Bessemer Tops Midas List... Again?

Hurray for Bessemer Venture Partners! Forbes recognized six of our partners on this year's Midas List, more than any other firm. This is the third year running that Bessemer boasts the highest number of investors on the list.

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A Keck-Ass Birthday

Today I was on top of the world. A cadre of my CEO’s joined me atop the tallest mountain on Earth -- Mauna Kea -- with great views of both our planet and others. This summit is the site of about a dozen observatories operated by universities and agencies from Japan, Canada, France, and other nations whose astronomers seek a thin, and accessible atmosphere unpolluted by light (not to mention a nice island to visit).

A geodesic dome housing one of Caltech’s observatories.

The jewel of the summit is the Keck Observatory, a joint venture of UCLA and Caltech that operates the world's two largest telescopic lenses with diameters of 8 and 10 meters each. In fact the effective resolution is much greater because the two lenses can be individually adjusted by interferometers for atmospheric distortion (primarily from light-bending air turbulence) and then combined to present a highly precise parallax and panoply of data points. Researchers apply up to a year advance for the chance to use Keck’s equipment on just the right night, but only 20% of the many applications can be accommodated, and even the winners of the peer-reviewed selection process can be stymied by cloudy weather, only to get in line again. It was here at Keck that astronomers discovered most of the several hundred known exo-planets, as well as observable properties of the black hole anchoring our galaxy.

Now we had started the day 14,000 feet below the top of the world -- racing our stand-up paddleboards in the warm Pacific, and snorkeling the reef. Coming off Sunday’s storm, the waves were higher than any the locals had seen. We were a tad reckless, and sure enough it ended in injury as Mike Fitzsimmons kayak-surfed a wave right into shallow coral and a dozen sea urchins. (Ouch! Not my most value-added day as a VC.)

Debbie Goodwin at Keck drove us up the mountain grade as we passed through several micro-climates (the Big Island of Hawaii has 11 of the planet’s 13 climates). At 9,000 feet we stopped for lunch at base camp to acclimate ourselves to the thin air. At 12,000 feet we started seeing the snowboarders and skiers on the slopes around us, and a man filling his pickup truck with snow to bring back down the mountain for fun. As we finally reached the top, we all felt the effects of a 60% atmosphere – nausea, dizziness, forgetfulness, and freezing temperatures. It was great! (Though we did have to stop now and then to tap the oxygen tanks.) Unfortunately the effects of high altitude are more dangerous children, who are restricted from the summit until age 16.

To achieve such high resolution imaging, Keck pioneered a scalable design of segmented mirrors driven by actuators. The mirrors form a parabolic surface that directs all the waves to a secondary mirror opposite them, which bounces the waves back into the center of the parabola where a tertiary mirror bounces them into the interferometers along the side. The entire mechanism -- which we watched in awe as its 300 tons glided into proper viewing position for its next target -- floats on a ring of hydrostatic oil that enables a single person to move it!

With such a segmented design one can theoretically build a mirror of any size to catch photons and indeed there are even larger telescopes in the works. Keck is hoping to house a project planning a 30m lens, but the island's residents have interceded on behalf of Poli'Ahu the snow goddess, so the project may be headed for Chile. (Who has time for this?) Here’s one of the 2 spare glass segments, which rotate off the telescope periodically for maintenance. In this picture, the mirrored aluminum coating has been chemically removed, so you can see the sensors and actuators.

Here’s the second spare segment that has been re-coated with a layer of aluminum 1% as thick as a human hair.

In this photo below from the Keck web site you can see the laser beam they emit into the atmosphere to measure atmospheric disturbances to their observations.

At the end of the day our friends at Keck surprised me with a birthday cake and song. I got to discuss multiverses with the astronomers while downing layers of chocolate and coconut. Yeah!

When we were back at sea level we shed the layers to enjoy barbeque, spa, poker and pool. Among other lessons today, I learned how to shear off the top of a bottle Dom Perignon by swiping a butcher’s knife along the bottleneck, just as Napolean’s cavalary did with their sabres. (Don’t try this at home.)

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Sister Goddesses of the Big Island

Blessed be Namakaokahai who revealed majestic whales to us today as they crested the waves of Her sea.

