Despite the worst advertising recession since at least WWII, both Google and Yahoo's search revenues increased 3-4% in the U.S in Q1 compared to a year ago. Once the economy truly bottoms, I expect search revenues to rebound nicely. Here's why: Search query volumes in the U.S. are still growing 30%+ per year. First, CPC's. This is the easiest call.

One of the first things you notice about twitter is what a positive, happy place it is. In fact, Tweeters are 51% more likely to show love than the world at large. Facebookers show 10% more love than average. Oprah.com, on the other hand, shows 11% less. How can I possibly know this? On Twitter, love wins by a wider margin: 14 to 1. To what ends?

Our "eureka!" moments are a literal burst of mental energy emerging from calm. Recent research shows that the two main steps in the problem solving process, analysis and insight, use completely different parts of the brain and rhythms of thought. sometimes close my eyes for a brief moment when I need to think really hard.

If you are interviewing with me, read this, it should help. These tips are based on my experience interviewing more than 3,500 people over more than two decades (an average of about 3 per week). I'm much more interested in how you can help us than I am in what you've done before (we'll check on that in other ways). Tip #5: Ask great questions.

Advertisers continue their inevitable march to accountability. Generating awareness is helpful, receiving a click through is better, but driving sales is the real goal. Ten years ago, 90% of online advertising was sold on a CPM basis. Today that's only about a third. But the story doesn't end here.

One of the topics that came up in my post Mobile Internet Apple Facebook was around open vs. closed platforms. This issue comes up at the start of almost every new startup company in a variety of forms. m constantly struggling with trying to figure out the best way to pull together solutions, especially with how fast things move. That’s it.

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. used an image from Roger Smith that describes the varying roles of a CTO as the company matures. Gap closed, right?

A post by Fred Wilson pointed me to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics presentation. This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. This kind of a simple model also helps: Define the early proof points for the company. You only build what you need to prove that model. Great stuff.

I generally am working as an acting CTO for about 3-4 start-ups or other companies at any one time. was just talking with someone who asked me to define how that could work and what they meant. Great question. Roger Smith ) This helps explain where I normally play. During Stabilization, often the focus is transitioning to a full-time CTO.

Because I was the Acting CTO for eHarmony at it's start, I quite often get introduced to people who have an idea for a startup company that is based on some kind of matching algorithm. They describe the company as the eHarmony of careers, clothes, jobs, college, tutoring services, doctors, service companies, investments, etc. That feels powerful.