking away from his transcendent talent. Or so it seemed. A few years later, Zuckerberg began setting annual tests of discipline for himself, vowing to wear a tie to work every day in 2009, learn Mandarin in 2010, and personally kill any animal he ate in 2011. Earlier this year, unbeknown to all but a few friends and co-workers, he gave himself a new challenge with unknown ramifications for what is soon to be Silicon Valley’s ... Continue reading →
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According to a memo obtained by The Verge, Target will stop carrying Kindles in its stores or on its website after Mother’s Day. The source tells the Verge that the change is due to a “conflict of interest.” The memo says “Target has reviewed our product assortment and has made the decision to no longer carry Amazon hardware (i.e., Kindle). Certain accessories for Amazon product will stay in the assortment.” The memo instructs employees, “If you receive questions from guests, share that Target continually evaluates its product assortment [to ensure] the best quality and prices for our guests.” Employees are also instructed on how to handle media inquiries. Kindles have already been removed from Target’s website. Why the change? Target may simply not want to ... Continue reading →
