PWC Networking Breakfast for VCs.  What's with all the suits???  I was the only one w/o a tie.  Are we sure these are VCs?

After popping in at a few local tech/blogging events lately, something has become apparently obvious to me.  I need a wingblogger--someone my age as interested as I am in being a part of the more social side of this community that I can drag around to all these events.  For someone who works at a VC firm, I probably have the least tech savvy social network possible.  That makes it incredibly difficult, at least for me, to go to all these events and meet the people I'd like to meet--especially given that, because of my age, I have a natural advantage over a lot of other people in my industry.  I can relate a lot better to a lot of the very creative people that are disrupting some of the markets that USV has interest in.  Even though I may be outgoing, I really do hate doing much of anything alone.  I need to be able to go somewhere, run ideas by someone, recap the event, discuss, plan, etc. 

At the same time, I don't want to be too "networky", which, as a venture guy, is probably about the worst thing you can do, especially in New York.  In spite of the fact the NYC is the financial capital of the world, not everyone doing some kind of interesting project is in it to make it big.  Sometimes, like in the case of the Vimeo/Collegehumor guys, success seems more like an accidental byproduct of serious goofing off.  Not everyone wants their audienced monetized.

Ideally, I'd have a friend or two that worked in media/marketing/tech that was curious about new trends, interested in meeting people, and savvy enough to find some events that I missed.  The management is currently accepting applications for wingbloggers. 

You are the best litmus test you have for other people.  Don't hide yourself from others when you first meet them for fear of scaring them off.  Chances are, if they aren't ok with the reality of who you are the first time around, they aren't going to get any more comfortable as time marches on.  I never liked the idea of personality of something that needs to be leaked out in small doses as if you were trying to slowly poison the other person with it.  The big fear is that by putting yourself out there up front, you can get yourself hurt.  The truth of the matter is that the less time you take to get things out in the open, the less you'll have invested if its all too much for the other person to take.  That saves you getting hurt more than anything else.  Your experiences, sketchy or otherwise, are who you are and not to be apologized for.  Make no excuses for what got yourself to this moment.  Perhaps if we were all so comfortable with ourselves in the first place, we wouldn't do have the regrettable things that make opening up so uncomfortable.  I hate "excuse me" personalities.  I wish more people were "take me or leave me."  I can respect that immensely.

In the interest of full disclosure, here are the results of my trip to the doctor last Friday.  This way, you can all rest comfortably knowing that there is little chance of this blog prematurely ending because I'm not taking care of myself.   

Blood pressure:   110/70

Cholesterol:  130   HDL/LDL: 48/73

Triglycerides: 47

Liver: Normal

Kidneys: Normal

Iron:  Normal

Blood Count: Normal

So, apparently, I'm well on pace to make it to my Deathclock.com determined age of almost 86.  I'll be sure to keep you posted on how that goes.  In fact, at my current rate of .71 posts a day, I have 15,744 more posts left. 

Highly amusing way to say that a website is down...  Jurvetson must be going out of his mind.

For the most part, I eat pretty healthy...   lots of chicken, fish, candy.  Ice cream/desert only once in a while.  However, when I do get something I probably shouldn't be eating a lot of, like pizza, I'll try and make it as healthy as possible.  Right now, I'm eating a stuffed veggie slice.  I figure, if I'm going to be eating all this dough, oil, and riccota cheese, I might as well get what broccoli and spinach have to offer as well.

Maybe they'll cancel each other out.

Who am I kidding?

Senseless anti mailbox violence.

Fred and I, in collaboration with an entrepreneur to be named later, put our heads together via IM/e-mail (He's out sick today, but still can't unjack from the Matrix, so send him some get well comments) and came up with this chart.  GM shed four bucks today on the news that it would post a loss of about $1.50 a share, versus the previous target of break-even.  I know weathermen that can predict better than that.  At the same time, Microsoft is trading at about 60% of its 2000 levels.  As you can see from the chart, both companies have traded similarly on the way down.  Coincidence?  Yes.  Relation?  Not a bit.  However, they do both fall into the same category:  Companies that are too big to achieve sustainable growth and  ones getting their lunch eaten by competitors that innovate better and act faster.  I'm not sure what to expect sooner...   Longhorn or a GTO that actually looks like a GTO.  So does that make Toyota and Honda the Mozilla and Google of the car world?  (Of course, that would also make Internet Explorer the Aztek of the browser world.) 
     The real challenge for these companies is focus.  Both have lots of attractive products and also lots of properties that seem to be a bit adrift.  The interesting thing is that GM has always been in the business of trying to get smaller, spinning off EDS, DirectTV, etc, while Microsoft never seems to waive the white flag on anything.  The unfortunate thing at GM has been that these highly profitable sales haven't helped the business at all, with proceeds going into the black hole of pension benefits and medical expenses.
     Another interesting comparison is the quality issue.  GM's product quality has made great strides over the years, while Microsoft, well...   you know. 
     Here's the question of the day.   If Blackstone is successful in raising its highly anticipated trillion dollar buyout fund, differences in market cap aside, if you were Steve Schwartzman which company would you rather buy and try to turn around?   Could you generate a better return from buyout GM, spinning off GMAC and slugging it out with the unions on the healthcare and benefit issues?  Would you buy Microsoft and inspire some actual innovation or just milk it like a cash cow? (Since the company has been last to the party on, let's see now, search, blogging, what else is hot?)   Perhaps I should start a MSFT vs. GM index on my blog to keep track of which would have been the better deal.

