Jeff Richards' Demand Insights

Coming out of the Holidays, I've got two new favorite toys. They're new to my arsenal, but not new on the market (in both cases, I'm not exactly an early adopter). #1 is a Toyota Prius, and #2 is my new Jawbone bluetooth headset.

Continue reading "Favorite New Toys" »

Posted by Jeff Richards at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been just over a year since we launched the Demand Insights blog. It's been a lot of fun, a great outlet for me to comment on the happenings in the Digital Content space, and a truly collaborative effort with VeriSign folks like Karen Snyder (Thank You!) who make it happen.

Looking back over the past year, a few stats (current as of August, and rounded) I thought were interesting:

Continue reading "The Demand Insights Blog - One Year Later" »

Posted by Jeff Richards at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I was asked by a casual reader of my blog the other day "where you been?" A family move and lots of unpacking of boxes, mixed in with the usual dose of work travel, have left little time for blogging over the past few weeks. Now that the dust has settled, I'll get back to writing. It was good to hear somebody missed my posts, though!

Posted by Jeff Richards at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Back in the early 90's I read renownedinvestor Peter Lynch's book Beating the Street. For those of you who don't know, Lynch became famous for running Fidelity Magellan, a mutual fund he grew from $18 million in assets in 1977 to more than $14 billion in 1990 when he retired.

One of Lynch's core principles is to buy stocks in companies you respect and want to buy products from. Based on this concept, in early 2003 I bought shares in Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR) at around $15. I bought into GMCR after being impressed by the Keurig "single serve" coffee machines in my office. GMCR at the time owned 25% of Keurig, and has since purchased the rest of the company. I'd never seen a Keurig machine before, but thought the technology was cool and the razor / razor blade business model for the "K Cups" - the little coffee packages - made a lot of sense.

Net/net in this case the Lynch model worked. For a variety of reasons (Keurig being one small component), the company has done exceptionally well, and GMCR shares now trade around $90. You can do the math on the returns here, and see the chart above. I've also put this model to good use buying Salesforce.com and Nordstrom over the years.

Simple concept, often very good returns...

Posted by Jeff Richards at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just returned from a week playing golf in Ireland. If you're a golfer, there's no better experience (assuming playing golf in rain and 40 mile an hour winds sounds enjoyable...).

One of the more interesting business-related tidbits I picked up while in Ireland is that the growth of Ireland's economy is driving caddies into technology services (and related) roles. - and away from the time-honored profession of caddying.

Continue reading "The World is Flat - How It's Impacting Caddies in Ireland" »

Posted by Jeff Richards at 07:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Last Friday on my flight from SFO to Dulles, the captain came on about an hour into the flight and made the following announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen that bumpiness you're feeling is a 220 mile an hour tailwind. While creating a rough ride, it's also going to get us into Dulles about 90 minutes early. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!"

The bumps were not great, but being 90 minutes early made up for a lot of late arrivals. And to arrive home at 5:00 on Friday instead of 6:30 was pretty cool.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last year I flew about 130,000 miles (I'm the guy with the bottle of water, Bose headphones, iPod and WSJ). Nothing to be proud of, but it does provide you with some interesting time to evaluate fellow travelers and their habits. One I have not yet been able to figure out is what I'll call the Ginger Ale Phenomenon.

Continue reading "The Ginger Ale Phenomenon" »

Posted by Jeff Richards at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Looking for another random site to visit while sitting on a conference call (perhaps that's how you ended up here)? One of my favorite sites is Fay Ranches. If you like fishing/hunting/the outdoors, there is no better real estate site.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Amazing article today by Joe Sharkey in the NYT called "Colliding with Death at 37,000 Feet, and Living.". He was a passenger on the private jet that collided with a 737 from Brazil. If you haven't read it (and a lot of people have - it's the most emailed article on nytimes.com), check it out - it's worth a read and will give you a bit of context into the overall story as it develops.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This one you have to read - and stay updated on. The LA Times and other publications have been covering the crash of the $1.2M Ferrari Enzo (@ 120 MPH) since February, and the plot just kept getting thicker. The driver was apparently a former founder of a European video game maker called Gizmondo. I won't replicate the Times - just read the articles...

Posted by Jeff Richards at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)