You can't win if you don't run, Mayor Bloomberg

I haven't decided who I want to vote for yet next year.  I don't like Hilary.  Barak is ok, but I'm a registered independent, so if he doesn't win his own primary, I can't support him anyway.  On the Republican side, I always liked Rudy as mayor, but I don't think he's the least bit qualified to be President.  As for the rest...   I dunno, just too many to keep track of at this point. 

And I keep holding out hope that Mike Bloomberg will run... that he'll go all in and spend a billion on making it to the White House...  and make the tough choices that need to be made.  When he was Mayor, he made tough, but smart decisions about closing firehouses and raising property taxes because the city was in a in a tough financial spot after 9/11.  His approval rating sunk to the lowest approval rating any mayor has ever seen since they started taking polls of mayoral approval ratings.  The way he spoke at Cooper Union the other night, he made me believe that he was a guy willing to make tough decisions in Iraq where, as he put it, "there were no good choices."

There's only one problem with Mike Bloomberg... 

...he's not running.

And, until he says he's in, his "campaign" tactic of being an outsider who just talks on the sidelines isn't going to pick up any traction.  Why?

Being the President of this country requires a ton of passion and dedication.  When I hear that the Mayor is "considering" running, that troubles me.  That would be like someone "considering" a marriage proposal.  When I ask someone to marry me, they better say yes right off the bat, because I don't think I really want to marry someone who has to think about it.  More so than anything else, I imagine that the one serious prerequisite of the Presidency is that you absolutely know you want to be President.

I think that's part of the reason people couldn't get behind Al Gore the first time around.  I think for a lot of people, it just didn't really seem like he wanted to be President that badly...  like he was running because he felt like he had to.... like that's what sitting VP's do.

I've heard that there are a lot of things Bloomberg needs to do first before to prepare to run, like selling the major media and business information company he built from the ground up.   Fine, but, at some point, this becomes like that like from Spaceballs:

"What are you preparing. You're always preparing. Just go! "

I've heard that Bloomberg doesn't want to join a race that he doesn't think he can win.  Well, sorry Mike, but that's the minimum risk that is required of you to run--to face the fact that you might lose.  This isn't going to get handed to you... especially not as a third party candidate.  You need to go out and grab it for yourself, and frankly, its surprising to hear that a successful entrepreneur would hesitate to enter a race because he doubts he could win.

You have to give people something to hang their hat on...a parade to get out in front of.  I'm not going to go join a campaign to coax you into the race.  I want you to run, but if you don't want it enough to say it, every day that passes gets me closer and closer to figuring out who else I can support that actually wants this.  Without actionable items, without something specific to ask people to do, its going to be difficult to get people to care at all.  There are plenty of people who want to support you, but even more people who don't know anything about you.  That takes time, not just money, and I'm afraid that if you wait until Super Tuesday, you're not going to have enough time to convince people that you actually want to be President.   A lot of people just aren't going to wait around that long.

So, for now, I'll support the person of Mike Bloomberg, who has done an amazing job for this city, but I can't support the campaign of Mike Bloomberg if it doesn't exist.

Risk is a Function of Perception and Approach

A lot of people think starting your own company is a risky proposition.  Sounds like it, right?  Oooh...  could "blow up".  Sounds dangerous.  Images of shrapnel.

Maybe I'm naive and oblivious... but I'm really not that worried, like, at all.

I'm working on Path 101 fulltime and the only income I get now is from my adjunct teaching at Fordham, which is sort of like my checking account's equivalent of flapping its arms as it falls off a cliff.  Yet, somehow, I know it's all going to work out.  I'm confident we'll get our angel round raised... people are lining up now...  but on the chance we don't get all of it, we'll make do with what we have.  We'll take on some consulting if we have to.  It's not ideal, but there's a fallback plan, and frankly, the fallback plans aren't so bad.

Maybe I'll need to start liquidating to fund this.  I already know...  first it's the 401k, than the apartment, and then the car.  Yes, the car is the last to go.  Not ideal, but at least I've faced the reality of the situation.  I can deal with it.

And if this whole thing doesn't work out... if we can't get something compelling built or can't grow the user base or can't monetize, and we have to close up shop.  Then what?  I'll be upset, no doubt, and disappointed, but...   I'll survive to die another day.  I'll just get a job somewhere.  I believe I'm employable and have no fear that I'll wind up homeless on the street.

So what's really the big risk?  I mean, even in the worst case scenario, I'll learn something...  I'll learn a lot, actually.  It will build character and I'll meet a lot of great people along the way...  and build a great relationship with Alex, too (or kill each other... either way). 

Frankly, if you think about what I could gain or lose by taking this on vs. not taking it on, I think I've got a hell of a lot more to lose by not doing it.

links for 2007-09-26

• InterviewUp Aims to Help You Prep For Job Interviews
  Another point solution that will most likely be a feature of Path 101.
  (tags: path101 careers)

LiveBlogging The Cooper Union Brokaw Talk with Mike Bloomberg

Mario Cuomo is such a likable guy...  He's giving a great intro for Bloomberg.

Ok, Mario, a little over the top intro for Brokaw...   

Brokaw starts off pointing out his change of parties and changing baseball team affiliations.... obviously, this isn't word for word.

Should Lee Bolinger have allowed the President of Iran to speak of Columbia?  Bloomberg gives a supportive free speech answer.   

Should President Bush speak with the President Iran?  We shouldn't be talking to him directly at a high level, but should be talking to every country on the face of the earth at some level.  Inappropriate and incendiary to allow him to leave a wreath at Ground Zero.

Are we safer now than we were in '02 or '03?

Is Rudy Giuliani exploiting his role in 9/11, particularly during the last anniversary ceremonies?
He was invited, as were lots of other political figures.  He was the Mayor at the time and the face of New York at the time... important to have him there.

