∑ummation

FOA: Paul Meyer, CEO of Voxiva

Paul is based in Washington DC but he is rarely there. My guess is that he spends more time on a plane then anywhere else. Voxiva (www.voxiva.com) is a terrific company and was introduced to me through Peter Kellner who is an investor and board member. The company tracks disease in a given area so officials can see health trends -– much like COMSTAT does with crime.

Before founding Voxiva, Paul founded IPKO – the largest Internet provider in Kosovo. He has also had stints at the Markle Foundation and the International Rescue Committee. He was the COO of Endeavor (www.endeavor.org) and was a White House speechwriter under President Clinton. He graduated from Yale Law School and went to Oxford. He was recently named a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Funny story: in the early days of Voxiva, they only had the domain name of "voxiva.net" – some guy was cyber-squatting on the "voxiva.com" domain. Frustrated with always going to the wrong web page, I finally got fed up and contacted the domain squatter to buy the dot-com name myself. He wanted $20,000 but I was able to negotiate him down to $300 and immediately handed the "voxiva.com" name to its rightful owners.

Voxiva is an incredible company and I am looking forward to seeing great things from them and from Paul. See a good USA Today story at http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-03-08-high-low-solution_x.htm

Peter Thiel in Financial Times

Peter Thiel was profiled in the Financial Times today: Californian rides on the crest of his fifth career

The article also profile's Peter's global macro fund, Clarium Capital.

r21: Go Maxie! FOA: Maxine Friedman

Chris Alden blogs on Lead21 superstar Maxine Friedman --Go Maxie! -- who was featured in New York Magazine.

shane reilly interiors

My friend Shane Reilly, interior designer extraordinaire, launches her web site:

shane reilly interiors

FOA: Gavin Newsom

Yesterday was something else. Democracy at its finest in San Francisco with two very hard fought campaigns for mayor -- with tons of energy and interest.

Gavin Newsom, who won a close race, will be the next Mayor of San Francisco. Though Newsom is a Democrat (the other candidate was a member of the Green Party), I was proud to fully support him. I'm confident that he will make a terrific mayor.

Newsom is a small business owner and San Francisco supervisor. I met him over dinner at the home of David Blumberg one year ago (in December, 2002). We bonded over our common interest in Malcolm Gladwell (author of the Tipping Point) and Stephen Goldsmith (former enterprising mayor of Indianapolis).

Also see:
My Newsom pictures from Election Day (Dec 9, 2003)

Barry Nalebuff and Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small

I had an opportunity to meet Barry Nalebuff at a conference last weekend. Besides being the co-author of Co-Opetition (one of my favorite books), he runs a site called Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small.

the WhyNot site is an open-source idea mart for new ideas. Some examples:

Two way horn Why not make all car horns just as loud inside the car as they are outside? This would quickly eliminate 99% of all unnecessary honking and improve just about everybody's quality of life. This is one I can't take credit for, as it was my friend's idea. But I think it is one that bears repeating.

-- dug4000, Dec 2 2003

News ticker during commercials Some cable news stations have a news ticker going across the bottom of the screen at all times. This is a brilliant idea, since it gives people a reason to look at the screen even if they find the current news item to be boring. For some reason though, they don't show the news ticker during commercials. If anything, people are more likely to look away from the screen or change the channel during the commercials. They would retain more viewers during their commercials (which would be great for their advertising rates) if they not only show the ticker during commercials, but actually increase the number of items on the ticker then, so that some bits of news will only be shown on the ticker during commercial breaks.

-- Curious Cat, Nov 27 2003

it is full of really interesting and ideas that make you want to ask "Why Not?"

Jeremy Epstein's new blog

My friend Jeremy Epstein recently put together: Jeremy's Blog of Relevant Articles and Links

Liza Sonia Designs

Liza Sonia Designs is new company launched by my friend Liza Sonia Wallach.

The company has already achieved much acclaim selling contemporary jewelry directly and through major retail stores.

FOA: Reed Hundt, former Chairman of the FCC

I know ... you're thinking ... but Reed is a Democrat (and even a big Howard Dean supporter)! But he's also an incredible visionary on future on telecom, political systems, and technology (even when I disagree with him).

