Master of 500 Hats

cool NewsForge article about our

cool NewsForge article about our PayPal Web Services offering. 

(yours truly quoted... my 15 minutes have arrived ;)

more news about Paypal APIs here

Visited LA a few weeks

Visited LA a few weeks ago for the Milken Institute Global Conference.  I attended 2 years ago for the first time; and again this year it was pretty amazing. 

Although most people know only a bit about Mike Milken and have some vague notion about him serving some jail time, few of them realize the guy was responsible for creating a capital market for pre-public companies (aka the "junk bond market") that opened up a whole new horizon for entrepreneurship and financial innovation.  These days, after having a bout with cancer, Milken has invested a significant amount of time and money making the world a better place through the Institute's work on medical research, public policy, finance, and other areas of community involvement. 

This year's conference had several terrific sessions on China & Japan, scientific research & exploration (Mars), futurist visions, global investment, and of course a variety of financial topics.  The last session on financial innovation featured several interesting speakers including Milken, on topics such as using securitization for public and private benefit.  One of the companies profiled was the Chicago Climate Exchange.  Just absolutely fascinating stuff.  You can tell that Milken is really thinking about this stuff, particularly the securitization of human capital.  I can see where he is extrapolating on Hernando de Soto's ideas and moving it forward even further.  I don't know how many other people in that room were taking it all in, but my mind was just spinning with the possibilities.  Really interesting where this could be headed.... stuff i've been playing around with in my head for the past 4-5 years that i think could revolutionize how we deal with education, the environment, developing economies.  If we can solve the basic technical issue of securitization, we can solve so many other problems.  Might take some work to get there, but the opportunities simply abound.  One of my earlier rants on this is here.

Aside from the conference, also had a great ride down US1 with Aman Verjee, and got to talk a lot about the world, politics, economics, spirituality, etc.  Beautiful day for a drive and for a very enjoyable conversation with a good friend.  Also hooked up with another good friend and ex-PayPaler at the conference, Eric Jackson.  Eric is starting a publishing company that will cover free market topics, and i'm sure his first project will be a winner.  Can't spill the beans on what it's about, but educated readers can probably guess...

Lastly, got to hang out with another couple of former PayPalers -- we hung out at David Sacks place in Beverly Hills (ultra-swanky, he lives in the house "owned" by Marcellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction), and he regaled us with tales of the entertainment scene in LA.  Also ran into Vince Sollitto, now press secretary for Governor Schwarzenegger, who seems to be completely in his element and enjoying every minute of it.  Quite an excellent week all in all, and a delightul time in the city of angels...