Weekly Roundup 8/7/12

Last week’s focus turned an eye to finding your tech-soul and investing in others as they find theirs:

•  Pre-IPO companies with big valuations
• The decade of the angel investor.
• Google Developers interview with Kevin Rose looking at start-ups, teams,  and angel investing.
  
• Funding the impractical.
  
• Interesting take on hiring the right team.

Next week’s round up will include impressions from the 2012 Mobile Media Summit and Un$exy conferences in Chicago and Silicon Valley respectively this week.  Check out the hashtags at #mobilemediasummit and #unsexy in the meantime. Note–the #unsexy hashtag may include an interesting NSFW mix so review at your own risk. 🙂

Ron Conway, Another Reason Why The Valley Rocks

I love discovering these moments in time preserved on YouTube: here’s All Things D‘s Kara Swisher interviewing legendary Valley Angel, Ron Conway in 2008. At that time Facebook had a whopping 22 million users–about the number of people they acquire each quarter now by conservative estimates.

Kara: What’s hot?

Ron: Social Networking.

Kara: Not just a hyped trend?

Ron: Absolutely not.

Ron’s been right about a lot of things, including his steadfast belief in the value and wealth creation of the internet, in entrepreneurs and the intersection of Tech, Popular Culture and media. Here’s a great article about Ron in Fortune Magazine where Twitter’s Biz Stone coins the term “Rontourage” for the circle of influential people following him on valley tours.

I remember a different kind of Rontourage when I was young. As an altar boy in 7th & 8th grade at Nativity Church in Menlo Park, I recall services where Ron and his dozen brothers, sisters and other family members spilled out of the last row. Ron and a few of his brothers would stand behind a full Conway pew, hand on their mother’s shoulder. It was clear the importance family, community and faith held for each of them.

If I sound like a fan, I’m being clear. I’ve know entrepreneurs that will attest to the spirit of the Fortune article and are fans as well. Ron’s an example of what makes the Valley great. He’s another reason why no where else has replicated the success of the Valley in infrastructure, performance and value creation.