Fabrice Grinda

  • Playing with
    Unicorns
  • Featured
  • Categories
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Newsletter
  • AI
  • EN
    • FR
    • AR
    • BN
    • DA
    • DE
    • ES
    • FA
    • HI
    • ID
    • IT
    • JA
    • KO
    • NL
    • PL
    • PT-BR
    • PT-PT
    • RO
    • RU
    • TH
    • UK
    • UR
    • VI
    • ZH-HANS
    • ZH-HANT
× Image Description

Subscribe to Fabrice's Newsletter

Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Menu

  • EN
    • FR
    • AR
    • BN
    • DA
    • DE
    • ES
    • FA
    • HI
    • ID
    • IT
    • JA
    • KO
    • NL
    • PL
    • PT-BR
    • PT-PT
    • RO
    • RU
    • TH
    • UK
    • UR
    • VI
    • ZH-HANS
    • ZH-HANT
  • Home
  • Playing with Unicorns
  • Featured
  • Categories
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ
  • AI
  • Privacy Policy
Skip to content
Fabrice Grinda

Internet entrepreneurs and investors

× Image Description

Subscribe to Fabrice's Newsletter

Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Fabrice Grinda

Internet entrepreneurs and investors

Month: January 2012

Great common sense advice from our elders

Great common sense advice from our elders

I really enjoyed this New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/health/elderly-experts-share-life-advice-in-cornell-project.html?_r=2&smid=fb-nytimes

I loved this quote: “I chose to live each day as if it could be my last — but with a watchful eye on the future in case it wasn’t.”

Enjoy!

Author FabricePosted on January 18, 2012July 31, 2023Categories Interesting Articles1 Comment on Great common sense advice from our elders

Sheldon Cooper was based on me 20 years ago!

Sheldon Cooper was based on me 20 years ago!

I just watched all the episodes of The Big Bang Theory and the conclusion is ineluctable: I was the original Sheldon Cooper! The people who know me today find it hard to believe because they see me as a socially confident extrovert. They don’t realize that this is the result of a deliberate exercise I undertook 10 years ago to foster my extroversion and social skills, followed by 10 years of practice.

Friends, who knew me in my late teens and early twenties, would tell you I had exactly the same delusional sense of self-worth and condescending and arrogant self-centered world view. I could not conceive of why other humans spent time chasing girls, listening to music or watching movies when there were more intellectually stimulating endeavors at hand. Combined with a total lack of social awareness, empathy and understanding of social norms, my human interactions took awkwardness to a whole other level.

Sheldon and I even have similar mannerisms and we kind of look alike! I should be asking the writers for royalties!

On another note The Big Bang Theory is fantastic and I can only encourage you to watch it. The dialogue is witty and sharp and I have been astounded by the inclusion of recent scientific discoveries in the show. In a recent episode Sheldon was commenting on the potential discovery of neutrinos traveling at faster than light speed at CERN, a discovery that had only been made public weeks earlier!

Watch the show!

Author FabricePosted on January 13, 2012September 21, 2023Categories Personal Musings21 Comments on Sheldon Cooper was based on me 20 years ago!

Quote of the Day: "Money cannot buy you happiness, but happiness can't buy you anything!"

Quote of the Day: "Money cannot buy you happiness, but happiness can't buy you anything!"

Author FabricePosted on January 12, 2012May 29, 2021Categories Quotes & Poems1 Comment on Quote of the Day: "Money cannot buy you happiness, but happiness can't buy you anything!"

Looking back at 2011, looking forward to 2012

Looking back at 2011, looking forward to 2012

After the fundamental structural changes in my life in 2010, 2011 was more the logical continuation and buildup on the changes from last year.

I moved into my new amazing week-end house in Bedford in January, but kept to my nomadic lifestyle as last year’s New Year’s resolution of traveling less came to naught and I found myself on the road more often than ever before. As a result, I decided not to get a new apartment in the city and have essentially lived in hotels for the past 18 months. While cost efficient relative to the insane apartment I had before as you only pay for the nights you spend there, and despite the amazing personalized service at The Mercer which is the hotel I “live” in in New York, I do miss having a home. Moreover, it may not be sustainable for the long term especially as my New Year’s resolution for 2012 is to be on the road for no more than 6 months!

OLX continued to grow slowly but surely, passing the 150 million unique monthly visitor mark. Working with Naspers has actually proven to be a pleasure relative to the horrid experiences I had with the Zingy buyers. They let Alec and me run the show while pushing us and financing us to be ever more aggressive in Brazil and India.

I was given the chance to give a keynote at Leweb this past December where I spoke about everything I learned about operating and angel investing in Brazil, Russia and around the world.

