
Product Placement
Peter Solarz
cherry valley forever

#extradirty

@theartofmadeline
Cosimo Galluzzi
we're not kids anymore.
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
todays bird

pixel skylines

Janaina Medeiros
Claire Keane
Game of Thrones Daily
One Nice Bug Per Day
Cosmic Funnies
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
dirt enthusiast
No title available
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Mike Driver
seen from Morocco
seen from Morocco
seen from Argentina
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Türkiye
@bwengineering
Peter Thiel’s CS183: Startup - Class 7 Notes Essay
Here is an essay version of my class notes from Class 7 of CS183: Startup. Errors and omissions are mine.
Roelof Botha, partner at Sequoia Capital and former CFO of PayPal, and Paul Graham, partner and co-founder of Y Combinator, joined this class as guest speakers. Credit for good stuff goes to them and Peter. I have tried to be accurate. But note that this is not a transcript of the conversation.
Class 7 Notes Essay—Follow the Money
I. Venture Capital and You
Many people who start businesses never deal with venture capitalists. Founders who do interact with VCs don’t necessarily do that early on. First you get your founders together and get working. Then maybe you get friends, family, or angels to invest. If you do end up needing to raise a larger amount of capital, you need to know how VC works. Understanding how VCs think about money—or, in some cases, how they don’t think about it and thus lose it—is important.
VC started in late 1940s. Before that, wealthy individuals and families were investing in new ventures quite frequently. But the idea of pooling funds that professionals would invest in early stage companies was a product of the ‘40s. The Sand Hill road, Silicon Valley version came in the late 1960s, with Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Mayfield leading the field.
Venture basically works like this: you pool a bunch of money that you get from people called limited partners. Then you take money from that pool and invest it in portfolio companies that you think are promising. Hopefully those companies become more valuable over time and everybody makes money. So VCs have the dual role of encouraging LPs to give them money and then finding (hopefully) successful companies to back.
Most of the profits go back to LPs as returns on their investment. VCs, of course, take a cut. The typical model is called 2-and-20, which means that the VC firm charges an annual management fee of 2% of the fund and then gets 20% of the gains beyond the original investment. The 2% management fee is theoretically just enough to allow the VC firm to continue to operate. In practice, it can end up being a lot more than that; a $200m fund would earn $4m in management fees under a 2-and-20 structure. But it’s certainly true that the real payout that VCs look for come with the 20% cut of the gains, which is called the carry.
VC funds last for several years, because it usually takes years for the companies you invest in to grow in value. Many of the investments in a given fund either don’t make money or go to zero. But the idea is that the companies that do well get you all your money back and then some; you end up with more money in the fund at the end than LPs put in to begin with.
There are many dimensions to being a good VC. You have to be skilled at coming up with reasonable valuations, identifying great entrepreneurs, etc. But there’s one dimension that is particularly important, yet surprisingly poorly understood. It is far and away the most important structural element of venture capital: exponential power. This may seem odd because it’s just basic math. But just as 3rd grade arithmetic—knowing not just how many shares you get, but dividing that by the shares outstanding—was crucial to understand equity, 7th grade math—understanding exponents—is necessary to understand VC.
Read More
Dubai as well as the Oasis within the Middle in the Desert
I needed to post considered one of my favored pictures from a recent trip to Dubai, planning to Atmosphere in the Burj Khalifa, the globe's tallest making. We decided to possess afternoon tea in the Burj Khalifa, formerly the Burj Dubai, rather than paying out to go to the observation deck. Notice the selection of stages while from the elevator. In the 123rd ground, we could see the Burj Al Arab, The World Islands, as well as the new Downtown. Below the engineering is phenomenal. There are still cranes littering the desert sands making aside at this time. When I say the world's tallest constructing is substantial, this can be an understatement. The Dubai Mall underneath from our vantage point appears to get appropriate underneath us. Nevertheless it will take 5 minutes to stroll for the Dubai Mall. The worlds tallest constructing, the Burj Khalifa, would be the pinnacle for every single individual inside building market.
