Archive for 2011
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Chart of the quarter
October 4, 2011Blame it on the Greeks, on the ECB, on European politicians, or on high-frequency computer trading. Heck, blame it on the rain. But no matter how you slice it, the CAC 40′s 25% nosedive over the past 3 months reflects the worst decline since 2002. Uncertainty causes unease. Unease causes indecision. Startups: if you sell [...]
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MVP: Winds of change in France
September 13, 2011MVP! MVP! MVP! In the States you can hear this chant on any given Sunday afternoon at the ballpark, as well as frequently in the open workspace of any given web startup. The only reaction this three-letter acronym would elicit in France, however, would be ‘Tony Parker’. And even that is limited to a select [...]
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Laboring over the weekend
September 5, 2011The irony was not lost on the timing of its release just before Labor Day weekend of Friday’s unemployment report showing the U.S. unemployment rate unchanged at 9 percent. Relative to historical standards, this is catastrophic. Here in France, unemployment improved slightly in Q2 but still hovers between 9.5 and 10%. Relatively speaking, the figure [...]
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Triathlon de la Montagne Noire
August 20, 2011Two weeks ago I started the Triathlon de la Montagne Noire deep in the heart of France’s Languedoc region. The region is beautiful and offers a challenging but gorgeous course. Shame I couldn’t finish it. The swim featured a three-loop lake circuit with a “double-australian” exit and a tight transition area. Not ideal, but ample [...]
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Rumors of Flash’s demise greatly exaggerated ?
August 3, 2011Last summer’s heated public brouhaha between Apple and Adobe has been more of a low simmer during summer 2011. The initial calamity of not being able to play Flash on the iPad (and not being able to do this even faster on the iPad2) has subsided. This is probably due to a number of factors, [...]
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Flush with cash
July 30, 2011The other day I had lunch with an independent pan-European venture fund that I really admire. They’re based in a modest country but invest all over Europe, and I would consider them to be among the top pro’s of true venture capital investing in Europe. While they had made a number of investments in the [...]
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AMEX France insults my intelligence
July 27, 2011I’m certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed, but some gifts are so insincere that even I can smell them a mile away. The recent policy change presented by American Express France to their Air France Amex Gold card stinks. According to a recent mailer, starting November 18 this year, my Air France Amex [...]