Speaking at Baruch today...  They have an atrium that looks down far enough to make me really uncomfortable.

So, last night, our ZogSports dodgeball team, Dodge This!, got swept in the playoffs, losing all four of its games.  We were disappointed that we didn't even pull a game out, but in the end, we were all really happy about the season and this wacky sport that brought us all together.  One of the teams we lost to is also playing kickball, so we'll have to exact our revenge on the turf. 

So far I've played dodgeball this year, and kickball last year, and I have to say, this league is really something special.  The quality of people that it brings together is amazing, but I guess "people who play charity dodgeball or kickball" is as good a social screen as you can get.  Plus, playing in the league gives you an automatic connection to all of the other Zoggers as well.  Anytime I see one of those colored t-shirts with the ZogSports logo, I always ask what sport the person played and how they got involved, and they're always very receptive. 

Another thing that was nice last night was an appearence by "the Zog Guy"--founder and new dad Robert Herzog.  I pointed out to some of the people on the team who he was and some of them were curious about what his story was.  I really didn't know too much about the guy, but when I Googled him and Zogsports, I learned just how special this whole thing was.  You see, Robert Herzog worked for Marsh McLennan on the 96th Floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower.  Two hundred and ninety seven people from Marsh died that morning, but Rob, miraculously, was later to work than usual.  His story was detailed in a great Tampa Tribune article a few years ago.

So now, ZogSports is up to 11,000 participants.  Zog encourages "New Yorkers to maintain perspective and a more balanced lifestyle by having fun while also giving something back to the community." Its really something amazing to be a part of and I really have to tip my hat (and no, I'm not suddenly wearing hats because I shaved my head) to Rob.

Apparently, there's a burger joint in the Parker Meridian...  Who knew?

Wow.

So Fred's got his "VC Cliche of the Week" and the Album list, so, I decided I needed some kind of list.  Its funny, when you switch firms, all of the sudden, everyone starts picking up on terms that you've been using for years and you realize you've come up with your own lingo or borrowed some from others and made it your own.  I called someone a "sketchball" the other day and Fred was all over it.  However, the term "sketchball" itself isn't that interesting to me, so I'm not going to make it a Charlieism.  I think if I call someone a sketchball, you'll know what it means.

No, this week's Charlieism is a borrowed one..  borrowed from Larry Rusoff from GM who borrowed it from one of his friends.  So, its been passed on, and I've made it part of my regular vocabulary.  This week's Charlieism is "The Cloak of Honesty". 

The Cloak of Honesty is an attempt to use truth to protect yourself from the underlying reality of a situation.  Now, you might be saying, "Aren't truth and reality the same things?"  Well, not always, especially when someone speaks a technical, literal truism that ignores something under the surface.  The best example I can think of is when you are seeing someone who feels much more for you than you do for them.  By telling them upfront and being very direct that you are not interested in a relationship, and that physical contact will not lead to commitment, technically you are being truthful and honest.  However, if you continue physical contact, knowing full well that you are building expectations in their mind despite your words to the contrary, you are "hiding under the cloak of honesty" when you try to convince yourself and others that you are not, in fact, doing anything wrong. 

Hiding under the Cloak of Honesty.  There you go.  Use it all you want.  In fact, its now an Urban Dictionary entry.

Waiting for a table at Amsterdam with Brian.

Blue lights and fog tonight.

