A VC

Two New Ways To Find A Better Place To Stay On The Road

My partner Albert said this a week or two ago on his blog:

When people ask me whether investing in web services is a long-term opportunity, I often say that “we ain’t seen nothing yet.”

I was reminded of that when I went to the web to find a hotel to stay in Miami when I am down there for Future Of Web Apps in February.

In the past, I'd have tried TripAdvisor or maybe even Google. But just in the past few months, there are two really great new ways to do this.

The first is Oyster, a web service dedicated to honest and excellent hotel reviews. They literally send out a person to stay in the hotel for a few days, take their own undoctored photos, and present in a clear and concise format. Here's their page on Miami hotels, and here's a page on Tides in South Beach, which they say has awesome rooms.

Oyster's strength, personally crafted reviews, is also its weakness because they only have reviews right now for certain destinations. I suspect it will take them a few years to be totally comprehensive. However, because so much hotel seeking traffic comes from Google, they can be a great service for people who start their hotel searches at Google. If you see an Oyster result in Google, you should absolutely click on it.

The other way to do it is Hunch. Instead of hiring "experts" to go out and review the hotels, Hunch takes an approach that is more like wikipedia. They crowdsource questions and answers from thousands of "contributors" and then package them up in easy question and answer sessions that lead you to the "right answer".

Try this hotels in miami page and see how it works. You'll notice that Hunch doesn't give you just one answer. It gives you a "best" answer and three other suggestions. I've found that not only do I get good advice from Hunch, it also helps me quickly understand the tradeoffs I am making in hotel decisions.

Of course, there's a natural partnership between Hunch and Oyster around hotels. Hunch is good at framing the decision and giving you a short list to consider. Oyster is great for digging into the specifics of the hotel to get to the final choice.

Since both companies are in NYC and are part of the great startup culture we've got going here, I bet that's not too hard to make happen.

Comments (View) | Posted October 31, 2009 in Blogging On The Road , Web/Tech

Alinea

This post has very little to do with technology and venture capital. Every once in a while I like to share things with all of you that simply blow me away. This post is about a restaurant in Chicago that I went to thursday evening with my friends Dick and Eric. Dick has been telling me for quite a while that I had to go there. And so we did. And we had a meal that I don't think I'll ever forget.

Alinea is the creation of an amazing chef named Grant Achatz. He is a food artist and his food challenges every convention and then some. I've been to restaurants, like WD50 in NYC, that attempt to do the same. I've always felt the adventure in these restaurants compromises the taste they deliver. But Grant has figured out how to combine absolutely amazing tastes with adventursome presentations and that is why Alinea is one of the top restaurants in the world.

You don't order at Alinea. You simply choose between the 12 and 24 course tasting menus and decide if you want them paired with wine. We did the 12 course paired with wine. Here is our menu. Every diner is presented with one on their way out.

While every dish was amazing, my favorites were the pork belly, the foie gras, the crab, the wagyu beef, the bubble gum, and the chocolate.

The chocolate is prepared directly on the table. They clear the table, lay down a special table cloth, and Grant and one of his chefs come out and literally "paint" the table with chocolate, berry sauce, and malted cold chunks. Here's a photo I took of the presentation.

Alinea is expensive and it is also hard to get a reservation. Be prepared to spend in excess of $200 per head and possibly as much as $300. It's not something I would do often, maybe only once (I've got to go back with the Gotham Gal), but it is an incredible dining experience and easily in my top ten all time.

If you love food and memorable dining experiences and don't mind spending the money, make sure to visit Alinea next time you are in Chicago. I promise you that you won't be disappointed.

Comments (View) | Posted August 8, 2009 in Blogging On The Road

Slovenia

Ever since we made our investment in Zemanta last summer, I've wanted to visit Slovenia, the country where Zemanta was founded and where most of the team is still located.

I got that opportunity this week when most of our family and I flew to Ljubljana, the capital and home of Zemanta. In addition to attending my first board meeting at the company's offices, we spent a day seeing the sights and scenes of Ljubljana and a day and a half on the Adriatic coast in the towns of Portoroz and Piran.

There are some great pics at my wife's blog, my tumblog and my flickr.

Slovenia is a small european country that sits between Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia. It was part of the old Yugoslavia (its most northern part) and was the first country to secede (mostly peacefully).

