ericboggs

I read "The Road" in a single sitting one night while my wife was working a late shift. I laid in bed staring at the ceiling all night.

I worked part-time in desktop support at Sitterson Hall, home of the UNC Computer Science program, when I was an undergrad in the late 90s / early 2000s. My team supported Windows, hardware, printers, etc. I distinctly remember closing help tickets for Prof Brooks (and Matt Cutts while he was a PhD student).

My fellow undergrad tech support doofuses and I knew that Prof Brooks was a god and thus walked on eggshells when we were around him...which we quickly learned was totally unnecessary. He was incredibly friendly, gracious, and encouraging. A true Tar Heel.

Congrats to Prof Brooks.

Because he's a loner @of, a rebel. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like him. :)

Looks like ~$200M in state and local tobacco tax revenue in 2012.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Doc...

The tower in Dallas, NC (on the map) is less than a mile from my childhood home. It sits in the middle of a cow pasture -- I grew up catching bluegill and catfish in a cow pond a few hundred yards from the tower. Never realized that it would be the 4th tallest building in the world if it were a skyscraper. Thanks for sharing.

Optimize for the long-term relationship, not the short-term transaction.

UNC grad here. These "paper" classes were very well known when I was an undergrad.

Your university almost certainly had similar classes that were very easy and required very little attendance...and were always full of athletes and lazy seniors looking to pump up their GPA.

You can't fault the students (athletes or otherwise) for finding a shortcut in the system and then exploiting it. It is the university's responsibility to quality control its curriculum.

Forget coding and budgeting, I'd rather every American get 30 minutes of exercise 3 to 4 days per week. That would solve an awful lot of problems...

I didn't look closely, but if this product builds a direct-method cash flow statement from a balance sheet - then you've got a winner. Quickbooks - the default small business accounting product - does a HORRIBLE job with the cash flow statement.

"Photos taken" and "likes received" hardly constitute powerful analytics.

Surprised that Facebook didn't hire this guy on the spot.

Hey there! I'm a 2x Tar Heel and the Founder/CEO at http://argylesocial.com in Durham. Shoot me a note via @ericboggs or http://ericboggs.com - I'd love to meet up.

Well said.

If you're interested in more thoughtful commentary regarding Klout or online influence, I highly suggest my friend Tom's blog: http://brandsavant.com.

"My Klout is equal to Snooki’s. There isn’t a party, gathering or room in the world in which I would be equally influential to Snooki. There’s a good thought exercise for you."

http://brandsavant.com/on-klout-bashing/

Some of the cash in these mega-rounds never hits the balance sheet and instead goes directly to founders and early investors.

Senior Developer - Argyle Social - Durham, NC, USA

http://argylesocial.com/careers/durham-nc-software-engineeri...

Solving complex data problems for online marketers. Closed a $1.2M Series A in Sept. 20%+ month-over-month MRR growth for the past 6 months. Talented, ambitious, experienced team.

:)

Most surprising takeaway from the post: Gillian is Rand's mother. (Mentioned in passing in the deck.)

I've had a similar conversation multiple times with several different friends - though usually around skills instead of knowledge. The desired skills always seem to boil down to trades like auto repair, masonry, or carpentry. Presumably because I spend so much time in-doors, in front of a computer, creating "things" in the abstract, instead of creating something tangible with my hands.

$3B in cash = RIM will acquire its way back into the game...or into a new game.

Related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyfCSKyCiJs

More about the Durham, NC start-up scene here: http://www.downtowndurhamstartups.com/

2nd-ing the rumor from James. Launchbox is supposedly changing course to invest in post-incubator, pre-Series A companies.

The biggest takeaways I got from the article are:

- Be incredibly thoughtful/diligent when it comes to new hires.

- Make sure to set compensation/promotion/responsibility expectations very early on.

If you can get all of the issues on the table during the hiring process (or shortly after the new hire starts), then you can probably preclude a lot of heartache down the road.

Oh my. Some of those comments are comedy gold.

That said - I'm a bit dubious of the TechCruch Peanut Gallery's role in the departure. Surely Skype did their reference homework before hiring the guy...

These photos are beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

I think Mark Suster does a good job with This Week in Venture Capital - http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-venture-capital/

Agreed. I've seen this video here at least two times...

It was a joke. The next commenter explained...

Your analogy works. Most hackers certainly don't belong in business school...but many hackers could benefit from an MBA's experience/education once their product has traction, users, whatever. An MBA as the first hire probably doesn't make sense. But an MBA to optimize sales/marketing/support might make a lot of sense...

People tend to forget that top tier MBA grads are (usually) incredibly bright and productive professionals.

Clearly the author has never read "The Human Stain" by Philip Roth.