How are the Democrats shaping up for '08?

I find both parties...  rather... blame ourselves for instant, soundbite answers, allowing candidates to duck tough questions, because the public doesn't demand answers to tough questions.  For both parties, we don't really grill the parties enough.  The press should help us look at qualifications, information.  This country is in big trouble... we've lost relationships.  We've got trade issues.  We're hurting our environment.  We have very few friends in this world.  We have a lot to be proud of and shouldn't be ashamed about what we bring to the party, but we have an arrogance and a go in alone approach.  I don't know what the solution is for Iraq any more than anyone else does, but none of the choices are good... but the real problem is rebuilding relationships around the world and not go in alone.  Why we tried before isn't important, but we can't do it anymore.

We have domestic problems, like healthcare.  Western Europe spends less money than we do and has a higher life expectancy.   What are we getting for our money?  Current plans offered by candidates aren't realistic.  At least they're trying.  Mitt Romney at least instituted a plan.  Socialized medicine doesn't seem to be working so bad in Europe.  If I was a candidate, which I'm not, but you can keep a secret, right...    well, because of the partisanship, there are things that you can't address and if you're running... if you're a democrat you just can't demand troops out fast enough, if you're a Republican, you can't say you want to raise taxes... the result is that we as voters don't get straight answers during the primaries.

Would you order a pullout of troops by April 15, 2008?
If you pull them out quickly, you lead to a massacre and destabilization...  Look we want them out as soon as possible, but picking a date... there are no easy answers here.  We need to find a way to get these people to live together, all the various groups... Jordan is a lynchpin in that region as well.

Does the President have a Plan B for Iraq?
You have to ask the President.  You have to be willing to ask people, try things, but have courage to stick to your instinct.  I wasn't party to the intelligence.  I don't want to talk about how we got there.  I don't know what I would have done.  Congress certainly voted to go to war.   Most congresspeople voted to go to war in the first place. 

Has the President failed to ask this country enough?
One of the worst things we've ever done is treat returning soldiers the way we did in Vietnam.    We have an all volunteer army and they still show up even though they know what they're going to face.  You're right that the rest of us don't really feel the pain of this war, other than the families of those troops.    Bush should find better ways to talk to the public about why we're there, not a partisan thing the way it is now.  We don't trust the military leadership anymore.  In many cases, we're not even supplying our troops with the right weapons systems because even creation of arms is a political activity.   Back in Lexington many years ago, we're now like the British were there...fighting an insurgency... a trained military.

Shift gears...  NYC has the most improved public school system in the country...
Don't thank me... thank the taxpayers, teachers, principals... the public has invested... teachers have gotten a 43% raise.  We have a long ways to go.  For decades, people said black and latino kids can't learn, so we created a two class education system.  I'm very proud of the fact that the gap, even though its intolerable that it exists, is closing.  Its easy to blame the unions for everything.  Generally, the teachers are hardworking, flexible, honest.... I'm glad we have them.  Generally, they're interested in improving the lot of their members.  Truth of the matter is that Randi Weingarten has been able to deliver a lot.  Joel Klein has been able to deliver a lot.  It's been a good balance.  It's an example of the fundamental thing you need to do is having accountability.  We're a lot closer to having accountability than we've ever had.  We're going to deliver report cards on the schools to the parents and sure people are going to scream, but we need to be able to talk honestly about the problems.  Teachers want to work here.  People want to work with an organization that is successful.  We're even giving incentives for the really good people.  Our teachers are working very hard and you can see the results.  The results are there.  Its a big school system. 

Should there be a mix of charter schools and vouchers?
Competition in the public school system is good... even the UFT runs a charter school.  Charter schools are places where you can innovate.  There are things that have worked elsewhere that we're trying... we're trying things, not with public money, where we don't know if they are going to work...  its worth trying.  You take a 2000 person school and break it up into 4 and you get double, triple the graduation rates.  With vouchers, there are just some fights you just can't win.  Plus, I'm not really sure that vouchers really work. 

Why wouldn't you run for President of the United States?
There are lots of candidates out there.  There are other ways to make a contribution.  I've been very lucky and modestly successful in business.  I'd like to able to say that this administration really advanced the ball.  My next career will probably be in philanthropy.  I've got the best job... its a job where you have to deliver results.  If I were to say that I want fifth avenue to run northbound tomorrow, you'd see signs changed and a cop on every corner, it might be a dumb idea, but you'd say it.

Just don't try it on the West Side, please...
Well, you know, we can be a model for everyone else here in this city.  There are only 14 cities in this country with populations of more than 100k that are safer and you've probably never heard of most of them.  We're going to drop the crime rate by a large amount... a record amount.

After Super Tuesday, if you're not happy the choices, are you absolutely ruling it out?
My first priority is a Subway Series...   I'm not a candidate for President.  The right question is what are the qualifications.  We took great pains to have a scorecard of things that I promised... and its never a big story.  People just focus on the things you haven't done.  The public focuses on what does work.  If you want to have a smile on your face, walk out with the belief that things are better than you think and things can get better.  People are coming here and staying here.  Even when countries hate us, people still come here.  Its American freedoms, American science, but people still vote with their feet and they come here.  One year, I closed six firehouses, raised property taxes and put a smoking ban in and if you can do that you can do anything.

links for 2007-09-25

• Advice for Computer Science College Students - Joel on Software
  (tags: careers advice path101 computerscience)
• I just made my own Facebook app in 5 minutes using Widgetbox
  (tags: facebook widgetbox web2.0 cool)

I just made my own Facebook app in 5 minutes using Widgetbox

Widgetbox has just made public their new "roll your own Facebook app" app called Application Accelerator...   I took my blog and made an app out of it in 5 minutes.