It reminds me most of Italy but also a bit of Austria. The food we ate tended to lean Italian and it was all very good. The wines also reminded me of northern Italy and they were terrific. An added benefit is everything costs a lot less in Slovenia. And like most of europe these days, english is spoken well most everywhere.

The population is small, about 2mm in total, of which about 300k live in and around Ljubljana. But it is a well educated, commerce minded, and democratic country that has modernized significantly in the past decade. The roads from Ljubljana to the coast are among the best I've been on anywhere.

We did not visit the alpine part of Slovenia but you can see some very high peaks from Ljubljana and we flew over the alps there and back. There's serious skiing, hiking, and other mountain sport to be had in Slovenia.

My favorite part of the trip, other than a morning with the entire Zemanta team, was the Adriatic coastline. It is stunning and I am told if you drive south into Croatia, its even more beautiful.

We'll have to return for a longer stay and visit the mountains and the croatian coastline and other spots. It's on the ever expanding list of places we have to get back to.

If you have not ventured to that part of the world, I'd strongly consider it. You can have a lovely time with less crowds at half the price of the traditional hot spots of europe.

And there's some hot startups to invest in too!

Comments (View) | Posted July 27, 2009 in Blogging On The Road

Stockholm

We spent two days in Stockholm. Enough to get a sense of the place but not enough to really explore it and soak it all in.

The city is wrapped in water, like Sydney Australia, but maybe more so. Everything seems to be an island. Its visually striking and beautiful. The people are also beautiful, both to look at and to interact with. They are nice, easy to talk to, and show a warm welcome to people from other places. English seems to be a second language for most everyone and when my kids went to see Harry Potter, the movie was shown in english with swedish subtitles. That maybe partially explains why everyone's english is so good.

I met up with a few entrepreneurs and investors while I was in town but missed the opportunity to meet with a bunch more that I wanted to see. It's hard combining work and family vacations. I don't recommend it.

My takeaway is that Stockholm has a thriving tech startup community. It may be smaller than London or Berlin, but they've had real successes and the engineering culture is very strong in Sweden. Plus, as one entrepreneur said to me, the winters allow you to spend long hours in front of computer screens.

Stockholm's a bit out of the way. It's a two hour flight from Paris and maybe only a bit less from London. But I think it's a place that those of us in the tech startup community need to pay close attention to.

We managed to get a lot of sightseeing in over the two days. The Gotham Gal has a few posts with some nice photos. I also posted some photos to my tumblog and my flickr. We did not take a boat trip out to the archipelago. From everyone I talked to, that was something you really should when you come to Stockholm. So it's a reason to come back.

We did take a long walk in the royal park which is an island right near the center of town. In the park is the Vasa Museum which is entirely dedicated to the completely restored ruins of a 1600s era warship. It is enormous and is something special to see closeup. I highly recommend it.

I also highly recommend our hotel, the Lydmar. It's new, wonderfully appointed, and makes a comforting and classy home away from home.

But mostly we just loved walking around town, visiting the different neighborhoods, shopping, eating, and taking the wonderful sights, sounds, and smells of Stockholm. It was a really great couple days. Now we are off to Slovenia by way of Paris.

Comments (View) | Posted July 23, 2009 in Blogging On The Road

In Europe This Week

I'm in europe this week doing a bit of work amidst a mostly famly vacation.

I'll be in Paris, Stockholm, and Slovenia this week.

As much as I'd like to meetup with entrepreneurs on this trip, my opportunities to do so are limited.

I'll be posting some photos on my tumblog and may post a bit about stockholm and slovenia on this blog.

Comments (View) | Posted July 20, 2009 in Blogging On The Road

Headed East

It's memorial day weekend and I'm headed out east with most of the family. We've had a house on the east end of long island for about a decade and we generally only use it from memorial day to labor day. But during the summer months, it's a great place to be.

Comments (View) | Posted May 22, 2009 in Blogging On The Road

A Little R&R

Montreal_May 079
Originally uploaded by dutchkat_03.

My dad was in the military and when he was away, he'd get occasional time off in some place nice. They called it R&R.

My wife, The Gotham Gal, and I do the same thing once or twice a year. We get away from NYC, work, family, and go some place nice for a long weekend.

We are doing that this weekend in Montreal.

