opportunity__cost

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Jul 4 2010

Тинькофф. Он такой же как все.

Вчера поддался соблазну и прочитал книжку Олега Тинькова "Я такой как все".

Читал в электронном варианте, но наврядли ощущения бы изменились.  За полдня.

Несмотря на то что многие считаю Тинькова и Чичваркина представителями одного "движения" в бизнесе и вообще, по мировосприятию, книжа "Чичваркин Е...гений" мне оставила гораздо больше эмоций.  

Да, что-то общее просматривается, но все равно кажется они совсем разные.  По-крайней мере книга о Чичваркине понравилась.  Книга Олега Тинькова оставила с ощущением того, что и пиарнулся, и понтанулся, а закончил словами "А чо я, я ничо.  Сижу, никого не трогаю, примус починяю..."

Много "дырок", недосказанности, с одной стороны миллионы туда-сюда, с другой стороны кредит не получить.  Если верить книжке, то снимаю шляпу, находчивость и безшабашность Олега вызывает внимание.  Однако, не уходит ощущение, что все так, но не совсем так.  Умение разогнать всех бандитов Питера силой воли и взглядом изподлобья - тоже хорошо, однако насколько Я помню 90-ые, хотя был еще пацаном, кроме авторитетной братвы с понятием, были просто беспредельщики.  А там - умеешь ты на фене ботать или нет - не всегда успеешь обсудить.  

Прочитать рекоммендую.  Во-первых, много времени не займет, а во-вторых, с такой книгой лучше сложить свое мнение, чем верить чужому.
book review rus russian tinkoff tinkov
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Jun 17 2010

Review of the Rework

I just finished reading Rework http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307463745/?tag=iwhite-20 by two co-founders of so-popular-nowadays 37signals company.

Well, the book had its own auditory before it even appeared.  That's a crowd of news.yc.  Quite a crowd, I should say, so it would be stupid not to monetize (sorry, not to make money :) from them.  And that what they did.

I don't feel like discuss the ideas of the book.  But "forget everything what they taught you and do the opposite" wasn't the main idea (as considered by some reviewers).  Authors just restated the same ideas they were idolizing before and put them all together.

More the strategy book, rather than a guide.  However, the guide is still coming.  (I guess.)

Few notes: 
  1. Starting a business on the side while keeping your day job can provide all the cash flow you need.
  2. You might learn what not to do again, but how valuable is that?  You still don't know what you do next.
  3. Working more doesn't mean you care more or get more done.  It just means you work more.
  4. A business without a path to profit isn't a business, it's a hobby.
  5. And what really matters is how to actually get customers and make money.
  6. Do everything you can to remove layers of abstraction.

It's a good book.  Go for it, if you hadn't yet.
37signals book review rework
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Jun 14 2010

Review of the alibaba story

I just finished reading the alibaba: The Inside Story Behind Jack Ma... http://www.amazon.com/dp/006167219X/?tag=iwhite-20

That was a nice book.  It didn't keep me all that hooked about what happens next, but I blame editor for that.  Organization is not that good, especially, keeping in mind that there was quite a story to tell.  Anyways, it's a good book.

One point to take from the book: there are markets that can't get owned by foreigners.  There is such a thing as mentality, that is a tough competitor for the theory, no matter how good is it.  Sometimes you have to live the life of those whom you're working with, and whom you're selling to, to become a leader.  You can hire the best minds, however, not having the same mentality will drive you wrong way (or will make you slower than others).  

An extra point: there is often a huge sales force behind a thing that gives a first impression as a social platform.  

Once nice quote: "Ten years ago, I applied to come to Harvard. I applied three times and was rejected three times. You all didn't even look at my application, I believe - you just turned me down!"
alibaba book fortune inspiration jack ma leader review startup story success
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Mar 6 2010

HBR March 2010

Started my day with reading thru the March HBR. (Do you start your day like this?)

  1. Nice research on page 30 concluding that getting cash makes you feel less pain or being socially excluded. (Yes, that's who we are.)  There is definitely a possible application of cash to many places to improve them, and it's interesting to see how it was put together.
  2. One more nice article on page 38 on bankers' practices and the incentives, that, unfortunately, are not long term oriented.
  3. On page 66 you can find great review of ways to get from the recession and typical strategies used.  This doesn't apply directly to the small businesses though, but more in general way, mostly because of operating costs and actual budgets range.

And, generally speaking, I liked this month's issue.  Good mix of articles worth reading.
articles business cash harvard hbr hints review
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Feb 24 2010

Ooma vs Vonage

My Ooma just arrrived.  Sorry, I can't resist saving money any longer.


Lets do the simple math.  Ooma Telo is $199.99 on Amazon right now.  Premier service with free number port is $119.99 for 1 year, with $11.99 regulatory fee recovering (starts from the second year, but I'll count it in right away).  For one year of usage the price is $331.97.  

Lets do the Vonage math.  Nothing counts (I already got the whole set), but the monthly fee.  I'm paying $33.13 total for $24.99 plan in Los Angeles county. (That's a lot of different fees!)  The annual usage of the plan would be $397.56.