It doesn't do much of anything, but it's pretty friggin' cool that I was able to make an application that anyone can download right now.  Go ahead... let's see how many users the "This is going to be BIG" app can get.

So now I guess I'm a Facebook developer, too. 

Go here and create your own Facebook app...

Veronis Suhler Buying Vault.com

SAI says that the deal is worth $65-80 million.  In the wide open web, Vault has struggled to keep up with its paid subscription service and offline job guide sales.

Either way, the valuation certainly bodes well for Indeed...

Um, I'm sorry, you must have the wrong social network. MySpace lives next door.

"The New York attorney general’s office says it has been investigating Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., for the last month. Investigators posing as under-age members of the service said they could gain access to a wide range of pornographic images and videos and were “repeatedly solicited by adult sexual predators on Facebook.”

Have you seen the "pornographic images and videos" application in Facebook?  I must have missed that one.

Here's a question... if someone e-mails you porn through Hotmail, is Microsoft responsible?  What's the difference between that and private communication through Facebook?  Perhaps they ought to look int arresting the sexual predators instead of trying to hold a social network witchhunt.

Chance to see (maybe meet) the most successful tech entrepreneur ever to start a business in NYC

Do you know who it is?

I'll give you a hint... he doesn't live in Gracie Mansion.

But... it is, in fact, our Mayor.

Cooper is holding an event that I think is worth pouring into the streets for, because the tix are free if you get there on time.  This line is going to make the line for Shakespere in the park look like a walk in the... um... park.

Yeah, so anyway... here are the details...  See you there!

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and journalist Tom Brokaw at The Cooper Union Dialogue Series, Tuesday, September 25th at 6 p.m.
The event is free but seating is limited. The latest in The Cooper Union Dialogue Series, this event features a conversation between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and journalist and former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw on issues of national importance. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis the day of the event, September 25, 2007 starting at 4:00 p.m. in front of Cooper Union's Foundation Building: 7 E 7th Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues. The free event begins promptly at 6 p.m. in The Great Hall. The doors will close at 5:45 p.m. Cooper Union's President George Campbell Jr., the host of the event, and former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo will make opening remarks introducing the speakers.

links for 2007-09-23

• 7 reasons I switched back to PHP after 2 years on Rails - O'Reilly Ruby
  (tags: ruby php)
• MyWorkster
  Interesting.... competitor in the profiling area...
  (tags: path101)
• FREE Logo Maker - FREE Logo Creator - FREE Online Logo Design
  (tags: cool design logos path101)

YouDeparted: More proof that it's not just about the idea

I missed this over the summer:

"Nevada based YouDeparted provides an encrypted electronic safe deposit box with up to 5GB of space that can be accessed by loved ones in the event of a members death."

The funny thing is, I blogged about a form of this idea months before the service came out:

"...Sometimes, I think about what might happen to my digital presence when I'm gone. ...people's blogs and MySpace pages become comment section shrines, only because that's the only thing the public has access to.

In my case, at some point, my Typepad subscription and domain registration would expire, and my blog might disappear.

Now, lucky for me, I know a couple of folks over at 6A and so if news of my unfortunate demise reverberated throughout the blogosphere, I hope they might be nice enough to make my blog a freebie.

But then what of my email buddies, Twitter friends, and friends across various social networks? How would many of them even know I was gone? That's prob a big issue. Many of my digital friends, like all those dozens of prospective Match dates waiting in my inbox, wouldn't even know I was dead.

Enter Digital Plot. Digital Plot would enable you to carry out a very specific set of intructions to be carried out for your digital world when you pass.

Sure, its a little different, and more about the digerati, but still, the concept of leaving digital instructions for the Big Day is the same.

The main difference?

These guys went out and did it!

Execution is everything.  The idea is nothing.

What I would do if I was them is to device an upsell mechanism for all of these digital places... domain registry, blog services, hosting companies, etc.   Allow them to offer YouDeparted members a small payment on the side up front that allows them to insure their blog or page will live in perpetuity.  Would I pay Typepad an extra $15 up front to ensure that my blog lives after I die?  Sure.  Does it cost them much to host a blog that no one posts to anymore...  not really.... especially since the liklihood that my page gets any traffic years after I die is pretty slim.

The service is a good idea, but I think if you really want to get word of mouth going, you need to offer something to the geeks.

Response to Feedback

I got two comments on my previous post about some creative ways to get some elements of my startup done (some quick and dirty ways to get a logo) that I'd like to address.

First, Nate's comments...

"Don't settle on a logo early and don't let someone outside the company do it. Yes, you need a better one -- and fairly soon ;-) but don't lock yourself in and don't lock your eventual full-time designer out of the process."

I like this angle.  It makes sense to me that a designer, especially one that we'd like to hire full time, might not want to get handed a logo that may or may not square with their vision for the look and feel.  That's an excellent point.

Now, Rachel's comments.  I don't know who Rachel is, but she seems to be (or believe herself to be, given her tone) an expert in something...

"Corporate identity (logo design/graphic look and feel) is brand expression, which is the derivative of brand essence, which you haven't done any strategic work on..."

Personally, I don't believe that seed stage startups should do "strategic work" on corporate identity.  They should build a useful product, period.  So many times, web services do fancy redesigns to make things look good when they flat out fail on improving the usability of the product.  "Brand essence" = good product.  You think people use Apple because they like the logo?  No, it's because their products are functional and easy to use.  All the brand positioning in the world won't save a product if it doesn't just flat out provide utility.  Do you think Craigslist does strategic work on its brand essence?  Having met Craig, I'd say I highly doubt it.  I mean, hell, they don't even have a logo.

