755
Barry Bonds hit his 755th home run last night...
...off a pitcher who had previously been suspended 15 games for using steriods back in 2005.
How's that for ironic?
When Mark McGwire hit number 62, we were all pretty much excited for him... at least if you go by the ratings and the fannies in the seats. That's because he was a likeable guy. A likeable, acne scarred guy whose body was freakishly bigger that it had been ten years prior. His head didn't seem to swell in proportion to the way Bonds had (literally and figuratively), but we knew what the deal was, and frankly we didn't care.
Last night, Barry Bonds was that nice guy. He carried his son, dodged any questions about the controversy, and even pointed the spotlight on A-Rod and Tom Glavine during his press conference. He was even gracious about the Bud Selig hubbub.
As a fan, I'll tell you right now, I could seriously care less whether or not Selig's ugly mug is at the 756 game and I don't think Bonds cares either.
We all know what the deal is with Barry and not only would he have been a first ballot Hall of Famer regardless of the steroids, but A-Rod will likely break his record. So, in the grand scheme of things, Barry is going to be a blip, and hopefully, so will Selig. I don't know how someone gets to be elected commisioner or if they can be fired, but Selig has acted like a first class jerk this whole time. Baseball never had drug testing before very recently, and benefitted greatly from the juicy home run chases of the late 90's. Now we're "clean", but lets not pretend that Buddy boy wasn't looking the other way to protect the bottom line.
So, now that we're on the verge of history--a history like all other history, clouded by human fallibility--the least Bud can do for baseball is to sit back and watch another ball fly like the rest of us and allow us to move on. Smile and clap or stay home, Bud. I don't like Barry Bonds... I almost did last night... ok, I sorta did... but this is my game and I'm behind it, and looking forward to the future. Unless you were bashing McGwire out of the side of your mouth nine years ago, you have no right to muddy this moment now.
One day, we will live in a world without...
John C. Dvorak.
"Today everything from YouTube to the local church has a
social-networking angle. And this doesn't even consider the actual
social-networking sites, from MySpace to LinkedIn to Facebook to even
Second Life. This scene is totally out of control and will contribute
to the collapse for sure."
Yeah, that's some iron clad logic there, Johnny.
"Excuse Me" APIs: Why most Facebook apps disappoint
Alright... most of 'em just downright suck. But why? Is the Facebook platform not all it is cracked up to be?
Many people are giving the excuse that the really robust versions of our favorite web apps just haven't had time to get built, but doesn't that violate everything we learned in BizDev 2.0? If every time you need to syndicate your service to another place, you need to rebuild, your infrastructure is not optimized for a world of small pieces loosely joined, aggregated, remixed, mashed up, etc. Aren't all these applications supposed to be able to live and function anywhere?
There are two main reasons why the current group of Facebook apps have been generally unappealing:
1) Like many websites, many of them were not meant to be any more than amusing wastes of time. We went from catblogging to sheep tossing, which is fine.
2) Many web services develop their own APIs as an afterthought--a narrow bottleneck through which Facebook users are struggling to squeeze utility, since most of the FB apps use the original app's API.
For applications that are essentially powered by data (i.e. Most of Web 2.0), you essentially have a database, input mechanisms and output - a way to call, manipulate and present the data. Ideally, they're built in such a way that they're largely agnostic as to where the input and the output occurs. Even the business models should be such so that any user, any piece of data, anything can be monetized or contribute to monetization even if it occurs off of your main site.
In fact, the very idea of "conversions" should have no meaning here. You shouldn't be trying to pull users off Facebook... you should be shoving the full functionality and business model of your app IN Facebook. If your Facebook app has no business model, then your service has no business model. If you're building a service and designing it in such a way that the ultimate goal is land at your destination, that kind of territoriality is going to be a major stumbling block with partners.
Take Voki, for example. The Voki avatars are powered by the Oddcast avatar engine and audio database--neither of which actually live at Voki.com. They live on some wacky internal Oddcast domain and unless we wanted to clone that engine and database, which we didn't, Voki.com had to be built in such a way that it actually used our own APIs. So, the site is essentially the first partner implementation of itself. The core features of Voki.com--launching an editor, saving an avatar creation to a database, publishing it to a page, calling previously made scenes--are all fully functional within our API. Therefore, you could recreate an implementation of Voki just about anywhere you wanted--which is essentially what we did on Facebook. There's a link to create your avatar, a button thta publishes it back to our system, and ways to call previous scenes. We rely on the Facebook side of the API to distribute those scenes to the Newsfeed, specific friends or your profile.
Actually, one could argue that the Voki app that is on Facebook is better and more useful than the one on Voki.com. That was our idea for the partner program--that partners bring with them a context and a purpose unique to that environment. Voki in an instant messenger chat box would be more compelling than the Voki on Voki.com and so would Voki on event invitations, fantasy sports bulletin boards, etc.
Your destination site should actually be the least compelling implementation of your product, because it has to serve mass appeal and has no context for participation and use.
Developers and entrepreneurs need to stop thinking about Facebook as s different way to build or even a different place to build.. its a partnership deal plain and simple... and your app needs to be easily "partnerable" without a ton of custom work. Databases need to flow across your platform and users should be able to encounter it at multiple touch points, but it shouldn't require a major rebuild.
Old business models working against college students
All of the major job sites have career content on them... Monster, Careerbuilder, Hotjobs...
...but they're not really there to actually help you. They're probably just on there to keep you on the site longer or act as linkbait. At the end of the day, we all know that their cash is coming in from perpetuating the old business model of paying for job posts and selling resumes to recruiters--essentially playing both sides. They're never really going to help you find a job the way every career expert says you should be looking--networking your way to opportunities and putting yourself out there. When I work with college students, I always tell them that the goal is that, when they graduate, they never ever have to submit their resume to any traditional job post--that someone who knows them seeks them out for an opportunity. When I ran the GM pension fund's internship program, we had 3000 resumes come in through Monster for 12 positions. Half of those jobs got filled through networking. That's a dirty little secret that Monster & Co. doesn't want college students to know.
Well, it seems the word is getting out. Monster reported disappointing earnings and announced a restructuring recently. In a 2.0 world where services like Indeed can aggregate jobs from company web sites, professional association boards, smaller niche boards, as well as the big sites, there's just not a strong value proposition for being a big player who charges employers hundreds of dollars per post. Of course, that doesn't even cover the fact that they then go and charge schools to be on the system.
That's not the only business model that works against student interests. Some sites, like Vault.com, have premium subscription areas. That's great for students who can afford it, but a lot of students are just barely scraping by as it is. Holding back your best info for the students who can pay for it isn't just an old business model, I sort of think its morally questionable as well, but I digress.
If students themselves make up the shallowest pockets you ever want to build your business model on, then certainly the career offices aren't far behind. Most of them are understaffed and underbudgeted and simply cannot afford to pay for expensive subscriptions. To be honest, I highly doubt most of these subscriptions are worth it anyway. Do you think the content could be better or more timely than what the best industry bloggers are writing about?
For the most part, if you're in the content business, and you don't think you can generate more money from advertising than you can from subscriptions, you're basically telling me that your content isn't useful enough that people would actually want to use it. A lot of career counselors question whether or not they're getting their money's worth when it comes to all of these subscription services, or rather if the students are using it enough to find it useful, but they have little alternative. The way I'm tapped into my career--through blogs, social networks, unconferences, listservs, etc... all for free... no one's really packaging that up for the college crowd. Instead, a lot of people are gauging them with old business models and propriety content.
Yesterday's Bike Tour
I had a meeting with my friend Angela who runs Sarah Lawrence's career counseling office yesterday morning and decided to bike up to Bronxville. Later on that day, I had to be back down to Fordham Lincoln Center, and then on the Upper East Side for dinner. In total, I did about 60 miles.
The early morning bike up to Bronxville was quite nice, although Kimball Avenue in Yonkers is a steep uphill climb at parts. There was one glitch, though. I got another flat... this time at 8:15, before bike shops are open, around 14th and the East River. Instead of twiddling my thumbs, I decided to hop on the subway with the bike up to the Upper East Side to the bike shop on 88th/Lex to make up for lost time and catch them right at opening.
I was leisurely taking photos on the way up, but cut that short when the flat held me up. Still, I got some cool photos along the way:
Pugsley's is a Fordham favorite and I was dying for a chicken roll, but I forgot they were closed for the summer, so I headed out to Arthur Ave to Full Moon...
Birthday Steak... Suggestions?
My best friend Brian, who I know since t-ball the summer before first grade, and I take each other out to steak for our respective birthdays and also job promotions and such--a tradition we've been doing for the last few years.
So far, between us, we've been to the following places:
- Del Frisco
- Ben Benson
- Ruth's Chris (Charlie)
- Morton's (Charlie)
- Sparks (Charlie)
- Smith and Wollensky's (Brian)
- Strip House
- Gallaghers (Charlie)
- Angelo and Maxie's (Charlie)
- Peter Lugars
- Palm
- Old Homestead
- Michael Jordan's (lunch)
- Wolfgang's
We're looking to go somewhere Friday that we've both never been... suggestions on short order?
links for 2007-08-01
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The Voki widget is the most robust flash application to date on Facebook.
Voki Launches Facebook App
One of my last tasks at Oddcast was to get a Facebook application out. Using our partner APIs, which allow us to add Voki to nearly any environment, we were able to build the app pretty quickly after I specced it out. You can create a Voki and send it to individual friends, broadcast it in your newsfeed or paste it to your profile.
So, given all the noise about how crowded Facebook is getting, if you want to make sure your friends really get the message, try using your own voice and a speaking character that looks like you, or a fish, or a robot, or whatever... Get the Voki Facebook app!
mmmm... Dogfood: Telling people about my idea
As a general rule, I never signed an NDA while I was at USV.
I was also recently talking to a startup about potential employment who wanted me to sign one, too. I balked.
I've been banging the transparency drum for quite a while--the idea that you should tell as many people as possible about what you're up to and not worry about keeping your idea a secret. The basis of that is as follows:
- Chances are that if your idea is a good one, in a big enough space, someone's already had it, so you won't really be tipping anyone off.
- It doesn't take long to build anything, so even if you kept it secret, at most you're going to have a three or four month headstart, which is pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
- The idea isn't nearly as valuable as the execution. You could say you're going to build a LolCat maker, but if you can only use one kind of cat, its not going to get any traction whatsoever. The devil is in the details.
- Speaking of the details, you're likely to get them wrong the first time anyway...or learn more as you go along, so your first idea is never really a good one.
But the question is, will I eat my own dogfood? I had a conversation about this with an entrepreneur a little while ago and we both agreed that when its your own startup idea--the one you're really passionate about--there's a slight bit of hesitation. I certainly understand the fear... that you tell someone you're working on something and the one competitor that could ever possibly do what you're doing turns around and releases your idea and puts all of its weight behind it--all before you could even hire your first developer.
But that's paranoia. Reality tells us that startups, for the most part, move faster and can focus better on particular problems. That's why big companies buy startups--they know they can't really build things internally and get it right, let alone on time and under budget.
On top of that, by not being public about what you're up to, you lose the opportunity for feedback and collaboration. Perhaps someone out there has already tried what you are thinking of and has some tips. Or, they bring with them a completely complimentary skills set and could be a potential partner. You never know until you start talking it up.
Plus, I'm convinced that, to be successful, you really need to immerse yourself in the community you're trying to serve. If you want to do a healthcare services startup, you need to be in the healthcare community talking with doctors, patients, etc. Tell then what your ideas are. Get feedback. Get new ideas. Entrepreneurs who work in well protected bubbles (echo chambers) do not succeed... do not generate momentum... their ideas die on the vine.