This morning, I overslept, so I took a cab in.  I think without question, cab drivers are the most appreciative of tips.   No one must be tipping these guys more than just rounding up to the next dollar.  They're driving around for hours and hours all day, and I'm sure cabdriver economics aren't too good...   so I like tipping them.  You know who doesn't really appreciate tips and it drives me nuts?  Coat check people.  I hate coat check.  I hate checking anything.  If I wanna lug around all my crap, that's my business.  Blocks the aisles?  I'm notoriously underdressed for winter and I'm sure I usually have the thinnest coat in the room... not to worry there.  Valet is ridiculous, too.  With both the coat check and the valet, if my item is in plain sight, you're not providing a service.  So many times I'm in coat check and I can just reach over and take my coat b/c the booth is so small, but still, they have to hand it to me and its going to cost me a buck or two.  Coat tax.  That's what it is.  I'm being charged for dressing appropriately for the weather, which I barely accomplish anyway.  And coat check people for the most part treat it like its normal.  Its not even a tip anymore.  Its a charge. 
Tipping in restaurants is a broken system, too.  I will definately tip well for great service...  20-25%... but I'll be the first one to admit that it really doesn't have the desired effect unless you're a repeat customer.  It works in Gino's, because we're there all the time, but if you're a one shot deal, that's never going to do anything but show appreciation, and I sort of think there should be some kind of feedback loop there that improves my service.  Maybe we can do some kind of loyalty card service for all restaurants where, when I check in, the waiter or waitress gets my average tip and the variance in it.  He or she would see that my average is solid, but my variability is above normal--meaning that if you take care of me, I'll take care of you, but if you're rude to me, its going to cost you.  Otherwise, most times the server doesn't even see what you gave them while you're still there anyway, so it doesn't really have the desired effect. 
What really has to stop are the bathroom attendents.  I haven't seen to many, but if I do, I turn right around and decide I don't really need to go that badly.  I refuse to legitimize that scam.  I've been using the bathroom by myself my whole life... I don't need any help now.  I'm a New Yorker.  Just leave me alone and let me do my thing.  Don't help me unless I ask and don't hold my coat for $2 ransom. 

Five years ago, the Nasdaq peaked at 5048.  Today, it opened at 2065.  Unreal... and it really didn't take long to come down either.  By the close of 2000, its value had already been cut in half.  I think at the time we all knew it was coming... eventually...  but it was all a matter of when.  Sure, during the runup, we talked "New Paradigm" and thought the growth would continue forever, but there was a point after which it just got ridiculously out of hand.  I think the AOL - Time Warner, and the fact that a little punk startup that could was suddenly worth as much as this offline, established media giant threw a lot of cold water in people's faces.  But, whatever it was, it all ended very quickly on this date five years ago.

Lessons learned?  I hope so.  Public investors seem to be pretty well sobered, but that tends to go in long cycles and I'm sure they'll be some other kind of bubble 10-15 years from now anyway.  As for the private side and venture?  I'm not so sure any lessons were learned, because there are still a lot of investors around with a lot of capital.  However, like in any investment cycle, the quality investors will still succeed, and in bad times, while everyone suffers, its the wannabees that really get wiped out, and that will always happen. 

Anyway, to commemorate this event, I put up, on my CafePress site, a Special Unlimited Edition (meaning I'm happy to sell as many as I can sell) mug... well, actually, two mugs and a mousepad, with the following logo:

And here are the items themselves (large and small mug):

In addition, I've put up some funky blogger related t-shirts as well.

Happy shopping!

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Fordham Alumni Mentoring career panel.  Great turnout!  I go after the next person.

Link: WSJ.com - AOL to Launch Net Phone Service, Giving VOIP a Mainstream Name.

I've been pretty down on AOL for a while after being a big supporter (and a stockholder) until the merger.  Nothing that the company has done, not a single new innovation (not that there were any) has made me believe that the company had any hope for future growth.  However, if done right, I think maybe VOIP might be something big for AOL.  What does "done right" mean?  It means that AOL has to AOL-ize the product.  It needs a cute little yellow running man and a "You've got phonemail" message and all the same little hokey things that made the internet so accessable to people back in the late 90's.  So many users tiptoed on to the web with AOL holding their hand, and eventually, they grew up to be internet savvy and left home.  VOIP may prove to be the warm, homecooked meal that keeps the kids around for a little while longer.
  The key will be converting the dial-up people to a broadband connection+VOIP service, and somehow manage to squeeze AOL for Broadband in between.  VOIP is clearly a superior value to someone still holding on to a landline in their house, and that represents the bulk of the AOL userbase.  AOL users, for the most part, are beyond late adopters, and I believe that the majority of them are not yet broadband enabled.  They're internet dinosaurs, like my dad.  My dad is still on dial-up.  My parents don't even have call waiting.  But AOL speaks dinosaur... they must, because they still have 22 million subscribers.  AOL might have a pretty decent shot shopping cheaper phone service, and replacing the phone company with this relatively trusted brand they inexplicably hold on to. 
    So lets see what the pricing and features look like...  all I'm saying is, this could be a ray of hope for a stagnant company.

Larry and I are going to Gallagher's Steakhouse for dinner tonight.  This is what you see when you first walk in.  Where's the beef?  Its here.  All of it.