Think Bigger

Vinod Khosla spoke at the Kresge Auditorium as a part of Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (ETL) Seminar Series. If you are an entrepreneur, I strongly recommend that you take time out to hear Vinod speak any chance you can. Vinod loves big problems. He believes that challenges are not limited by human capacity, but rather by a lack of imagination and effort.

At Sun, Vinod was trying to build the most important computer company in the world. At Kleiner Perkins, Vinod established himself as one of the most influential and successful VC's ever. So what is a 53-year old, billionaire with 4 kids do for an encore? Save the world, of course. With Kholsa Ventures, Vinod is building a huge portfolio of companies that he expects will lead the way towards a carbon neutral, oil-independent world. Many VC's including Kleiner Perkins are placing huge bets on green technology as well. Kholsa welcomes the competition. He believes that if he can use his influence to bring the brightest young minds into the green technology field, that there is no way we can fail in solving the world's energy problems.

Vinod's optimism is a great counter balance to Al Gore's doomsday predictions. No question, Al Gore deserves credit for sounding the alarm bells and getting the world to pay attention to global warming and the dire implications of continuing on our current path. Gore framed the problem, and Vinod is diligently working towards the solution. Vinod has immersed himself in scientific journals, white papers, and chemistry books (his son's) to better grasp the issues. He is interested in the science, business, and regulatory aspects of green industries. His formula - utilize novel scientific solutions to deliver cost effective solutions. Once a successful process is discovered, quickly add scale to deliver maximum impact. He is adamant that ONLY solutions which produce cost benefits over current products warrant serious consideration as viable substitutes. So if we are looking to reduce our oil dependence, we must use science to develop a superior green solution that actually costs less. Vinod believes that mass production of ethanol from bio-mass is one of the most promising solutions for reducing our reliance on oil.

Vinod is prolific is writing blogs, white-papers, and comments on a wide variety of environmental issues. He is one of a kind. Combine unparalleled passion, energy and brains with prolific writing, speaking, investing and evangelism and you are part of the way there. Add influence and funding and then you have a picture of what Kholsa offers to the green movement. Khosla moves with speed, determination and urgency that instills action in others. His words and actions scream - go big or go home. When we tell our grandchildren about the days when cars ran on oil, and global warming was a serious problem, we will be able to thank Vinod for his contribution.

GetQuik Gets Faster

We have completed a rewrite of our SQL backend. It has taken a few months to complete, and we are pleased with the initial results. GetQuik customers should feel a noticable speed improvement with our new system.

There are a few bugs we are working out with the new release, and hope to have those settled shortly. We will also be tuning the site to provide even stronger performance.

Now that we have completed this major development project, we will be overhauling our group order feature, improving our iPhone application, revamping our home page design, and improving our restaurant search feature.

If you locate any bugs or would like to recommend any feature enhancements, you can send them to support@getquik.com. Happy surfing.

Time to Refine

It's getting dicey. When economists and reporters begin quoting Roosevelt - "The only thing we have to fear... is fear itself" - times are tough. America's economy is based on consumption and credit. With the stock market down, unemployment rising and home equity vanishing, consumer's are pulling back on spending. Businesses have to quickly adjust to the new environment.

Competition for customers will increase as the overall pie begins to shrink. Those companies with superior sales and customer value propositions have an opportunity to carve out a larger slice of the pie. For businesses accustomed to a strong tail wind, the rough economic conditions are going to require better cost controls, marketing performance, and operational efficiency. As business slows, business owners and leaders previously too busy managing existing business to optimize their operations are going to find themselves with time on their hands. It is critical that these business leaders make good use of this unexpected available time. The length and depth of the economic crisis is unknown. Even the strongest businesses are going to be put to the test. Lean, intelligent and executionally sound businesses will have a competitive advantage over less agile competitors. These businesses are better equipped to survive the economic storm and may emerge stronger than ever the economy recovers. Although few business leaders prefer a down market, those that use this time to improve their businesses and earn new customers will have the best chance to win in these troubled times.