Man vs. Man Problem

18 Jul 2005

I just started reading David Cowan and have so far found him to be an interesting read. David’s a VC with Bessemer Venture Partners.

I see that Bessemer has invested in Affymax, a drug discovery firm utilizing peptide-based biochemistry. I wonder what they’re using to manage workflow and data in the lab. We’ve been talking to a lot of biotech and pharma groups lately and they all seem to share a common data analysis and workflow need.

In this article, David talks about how the security industry will always need a healthy injection of startup-style innovation. In another post, he provides an overview of different security myths and explains how security mechanisms based on user education and multi-factor authorization will not work in the long-term.

I particularily like his test at the movie theatre… would you have been phished?

*So I said: watch this. I stood by the front door, waited for a lull in traffic, and then nonchalantly proferred my hand toward the next approaching bevy of teenagers. “Tickets” I murmured.

Once the first victim handed me his ticket, the rest were cake. Tickets accumulated in my hand as my victims jabbered on about football games and SAT prep. I collected half a dozen and stopped. A good 5 minutes passed before they wafted over to the hallway, encountering another ticket stand (by then I could have sold the tickets to folks standing in line). Another 2 minutes passed as they tried to figure out which of them had the tickets! As it dawned on them that they had been phished, I returned their assets (and thankfully they didn’t kick mine).

Look forward to reading more David.