May She protect the feeble minded snorkelers who obliviously explore Her watery canyons below the ball path of the picturesque 15th hole on Mauna Lani South. Oh, Namakaokahai, did I not try to call out to them over the clamor of Your crashing surf? I did furiously wave my hat in a move-your-ass gesture, to which the surely oxygen-deprived bathers simply smiled and waved back before resuming their ill fated swim only a cubit from where one of our foursome's wayward tee shots soon splashed in.



And Blessed be Her Sister, the Mighty Pele, who smiled upon me today at the base of Her volcano, bestowing upon me the totally chillin' score of 81!

And may She bring wisdom to the waiter who, when asked at lunch today if the pea soup is vegetarian, responded, "Yes... mostly."

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Stars by the Sea

The first night of my birthday trip to Hawaii was a glorious tribute to the heavens. It started with a divine meal on the beach serenaded by Nino Kaai's Izzy rendition of Over the Rainbow. Then my friends and I strolled to a torch-lit lecture arranged by the Keck Observatory, where astronomer and author Timothy Ferris -- undeterred by the evening's thick volcanic haze -- guided us through the stars with HD clips from his film Seeing In The Dark.



Professor Ferris' mantle displays more fabulous trophies of achievement than I care to list at this late hour. I will point out only that his contributions will likely outlast those of anyone else in history, as he produced the phonograph containing music, sounds and photos that now hurtles through inter-stellar space aboard the Voyager spacecraft. (Too bad Ferris couldn't include Pogue's MacWorld performance this week, accompanied by Ge Wang on the spacey Ocarina.)

Tonight's lecture kicked off Keck's celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, commemorating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's invention of the refracting telescope. (Gordon Moore and lots of other Big Island immigrants were there to support Keck.) Here are three gems I picked up from Ferris' talk:

"Bringing our model of the universe into better accord with the facts is a pursuit worthy of adults."

"All of human evolution occurred in less time than it takes light to traverse the Andromeda galaxy."

"You couldn't get a murder verdict from a Texas jury on the scanty evidence we have of alien visitation."

Heavens, it's late! Better get to sleep if I'm to catch the voggy sunrise and early tee times...

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TED Talks: Ideas Worth Spreading

TED is a non-profit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out as an annual conference on Technology, Entertainment and Design, but it has since evolved into an extensive set of events and activities crafted to inspire and spread great ideas for changing the world. The annual TED conference in Long Beach, CA is the main event -- an invite-only meeting with influential and impactful speakers like Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, Sergey Brin, JJ Abrams, Bill Clinton, Tim Berners-Lee, James Cameron, Murray Gellman and Bill Gates. To spread the best ideas, TED freely distributes videos of the TED Talks (never exceeding 18 minutes).

For those who wish to sample what happens at TED, or want a road map to the many great TED Talks, I have tried to document the last five years of TED. Over the years, I've invested more detail and ratings into my reviews. By doing so, I hope to contribute to ideas worth spreading.

TED 2011: Rediscovery of Wonder

A detailed index of the entire conference is available here, with all TED Talks rated and posted. The highlights were General Stanley McChrystal, organ researcher Anthony Atala (see photo right), dinosaur hunter Jack Horner, and fourth grade teacher John Hunter.

TED 2010: What the World Needs Now
An overview of TED 2010. Read reviews and ratings of the TED Talks from:

Wednesday: Good Food Choices

Thursday AM: Science, Needles & Nukes

Thursday PM: Laser Shields & Suspended Animation

Friday AM: Microsoft and Google

Friday PM: Music and Comedy

Saturday: Chaos, Lawyers and Avatars

TED 2009: The Great Unveiling

An overview of TED'09 and TED University. Read detailed TED Talk reviews and ratings at:

Wednesday: Reboot

Wednesday: Reframe

Thursday: Hallucination and Illusion

Friday: Talking Bacteria

TED2008

An overview of TED'08 and the TED Prize. Read about the TED Talks at:

Wednesday: Literally, A Stroke of Luck
Highlights: Dr Jill Taylor-- Brain scientists decvonstructs her own stroke; Stephen Hawking
Thursday Morning: Life Origami
Highlights: Craig Venter and Paul Rothemund on developing CAD tools for synthesizing complex life forms.