We got here around noon, had a nice lunch in a bistro that reminded me of Paris, took a long walk around the Old Port, and then I took a long nap (I needed it after yesterday's extended day trip to Austin, Texas).

I don't plan to post much about this long weekend in Montreal, but the Gothal Gal has already started and I expect she will continue.

We are only here for 48 hours and already have dinner reservations both nights, but if there is something you'd like to suggest we do, see, or eat, please let me know in the comments.

Comments (View) | Posted May 8, 2009 in Blogging On The Road

Thoughts On Milan

  Gallerie Vittorio Emanuelle 
  Originally uploaded by fredwilson.

I don't think we did Milan justice. Josh and I missed the opportunity to see AC Milan play Udinese because we didn't plan ahead and the girls would probably have preferred a fashion week to the pre-christmas weekend we spent in Milan.

But there's a lot to recommend about Milan. The Duomo is beautiful and the christmas markets that filled up the Via Dante and the surrounding streets were colorful and fun.

We also enjoyed seeing the restored Leonardo painting of the Last Supper. There is something very magical about that painted wall.

I also loved the Castello Sforzesco and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. Both are awesome structures that leave a strong impression.

The food was hit or miss. The hits include panninis at De Santis and a dinner at Bebels. I want to thank everyone who twittered Milan restaurant suggestions to me. We ended up sticking with the reservations we had when we arrived. If we had stayed longer, I would have liked to try a bunch of them.

We stayed at the Four Seasons and enjoyed fantastic service and comfort. It turns out Posh and Beckham were staying there as well but we did not get a sighting. That would have been fun.

I don't think Milan can compete with Florence, Rome, or Venice in terms of things to do and see, but it has plenty of the classic italian charm. I'm glad we stopped by for a long weekend and I suspect we'll be back. If so, I'll make sure to add San Siro to the itinerary.

Comments (View) | Posted December 23, 2008 in Blogging On The Road

Heading Out Of Town

It's been a rough year for everyone and while I've been more optimistic than most (and still am) about next year, it's been rough on me too. The past few weeks in particular have just ground me down and I've been feeling sick but working anyway, trying to get year end stuff done.

I'm happy to say that I got through the year end grind and that I'm now on my way out of town, along with my family, for our annual year end vacation. We were planning to go to India but called a last minute audible and are now headed to europe for two weeks. Hopefully, we'll be going to India next year instead.

As always, I plan to blog a bit during vacation, about what I am reading, where we are visiting, and the occasional observation on the news and the tech scene.

I'll also be checking email once or twice a day, but I've turned on the out of office notification and won't be responding to email unless it's something that can't wait until I'm back.

Comments (View) | Posted December 19, 2008 in Blogging On The Road

How To Survive A Horrible Seat Assignment

Tonight on the flight out to SF I found myself sitting in the last row in coach. My seat did not recline but of course the seat in front reclined all the way to my lap

And to make matters worse a husband and wife were occupying the other two seats of the row and the husband was quite large and sitting and sleeping in the middle seat.

I could not sit comfortably facing forward because the man to my right was taking over half of my seat

I could not use a laptop because one would literally not fit between my body and the seat back in front of me

So here's what I did:

I turned my body to face the aisle, knees sticking into the aisle, and sometimes my legs were too

I put on headphones and turned on my ipod. I listened to relaxing music like sigur ros, thao, and bon iver. Gotta keep the heart rate low and a chilled out vibe

I put on a neck pillow and tried to sleep. I got some nodding off but no real sleep. People kept bumping into me and slamming the door to the rest rooms

I read quite a bit even though the reading light to my seat did not work

And I worked on my blackberry, a form factor optimized for the 4 sq ft work space. In fact I am writing this post on the plane on my blackberry

Every time the big guy leans on me, I gently push back towards his wife

And I spent a good amount of time hanging in the back with the flight attendants

I could have watched the movie, a cute funny film called Son Of Rambow. But I'd seen it in the theaters. Its good but not good enough for a second viewing

Mostly I tried to feel as small as a little kid and to relax and tune out my surroundings

It worked out pretty well.

I am passing this advice to all of you because I don't plan to need it again. The next time this happens to me, I'm walking right back off the plane

This is no way to spend six hours. Anyway, I think the Obama adminstration is going to outlaw it in their review of gov't interregation techniques

Comments (View) | Posted December 16, 2008 in Blogging On The Road