Shooters Shoot

On the way to my first meeting during my sophomore year summer internship, my boss stopped me in the hall: Boss: Neil, where are you going? Me: I thought we have a weekly meeting…? Boss: Where’s your pen? Notepad? Always be prepared to offer something at every meeting. I was startled. It was only my first week at the mutual fund, Dodge & Cox. I had no real experience– what could I possibly say in …

For me the best part of any awards ceremony is the acceptance speech. I’m always crossing my fingers for either a complete train-wreck or something heartfelt and well done because I can learn from both. This is my favorite from this year – Ben Affleck after Argo won Best Picture. ;   Watching this speech made me wonder what his speech was like when Good Will Hunting won the Oscar in 1998. Take a look: …

The first step is always the hardest, admitting you have a problem. After chatting with hundreds  of entrepreneurs I am ready to admit we all have the same problem – we keep using the same clichés and they drive me crazy. This may be the beginning of a series of posts on clichés, but these are my two least favorite ones. 1. “Dude, we are killin’ it” There are two stories I hear on a …

Who invented the New Year’s resolution? If Hallmark invented card-giving holidays, maybe the resolution was invented by 24 Hour Fitness?  There is nothing wrong with having large, ambitious goals – it’s just sad to see so many discarded because people don’t know where to begin. For me, the only type of New Year’s resolution that is worth making consists of small, attainable goals that result in sustainable habits. At ReelSurfer, we always have a three-month plan …

Hello, my name is Neil Joglekar and I am the co-founder of ReelSurfer (YC S12). Last week, Christian and I were invited to give a guest lecture at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon. We talked about 3 things we have done right as a startup and 3 things we did wrong as a startup.    Having given a few lectures now, I want to share 3 tricks that can make anyone a more …

Hello, my name is Neil Joglekar and I started ReelSurfer (YC S12) with Christian Yang. Last Thursday, Christian and I were asked to give a guest lecture at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon. We were asked to describe 3 things we have done right for our startup and three things we did very wrong. (Why is it always easier to come up with the list of things we did wrong?) I thought it …

Last Thursday, Christian and I were asked to give a guest lecture at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon. We were asked to describe 3 things we have done right for our startup and three things we did very wrong. (Why is it always easier to come up with the list of things we did wrong?) I thought it might be helpful to share what we presented.     In this post, I am going …

A startup is a lot of work. Sometimes I get so bogged down in what we are doing that I don’t stop and take the time to say thanks. In fact, I just read this article about Shervin Pishevar and one of his secrets to success is that he frequently thanks people publicly.   So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving week, I want to say thanks to:  My friends – for NOT being startup people and …

Who knew the hardest part about starting a blog was picking a theme? I probably looked through hundreds before deciding that the simplest one (and one of the first 5 I looked at) was the best. And no, I never considered paying for one.  To quickly introduce myself, my name is Neil (you could probably guess from the URL) and I am the co-founder of ReelSurfer. I graduated from Stanford in 2008 and started ReelSurfer during my …