Jay Marcyes

The best quotes comes from part 1, about 8:30 in, on failure:

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I believed I truly belonged, I was set free. I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. [...] Some failure in life is inevitable, It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you lived so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you fail by default.

I took out 2 key points from the presentation.

On listening to your customers but being able to say no:

Saying yes is the worst thing you can do, the number one power you have running your own business is being able to say no. We hear time and time again how the most important thing is to listen to your customers. That's true, you should certainly listen, and then you can say no. It doesn't come that just because you are listening, you have to say yes. That is not how the relationship works, because if you are just going to automatically say yes, why bothering listening in the first place? Saying no is my most treasured power as an entrepreneur running my own ship, I cannot remember a single thing that I said no to that I regret, but I remember things I said yes to that I regret. (~11 mins)

On asking yourself if your product is viable:

Just having a great idea is not enough, it needs to be married with someone that wants to pay you for your implementation. The best way to figure out if there is a business, is to ask yourself if you would pay for it. Because if you wouldn't pay for it, who would? (~22:30 mins)

The whole presentation has an overall KISS (keep it simple stupid) vibe to it, so maybe it should be watched with Venturehack's minimum viable product.

Great simple visual explanation of the credit crisis and how it came to be.

Great writeup on how to get low CPU Hi-Def playback for a media center PC, though you need a supported video card.

The MST3K guys create audio commentaries that you can play with your favorite --or least favorite-- movie.