On the personal side, I am glad to report that for the first time in 3 years my knees are starting to hold up after much rehab and I finally was able to restart playing tennis, padel and skiing towards the tail end of the year! I look forward to 2012 bringing lots of sports oriented adventures! Heli-skiing, here I come!

2011 was the year I really improved at kite boarding thanks to an amazing trip to Bonaire in the spring and a trip to Prea in Brazil in the fall. These were the only real vacations of the year, because I tried to spend as many week-ends as possible in Bedford playing padel, paintball, Xbox, racing RC cars and much more! I look forward to 2012 bringing more of the same!

The best books I read in 2011:

  • Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
  • The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

My best blog posts of 2011 were:

  • A SuperAngel’s Investment Guide
  • Angel Investing Secrets
  • How to minimize human misery in recessions or the macroeconomic implications to hedonic adaptation
  • Cameron Rules, Sarkozy Sucks

I became an ever more active angel in 2011 making 37 investments and 12 follow on investments. I also sold 5 companies, 2 successes and 3 failures. I still have 74 companies in the portfolio excluding OLX.

My predictions for 2011 were by and large correct:

  • While I fretted about the looming sovereign debt crisis in the West and global economic imbalances, I suggested the day of reckoning would not occur in 2011.
  • Despite all its growth, it’s still too early to tell how successful OLX will be given our global war with Schibsted.
  • 2011 was an amazing time to be an Internet entrepreneur as the early stage startup scene became awash with capital while M&A and IPO activity picked up significantly.

2012 has much more risk for the global economy. Europe is going to have a recession given the austerity budgets and the uncertainty around resolving its sovereign debt crisis. Despite the huge structural problems in the US, the US will continue to muddle through given its position as the only safe haven in these difficult economic times.

I am hopeful that at some point in the coming decade a new productivity revolution will spur growth and allow us to put our problems behind us. Things look bleak now, but if we think back to 1979 with raging stagflation and high oil prices, the outlook seemed dire for the West. Yet a period of 30 years of low inflation, stability and growth lay right around the corner. Even though I can imagine countless scenarios for the coming years that end with economic Armageddon and/or war, the rising wealth in South East Asia and Brazil combined with continued technology improvements and eventual structural changes in the West (e.g.; increasing the retirement age to 70, public pension reform, end of life health care rationing, eliminating farm subsidies, etc.) will spur a similar era of growth and stability. Unfortunately, while I suspect this period of growth is coming in the next 10 years, it won’t help us in 2012.

Given the interconnectedness of the global financial system, there is a greater risk that the euro crisis will trigger another round of financial Armageddon in 2012, possibly worse than the one in 2008-2009 given that the state finances have significantly deteriorated since then, than there is a probability of a positive upside.

Until a new financial crisis happens, the Internet will remain the place to be. As the engine of productivity growth and hence economic growth, it will continue to attract a disproportionate share of talent and capital. 2012 will see the IPO of Facebook, the creation of countless new startups and hence the introduction of many amazing new ideas. I look forward to witnessing all of that and hopefully investing in a few of them!

Author FabricePosted on January 3, 2012August 25, 2023Categories Personal Musings, Year in Review5 Comments on Looking back at 2011, looking forward to 2012

Search

Recent Posts

  • The Meaning of Life
  • FJ Labs Q2 2025 Update
  • World of DaaS Conversation with Auren Hoffman: Diversified Portfolios, Secondary Sales & Dinner Parties
  • Episode 50: Venture Market Trends
  • Decoding the Future: AI, Venture Market & Marketplaces

Recent Comments

  • Ahmed Aladdin on The Meaning of Life
  • Ahmed Aladdin on The Meaning of Life
  • Germine Rose on The Meaning of Life
  • Fabrice on 2024: Amélie
  • Michael J on 2024: Amélie

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005

Categories

  • Crypto/Web3
  • Books
  • Business Musings
  • Displays of Creativity
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Featured Posts
  • Year in Review
  • Life Optimization
  • FJ Labs
  • Decision Making
  • The Economy
  • Asset Light Living
  • Musings
  • Optimism & Happiness
  • Dogs
  • FJ Labs
  • Happiness
  • Interesting Articles
  • Interviews & Fireside Chats
  • Marketplaces
  • Movies & TV Shows
  • New York
  • OLX
  • Panels & Roundtable Discussions
  • Personal Musings
  • Playing with Unicorns
  • Plays
  • The Economy
  • Quotes & Poems
  • Speeches
  • Tech Gadgets
  • Travels
  • Video Games
  • Year in Review

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
  • Home
  • Playing with Unicorns
  • Featured
  • Categories
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ
  • AI
  • Privacy Policy
× Image Description

Subscribe to Fabrice's Newsletter

Tech Entrepreneurship, Economics, Life Philosophy and much more!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

>
This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site. Switch to a production site key to remove this banner.