Actually, they do.  Here it is:

Craigslist

Snarky?  Yeah, because I'm just snarking back to her comment about my presentation:

"It's a mess from a sheer presentation standpoint. Clean it up, format it, get those headlines right, just get some look of discipline in there and the VCs might overlook your age and inexperience"

It may be a graphical mess... I don't pertain to be any kind of expert, but it is also on Google Docs, so things got bumped around a little.  In fact, that's the very "essence" of the company... open, out there, direct...   but figuring as we're having little trouble attracting interested folks, perhaps other VC/angel pitches aren't messy enough.

But the real kicker is this:  "get some look of discipline in there and the VCs might overlook your age and inexperience".   

Rachel, how old do you think the average internet entrepreneur is that gets funded by VCs these days?  Certainly not a lot older than 28. 

And my inexperience?

So tell me, how many people are out there who have been a product manager during the launch of a new product, evaluated early stage startups for a top tier VC firm, taught both undergraduates and graduates in classes that they developed from scratch, ran a mentoring program for both a professional society and a school's alumni organization and also created a professional organization that currently has over 1,000 members?

Perhaps I haven't run an enterprise software product and taken revenues from zero to fifty million, or led three startups in completely unrelated spaces, but I dunno, from my vantage point, I couldn't imagine being any more fortunate that I have been to get the exact kind of insight and experience  needed to make Path 101 a success--plus not to mention the absolutely fantastic network of people I've built up to help me.

So, instead of trying to "grab the conversation by the emotional cojones" which is, trust me, what a lot of entrepreneurs try to do ("We're going to change the world, you'll see!") I'm more interested in solving a real problem with a useful product.  A lot of marketing "experts" think that it's all about "sexing up" the pitch.  I've been on the other side of the table (have you?) and trust me... sex doesn't sell in a good VC firm, nor does it sell a sophisticated angel investor.  A good idea backed by the appropriate passionate entrepreneur in a market ripe for disruption is what we're selling here and I'm quite confident we'll do just fine.

links for 2007-09-21

• Bloomberg Booked for Potentially Eventful Engagement at Cooper Union | The New York Observer
  (tags: bloomberg2008 politics events)

An Idea: The Sponsored Startup

Alex and I threw an idea out there that might be ridiculous, or it might be pretty good.

As we're starting up this business, we'll be accumulating all sorts of little expenses here and there out of our own pockets until we raise this angel round.

For example, we need a logo.  I'm sure it will cost us a few hundred bucks at the end of the day.  I also want to make a trip up to Toronto because I have a connection to a big group of schools up there.  Same with Providence, RI.  Trips, obviously, cost money, but they're really valuable to drum up school support, get feedback, and get market knowledge about who else is out there.

Well, what if we could get someone to sponsor these expenses?  Would it be worth a law firm, professional services firm, IT consultant, or some collaborative software's money to slap their logo on some aspect of our process?  Maybe we'll decorate our company blogs with logos of other companies and say "Logo provided by generous sponsorship by Scion"  or something like that?

Is that ridiculous, or just a smart way to monetize the high profile we're fortunate enough to have with this startup?

Anyone want to sponsor our logo design, or contribute a logo design?

I think if someone wanted to do a logo for us, I'd do a video interview with them to put on our blog about the process of doing a logo for us and link to their portfolio.

Maybe we can get a lawyer cheap that way, too.  Interview all these professional services folks about how they want to work with us and advertise their services for payment in kind.  Hmm...

When I get elected President...

I will pull us out of everywhere and address the world in a live telecast....

"Do whatever the fuck you want, we're out of here."

Then, I'll divert all military spending to spending on alternative energy and big seawalls, for when the global warming floods come.

And on the outside of the seawall, I'll write in big letters:

"Don't let the massive seawall dissuade you from coming, our borders are now open.  We don't like half the people who are already here, so what difference does it make?  Just make sure you pay taxes and don't litter.  No nose picking or loud radios after 10PM either.  People need to wake up early, you know... and we shouldn't need to tell you about the nose picking."

After that, we'll start a government secrets blog.  First post: All about the aliens.  In fact, that's part of why I want to be President in the first place.  Tell me that's not a cool meeting:

"Ok, so give it to me.  What's the deal with the aliens?  Can I see the bodies?  Does the spaceship still work, like in Independence Day?  Oh, and JFK, too.  What happened there?"

Oh, and I'd promote a la carte, month to month pricing for everything.  Anyone can get any heathcare plan, not just the ones your company picks for you.  Cable, too.  You don't watch that channel, you don't have to pay for it.  Cell phones?  No two year contracts.  No penalties for quitting.  If you get bad service, feel free to leave.

And that stupid "winner of the All-Star game determines the home field advantage in the World Serious"... that goes, too.  Seriously, what the f is that?  If you win 120 games, your team should get home field.

What else?  Oh, yeah... basic parenting classes.  If you need a license to fish, you should need a license to unleash offspring onto the world.  We could make the test pretty easy, but at least just cover the bare minimum stuff.  Kind of like driving.  If you can't identify a stop sign, then you shouldn't be allowed to drive.  Same with kids.  If you don't know that feeding your kid McDonalds each day isn't healthy, sorry but you're going to have to retake this test until you pass.

Speaking of food...   Government mandated portion sizes, particularly for beverages.  Until you learn not to drink yourselves into diabetes with Super Big Gulps of Diet Coke, you just can't have that much.  It's no good for you.

And we'll fix that ridiculous electoral vote process, too.  Person who gets the most votes wins. 

We'll also be taking state by state votes on gay marriage.  To any state that doesn't allow gay marriage, we're going to make them put that big Arnold Diaz "Shame on you" finger on their "Welcome to..." road signs.  We'll also institute a prejudice tax on those states to pay for extra copies of wedding albums from the gay weddings being held in other states.  Albums will be airlifted and dropped on the homophobe  states and should any 'phobes get clonked on the head with an album, well, that's the price of creativity.   That's about as far as I think I can go without making marriage a federally regulated institution, like communications.   Just look at our damn cable and cell phone bills and service.... yeah.. just not a good idea.