Thursday Afternoon: Helpful Tips to Survive a Nuclear Explosion
Highlight: Author Dave Eggers
Friday Morning: Music, Shrooms and Crows
Highlight: Josh Klein on how smart crows really are. Definitely worth watching.
Friday Afternoon: Shining Eyes
Highlight of the Week: Ben Zander leads TED in German choral singing
Saturday: Thank You For Being Here
Highlight: Al Gore with more inconvenient slides.

TED 2007: Highlights

My first impression of a TED conference.

"Raising Children Without God"

Resources for those who wish to follow up on my TED University talk.

Book Reviews

Nov. 16, 2009
Gladwell's Igon Value Problem
I pile onto Steven Pinker's rant against Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw

Aug. 5, 2006
Blink: The Nonsense of "Thinking Without Thinking"
A less-than-generous book review of the allegedly non-fiction bestseller, why George Bush likely read this book, and suggested alternative reading by Christopher Moore.

Sep. 8, 2009
An Epic Search for Truth, with a Connection in Frankfurt
A recursive book review about a recursive graphic novel: LogiComix by Apostolos Doxiadis and computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.

March 21, 2008
Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table

A 16 year-old with ADHD busts myths about the mental health epidemic.

Aug. 28, 2005
A "Natural Cure" for the Author's Debts
Confidence artist Kevin Trudeau tops the bestseller list by playing on people's mistrust of corporations.

January 27, 2008

A Very Bad Book and a Very Good Book

Con man Kevin Trudeau is back, cashing in on bizarre corporate conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Michael Shermer's book Mind of the Market explains how Trudeau gets away with it.

March 11, 2007

Reading Resources for Raising Children Without God

Reading lists for skeptical grownups and kids.

April 15, 2007
Goodbye Kurt. So it goes.
A review of my favorite Vonnegut novels, on the sad occasion of his death.

malcolmgladwell michaelshermer kevintrudeau schristophermoore shermer kurtvonnegut logicomix blink vonnegut

Data Security

Bessemer's web site has a good overview of our data security practice. Meanwhile, here are my most popular blog posts on data security:

Aug. 29, 2008
Internet Threat Level Red
Dan Kaminsky warns DEFCON that half the internet remains completely exposed to a gaping hole in the Domain Name System that lets phishers divert web and email traffic at will.


July 13, 2005
Too Many Security Startups?
A night out at the movies demonstrates how easily hackers adapt.


Oct. 15, 2009
The Fallacy of the Fallacy of Identity Theft
When a Wall St. Journal column recklessly dismisses Identity Theft as a hoax, the victims speak up.

May 24, 2008
An Open Letter to Ron Lieber
Experian lies about Lifelock, and fools the New York Times.

Nov. 18, 2006

Preventing Identity Theft
The brittle secret of U.S. social security numbers has cracked.




Sept. 16, 2009
Physical Encryption: The Ultimate ID Theft Defense
My father teaches my son the Sledgehammer Algorithm, an asymmetrical encryption protocol.





October 9, 2007
SaaSy Security Suits SMB
Small businesses are now forced to play security catch up, but with fewer or no IT professionals, ease of deployment and integration trump best-of-breed technology.




August 10, 2007
SPIT and SPAM
As a guest on Talk of the Nation, I predict that we'll soon find ourselves drowning in SPIT.

Sept 11, 2009

Multi-Key Processors are Key to Security

Security icon Ron Rivest looks to Tilera's 64-core machine to run his latest cryptographic algorithm MD6.

March 12, 2008
Red Herring Interview on Security and VC Blogging





July 14, 2005
Doomsday Hackers and Evildoing Robots
Security myths that banks succumb to, and why out-of-band authentication of transactions offers the best hope of restoring online trust.




March 29, 2006
Cat and Mouse

Will the cat and mouse game between hackers and security researchers persist forever?





Aug. 1, 2005
CiscoGate at DEFCON
Cisco makes the mistake of trying to hide the first major vulnerability discovered in its IOS.



Oct. 5, 2007
There Once Was A Founder Named Scott...
A marriage toast for Postini and Google.