Why do I want to do this sporadic thing, and work my days and nights off for grades and success and become an engineer? Which, let me remind myself, is a far far far fetched plan; I have years to go. I could have done teaching , I could have even become a lawyer for all this.
But why civil...
Why Can't We Use all Types of Energy?
It seems like using all of the different methods of creating energy, together would be the best approach to alternative energy. I know so many people are now scared of nuclear power because of what happened in Japan, but that was multiple massive failures happening all together, causing the worst possible scenario. Solar energy doesn't seem to be the complete answer as the technology in itself is expensive and not 100% there yet. Wind power has similar issues. Though since these are such new technologies, there is a lot more that we have yet to gain from the research and development that will continue finding better methods of extracting our existing natural resources. Hopefully the world will see that the solution is to use many types of energies together.
Solar Energy
Solar energy seems to slowly be catching on out here in Los Angeles. I have noticed more solar cells on top of single family residences. I have been looking to buy a house and it seems like even some of the smaller houses are starting to get in on the benefits. We are looking at Highland Park, and when you drive up the 110 North from Downtown Los Angeles you can see a huge array of solar panels. Very cool stuff.
omg I love it when people on Tumblr fall victim to fake, unsourced tweets and don’t realize that letmetweetthatforyou is a thing that exists
I didn’t know you could do that either. But I just had to say that these messages are hilarious in that there is no way people should be believe that these were actually posted on twitter. And even if it was in doubt, a quick cross reference should clear it up. :p
…INSPIRATION THURSDAY…
oh bridges, you’re a different kinda beauty .
HEARST TOWER a project by Foster and Partners new york, new york, united states, completed 2006 –––––––––––– The first “green” high rise office building to be completed in New York City, Hearst Tower accurately represents the talent and intellect that drives Foster and Partners toward innovative and ground breaking design. The building’s symmetrically jagged silhouette is easily recognizable in its surroundings…
Image gallery and more information about this project can be found on Google+ at +@rchitecture
By zomx via iconpaper
I am Bennett Waxse, a PhD student in cellular biology (with a focus on fluorescence microscopy). Outside of lab, I play on my University Volleyball Team, serve on my graduate student society committee and occasionally blog about music.
Snacks and Foods
Looking to start getting back in some form of shape so I can start wearing my expensive suits again. Looking at snacks and foods that will help me get where I want to go. Been having a hard time wanting to eat at King Taco, which isn't helping this diet. Now I seem to be keeping my brain flowing healthy by reading and reading and reading. But I think it's time for me to try to take a break from reading and learning and just try to relax. I love to go running, but lately its been hurting my knee. I am hoping that working on my diet and getting back into exercising will fix my aching knee. And somehow I am going to have to stop going to get tacos whenever I feel like it. But they are so irresistable!
In the left, the original Jansen’s mechanism with it’s walking curve, and in the right, a simplified version.
A la izquierda, el mecanismo original de Jansen y su “curva de caminata”, y a la derecha una versión simplificada.
(vía Geometría Dinámica » El mecanismo de Jansen)
As a civil engineer, multitasking has typically been identified to reduce productivity, and in some cases, by around 50 percent. Rushing through fourteen hr marathon days and nights can burn a person out, which will reduces your psychological sharpness and also clearness.
What an exciting project to hear about as a Civil Engineering company. I came across the EIR notice ENV-2011-0585-EIR in the mail today. I decided since most people don't know what these are I should make a scan of the notice. It's a good quick
An Engineer's Dream Project, the Environmental Impact Report for AEG NFL Stadium in Los Angeles
In engineering there are certain things that scare me. Civil engineering normally deals with buildings or the way land works with a building. This type of engineering can go very wrong. One of the biggest problems is people just building something j
Retaining Walls that Fail Civil Engineering Logic
Civil Engineer Project Status in Palos Verdes Estates We decided to drive around Sunday to look at some job sites to see where some of our civil engineer projects are at. Some are much farther along than others. I decided to start with a project
Civil Engineer Project Status in Palos Verdes Estates