Oh, and wiffleball on the South Lawn...everyday.

Poison Pen Killing the Mets

Wanted:  Bucket of baseballs.   Willing to trade:  Guillermo Mota.

Here's a question... where would the Mets be if instead of Pelfrey starting the season as the 5th starter, it was Brian Bannister, and instead of Schowenweis, Mota, and Aaron Sele, it was Chad Bradford, Heath Bell, and Darren Oliver?

Pelfrey 3-7, 5.24
Bannister 12-9, 3.61 (For the Royals!)

Schowenweis 0-2, 5.27
Bradford 3-7, 3.38

Mota 2-2, 5.91
Bell  6-2, 2.22

Sele 3-2, 5.29
Oliver 3-0, 3.36

The Mets let go of four pitchers from last year that could have had major impacts on this season.  So, if the Mets don't see this thing through, don't blame Willie... blame Omar.

links for 2007-09-19

• Path 101: Helping college students figure out jobs, careers, internships... and life, if we have time.: What we're thinking: Part I - Professional Spaces and the Need for The Third Place for Career Discovery
  (tags: facebook careers linkedin path101 socialnetworking)
• The Blogging Scholarship
  (tags: blogging students scholarships)
• Path 101: Helping college students figure out jobs, careers, internships... and life, if we have time.: Path 101 Overview Presentation on Google Docs
  Well, here it is... its a lot better than what we started with, I think.
  (tags: path101 careers startup pitch entrepreneurship)

Path 101 is looking for a look: Know a design/UI person? Ninjas preferred.

Path 101 is looking for a designer...  Alex and I need someone to help with evil laughs and cackles as we take our ideas and create mockups, clickware, and eventually, the site itself, as we yell, "It's alive!"

Is it me or wasn't there a school there?

Is it me or wasn't there a school there?, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Ave P and 75th St....that's new

Bite to eat before class

Bite to eat before class, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

I get it now: Learnings from being turned down by VCs

I had a very interesting experience this morning...  I got turned down by a VC for the Path 101 angel round.

Of course, we're very early and I didn't really expect to get any VC interest to begin with at this stage, but it was just a weird feeling because I'm not used to being on this side of the table.

It was a little bit like that Simpsons episode where Nelson walks by a mirror and does his "Ha ha!" laugh and then realizes, "Oh, that hurts."  (One of my favorite Simpsons moments ever.)

I've turned down tons of companies on behalf of USV even before they got to a funding meeting, but when it's your company, I'll tell you, it really smarts.  I totally get it.

Even more so, I understand the animosity that entrepreneurs seem to have for VCs because of the impression that they only want to take a risk on you after you've already executed.  I'm not saying that's the case, or that VCs aren't well founded to ask to see more traction, but I have to say that's what it honestly feels like.

But, rather than just sit here and complain about it, I'm thinking about what is to be learned from these experiences.  Here's what I have so far:

1. First, if nothing else, practicing your pitch and seeing what resonates with people is enormously helpful.  This is partly why I'm such a big believer in anti-stealth.  You should get in the habit of telling as many as possible about your startup.  Whittle your way down to the elevator pitch.  Alex and I have come a long way with our presentation even just in the last two weeks and these meetings have proven invaluable for that very reason, if nothing else.
2. Product feedback: Instead of thinking that someone else just "doesn't see the vision" or that there's some missing piece of info that you could get someone to make them understand, you have to consider that your product vision sucks, or more likely, its jumbled with a lot of extra crap it doesn't need right now.  In fact, your first response should be to look at what you're not getting, not what they're not getting.   Being pushed on our product thinking will have the long term effect of making Path 101 that much better in the future.
3. Don't burn bridges...hang around the rim.  Go out and get your angels or cobble together what ever you can and just keep everyone posted.  You can't get rebounds if you don't hang around the rim.  Maybe the investor has too many things going on right now or maybe they just took some meetings that scared them off to your space.  If you got in the door once and you weren't laughed out the door, don't waste any social capital you may have gained even by getting turned down.  Sometimes investors come around again and you don't want to lose touch.
4. There's always risk.  Just because someone asks for more traction doesn't mean that you will have taken all the risk off the table by the time you see someone later on, after you've accomplished more.  Companies still go under even after they've generated lots of revenue.  To think that, "Oh, they just want all the risk off the table first", isn't really accurate. 
5. Most of all... it's not personal.  Everyone in this space is trying to run a business.  Shake it off and move forward.  You'll get 'em next time.

Got space?

Alex and I are looking to grab some empty desks in NYC... got any?  Details here.

CRM Software for customer service professionals: Really effective, if you have it. Sprint apparently doesn't.

So, I've now been trying to port my number from Helio to Sprint since last Wednesday.

First, I tried this Wednesday, and they told me I was all set.

Then, when it didn't happen, I called again Saturday.

Of course, every time I call, I go through my little dog and pony show to tell them what my problem is and of course they need to transfer me to some other department.

But what absolutely kills me is that no one that I get transferred to seems to have any of my information.  You have no idea how many times I've given my name and address to verify the account.

My favorite is when they ask for my password.

Do you know how many different types of passwords I keep for all my different service providers?

What do you want?  Pick a password.... I've got first pet's names, 4 digit codes, last 4 digits of my social.  Mom's maiden name?

And of course, not every representative has the ability to login to the integrated "Sprint together with Nextel" billing system, so I always get transfered at least one extra time.

Now, I'm at the point where we need to call Earthlink while I'm on the phone to get the transfer approved.

So, let me get this straight... Earthlink (Helio) can say "no"?  Yeah, I'm pretty sure they can't, so what's the point of this?

