Keri Hilson, ambitious young entrepreneur

October 17, 2007

Every heard of a song writer and singer named Keri Hilson?

Keri Hilson

Recently, I heard Timbaland’s single featuring Hilson called, “The Way I Are.” To an outsider not paying close attention, Keri looks like a typical overnight hip hop success. She has a great voice and is making music with big shot producer and rapper, Timbaland.

Check out the music video:

Reality is different from perception, the 25 year old “overnight success” has been writing music for A-List singers since she was 19 years old. According to her Wikipedia profile:

Keri Hilson has been writing music for individual artists since 2001. She has written music for Chris Brown, Britney Spears, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Toni Braxton, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Ciara, the Pussycat Dolls, Avant, Ruben Studdard, B5, Diddy, Chingy, LeToya, Ludacris, Rich Boy, Shawn Desman, Kelly Rowland, Nicole Scherzinger, Lloyd Banks, and Timbaland. With many of the songs Hilson takes part in writing she also does background vocals, such as in “Runaway Love” and “Wait A Minute”.

It’s great to see a talented singer and writer, as opposed to just another pretty face, rising to the top. Ever since I’ve been watching the show Entourage, the fast paced world of entertainment seems to have a lot of parallels to the tech start-up experience.


VC investments on the up

July 24, 2007

According to a TechCrunch post:

Investment in information services companies, including Web 2.0 startups, hit $979 million in the second quarter of 2007.

The figure is 52% up on the same period last year and the highest figure recorded since the 2001.

In laymen’s terms, we are now officially in a boom; not that we’d probably need figures to prove this.

There maybe more money circulating, but let’s not pretend that securing venture capital is an easy thing. Statistically, the majority of start-ups pursuing VC money will not be successful.


Is Carlos Slim Jewish?

July 4, 2007

Ever since I wrote about Carlos Slim, people have been running in to this blog by searching for: ‘carlos slim jewish origin’, ‘carlos slim jewish’, etc. I’m assuming that he’s not because only a tiny segment of Mexico is.

Does anyone know if Carlos Slim is Jewish?


Bill Gates no longer richest man

July 3, 2007

Carlos Slim

Ever heard of Carlos Slim? Recently, he took over Bill Gates’ spot as the world’s richest man:

Microsoft founder Bill Gates looks to have lost his title as the world’s richest man, toppled from top spot by the Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim.