So Henry Owens made his major league debut the other night.   Threw gas.  Anyone up for keeping this guy in the bullpen a little while?

Pelfrey goes tonight.   This guy is a real stud.  Dare I say Gooden-esque?   I'm sure he'll probably get clobbered or something tonight, but that's ok.  I'm sure he'll have a long career here and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does.  Hopefully, if nothing else, it means the end of Lima Time. 

Lima Time really sucks.

BTW.... Jose Reyes?  Didn't you watch Jeff Kent growing up?  Baseball 101.  Don't slide into first base.  You always get their faster running through it.  The only reason you slide anywhere else is to avoid a tag and because you can't overrun other bases.  Lifestyles of the young and not so bright. 

Critical mass of broadband penetration+inexpensive digital cameras+social video site+ripped off TV content=

Crazy DELICIOUS!

Remember that SNL Narnia video?

Try the reduxes...

I'm sorry, but this is UFR.  (Utterly...  Ridiculous).  Friendster just won the patent on social networking.

The idea of interacting with people you know and with people they know is called networking and it has been around long before the internet.  The idea that it is patentable is a farce.

Frankly, if Friendster, who lost the social network battle by being slow, closed, and failing to provide user value, actually goes after anyone or takes a dollar from anyone in licensing after getting awarded this patent, that's like winning the World Series on a balk.

Technically, yes, you're allowed to, but if I was managing a team that won the World Series on a balk, I'd turn around and say, "No thanks, we decline the balk.  We're not winning that way.  Either we actually drive that guy in from third on some sort of actual bat to ball contact or we'll go home, thanks."

On October 14, 2004, I sat in DTUT working on my Stanford MBA application, trying to figure out where all this was going....   

"In the last day or so, I've found clarity of vision. ...Its the best and biggest thing I have the potential to do right now, and I shouldn't be shooting for anything less than that. I don't want to look back on my life over the next few years and think I left anything on the table. Let's see how far this can go. I want to let it ride.

This is going to be big.  I can feel it."

That's how my blog got named, and we've come a long way since my eventual rejection from Stanford.  :)  On July 17th, after seventeen of the most eye-opening months of my professional life, I will be leaving Union Square Ventures to join Oddcast in the newly created position of Director of Consumer Products.

I imagine, given my obsession with my avatar, that hardly comes as a surprise to most of you... but here's the extended version.

My time here at Union Square Ventures has been nothing short of amazing.  In less than two years, I went from being an investment analyst at a pension fund to helping a venture-backed digital media company with their burgeoning consumer effort.  That would not have been possible had it not been for the opportunity that everyone here at USV afforded me...   from the front row seat that Brad and Fred made sure I had for all of our meetings, investment discussions, and interaction with entrepreneurs, to Kerri's patience for having to sit next to me day in and day out in "reception".

Brad and Fred have been great mentors.  I knew this was going to be a great fund when I evaluated them for GM back in 2004, but I really didn't understand how far ahead of the pack they were until after I got here.  Right around the time that I got here was when they were talking to Joshua from del.icio.us...   I totally didn't get it.  Bookmarks?  Tagging?  Not many VCs would have understood it at such an early stage either.  I got it soon enough, though.  These guys were ahead of the curve by a year and I definitely benefited from the insight the market gave them credit for.  Union Square Ventures developed a great brand in a short period of time, and that granted me access to a deep and knowledgeable network of people. 

Think of working at USV like MBA 2.0.  Lots of networking.  Lots of "case studies".  We met a ton of companies and in each and every single one of those meetings, there was something to be learned... some new way of thinking...  or an inspiration for a thought experiment of our own.  It was the most educational birds eye view of Everything 2.0 that I could have had....  and so to all of the entrepreneurs I was lucky enough to meet with while I was here, thank you for your time, your passion, and your attempts to reshape and improve the world.

The only difficult thing was that, when you're an analyst, you don't really live and die by your own sword.  You contribute to decisions, but it is difficult to have direct impact on your company.  Plus, any company that interacts with us here can tell you that we're a passionate group of users that love to play product manager with a whiteboard once in a while to generate ideas.  Sometimes, in that process, you meet a company whose product and its potential you can't shake out of your head--one where you feel like you have some unique insight or talent that could be the missing piece of a great puzzle.  When we met with Adi, Oren, and Gil from Oddcast, I felt that from the start.  I wrote about why we were excited about Oddcast as an investment on the USV blog.  But here, on my blog, I'll tell you why I am personally excited about this opportunity...  as a company and just in terms of my own personal opportunity.

If there's anything that we've learned over the past two years or so on the web, is that if you give people a fun and flexible way to express themselves and connect to other people, great things happen.  The most interesting new voice in media is us, and we are a growing part of our own digital experience.  In Oddcast, I see a company with a platform that enables self expression in a unique way and one that has some key components--mobile and voice--that have the potential to create an exponential amount of social interaction and value to the end user. 

This is going to be a fun challenge and a tremendous opportunity for me.  I get to work together with a great team to figure out how users want to express themselves digitally and what those expressions will look like.  The Oddcast platform is a great base to build on and it is going to enable what is potentially a very creative and unique business model--one that I'm confident brands and advertisers are going to be very interested in.

So all I can say is stay tuned, because I'm jumping in the game here, coming a big step closer to fulfilling the nomenclature of this blog...

People spend a lot of time on paying attention to social networks, but I don't think enough time is spent on social features.  A social feature is one that brings another person into your digital experience... whether its "send to a friend" or commenting or subscribing to a friend's photos.  It actually needs to be a feature, though, and not just "add friends" w/o any context of why you would be adding these friends.

Social has become a bit of a Web 2.0 buzzword, so I was thinking today about some of the concrete value propositions that building in social features represents.

Good post on Superman and the American Way from Jarvis.

I haven't done one of these in a while, but I think I came up with a good one on the train.

Why isn't anyone doing free VOIP-based, ad supported wakeup callsand meeting reminders?

It seems so easy...  Create a little plugin in Outlook or even easier, cc an e-mail address for the wakeup service and let it call you using a VOIP backend, but with a relevent advertisement as part of the message.  You could generate very targeted ads depending on the time, keywords in the event, location, or even letting the carrier tip you off on your geolocation on the call. 

"Its 6AM... time to wake up for your 9AM Meeting with Jim.   For a quick pick me up, drop by the Jamba Juice on 22nd and 5th for a Bright Eyed and Blueberry.  Tell them we sent you and receive 10% off!"

Just the wakeup calls alone could generate lots of ads from Jamba, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, 7Eleven, etc.  Throw in 1-800 Flowers and FTD for Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc.

Plus, the neat thing is that you could private label it for anyone with a quick paste of some HTML.  Conferences could use it, too.

Knowing where someone is or needs to be, the context of what they'll be doing, and being able to reach them at an appropriate time with an opt-in call should make for great ad potential.  Its probably not too hard to setup either.

Feel free to take this plan and build a company.  Its all yours.

Ok, here's something from the, "I don't know nearly enough about my representatives" catagory...

Hilary Clinton doesn't support gay marriage.  Really?  I had no idea. 

So, wait...   if 52% of the people (to 38%) of the people in your state are supportive of it, and you're the elected representative, then who exactly are you representing?

I'm a fan of the domino effect... letting the states decide who they want to issue licenses to (since they are, in fact, state licenses)...   but its going to be really hard when the supportive states have politicians with their own agenda propping up the domino. 

On one hand, she attacks the anti-gay marriage amendment, chastizing Republicans...   and on the other she has said in the press that marriage is "between a man and a woman."

In other news, her 2008 Presidential Campaign slogan just got annouced.

Hilary Clinton: I'm for whatever will get me elected.... which means trying to present myself so deeping entrenched in the center that I don't actually stand for anything.

A lot of good that did John Kerry...

In 2008, I hope we have a choice between Mike Bloomberg/John McCain and Al Gore/Barack Obama.   I actually think only one of these four, Gore, will make it onto any ticket, but still, with a choice like that, you'd have to feel pretty good about your vote, no matter which way it came out.

I like Scott Adam's ability to make us all realize how self-important we all are.

Today he covered flag burning.

Now, I'm not a fan of flag burning the same way I'm not a fan of tearing up Pope photos or defacating on Yankee jerseys.  (oh... wait... about that last one... that's probably ok)    But I'd never want to go so far as to make it illegal. 

I love his reasoning:

"For me, a flag that I’m NOT allowed to burn is a symbol that the government is too intrusive in my life. And it’s an insult to anyone who died to defend freedom. But that’s just me. You might prefer your symbols of freedom to have as many restrictions as possible.

It seems to me that the great thing about the flag is that it symbolizes something inherently indestructible: the concept of freedom. You can burn the flag as many times as you want and the concept of freedom is not only still there – it’s stronger. I like that about my flag. I would go so far as to say it’s my flag’s best feature."

The American Flag: Growing stronger with every match.  You can't burn freedom, punks.

On Wednesday night, the Google NYC office opened its doors to nextNY to give us an insider's view of what its like to work there, what they're working on, and what the future holds... and, we hoped, maybe hire a few of us.  :)

It was a great showing on both sides.  nextNY had around 100 attendees and the Google side was well represented by Marcus Mitchell, David Eun, Tom Thai, Dominic Preuss and Dennis Crowley.  We spoke about a lot of great stuff and the environment their is very open and upfront... hence the reason why I can't go into too much detail about all of it!  :)   Still, it was great to have kicked off our Open House series with such an accomodating host.  Hopefully, after this, we'll start to see more tech firms like Google reach out to engage the local community through us in the future.

Zach reminded me of something I've said to a lot of creative people I know...  there's going to be big demand in short video ad spots for the web.  The explosion of video on the web is going to drive the need for video advertising, and repurposed 30 sec TV spots aren't going to cut it.   If I were going to start a non-tech business, it would be a video ad creation firm.

...other times you need to hit them over the head with a brick.