Still, its scary just putting it out there.
With all that being said, I'm going to start a conversation here--a conversation about an area that I'm exploring. Yes, to do a startup. Its funny because I always said I'd never do one. I also used to say I'd never work at a VC, too, and also had no interest in working for a portfolio company. Thankfully, I've also said many times that I also have no interest in being really rich, too, so I should be set there.
So what is it? What's the space? Partners? Funding? Etc. Patience, grasshopper. There's a lot to do and a lot to talk about and there will be no shortage of coverage on this blog.
Adults riding tricycles:Facebook Backruptcy
Jason's exhausted by Facebook. OM calls it Facebook Fatigue.
Do you know how many friend requests I have waiting for me? None.
Why? Because I don't ask people to connect to me who aren't my friend and don't link to my Facebook in my feed everyday.
I mean, what's the point of being friends with all of my blog readers of Facebook? Do I want to see the latest photos uploaded by the 2000 people who read my blog? Um, sorry, not really.
When Fred says "[Jason is] drawing attention to the problems with Facebook", he's really not seeing how the average person on Facebook, which is still a college student or recent grad, is using it. I picked out the first five actual college students that I'm friends with and counted up their apps. They average less than 3 a person. Fred's got about a dozen or so, as do I, but I'd never think I was the average user. A lot of these TechMeme All-Stars are extrapolating their own experience... all six weeks of it, and making judgments on the whole platform. Man, if I was a college kid interested in getting hired by a VC firm, I'd start a blog all about how college kids actually use Facebook. I'd be doing polls of my friends, video interviews, etc. I think it would be an eyeopener for all of us, frankly.
Hearing Jason complain about all his requests is like when your older cousin comes and plays with all your stuff, breaks it, then hands it back to you and says, "This doesn't work... its busted."
You know who really knows something about Facebook? danah... because she actually spends much of her time talking to the kids who are on it. There's no substitute for getting out there and talking to young people, whether its in a classroom or in focus groups or whatever. My time spent in the classroom last semester was incredibly valuable for me to talk to students about how they actually use the internet. At least Fred has a few kids of his own he can talk to and stay grounded in.
Twitter Funded: Don't be a Hater
I'm so excited that Twitter and USV are now FOLLOWing each other.
But I do hear a few murmers here and there that go something like, "I don't get it... what's the business model?"
A lot of people criticize Web 2.0 apps because they don't have an apparent business model up front. What people aren't seeing, however, is that value creation is a business model at such an early stage.
When semiconductor startups get funded, it takes quite a lot of money to design and build a chip, and revenues are often nowhere to be found for the first year or two of the company's life. No one complains about the business model, however, because its simple:
"We're building these little things and people will by them. See...we drew a hockey stick. We have a business model."
But having a business model in Excel has never stopped a hardware company from going under. Why? One of the main reasons is technology risk. Its entirely possible that while you're building your hardware, some genius at MIT will invent a chip standard that the whole industry adopts while you're still touring fabrication plants in China. Plus, you may not be able to build exactly what you want to build because, as Wile E. Coyote will tell you, sometimes it doesn't exactly work the way you want it to. For example, there was a company around a few years ago called AirFiber. AirFiber was supposed to solve the last mile problem by shooting teh interwebs around with frickin' laser beams through the air. The technology completely worked in the lab and you could get the internet from building to building without digging up the ground. The business model? Sell these laser routers to telecom companies. Simple, right?
Not so much. Turns out that the beam wasn't wide enough and when the telecoms tested the stuff out in the field, they kept getting blips... birds would fly through the beam. Telecoms balked before they could update the technology. Business model: Fekked.
The point I'm making is that today's web service startups have very different characteristics. There's little to no technology risk...because you can build just about anything. Ever hear someone say, "We were going to have a wiki in it, but we just couldn't get the thing working." Therefore, people assume that you should automatically fast forward the development of the business to the point where you should pretty much start generating revenues as soon as you build it. That's a little bit unfair, because these things are different animals. Its not entirely clear exactly how some of these things will get monetized and sometimes it takes creating value first to see it.
