Frequently Asked Questions

Does anyone write the blog for you?
Nope. It’s not that easy to come up with this stuff.  The blog is written by me and me alone.  Once in a while I may include a guest post, but it will be clearly labeled as such.  There is no ghostwriting.

Does the blog represent the official view of your employer?
No.  Opinions expressed are mine and either not necessarily or simply not those of my employer.  When I have chosen to work at a given company, you should expect that I may frequently have a de facto pro-company viewpoint.

Do you work with and/or invest in other companies that you might write about and/or might otherwise influence your views?
Yes, in four categories:

• First, I own shares and/or options in the companies I work at or recently worked at (e.g., MarkLogic, Salesforce, Host Analytics).
• Second, I do a bit of (direct and indirect) angel investing and advisory work with companies like 10gen, Hadapt, Tableau, WeMakeItSafer, and WallIt.
• Third, I am also an investor in a few venture capital funds so I indirectly own shares in numerous startups.
• Fourth, I am invested in the stock market may directly or indirectly purchase shares and/or options in technology companies such as Adobe, Google, or Oracle.

Do you compete with the companies you analyze?
Sometimes, and that can be why I know about them.  So while there are times when I’m in pure market analysis mode, some of the time I’m writing about vendors and markets that are closer to home.

Will the blog always be factually correct?
The blog is a mix of opinion and my recollection of historical fact. Like my wife, I assume that my opinions are not always correct and that my recollection of facts is fallible. So feel free to disagree with my opinions and to let me know when you think I’ve gotten a fact wrong. While I do not commit to any updates, revisions, or corrections, I do try to make them when I’m convinced that I’ve made an error.

Is the blog subject to copyright protection?
Yes. This blog is copyright (c) Dave Kellogg from year 2005 to date, and is protected via a Creative Commons license agreement. See the blog footer for the formal notice and a link to the actual agreement.

What’s your comment policy?
I reserve the right to disallow, moderate, edit and delete comments. While I will try to be selective about invoking that right, I may delete or hide comments that I deem undesirable for any reason (e.g., flames, competitors seeking publicity, ad hominem attacks). The more your comment is logical and on-topic the more likely it will stand.

Do you revise and/or delete posts?
Yes. From time to time, I revise posts and/or delete them. Typically, I do this in response to comments, to correct errors, to focus my writing, or simply to change tone. Often, I’ll revise a post numerous times in its first hour of life to correct errors and tighten the writing. Sometimes, I remove posts because I’ve changed my mind about an issue, I think the post is dated and no longer relevant, or simply because I no longer want the post on the blog.

Feed and/or email subscribers should take note:  if you want to see the current official version of any post, you should come back to the blog and find it. Sometimes, but not always, I will note revisions at the top or bottom of the post.

Sometimes you talk about company financials; are you a financial analyst?
No. I am not a financial analyst. I am a executive analyzing the market and while I consider myself a pretty good finance guy, I am most certainly not a financial analyst. I include financial analysis when I think it’s relevant to understanding a company or a market. I do not make buy and sell recommendations on stocks, people should not buy or sell stocks based on my analysis, and — as noted above — I may directly or indirectly hold positions in the companies I discuss.

Do you have a Feedburner feed?
Yes. It’s http://feeds.feedburner.com/kellblog.

Can I contact you over email if I have a question?
Yes. Please contact me at davekellogg at mail-dot-com.  (Note, that’s mail-dot-com, not gmail-dot-com.)