For many startupps the companies take off after a level of media acceptance. How often was Twitter mentioned with celebrities in the news. Facebook made a great purchase. It is kind of how Coca Cola bought Vitamin Water. People thought Coca Cola paid a great amount but they were able to put their sales channels and marketing muscle behind a brand that was already growing and becoming a threat. If your startup becomes a threat to Google, Microsoft, Apple or Facebook please prepare to be very rich. It helps if you are able to have the media behind your company. I think Facebook will prove this was a great buy and it will start many sales of social networks. I am shocked RenRen has not been bought. They are the largest Chinese social network and if I had the money today I would buy or partner with them. China is a big market and I am shocked the low valuatio on the stock symbol Renn. I would think the hedge funders would be clamoring for all of the chinese internet companies since their growth is going to be huge and the market is untapped in terms of potential. Will Listen is going to partner with other countries to spread our push internationally. http://www.willlisten.com

I actually called his office last week trying to speak with him. Some of the best venture capitalists took my calls to give some great suggestions and feedback. One was an original investor in WebMD and another was a very big in the venture world. I even had a discussion with Alan Patricof's office since Alan's son and I were friends since childhood. I used to hang out at their house before Bill Clinton did. I also lived across from another rug dealer who did pretty well. His name was Tom Freston and for those of you who are kind of young, he was the main guy at MTV a long time ago. I set a meeting with MTV just by calling him up and persisting. You never know what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it. It doesn't matter if your a rug dealer, have a PHD, or were homeless. My motto is to keep going and to never stop no matter what!

Interesting article. The power of an idea catching on is possible through the internet. It is amazing how many shows and artists were found on YouTube. It says in the article the site's founders originally created phony accounts and posted stuff in the beginning. I wonder how many big companies did that and if any of you know the rules of it. I am happy my community is getting real people to join since it feels more authentic. You can see http://www.willlisten.com

I have a new book being published this year about bipolar. It is the standard length. I agree there should be books published of all lengths. Why not have a 20,000 word book which sells for $5.00 instead of $15.00 for a full book. I think the public would be open to all lengths of books. It also would have less limits on the works of authors. If you only have 18,000 important words then this should be enough. Great article!

Hi Von, you are right abuout financial planning. Sadly, many live day to day or month to month. This is sometimes true of startups trying so hard to build a business from scratch. I feel for Bryan in the article. He took time to build something and allowed Apple to share in the revenue and used their forum to sell it to the public. Sadly, there are so many horror stories when a big entity is controlling markets. I know of many stories where Google sandboxes websites and they are no longer able to be in the natural search results. I also know personally of Google choosing not to allow ads. In one instance the ads were going to compete against AT&T who is one of their largest ad spenders. Is it a shock Google did not "allow" the smaller and less funded company? Ebay also knocks down and kicks out many smaller sellers. I know these large companies don't always mean hard but they many times hurt the little guy. How about in China where a site can be shut down for no reason except the government chooses they don't like it. If you are a creator you need numerous income streams and cannot rely on one company be it Google, Ebay, Microsoft's Bing, Apple or anything else. Always be on your toes and never take things for granted! This is a huge business lesson learned in the hard knocks of real business.

Anyone think Apps will one day replace websites? I notice many individuals and businesses still having a regular website. In 5-10 years will there be no websites and only apps? I actually like working on a larger computer be it on apps or websites. I know the phone market will continue to expand especially in China, Russia, India, and Brazil. Microsoft still feels they have value in new versions of Windows. What do you think?

Health and codes are much like any business. The talent wants to maintain their edge. Many health companies, universities and even non profits find value in holding onto what they create. I understand we want everyone to be healthy but it will never work that way. So much cost and competition is involved that it will never be a "free" open source world. I would bet if Bill Gates and Warren Buffett each put 5 billion dollars toward find a cure or sharing code and paying creators there would be more people willing to share. Try asking Coca Cola for their secret recipe. Oh and tell them you won't pay them and will be using this recipe to make your own sodas to compete against them. I believe you will be waiting a long time for them to call with the info.

It seems big companies fold to pressure from large companies and political pressure. It is sad they see a creator as less valid then a bigger company. I think they fear the legal teams of these larger companies. Many of them have legal teams waiting around to file suit and since they are salaried lawyers it costs the companies nothing extra to sue. On the other hand music companies already lost billions on free music being used. It appears every industry is either going through or will go through a lower cost or free model. Examples are books, music, newspapers, and the list goes on. Who pay 15 for a cd when it is easy to download for 0. I am happy many top music acts still make so much that it doesnt matter. Firemen, teachers, and cops make pennies compared to Snoop Dogg? Who deserves more? That's the dizzle for schizzle my nizzle!

When we have a passion, skill and master something we create magic. Have you ever seen an athlete, teacher, speaker, salesperson, dancer, lawyer or the written word that put you in awe? This magic is created by transmuting energy, love, skill and practice. These are great skills to master. Anyone pitching to an investor or gaining new clients will do well to learn how to develop this magic.

I find it interesting that Barbara Corcoran had no money, was working as a waitress and used her boyfriends real estate license to start her business. I've witnessed many entrepreneurs start companies. There are many examples of people building huge businesses with nothing. I believe a show like this could help a contestant but for tv they want the most entertaining stories. I am excited that YCombinator takes a more serious and calculated way to figure out who they accept. I hope to meet some of you on these boards. Blake