Take Google and Skype. Google created lots of value for its users by building a great search engine. Only then did someone realize you had a great inventory of expressed demand that you could advertise against. So, instead of technology risk, investors took the business/execution risk that the smart folks they surrounded the company with would figure out the business side.
In the same way, Skype, as a P2P app could never have charged for its services until it got to a critical mass of distribution. Just because you built it and it works doesn't mean the product is done.
So, we can all guess what Twitter's business model is going to be, but you know what, we'll probably be wrong. It doesn't matter because the metrics that count, like active user growth and engagement are all pointing in the write direction. This is a company creating value for its users, and doing it with more and more users everyday. It will find a business model and at first, value creation for users is, in fact, a business model. Its the very reason why Web 2.0 startups fail--they just don't build anything particularly compelling for users.
Others say that you had a similar problem with Web 1.0... poor business models... it was just about the eyeballs. This is a misconception. There wasn't any more crap in Web 1.0 than Web 2.0 or frankly at any time in the history of innovation. The issue was a capital issue. Venture got way overfunded, grew too fast on the cost side, went public too fast and blew up when valuations disappeared under the scrutiny of the public markets. Its not like these things didn't have potential. Webvan may have gone under, but Fresh Direct makes a really nice little business here in NYC and they didn't raise nearly the kind of cash that Webvan did. eToys may have gone under, but you can probably buy all that stuff on Amazon now.
Business model or no business model, it really comes down to careful, rational, smart execution, and realistic funding. I have no doubt that some West Coast firm probably wanted to put $10 million into Twitter and then probably would have followed up with another $15 million a year from now and that's the kind of thing that ruins businesses.
Trip Recap... Santa Barbara and the End
Anytime I hear "Santa Barbara", it makes me think of The Graduate, when Ben is searching for Elaine at her college and he shows up at her fionce's frat house and asks about the location for the wedding.
"Where's the makeout king getting married?"
"Santa Barbara!"
That's where we headed for our final stop for a few days... to Mere's parents house. The drive down along the coast was really beautiful and we couldn't get over how blue the water was.
It was a long drive, though... like a really slow rollercoaster... up and down and around... Don't plan on averaging any more than about 35 or 40 down the coast when all is said and done. Plus, you'll want to stop at every scenic overlook, too... and you probably should!
We finally made it to her parents house on Sunday afternoon, just in time for dinner. Her dad is really amazing with their outside grill, but even more amazing as project manager for the construction of their house. He planned and built their house from an empty patch of land at the top of the hill, and while they're still doing little things like putting in doors and furnishing, its really amazing.
If I had this pool, I'd be in it everyday... drifting.. here in the pool... Ben Braddock style.
Maybe one day we can get Mere's dad to do a video tour Bob Vila style, because knowing her dad, there's a story behind those lights, the fences, the arch, and every stone... the attention to detail was really impressive.
Mere at home... finally!
Getting to stay in one place for a few days, as the driver, was a welcome rest. Her parents were gracious hosts and joined us for a Dodgers - Phillies game, too.
In the end, the EuroPod (Subaru Tribeca), made it 5594.3 miles, and did 20.9 MPG over that span. The... ah-hem... two speeding tickets have been paid for (my mom, who is now reading this blog, and, to her credit, sent me a Plugoo message the other day... didn't know about the second one...) and will not show up on my insurance b/c such is the out of state policy for the New York Department of Motor Vehicles. It was a little short on pickup, but then again, I'm used to driving a car with 300HP. It was a very comfortable drive, though, and picking up a portable XM radio was a clutch decision.
Oh, and for those of you that took bets in the pool... there were no arguments. None. 5594.3 smooth miles.
So thanks to everyone who housed us, fed us, met up with us for lunch, brunch, etc... We had an absolute blast and will be sure to visit you all soon again... and fly there... and stay longer.