So Ooma wins.  If even I'll change Vonage to annual plan with $59.98 (20%) of savings, it's still $337.58, more expensive then Ooma.  And the second year is when we're either making (Ooma) or loosing (Vonage) money.  

I can also downgrade Ooma to the basic plan, still have all the features (but the call forwarding when the device is offline), and pay $11.99 a year.  With Vonage, the second year is still $300+ more.  And so on and so forth.

By the way, I am not going to use either Vonage or Ooma much.  That's why keeping the costs as low as possible is very important.

Do your math, stop wasting money for something with no value. P.S. And Ooma looks better.  Even if I keep it hidden in the closet, it's always nice to know. :)
amazon deal home landline ooma phone residential review savings voip vonage
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Feb 22 2010

Tracking Amazon prices

via camelcamelcamel.com

I really liked using @camelcamelcamel for tracking down Amazon price for ooma Telo, which I'm about to enjoy (almost free calls for ever!). Instant email & Twitter notification saved me almost 20%. Plus you can see the history back. Very recommended!

amazon camelcamelcamel ooma price review shopping track tracking win
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Feb 13 2010

The Smashing Book

via shop.smashingmagazine.com

I've just finished this book. Well, my impression is mixed. This is a solid product from the reputable resource, however, I didn't find much for myself in it. It was a worthwhile reading though.

It's sold exclusively by the Smashing Magazine, and I had a chance to get it with 20% discount and free shipping my pre-ordering. It's a little bit on expensive side now ($29.90 plus shipping costs), but the print is great. (However, because of the format, I wasn't feeling comfortable reading it -- to tight and small.)

If you're in the Web business, and, especially, designing stuff, make sure to take a look at it.

book magazine review smashing smashingbook
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Dec 22 2009

The Smashing Book

The book has 300 pages in all, full of practical and useful knowledge for designers and Web developers. It contains 10 chapters and is printed in full color. The book is a paperback and is 8.27 × 5.5 inches (21 × 14 cm).


The book is available exclusively from Smashing Magazine and nowhere else. This first and only Smashing Book looks at Web design rules of thumb, color theory, usability guidelines, user interface design, best coding and optimization practices, as well as typography, marketing, branding and exclusive insights from top designers across the globe.


It was written by Jacob Gube (SixRevisions), Dmitry Fadeev (UsabilityPost), Chris Spooner (Spoongraphics), Darius A Monsef IV (COLOURlovers.com), Alessandro Cattaneo (with co-editing by Jon Tan), Steven Snell (VandelayDesign), David Leggett (UXBooth), Andrew Maier (UXBooth), Kayla Knight (regular writer on SM), Yves Peters (Typographica.org), René Schmidt (system administrator of our servers) and the Smashing Magazine editorial team, Vitaly Friedman and Sven Lennartz.

via shop.smashingmagazine.com

While I can hardly wait for my copy of The Smashing Book to arrive, I was unpleasantly surprised that the shipping time is 30-40 days. Damn. I'd never call this *free shipping* if I'd knew. But I'm hoping for the best and that the book is worth it.

book design review smashing
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Nov 15 2009

"Tough" questions from GMAT 800

I saw a number of positive reviews for the sample questions from the Kaplan GMAT 800 book (now Kaplan GMAT Advanced).  Not a problem, just got a copy for myself, and went through it.

To avoid confusion, I completed only Critical Reasoning part of it.  However, making in average 75% of correct answers (1 mistake in every 4 questions set), I got some serious doubts about extraordinary type of questions there.  

They are good, but not much more.  

On the other note, format of the book is really weird.  I don't like it.  I believe the willingness to do a guidebook drove them to such a style, but it doesn't help at all.  I'd prefer something closer to a "classic" approach, when I clearly have a set of questions to work through, and the answers to clearly state correct answer, but not looking for it in the several blocks of explanations.
book critical criticalreasoning gmat questions reasoning review
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Oct 28 2009

Sentence Correction must-have book

There is one book that is absolutely must have for you to do well on Sentence Correction part of GMAT.

That's a "Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide" by Manhattan GMAT.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0982423861/prokhorenkous-20

They do not have any either sample GMAT questions or a bunch of tests to try yourself on. But they did their best to cover a lot of potential tricks taken by GMAT creators to find your gaps in English. I'm really surprised and really excited about going through this. I just came to Chapter 4 and I have already learned a bunch of stuff. This is so great.

However, I do miss the sample GMAT questions. The books sends me to Official Guide and this is sorta lame. Been there, done that.

book correct gmat have must review sc sentence sentence correction
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About Olexandr Prokhorenko

My name is Olexandr Prokhorenko, but you probably also know me as Alexander Prohorenko or "white". I am Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Sun Certified Systems Administrator for Solaris (SCSA) and Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP), and this helps me to be a better IT entrepreneur. I used to write tech articles, but don't have time for this anymore.

My projects are CPGjobs & CPGjoblist, Extracom (acquired in 2002), dt-Source, BossTalks, iTunes' CyrFix, Shotscreen, Strawlink, Atomkeep, Everytalks and Budgetler.

My LinkedIn profile is www.linkedin.com/in/white.

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