Archives / May, 2004

Why Blog?

There was a good piece in the New York Times yesterday about blogging, including some good quotes from Jarvis. I’m getting the hang of it, but I have to say that blogging in the bathroom is taking things a little bit too far.

SPF and Caller ID for Email Merge – What Does This Mean?

Yesterday’s announcement that Microsoft is going to merge its nascent Caller ID for Email authentication standard with the more populist Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an interesting development in the war on spam. But what does it really mean? It means that sender authentication is headed towards a standard. Where once there were three, now there are two (Yahoo Domain Keys is another standard, although it’s still a little unclear whether it’s competitive or complementary). Authentication is an important component of the war on spam because it allows ISPs and other email receiveing servers to verify that the sender of the email is who he says he is. Spammers don’t do that. But authentication is only one facet to the…

Popular Misconceptions About Bonded Sender

There have been many postings about Microsoft’s recent announcement to use Ironport’s Bonded Sender Program as one of its many tools to fight spam and reduce false positives. I won’t belabor them here, but there are three common misconceptions I’m reading on the web and in blogs that I thought I’d point out and try to clarify. Misconception #1: Bonded Sender is a Microsoft product, and Microsoft will profit from it. Why it’s not true: Bonded Sender is operated by Ironport, Inc., a completely separate company from Microsoft. Bonded Sender and its cousin, Sender Base, are used by over 20,000 domains. Microsoft is just the latest, and highest profile, user. I don’t believe that Microsoft is making any money from…

In This Case, Personality Is a Skill

Business Week just ran an interesting article entitled “I’m a Bad Boss? Blame My Dad,” which unfortunately I can’t link to because Business Week online is for subscribers only. The premise of the article is that our past is always with us…that the patterns of behavior established in our home environments as children inexorably follow us to the workplace. You may or may not agree with the premise — certainly, there is at least a little truth in it — but the article had another interesting statement: CEOs often get hired for their skills, and fired for their personalities. I’ve always felt that Boards and CEOs need to view “personality,” that is to say, the softer skills, as equally important…

From Shakespeare to Nixon

Jerry Colonna, a well-respected venture capitalist in New York and friend of a friend, had an interesting post in his blog about Being a CEO. Any writing that quotes both Shakespeare and Nixon in the same piece should get a reference just for that, if for nothing else. Anyway, he’s right about three things: (1) delivering the good news as well as the bad is an important part of managing a board; (2) having one or more consiglieris is important (although spouses CAN work); and (3) San Diego is one of the greatest places in the world.

Blog Blacklists: A New View of Internet Vigilantes

I always thought that spam blacklists were well intentioned but problematic for the email ecosystem, since they are vigilantes in action and have no accountability and trackability. Periodically, I’ve even pondered whether or not they violate someone’s first amendment rights. It’s maddening to know you’re a good guy in the email world, you can get put on a blacklist because some anti-spam zealot decides he or she doesn’t like you on a whim, you can’t complain or get off of the list, you may not even know you’re on the list, then you’re downloaded thousands of times by naively trusting or equally zealous sysadmins, and boom — your emails aren’t getting through any more. Then yesterday, I was looking at…

Who’s The Boss?

That’s not just the title of a mediocre 1980’s sitcom starring Tony Danza, it’s a question I get periodically, including last week in an interview. A writer I know is working on an article on entrepreneurship and asked me, “Before you started your own business, how did you like working for other people?” The question made me think a little bit. I know what she was asking — how I liked being the boss instead of working for one — but the way she phrased it is interesting and revealing about what it’s like to be a CEO. One of the biggest differences between being in a company and starting or running one is that you’re not working for a…

You're Only a First Time CEO Once

And here I am. In the middle of that “once.” Fred Wilson wrote a great posting by that title on his blog, and it has stuck with me. When I decided to start a blog, it was the first thing that came to mind as a main theme for the blog, so there you go. Only Once it is. I’m not entirely sure why I’m doing a blog. Part of it is fascination with the newest corner of the Internet and its related areas like RSS (clicking on that link will get you the RSS feed of this blog). Part of it is to try out the medium and see how it might work for the hundreds of marketers and…

Oh, And About That Picture

Yes, that’s me. I’m in an ice pocket inside a glacier on Antarctica, the most interesting place Mariquita and I have ever been, and I think the most interesting place on earth. We were there last winter with a great tour company called Adventure Network and had the trip of a lifetime. And yes, the picture does have something to do with the theme of the blog, You’re Only a First Time CEO Once. 🙂