Kiran Divvela

Just saw the @nissanleaf in the wild for the first time!

Apple's cash strategy

I saw this excellent answer on Quora about what Apple should do with its $51B cash hoard:

http://www.quora.com/What-would-make-sense-for-Apple-to-use-its-51-billion-in-cash-for-a-strategic-acquisition/answers/612608?srid=DH

I thought this answer was very thoughtful and nuanced. In summary, Apple uses its cash to get exclusive access to component technologies like flash memory and touch capacitive displays. They don't do big news making acquisitions typical of Google and Oracle.

Apple's strategy may appear less risky because they're buying hard assets. However, Apple's strategy isn't necessarily less risky. They're making huge technology bets that the components they support will be desirable to customers. For example, if Apple pays $1B for new aluminum machining technology and their customers don't like it, Apple is left holding the bag.

Very interesting strategy! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Getting back into the swing of things!

After graduation, a couple trips and a move, I'm back!

Stay tuned for more frequent posts!

The Descendant of Newton's Tree

I was at MIT today to do an errand and someone told me about this incredible area called the President's Courtyard. The offices of MIT's leadership (President Hockfield, etc.) look over this courtyard.

The best thing about the courtyard is this small, unassuming apple tree. This tree is a descendant of the tree under which Isaac Newton conceived the theory of gravity. Pretty incredible stuff and sitting under my nose all along!

Make No Little Plans

I saw this quote on Daring Fireball and had to share it.  Awesome.

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big."

Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912) 

Candid, thoughtful Q & A session with Steve Jobs from WWDC 1997

I found this video on Hacker News and had to share it. Someone posted it there because they perceived that Steve Jobs alluded to iCloud back in 1997. I think it's more important than that.

It shows you:

1) How to handle a hostile audience. Apple had recently bought Steve Jobs' company Next and announced their next generation OS, Rhapsody. This angered developers because for several years Apple had prepped them for a different OS called Copland. There's a particularly nasty question from a Java developer.

2) How to frame perceived conflicts. There was perceived conflict between Apple and Microsoft. Regardless of whether there was or not, it wasn't practical to piss off the largest tech company in the world, especially when Apple needed Microsoft to get on Rhapsody.

3) How to get people to buy-in on change. Steve's goal in this video is to get developers to write apps for Apple's next generation OS. He makes a clear case to a key audience.

4) Be pragmatic. Someone in the audience thanked Steve Jobs for turning Apple around (in 1997!). Steve said he didn't think the company had turned around yet. He was pragmatic that most of the work was ahead.

This video was taken before Steve was given the CEO role, so it's a great, unfiltered look into what he thought about Apple before he was in charge.

Bing Gordon perfectly sums up what to look for in your career

Bing Gordon (former chief creative officer at EA and partner at Kleiner Perkins) did an interview with the NYT. There are a ton of great quotes in it, but this one resonated with me. As a recent MBA considering my next step, I think it's a great way to think about potential opportunities:

"It’s better to work with people who you would pay to be able to work with. So if you’re working with someone in an area that fascinates you, with people you can add value to and have good conversations with, who are capable and really motivated and you would pay to hang out with them, I’m pretty confident good things would happen."

Bottom line: work with great people on something you love.

Ursula Burns' commencement speech at MIT

1. Embrace change: the world keeps changing quicker. 

2. Have fun: surround yourself with people who make you laugh, who you have fun with.

3. Don't do anything that wouldn't make your mom proud. Stay true to yourself. 

4. Set your sight on changing the world. At the end of your life know your time here was well spent and that you gave more than you got. To whom much is given, much is expected.

The Pru Loves MIT

After Graduation