And, as if this wasn't irritating enough, now all the representatives are trained to come back from putting me on hold every 2 minutes to tell me what they're doing.   Don't stop!  Keep doing whatever you need to do until you actually help me!!  I actually told a rep that yesterday.  I was like, "Take as long as you need.  I'm trained to hold for ludicris amounts of time and frankly, I liked that better than this annoying touchy feely, "Is it ok if I place you on hold again... thank you so much for your patience."

I couldn't believe it, but I was actually pleading with the customer service person not to be polite to me, because all these thank yous were wasting some serious time on the clock.

And, of course, I'm doing the whole thing on Skype, because you never call the wireless carrier using the wireless phone itself, just in case they need to do anything on it.

So, at the moment, my number porting has been "elevated" to the technical department to do this manually and will be worked on "as soon as possible" and they'll call me back "from time to time" to check on this.

I don't have from "time to time"!  This needs to be done TODAY, because my new month at Helio starts tomorrow and I don't want to have to pay another month over there.

Perhaps it's the fact that they know I have this cheap SERO account and so they're getting me back for screwing them over by finding the super secret special cheap plan.

Hanging out in Inwood Hill Park

Hanging out in Inwood Hill Park, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

I think we need to paint over this with a big maroon F.

Shrooms!

Shrooms!, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

BBQ for lunch in Somerville, MA

BBQ for lunch in Somerville, MA, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Now pitching...

Now pitching..., originally uploaded by ceonyc.

links for 2007-09-12

• What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople? | Ask MetaFilter
  The kind of question we need to ask on Path 101.
  (tags: path101 careers)
• TypeFocus Careers
  (tags: careers path101 testing)
• PBwiki :: View topic - Super Sekrit Feature II: Wikilets
  embed a wiki
  (tags: wiki embed)

Knowing when to throw the right pitch: Marketing Your Startup

Alex and I have been doing a lot of meetings for Path 101 and one of the most difficult things has been adjusting the flow and content of the meeting for the audience.

So, for example, we took a meeting with a VC that we knew well and whose demeanor is usually pretty fun and casual (not Fred, just fyi).  So, we decided not to run through our slide deck and instead stayed at a high level, conceptual, throw some ideas about the space around, kind of thing...  conversation was kind of all over the place, admittedly, and today we got the "sorry, not for us" e-mail.  I'm not sure I would have invested in us either, because we probably seemed a lot more all over the place on product than we really are at this point.  It's unfortunate, b/c we really didn't feel like we put our best foot forward.... basically got fooled on a pitch and looked bad for it. 

Conversely, we tried to walk through the slide deck with another VC and it was 45 minutes before we got past slide two and that conversation was excellent...  and it was our attempts at herding the cats back into the slide deck that actually made the conversation less interesting.   

Predicting what someone needs to see is incredibly difficult.  If you've ever pitched at USV, you know that you should just walk in and show them the product, throw some ideas around, etc...  It will become more like a hack-a-thon than a pitch meeting... and you need to be able to roll with that flow... b/c that's how they like to get to know businesses.  They want to poke and be imaginative about what you could become, who you run into... what is the scope of possibilities for this business and how flexible are you and your model.  Not all VCs are like this...and if you bet wrong, you might not get another meeting.  I like to think that we never held slide deck dependency against any entrepreneurs at USV, but it sure does make it difficult to get in an engaging conversation with someone.

What we've found incredibly useful has been meetings with other entrepreneurs... not for funding or biz dev, but just to see what others think, and also learn a lot about how partnerships and teams function.  We met with Paul and Rony from Indeed the other day.  They have an incredibly focused strategy and clear vision on what they want to be.  We're quite a bit wider and perhaps a little amorphous at this point and so it was an incredibly valuable conversation to have... not just to help us think about focus, but to help marketing our focus.  We know we'll be building something comprehensive, but we don't need to overwhelm the audience with the comprehensive vision before establishing the viability of the first thing we want to build. 

Yesterday, we met with Pete and Josh from Reprise Media (and got to meet the infamous Kate from Searchviews).   As we did with Paul and Rony, we tried to gain a little insight into their working style, which would be hard to match since they were childhood friends.  Still, hearing about the process of hiring, collaborating, product management from people who've done it successfully is invaluable.   Josh finished up our long diatribe on what we were doing with, "You need an elevator pitch", and Pete responded, "So do we."  That's our next step, in addition to all the product strategy work/research we're doing now...  culling the message down to its basic points and tailoring that to investors, schools, the public, etc.

Alex and I were talking about opening this whole company creation process up...  like doing some kind of a regular open meeting where people can just show up and essentially give feedback and here about our progress so far.  I don't know what the right venue for that would be... we'd certainly like to make it as casual as possible, but also somewhat functional.   Perhaps once we wrap up this funding, we can do it in our own tiny little cramped office.  In addition, we'll be adding a wiki to our site and a blog of course to further expose ourselves in public.  :)

links for 2007-09-11

• CATS Applicant Tracking System - Home
  sah-weet
  (tags: resumes path101)

Evite's most annoying feature... did you and your friends take photos of the event yesterday? Post them here.

Do you know anyone that keeps their photos on Evite?  Seriously, anyone?

It would be so much easier if they just integrated with all the existing photo platforms and allowed anyone, no matter what platform they keep photos on, to show photos to the group.  They should be the photo aggregator for events...  because, believe it or not, not everyone uses Flickr or has friends on Facebook.

This is one of the many things Evite strikes out with, but this particular one just really gnaws away at me.

Six years ago today

What to say, except that I'm pretty sure this is the first year that we didn't get that same perfectly blue sky we had that day.  It's raining here.  Seriously, if there's anything that stood out to me about September 11th, it was how amazingly blue and clear the sky in NYC was.