Nov. 2, 2006
British Telecom Dials Up Da Vinci Code
BT acquires Counterpane, and Europe goes ga-ga for Bruce Schneier.



July 17, 2005
My Security Anti-Road Map
How I try to avoid failing startups in data security.

Dec. 19, 2005
Profiling: New Approach to Desktop Security
Transparency is wonderful but overloading users with information leads to WORSE security. Warning: Exception Fault 1002F4E, Stack Overwritten. OK?

bessemer postini identitytheft security spam hackers DEFCON Lifelock authenticationfraud cyota perimeter kaminsky pharming siteadvisor SMB schneier counterpane

Bessemer's Investments

Here are posts on some of our investment road maps, new investments, and exits.


Sept. 25, 2007
A Carbon Footprint Reduction Plan
Bessemer to offset and reduce carbon emissions for the firm and new portfolio companies.


Oct. 12, 2008
Take Back the Web!
Our new project to restore Tim's original vision of a web graced with benevolent hyperlinks.

Feb 4, 2009
Mash Feeds Link the Web to your Site, Syndicating Content to the Browser
MashLogic uses your RSS feeds to mark up the web with links back to your site.


Aug. 12, 2005
Road Map Investing
A more proactive approach to venture capital that's a little harder to screw up.


Aug. 8, 2005
The Wormhole Factory
In the dark ages of 2002, an internet startup named Netli learned to overcome the speed of light.



Nov. 18, 2006
Preventing Identity Theft
Keeping your credentials private is futile. So how do you protect yourself from crooks?




Jan. 14, 2007
Cheating Death
Geniuses in Singapore and Sirtris show God who's boss.









October 9, 2007
SaaSy Security Suits SMB
Why I wrote my biggest check ever in yet another security company.

Oct. 5, 2007

Bessemer Tops the Midas List

Bessemer is once again the venture firm with the top number of investors recognized by Forbes.

Sept 11, 2009

Multi-Core Processors Key To Security

MIT Professor Ron Rivest chooses Tilera's Tile64 to develop the new standrad for hashing algorithms.

Oct. 5, 2007
There Once Was A Founder Named Scott...
A marriage toast for Postini and Google.




July 21, 2007
Is BVP Too Flashy?
How the oldest VC firm in the nation tries to strike a balance between Stodgy and Neon.





Aug. 18, 2005
Consumer Investing: Part 1 and Part 2
Why we have turned our attention to consumer investing, and what we look for.





May 14, 2006
Television 2.0
Fianlly, the networks can no longer hold back demand for interactive, on-demand video, and they're sprouting dangerous leaks of ad revenue.





June 11, 2006
Bessemer's Fall 2006 Television Lineup
7 recent investments in TV 2.0








May 26, 2006
Dwight Schrute Bobbleheads!
Delivery Agent enables e-commerce for the entertainment industry, selling products seen on your favorite shows.



Aug. 27, 2005
Consumer Driven Healthcare
How Health Savings Accounts put US consumers in charge of our own healthcare decisions.


Aug. 28, 2005
Vimo (formerly known as Healthia)
Introducing a comparison shopping portal for medical services, enabling Consumer Directed Healthcare.

Sep 21, 2006
Finding Vimo
Naming internet startups is hard. But we got lucky.



Nov. 2, 2006
British Telecom Dials Up Da Vinci Code
BT acquires Counterpane, and Europe goes ga-ga for Bruce Schneier.

Oct. 23, 2005
Next Intel Emerges from Stealth
World-class microprocessor team announces low-power, mixed signal PowerPC.



Sept. 12, 2005
Rob Stavis and Skype
Congratulations to my partner Rob on eBay's acquisition of Skype (where he led the Series A round).



Oct. 5, 2005
A Day of Mashups, Wikis, Ajax, and Open Source
Notes from the heady Web 2.0 Conference.





March 27, 2006
Wikia, Jimmy Wales' Startup
We're in business with the Wikipedia founder and core editorial team, creating wiki-based communities.

bessemer portfolio identitytheft sirtris tv2 consumer healthcare startups bobbleheadvimo skype lifelock web2 pasemi jimbo wikia wikipedia wormhole