This is one of my pet peeves. What makes is worse is that if I temporarily enable scripts for the page, there is nothing on it that actually requires scripting. The javascript just displays formatted text. Every HTTP service in existence already does that.
Currently you could construct this statically (actually we used to host on S3), but we're building out the desktop app at the same time, so it made sense to host the blog on the same app. This should be rendering HTML server side soon.
That being said, Page should learn to be a better writer. Take this, for example:
As for my right ear, I was born deaf in it lol. This was not a fun experience to say the least.
Being born deaf in one ear is rarely a cause for "laughing out loud," and the "lol" adds nothing to the first sentence. "To say the least" is a cliché and should be eliminated.
Anyone could be guilty of these writing sins and in a large enough sample of my own writing I'm sure someone could find clichés. Nonetheless they're pervasive enough to detract from the piece. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get Write Right! (my favorite short, pithy writing book) and William Zissner's On Writing Well.
I agree. I thought the writing was really poor and very hard to follow. One moment he's talking about losing his hearing, then his vision and then having Epstein Barr.
That being said, it seems like a pretty interesting story, good for him for fighting through his problems!
I think there's room for the perspectives offered by both formal and informal writing.
Given the informal context, reminiscing about first job interviews with friends, I feel that the author wanted to share that setting with us as readers.
It may not have been the same decision you would have made, but take it as a chance to learn a new perspective rather than opening with hard criticisms.
I disagree, I don't think the style was informal, I think it was simply poorly written. There is a difference between the two. The blogger never purported to be a good writer, so I don't fault him for it and I was able to get the gist of what he wanted to say, but it wasn't well written..
You're criticising this dude's writing and he got a meeting with Mike Moritz. Even if he didn't receive a positive outcome (and if this story is even true, I'm not doubting just saying) total props to the lad for getting a meeting via a cold email with one of the biggest venture investors in history.
How many other people can do the same thing?
In fact, it's actually irrelevant in this case that the writer made mistakes and could be better (all of us could be better). The most impressive point of the story is he showed enough courage to write to someone at the height of the VC industry and get a response and invite for a meeting.
Sorry about that. In retrospect I should have hid it until that was ready. In the near future we'll have a desktop site to log into and use as well as mobile.
I loved the email pitch. Seemed to the point and anyone reading it was clear who you are and what you could do.
As Mark Twain said in a letter, "if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter".
Still a long way to go for me but I can see my pitches are becoming better. I happy to start with a long winded sentence now and then gradually cut it down.
There's a good general sales lesson here: "research" is not "preparation", even though they're commonly assumed to be the same thing in practice, as was the case here.
It's hard to craft a viable proposition if you don't know your target, but simply knowing your target doesn't mean you have a viable proposition. Ultimately, the OP's pitch to Moritz ("my poker success can be translate to success as a venture capitalist") was interesting enough to land him a meeting, but not compelling enough to close the deal.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 64.9 ms ] threadThat being said, Page should learn to be a better writer. Take this, for example:
As for my right ear, I was born deaf in it lol. This was not a fun experience to say the least.
Being born deaf in one ear is rarely a cause for "laughing out loud," and the "lol" adds nothing to the first sentence. "To say the least" is a cliché and should be eliminated.
Anyone could be guilty of these writing sins and in a large enough sample of my own writing I'm sure someone could find clichés. Nonetheless they're pervasive enough to detract from the piece. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get Write Right! (my favorite short, pithy writing book) and William Zissner's On Writing Well.
That being said, it seems like a pretty interesting story, good for him for fighting through his problems!
Given the informal context, reminiscing about first job interviews with friends, I feel that the author wanted to share that setting with us as readers.
It may not have been the same decision you would have made, but take it as a chance to learn a new perspective rather than opening with hard criticisms.
I think it was quite clearly intended as sarcasm.
the "lol" adds nothing to the first sentence
I can agree with you there though, but mostly because I don't like "lol" as a word and not because of the use of sarcasm.
How many other people can do the same thing?
In fact, it's actually irrelevant in this case that the writer made mistakes and could be better (all of us could be better). The most impressive point of the story is he showed enough courage to write to someone at the height of the VC industry and get a response and invite for a meeting.
Props to the lad.
In the mean time you can also signup in the app.
Thanks for the heads up!
As Mark Twain said in a letter, "if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter".
Still a long way to go for me but I can see my pitches are becoming better. I happy to start with a long winded sentence now and then gradually cut it down.
It's hard to craft a viable proposition if you don't know your target, but simply knowing your target doesn't mean you have a viable proposition. Ultimately, the OP's pitch to Moritz ("my poker success can be translate to success as a venture capitalist") was interesting enough to land him a meeting, but not compelling enough to close the deal.