And let's see...  we're mired in a war we can't seem to get out of, Ground Zero is still a whole in the ground, 9/11 workers are sick, Bin Laden looks better than he did a few years ago and our immigration policy now seems to keep the people we actually want to come here out, and we still have no idea who's even here.

I dunno, but I hope that by the time the 10th anniversary comes around, we have a little more to show for what happened...   

Calling all Boston-area college career counselors

Alex and I are heading up to Boston on Friday to meet up with some angel/VC types and want to spend the morning meeting with some college career planning offices.  If anyone has good contacts, particularly with schools like Boston College and Boston University, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could drop me a line--especially if you know them well because you've worked directly with them, spoke at one of their events, etc.

links for 2007-09-10

• Weekend Feature: The How of Habbo Hotel « GigaOM
  “It’s actually served us pretty well,” says Haro. “If you think about 3D games from seven years ago they look pretty terrible. And the kids who play this game don’t even know what the word ‘retro’ means. It’s just another look to them.”
  (tags: avatars 3d)

links for 2007-09-09

• 2008 Annual Conference of the National Association of Colleges and Employers in New Orleans Louisiana
  (tags: path101 nace conferences)

Internet People

It's a little disturbing how many of these characters we all know well.

My Helio Ocean breaks and I just ordered a Sprint Mogul... thus endeth the Helio experiment

Recently, I've been pretty frustrated because the Helio Ocean Exchange wouldn't sync my calendar and that the contacts wouldn't actually sync the phone's firmware contacts.  Therefore, I could look you up in my Exchange contact list, click to call you, but then if you call back, the phone would have no idea who you are.   The calendar issue was a bug on their part that caused the phone to just completely crash when I tried to sync my calendar.  The guess from Helio was that it was due to old calendar entries...  seems like that's a hell of a bug just to be caused my some old entries.

Well, today, we had a new bug:

Did you spot it?  Look closely.  Yeah, um, the magic triangle spring is supposed to prevent the keyboard and the numeric keypad from opening at the same time.  I opened the keyboard today and something went ping on the inside.  The top slider came loose and not only was I able to open both sides of it, but this is as closed as I can get it now.  So, I basically have an open Swiss Army Knife for a phone.

I went over to the Helio store expecting to get a replacement, because I'm paying the insurance.  Nope.  First, the guy tells me that he doesn't know if this is a warranty item or a claim because, he'd "never seen that happen on any of the phones before", implying that I broke it.  I told him I didn't much care if he had seen this before or not... fact of the matter is that it broke and I was insured.  All he could do was to direct me to a phone and gave me the customer service number.  They implied it was a claim (not a defect) and so they gave me the insurance company's number.  They were going to take 24 hours to process the claim and then get me a phone in 3 business says standard shipping...  i.e. 4 days without a useable phone (It doesn't dial out anymore and the menu buttons are all screwed up b/c it doesn't know which way it's oriented).  Of course, I could pay another $15 in addition to my $50 deductible to get it next day.   Knowing that there was a good chance I was bailing on Helio anyway because of the Exchange issues, I passed on the $65.

Here's the interesting financial outcome of this whole thing, though.  Dave Evans pointed me out to the Sprint SERO plan (Google it), which was a hidden discount program for employee referrals.   The problem was, I couldn't take advantage of it when my prior Sprint phone got stolen because it was only for new customers.  Now, since I left, I'm a new customer again.

So, in the end, even if I eat my way out of my Helio contract, here's the final financial impact assessment:

PPC-6700 stolen...   No immediate financial impact because that phone was purchased as part of USV due diligence on a mobile app company... moved back to old Palm Treo... hated it.

6/13 - Bought new Treo and accessories...       ($274)
3 months of Helio service (@$85) vs. 3 months of old Sprint service (@$116) =    +$93
Early termination fee....   ($175)
Cost of Sprint Mogal...   ($300)

So, basically, the new phone overall cost me $656...

...BUT...

Monthly savings on Sprint SERO plan vs comparable full cost Sprint service  +$40/month.

So, before the end of my 2 year contract is up, the phone will have paid for itself.

Not too shabby...  Can't wait for my Mogul!

I also can't wait for Ken Berger to tell me he told me so.... however, leaving Sprint and coming back did allow me to take advantage of this lower cost plan, so, in the end, it was totally worth it.

links for 2007-09-08

• apophenia: controlling your public appearance
  Create a public Internet identity. I strongly recommend blogging, but even a homepage will do. Have a genuine all-accessible identity online that you're cool with grandma and your boss reading. Don't make it uber drab, but do provide context for who you a
  (tags: blogging path101)

Nice Slideshow on Word of Mouth Marketing

Thanks, Nataliya.

links for 2007-09-06

• Startup Founder Compensation: The Good, The Bad and The Irrelevant
  (tags: entrepreneurship)
• Conversion Central: 101 Tools to Convert Video, Music, Images, PDF and More : Codswallop
  (tags: conversion tools)

Majoring in Entrepreneurship? Can Entrepreneurship even be taught?

Fordham is starting an entrepreneurship program for its undergrad students and I'll be teaching a course entitled "Innovation and the Entrepreneurial Mindset".  Yesterday, those of us who teach in the program were talking with the dean about whether or not the program should be a major or concentration, a specialization, a minor, etc.

The difference is whether or not it should be something focused on by itself or in conjunction with other majors, like finance or marketing.

I've always leaned towards identifying yourself with some fundamental business skills set, like finance, accounting, marketing, info systems, etc., and then layering on specializations, like entrepreneurship or international study.  To me, international marketing, marketing in mainstream media or advertising, or marketing for a startup are three pretty different types of marketing--all of whom require the fundamental principals of marketing, but differ in their application.  Now, whether those are specializations, double majors, etc. I don't think it matters.

