True Stories

True Story: Programming, Paradox, and the Pot of Gold

April 18, 2012

Paradox is the spice of life. Maybe. Because life is full of contradictions and other hands. Take this very interesting juxtaposition. Kevin Systrom, founder and CEO of Instagram, just sold it for $! billion to Facebook. And he built the Instagram prototype himself, in his spare time, after teaching himself to code, also in his [...]

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Could This Be You? One Great YouTube Launches a Startup

March 9, 2012

CNET’s Rafe Needleman posted about DollarShaveClub.com yesterday and I picked it up this morning. It seems that the key to a successful launch was one extremely-well-done one-minute video on YouTube, which I’ve embedded here: I find this inspirational. It’s fascinating how this one big hit can be so effective. How much would a couple of [...]

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True Story: Flying Out of San Diego After the Outage

September 9, 2011

Yesterday at about 6 pm I was with a few dozen people in the terminal that United Air Lines uses in the San Diego airport. Things did not look good. We’d been without power for more than two hours, and, according to what we learned via mobile phones and iPads and such — there was [...]

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True Story: A Fast Growing Company Gets Organized

August 17, 2011

This is a true story. Once upon a time, I had an interesting problem, the kind most small business owners want to have, but nonetheless, still a problem. We were growing too fast. Our sales tripled one year, and doubled the next. We didn’t want to stunt our growth. But we were having trouble getting [...]

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True Story of a Natural Networker

August 12, 2011

Coincidence or synchronicity: two days ago I had a heart-to-heart talk with somebody about partners in business, and the natural networker concept came up in reference to a specific person I know. We were talking about partners and complimentary skill sets. He does what I never could. I’m not going to give you his name, [...]

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Do You Know The Luxury of Not Having to Know Everything?

July 18, 2011

Never underestimate the luxury of being able to not know something. For example, you’re in a business meeting and somebody asks about some acronym you’ve never heard of. The right answer is: I don’t know what that acronym means. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it before. Maybe you can tell me, or give me [...]

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Do You Underestimate The Tasks You Like?

June 28, 2011

I’m sure I do this and I’m wondering whether you think everybody does. When I’m asked to estimate how much time some task is going to take: If it’s something I enjoy doing, like writing, or programming, or driving on an open road, my estimate is always too low. If it’s something I don’t enjoy, [...]

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An Old Man to Admire

June 19, 2011

He might be the man I most admire. He is certainly that among the men I’ve actually known. And he’s a model for us all. My dad, Frank D. Berry, MD, turned 91 last Fall. His four children are in their 60s and 50s. He still plays tennis twice a week, and golf on occasion, [...]

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Stage Fright Can Be Good For Your Career

June 8, 2011

I’ve noticed a pattern with myself, public speaking, and fear of speaking. I wonder if this holds true with others. I think it was good for me that my job required a lot of speaking even when I was still pretty young. Before I was 25 I’d done radio and standup television for UPI out [...]

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