Reed is the former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in the first term of Clinton/Gore (93-97). Today he is a senior advisor at McKinsey & Company, a special advisor to Blackstone Group, and is on the board of directors of Intel, Allegiance Telecom, and Polyserve.

Reed spoke to Stonebrick Group's Silicon Forum in Palo Alto this summer on the convergence of politics and technology.

Though he works in Washington DC, he is a very frequent visitor to Silicon Valley where many depend on his advice and insights.

Scott Bonds -- I Want to Work at EA

I Want to Work at EA: Games 411

Scott Bonds -- one of my oldest friends (since 1993) -- has published a site called "I want to work at EA". Unlike many job seekers that try to be overly opportunistic, Scott has honed exactly the type of job that he wants ... and he has built a successful blog with large readership.

assuming scott is successful (i am sure he will be -- he is one of the most talented people i know), look for more people to copy his job searching technique.

FOA: Duf Sundheim, Chairman of the California Republican Party

Duf Sundheim
friend of Auren

I was lucky enough to meet Duf Sundheim about two years ago. Price Roe (see Sept 2002 Friend of Auren) and I just wrote a memo about the awesome gains of the Democratic Party in the San Francisco Bay Area -- particularly in the tech community. Duf read the article, latched onto it, and (along with Floyd Kvamme and Gregory Slayton) helped inspire Price and I to start Lead21 (formerly known as the New Century Leadership Circle) as a counterweight.

At the time, Duf was the Chairman of the Lincoln Club and did a great job taking that organization to the next level. A former Stanford football player, Duf's incredible intensity has made him successful in business as well as politics. Last January, Duf won election to become Chairman of the California Republican Party and set upon a long march to rebuild the GOP in this state.

In the midst of his plans, Duf was thrust to the front lines because of the recall of Governor Davis. He has been a healthy steward of the party throughout -- and at the same time he remains a committed public servant and a close friend of Lead21.

Though the California Republican Party still has a long way to go to be competitive again in this state, Duf's strong stewardship should get it there.

Tennis with Congressman Bob Goodlatte

Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is more than a nice guy, a smart politician, a savvy technologist, and a good father. Goodlatte can also move around the tennis court.

Lead21 arranged a tennis tournament with Goodlatte and some of our closest supporters (like John Multhauf, Chris Alden, Mark Conroe, Larry Chiang, Anthony Detoto, Patrick Shannon, John Gable, and others). In between serves we were able to talk policy with Goodlatte who serves as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus, and Chairman of the House Republican High Tech Working Group.

Congressman Adam Putnam

At a recent Lead21 event at the home of Alex Lloyd in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to discuss issues with Congressman Adam Putnum, a Republican from Florida and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census.

At 28, Putnam is the youngest member of Congress (he was elected when he was just 26) and is the youngest person in history to chair a subcommittee.

Chris Nolan - Reporting * Writing * Talking

Chris Nolan recently launched her new blog. I know she'll kill me if I didn't post a reference to it here.

She has decided to not yet post a bio on her site. One thing this Democrat probably won't have in her future bio is that her brother is married to big Republican (and former GOP staffer) -- i know, that's not a lot of dirt ... but it is all i got!

Chris is a former columnist for the San Jose Mercury News...

Mark Gerson -- CEO of Gerson Lehrman Group and TheCouncils

Friend of Auren:
Mark was introduced to me by my friend Joel Hornstein, a fellow graduate of Yale Law School. Mark is currently the CEO of Gerson Lehrman Group, a company dedicated to providing research experts to hedge funds and other institutions. Mark has been a very successful entrepreneur and is a fixture in New York City's political circles.

Mark has authored In the Classroom: Dispatches from an Inner-City School That Works (Free Press, 1997) about his experiences teaching in an inner-city Catholic high-school right out of Williams College. Mark also wrote The Neoconservative Vision (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1995) and Essential Neoconservative Reader (Addison-Wesley, 1996). He's a modern-day Ben Franklin.

Mark is a forward thinker who serves on the boards of the Manhattan Institute, Student Sponsor Partnership, the Yale Chai Society and Imentor. Even though he's extremely busy, he somehow finds the time to read three books a week!

See past profiled Friends of Auren at: http://www.summation.net/friends.html