Also, you have to think about fallback, too.  What if someone does the entrepreneurship program, but can't nail that business idea or decides that getting some industry experience and connection in the area of their startup idea would be valuable--working for DKNY before you decide to start your own fashion label, perhaps.  Would anyone want to hire you if you were only an entrepreneurship major and didn't at least have marketing, finance, or accounting?

There are business programs that have full majors in entrepreneurship, like Babson.  In fact, I met a Babson entreprenuership major last night at the CooBric opening and he thought it was a valuable experience.

Of course, this question of where it fits in a program presupposes that you can even teach entrepreneurship in the first place... and to be honest, while I might not have thought so a few years ago, the more I get involved in this program, the more I think you can.  It's not so much teaching as it is introduction.  When I grew up, starting your own business was seen as kind of a flakey thing to do.  My mom worked in a school and my dad was a fireman before he went into accounting (yeah, I never understood that transition either).  I never knew about the startup world, and when I learned about it, I thought it was just all about having the big idea one day--like a lightning strike.

In my own experience, I think what is more likely to happen is that the big idea is slow cooked after being involved in a space or a line of thinking over time.  I got the idea for Path 101 after seven years of various mentoring and intership programs.   I wasn't trying to be an entrepreneur and the best ideas probably come when you're not trying to be one.

So, what am I going to teach?  I'm going to teach immersion and opportunity identification.  I'm going to teach these kids what it means to actually get waist deep in something like I am...  that it's not just getting a job...  it's about real active participation in the industry, in the community, whatever it is.  And, once you're in the thick of it, learning how to identify power structures, pain points, etc.

These are lessons that are useful whether or not they'll ever become entrepreneurs, because it's not enough to just clock in and clock out anymore.  There are so many more opportunities to really get active in a space and the people that take advantage of those opportunities are often the ones that wind up innovating and changing those spaces.

What do you think?  What does an entrepreneurial education look like to you?  How does it fit with other skills and courses?  Did anyone take any entrepreneurship courses in school?

links for 2007-09-05

• DesignMyRoom - Home
  This is pretty friggin cool... and its an idea that I threw around with an entrepreneur at USV like two years ago.
  (tags: design home furniture)
• HANSEN REPORT: Lindsay Lohan Reads My Blog: MyBlogLog Style
  Lindsay Lohan reads my blog, too!
  (tags: blogs celebrity)
• JESS3™ // Jesse Thomas - 571 213 4308
  (tags: designers path101)
• June Sumiyoshi | Welcome
  (tags: designers path101)
• LinkedIn: Jennifer Nappi
  (tags: designers path101)
• StevenJMarshall.com - Welcome
  (tags: designers path101)
• Lifetinker
  Toby and Brooke are my fav couple friends... Perhaps Mere and I should do something like this.
  (tags: friends blogs)
• The Start-Up Project - New York - Summary - powered by RegOnline
  (tags: amazon ec2 s3)

Top down on the FDR

Top down on the FDR, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

5 Things I'd like to see in Dopplr

So Dopplr got funded and so I feel inclined to spend a little more time thinking about what I'd really like it to do, because it's a great concept.

1. Events: Show me, in a structured way, why people are going where they're going.  If everyone I know is planning on going to SXSW, tell me, and tell me where everyone who plans to attend SXSW is coming from.  People have been trying to nail the relevant events thing for a while and if Dopplr could tell me what out of town conferences people were planning on attending, that would be a great dataset to show everyone--particularly the conference providers themselves.  Who's coming for Day One, Day Two, or who's just in the area for other stuff
2. Let the people drive the dates.  I'm thinking about trips to Boston, Providence, and Toronto in the next month or so, but I'm kind of up in the air about it.  Dopplr forces a date on me.  Why can't I just say, "Sometime in the next month" and see if other people are planning on going at any time within that.  Seeing that kind of data might help me narrow down my trip.
3. Show me strangers...  like, on every page.  When you first join Dopplr, the user interface just doesn't show a heck of a lot of people.  It feels like an empty place.  I should be able to see who is coming to NYC in the next week, even if I don't know them.
4. Combine with other profiles.  I'm glad to see Reid Hoffman investing in this, and hopefully, when the LinkedIn API comes out, Dopplr will be one of its first developers.  I'd like to see the LinkedIn profiles of people who are coming to NY and at the same time, the Dopplr intentions of everyone in my LinkedIn network.
5. Dopplr Autopost:  Before you build a widget that most of my RSS hungry audience is never going to see or use, allow autoposting of Dopplr updates to my blog (and yes, my Facebook).  When I add a possible trip to Boston,  even if I know the dates, I want a post on my blog to automatically appear that says, "I'm thinking about going to Boston soon... find out what dates and subscribe to my updates via my Dopplr feed."

Monorail squirrel haz a rest

Monorail squirrel haz a rest, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

links for 2007-09-02

• Bullseye (Bull Terrier) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Target Spot!
  (tags: targetspot dog toy)

Dopplr to me: Add to me! Add to me! Sigh.

I'll prob be doing a fair bit of traveling for the rest of the year.  Toby suggested I join Dopplr, which I did.

And then I sat there and stared at it.

Here's an app desperately in need of a "Find your Gmail friends on Dopplr" tool.  It wanted me to add trips, so I added one.  Nothing happened.  I thought I might find some people going up to Boston on weekend of the 15th.  Nope... nothing.

So, um... what's the point?

Don't apps need, um...  like, magic or sex or something?   Shouldn't you show something to the user to hook them?  Keep them engaged? 

Perhaps I don't know enough Web2Heads that go to all the same confereces as everyone else.

Two for two

Two for two, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

These games are a lot easier when you're an adult.

Mangia!

Mangia!, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

links for 2007-09-01

• VCASMO - Home
  (tags: powerpoint ppt video presentations)