This is a pretty powerful concept! We all know that these "environmental ecosystems" are awesome creators of jobs and wealth...and as the ingredients and/or prerequisites of growing this ecosystems become obvious and understood, it stands to reason that more people and places will proactively engineer them...

In simple economics, a common partitioning of factors of production is often made of just two factors: labor and capital. Subject to relative costs and capabilities, they're substitutes for each other. Hence the cost of labor won't go to zero unless the cost of automation goes to zero. But machines cost money, so the price of labor won't go to zero.

Also, the premise that there are/will minimum qualifications one must meet in order to be gainfully employed is false. It is not black and white, but rather shades of grey, which is to say that there are and will be variations in compensation.

So it goes, indeed.

I have a hunch that VC's could improve their returns by becoming more expert in this topic. Not that they're not somewhat already; what I am saying is that this may be a relatively good use of marginal analysis time for a specific deal as compared to additional business environment analysis. (The problem I think is that this is much more difficult for and foreign to many VC's.)

frequent call drops when driving when coming into/leaving Boulder via any of the three main ways: 93 before the hill to eldorado springs road; hwy 36 just west of mccaslin; 36 north of boulder in the valley just to the north of the broadway/28th junction. And, here's the kicker: The stats regurgitated to me by "The Office of the president" of AT&T shows few call drops - total disconnect between my experience and their stats.

also: frequent slow 4G, though I've never quantified it.

Great post, Mark!

The "connect with every investor in the company", which could even be enlarged to "connect with every constituent in the company", may be difficult, but it is important and helps bring closure. Too many don't have the courage, and instead choose to hide in shame, but by connecting, they will often find respect.

Shimmy! I miss you already! Good luck and hopefully our paths will cross many times in the future!

sweet! I think I'll go ride WR today - haven't been there all summer, I miss it!

That is a sweet case! I love stuff like that.

Totally agree.

CNN, are you listening?  There’s this thing called the internet…it offers vast and free distribution.  While it doesn’t offer revenue quite like your cable partners pay you, the increased reach should be tempting…and if not, the threat of competitors cannibalizing your customer base through free distribution may move you to action…

Totally agree!  With some good marketing by MS (no sure thing…), Live Mesh is a game-changer.