I run a mentoring program and attendence at some of our breakfasts was lagging because many of the students were afraid of their i-banking internship peers getting more hours in the office than them.  So I sent them this note:

STUDENTS, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ AND CONSIDER THIS…

I’ve spoken to a number of students who are experiencing some issues attending breakfasts because of work conflicts or just the requirements of their job’s hours. 

I understand this.  When you joined SEMI back in January, you probably figured that one breakfast a week that ended at 8:30/9 would be easy to attend.  Then you got to your internships and not only did you feel the pressure of competition from other interns, but you feel like the offer is looming over you and you don’t want to risk anything. 

This is an interesting thought exercise in the psychology of market behavior.  Students think that the way to get an offer is to outwork their peers on the job…  to beat them out in terms of hours spent.  To not miss any gatherings, getogethers, or meetings.  So, every student does the same thing… works ridiculous hours an attends everything.  Because they’re all acting the same way, their ability to actually differentiate from their peers is minimal, and the cost of this minimal differentation is great…  lots of hours, lots of stress.

Is there a better approach?  What about if you said to your supervisor at your i-banking firm, “I have the opportunity to go to Blackstone’s offices and meet with some key people there.  I really feel like making some of these contacts might make me more valuable to the firm and I’d be happy to make up the hours another day.”   

First off, there’s no doubt that you would be more valuable to the firm in my mind.  Second, now you’ve seperated yourself from the pack.  You’ve presented yourself as a go-getter looking to add value to the firm in several different ways, not just through hours. 

But is there risk?  Will you be the only one not going to a meeting?  Showing up at 9:30 one day?  Will that look bad?  Will you lose your offer?

Maybe if you skipped out to go to Great Adventure or because you were hungover… but if you approached your manager and told them exactly what you were doing. absolutely not.  Plus, the worst that could happen is that they say no.

Actually, that’s not true.  That’s not the worst that could happen.  The worst that could happen is that they say no and they’re not happy in your taking interest in talking to other firms and making professional connections… and that you still actually go to work for these people who are so closed minded and unreasonable

You should really be aiming to work in an environment where you have supervisors that take an active interest in your professional development and see the benefit of the networking connections that a visit to Blackstone would bring in.  If they don’t, do you really want to work for them anyway?  Now is the time when you should be aiming high, being a little idealistic, and taking these types of “risks” (even though I don’t think this is very risky.)  Behaving just like everyone else and trying to be the last one out of the office is something you do when you’re at a place 20 years and you’re trying to protect your reputation or your pension.  Its not something you do now at this age.  It strikes me that so many of you want to work in investing, where people get paid for taking risk and only for taking risk, yet many students I speak with are so paralyzed by fear that they don’t want to step an inch out of like at their precious internships. 

You’re too young and have too much potential to start conceding these types of quality of life issues.  I’ve always strived to work for employers who understood that the more well rounded and balanced I was, the more valuable I was to the firm…. and they saw me as more valuable to the firm than the firm being valuable to me.  I was the capital… I was the product, and they took an active interest in my development and well being…and happiness, too.  That’s why I had a unique career path that was different than the strict paths many of you are hanging on for dear life to.

And then people ask me how to get into private equity.  You want to know how to get into private equity?  Take an hour off from your internship tomorrow.  Come to Blackstone (in business attire) tomorrow morning, and make great friends with [one of the hosts of our breakfast].  Stay in touch with her… try to angle your way into a lunch.  Impress the hell out of her so you can score some inroads to a fall internship or a chance to recruit at Blackstone, the #1 Buyout firm in the

US

But, no, I’ll still probably only see 10 of you there tomorrow and you’ll sacrifice the rest of the summer, killing yourself when you didn’t really need to, to get a position you probably had in the bag anyway without tomorrow morning’s extra hour or two.  Then, when you’re 25, you’ll be totally burnt out and you’ll meet me at a SEMI reunion and ask me about getting into private equity or venture capital again.  Trust me, its very frustrating to watch when students don’t realize that real success means blazing your own trail on your own terms.

That’s all I have to say.  I hope to see more than 8 of you tomorrow.

Charlie

The other day, I went into Duane Reade to buy some deodorant.

There were two on the shelf of the brand I normally buy, in two different scents:

STORM FORCE and cool mountain misty flower breeze somethingorother fluffy cotton bunnies

Now, of course I bought STORM FORCE, because that's the way I want to smell...  like the FORCE of a STORM.  STORM FORCE-- Two words that imply power, but mean absolutely nothing when put together in that order. 

I need this.  I must have this.  I want to walk down the street with a team of roofers behind me replacing shingles on rooftops.  I don't want admirers... I want debris.  FEMA should call me every morning after I put it on to see if everything is ok.

STORM FORCE

STORM FORCE

Because most of all, that's the way women want their men smelling, right?

Hmm... wait... I need to rethink this.

Maybe STORM FORCE wasn't the right move there.

Perhaps I should have gone with the misty cool fluffy mountain bunnies.

Steak at Palm, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Pretty good stuff!

The Dynamic Duo, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Dan and Heather... Softball powerhouse couple

Here are some short clips of the Ladies of the Club on Saturday...  I would have taken more, but it was raining and my camera isn't waterproof.  More here.   Flickr pics, too.