Here’s my feature on Kickstarter, in the lastest issue of Fast Company. I wrote about the company last year in Vanity Fair.
In Praise of Copycats
In Fast Company’s March issue, I argue that Samsung’s copycat ways are precisely what makes it special.
“This place. I can’t believe this place. San Francisco is amazing—ah-MAAAY-zing. Full of all these kids who are gonna make a billion dollars before they turn 35.”
So begins the taxi driver’s monologue as we speed through downtown San Francisco. I’m sitting in the backseat watching Kevin Rose—geek TV host turned Internet entrepreneur turned venture capitalist—try not to grimace.
“Well, I’m 35,” Rose says. “It’s a little late for me.”
Our cabbie, a sixtyish British expat with a close-cropped white beard and a chipper demeanor, responds helpfully, “There’s always today.”
” From my profile of Kevin Rose, “The Zen Master of Silicon Valley Chatter,” in February’s Fast Company.
In this month’s issue of Fast Company I took a close (exclusive!) look at Pinterest and spent some time with the fascinating Ben Silbermann. A sampling of my cover story:
What Pinterest has done is solve the problem of discovery on the web. And it has been a problem for a while. Let’s say you want to buy a gift for your mother. Nothing specific, just something nice. A search for “nice Mother’s Day gift” on Google—or even “very special, very expensive Mother’s Day gift”—isn’t going to be much help. Google depends on finely tuned queries in order to yield useful results. (This makes Google a great advertising platform, because it delivers customers who have already expressed an intention to buy something.) But talk to Google the way you might talk to a clerk at a department store, and it won’t know where to begin.
The entire design issue is well worth your time.
The Establishment and the Powers
I had the pleasure of once again working with my friends at Vanity Fair—along with a great team of writers—on this year’s New Establishment package for the October issue. Apple’s Tim Cook and Jonathan Ive lead the comers. Bezos, the Googlers, and Zuck are at their heels. Bloomberg heads up the Powers That Be.
The issue also includes a couple of really lovely photo spreads.
Here’s my first feature for the September issue of Fast Company. It’s a profile of Maelle Gavet, the CEO of Ozon, and maybe, just maybe, the Jeff Bezos of Russia. A spent a few days in Moscow with Maelle and her team. Money quote:
Think of this place as the web’s last frontier. Russia was ignored for most of the past decade by venture capitalists even as they poured money into the rest of the BRIC cohort—Brazil, India, and China. Conventional wisdom has said that Russia was too corrupt, too unpredictable, and too underdeveloped….Gavet has succeeded by taking the other side of this bet. “It’s happening now,” she says. “E-commerce is at a tipping point.” She points to Russians’ soaring incomes: Per-capita purchasing power has tripled, to $19,000, since 2000. (Compare that with Brazil, where per-capita income is still under $12,000, despite a high-growth economy.) Russians are also enjoying a newfound embrace of the Internet. The country now boasts roughly 70 million Internet users, more than any other European country.
The Sincerest Form of Flattery
My cover story from the June issue of Inc. magazine.
My Chat With Earthlink Customer Service
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: Hi Juliet
Juliet A: Hello this is Juliet A from Earthlink. How may I assist you?
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: I just opened an earthlink account and I’m trying to figure out when/how my cable internet will get installed
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: What’s the next step?
Juliet A: You will receive call from installation department within 72 business hours
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: can i just make an appointment with the installation department now?
Juliet A: Once you receive call, they will schedule an appointment and service will be installed,
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: also, is there a charge for installation?
Juliet A: You will receive call from installation department within 72 business hours from the day of sign up.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: is there a charge for installation?
Juliet A: We do not have information about installation charges
Juliet A: Once you receive call, you will be informed about charges and bill plan
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: is there someone i can call who might have that information?
Juliet A: Once you receive call, you will be informed about charges and bill plan
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: are you a human being?
Juliet A: Yes.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: ok.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: thanks
Juliet A: You are chatting with a Live person
Juliet A: You are welcome
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: hard to believe
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: but i suppose its possible
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: can you tell me a joke or something?
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: just kidding
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: thanks for the help
Juliet A: You can contact installation department at 212 or 718.358.0900
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: THANK YOU!
Juliet A: That’s Funny!!
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: okay i believe you
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: thanks for the hlp
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: help
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: seriously
Juliet A: Thank you. It’s nice and pleasure to assist friendly customers like you.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: sorry to question your humanity
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: have a nice day
Juliet A: Not a problem.
Juliet A: Thank you. Have a nice day.
Future TechStars, Step Forward
(Not so fast, you.)
An Oral History of Occupy Wall Street
From the February issue of Vanity Fair.
