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We celebrated Kate's birthday at Per Se yesterday.

We were there for dinner almost exactly four years ago. We were celebrating me quitting my job at Apple to start Posterous. Not sure why we decided to spend a lot of money when I was losing my paycheck, but we did it anyway.

Even though we had only been dating for 4 months, that's the dinner when we knew we would be together forever. No matter where Posterous took us financially or geographically, we were going to stick with it and spend our lives together.

Four years later, we came full circle at Per Se.

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A great read about A/B testing: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/ff_abtesting

Companies may protect themselves against major gaffes but risk a kind of plodding incrementalism. They may find themselves chasing “local maxima”—places where the A/B tests might create the best possible outcome within narrow constraints—instead of pursuing real breakthroughs.

I'm a huge fan of Optimizely, the focus of this Wired article. We used their service at Posterous to optimize our homepage and other marketing content.

That said, making small, incremental improvements and missing the big wins is definitely an issue when relying on A/B testing to measure success.

But there are other potential pitfalls:

1. Gaming the metrics. You could offer free iPads on your homepage, and you would get a million signups. But is that success? Do those users get what they wanted?
2. Measuring the wrong thing. Maybe user signup is the wrong metric entirely. Google doesn't make you sign up.

Ultimately, success for any product is users being happy, and users coming back. Often this begins with users signing up, but not always.

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From http://silencedgood.tumblr.com/post/22547672461/zyngas-going-down

Zynga wants to be a game publishing house that squashes competitors in a world that seems built for small, independent publishers. This is akin to aggressively trying to build a book publishing company right as the Kindle goes on the market, and then buying up each popular book as it goes on the ebookstore at multiples far beyond what the books are currently selling.

I don't agree that acquiring OMGPOP is what is causing Zynga's drop in share price, and I definitely don't agree that "It takes nothing to produce a hot game".

But I do agree that the problem with Zynga's model is that it has no core product that will bring in revenue for years to come.

Every hot new game will be a threat to Zynga, and there's no guarantee that Zynga can keep putting out winners. Continually acquiring others isn't a way to build a billion dollar company.

Social games come and go, and there are no switching costs for users. With easier development and great distribution through the app store for competitors, Zynga should be worried.

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Hat tip, @suyash.

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They didn't use the bit where I said you should buy deals on @AmericanExpress cards because AmEx will take care of you if company bankrupts.

— Rakesh Agrawal (@rakeshlobster) April 26, 2012

I completely agree. American Express offers you a layer of protection in case Groupon renigs on the promise they make you when you buy a coupon from them.

Back in 2001, I bought some online gift ceriticates from flooz.com, a hot startup. A few months later, they went backrupt.

American Express to the rescue. They refunded me every penny I paid to flooz, even though I had used some of the gift certificates.

I won't use anything but an American Express card, and I won't go to merchants who don't accept it. Sounds extreme? The peace of mind American Express gives me it truly priceless.

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What an incredible gift from our friends at Cosentino! Thank you so much!

If you are in Napa, make sure to check them out.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Really impressed by what the @Square team just showed me. Tons of work over 7 weeks thrown away to get to something innovative and great.

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) April 15, 2012

At Posterous, there were plenty of times we sent near ship quality features back to the drawing board.

The third generation of autopost was done when we realized we missed a few edge cases our pro users would demand.

With Pages and Links, it took a usable prototype of the feature before we saw that it worked, but it didn't feel good.

And when we designed Posterous Spaces, we threw out the entire initial design and started over, just a couple months before launch.

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just setting up my twttr

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

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On my new walk to work, I pass the Old Navy on 4th and Market. I noticed that they recently started playing music outside.

Normally I would be upset at a retailer playing loud music, presumably to attract attention and customers. But I didn't mind too much because I liked it.

Today I realized why they are going it: by playing music, they force street performers to move elsewhere. Previously that corner often had drummers and other musicians.

Brilliant.

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This is one of the greatest days of my entire life.

It all started in 2007 when the iPhone was released.

The iPhone changed the world, and in an indirect way, it changed my life. The iPhone is what drove me to start Posterous, because I wanted an easier way to post my photos. And email was the perfect way to do it.

I still remember sitting on my couch in New York City, writing the first version of the product. It was simple, but so powerful that I decided to leave my dream job at Apple.

The past 4 years have been an incredible journey. Posterous took me from New York, to Boston, and then back to San Francisco.

During that time I learned how to create and ship products. I built and managed an incredible team of 21 people. I learned about all aspects of running a company including fundraising, legal, finance, HR, marketing, business development, office management, and more.

Why Twitter?

There is no better fit for Posterous than Twitter.

The opportunities in front of Twitter are exciting, and we couldn’t be happier about bringing our team’s expertise to a product that reaches hundreds of millions of users around the globe.

Plus, the people at Twitter are genuinely nice folks who share our vision for making sharing simpler. Everyone is passionate, excited, and truly believes in the product and the leadership.

Apple and Twitter have a lot in common: a great sense of product and design, amazing leadership, phenomenal growth, and a great culture. Of all the places I could imagine working, Twitter ranks the highest. (Think about how much I would hate working at Google!)

It's fitting to be going to the only company Apple chooses to integrate deeply with. Apple has definitely picked a side in social networking, and it's Twitter.

I'm happy to be at a company based in San Francisco. And in fact, the new Twitter offices are just *2 blocks* from my house. It couldn't get any better than that.

And I'll get to work with my good friends from BackType, who were acquired by Twitter last year.

Over the past four years I've worn many hats. And I've enjoyed them all. But I have found that product is where my passion is.

I'm incredibly thrilled to be joining Twitter as a Product Manager. I'll be working for @satyap and indirectly with @jack to make Twitter an even more awesome product. And I'll be able to focus on product, without also worrying about running the company.

For me, working at Apple wasn't just a job. It meant being part of a company and brand I believe in passionately. I see Twitter the same way. Twitter is something I use and love every day, and depend on. The product is a part of my life, and now the company is too.

Let the journey begin. Again.

You can follow me on Twitter.

-@agarwal

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Music has always been a big part of my life. Growing up I always had the music on while I was driving or studying.

But recently I found I was listening to music less and less. I think it's because of two things:

1. I use a laptop now, and the sound quality of laptop speakers sucks.
2. If I want to play music through my living room stereo, it's too much work. There are too many steps involved. I have to turn on multiple components and navigate the AppleTV interface.

I miss the days when all I had to do was hit "play" on a stereo. The simplicity of that hasn't been matched by any product following the move to digital music formats.

Why the iPod Hi-Fi

My iPod Hi-Fi is hooked up to an Airport Express, so I can stream music to it wirelessly from my laptop, phone, or iPad.

It doesn't have a power button. It doesn't have any buttons. It's always on and I never need to touch it. Just hit play (on my phone).

It's beautiful. It's a design piece on my dresser.

And it sounds great. Really great. iPhones and iPads are getting smaller and lighter, but speakers shouldn't. The iPod Hi-Fi weighs 15 pounds and that's a good thing. It has *bass*.

You just can't get good sound out of something smaller.

The Hi-Fi wasn't a successful product when it launched. But I love mine.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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I just hung up my Apple 5 year plaque.

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