Finally cashed in on my birthday steak
Four months later, I finally get my Del Frisco's birthday steak, courtesy of my friend Brian.
Ladders Shwag: Wheatgrass in a can
I'll let you know if the seeds... Um... Do their job. :/
links for 2007-12-10
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Marc Orchant's last twitter message... reaching out to support someone else trying to quit smoking.
A better, more responsive blog, powered by Disqus
I just started using the Disqus e-mail response feature. This way, I can respond to your blog comments just by responding to the notification through e-mail. When I get notified that you comment, I can instantly, with one e-mail, post my own comment without even going to the blog.
That means that you're so much more likely to get timely responses from me in the comments! I can also delete comment spam by just responding with "delete". Sah-weet!
So comment away and expect this to be much more of a discussion.
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Tech Open House, OpenAlley, NYCamp... whatever you want to call it: An idea to promote NYC Tech to outsiders
I had a little exchange the other day via Twitter with Todd Earwood. Todd's a part of the Louisville blogger mafia, which includes Rob May, Matt Winn, and Ashley Cecil. I told them that they need to all make it up to the city one of these days.
At the same time, I just saw that Frank Gruber is planning a trip out here soon as well. Tara and Chris make somewhat regular appearances in the Big Apple as well.
MBA students from MIT Sloan also made a recent trip to see some NYC companies... Path 101 hosted a group to show them what we were up to.
A lot of times, these trips involve a notification of blog friends at the last minute, maybe a Dopplr post, but certainly not a well coordinated red carpet.
What if we got all these occasional tech visitors to all come visit the city in one single week? We could have a big NYC Open House for the tech community. We could coordinate meetings, hold open houses at big and small companies alike. We could get the NYC gov't involved, get group hotel rates, maybe hold it around a conference. Plus, we could do something social, like all get Mets tix. (They play SF in July!)
When would be a good time for this? Who can we get involved? Who would come?
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Rant of the Day: Fridays with Falls
DailyIdea is a cool video blog run by some friends in Louisville. One of their staff, Jason Falls, had a run-in with mall security and let 'em have it on their site.
Best quote:
"Interpersonal communications lies at the keystone of the consumer experience. If applicants for jobs that interface with the public don't have that, don't hire them!
If you're interviewing someone for a low level job, here's a test. Ask them this question:
"How are you?"
If they respond, "I'm fine, and you?" they're hired.
If they lapse into some saga about their ex-girlfriend, car trouble, or mild case of shingles, cut 'em loose.
"How are you?" is rhetorical. No one cares how you are. We just wanna know you're not a mouth breathing sociopath who's going to scare off our customers."
Here's the whole video:
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Edgeio To Shut Down - The $5 million lesson that Mike Arrington learned
"...it is unwise for a company to spend a lot of money building out infrastructure before a product proves itself."Edgeio To Shut Down - In The DeadPool
Hmm... You'd think that reviewing all those tech companies a day would have made that more obvious.
Let me take this moment to shamelessly plug the deep discounts offered by the Sun Startup Essentials Program, who helped Path 101 out with our hardware needs. They understand that cash is king and they're interested in working with promising companies to enable them to thrive, not just burn a lot of cash upfront "according to plan".
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links for 2007-12-05
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This may come in handy when we go to schools...
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Gmail's IMAP support roll-out this week had nerds all atwitter about the possibility of synchronized email access across devices computers
#71 on the 2007 Silicon Alley 100! Sah-weet.
To be honest, it's just an honor to be nominated, but I won't lie... It's pretty friggin' cool to be on Silicon Alley Insider's list of 100 "most influential folks in New York digital business".
And you know what else I'm really glad about? That I'm so far down. Clearly, the list is going to be a big learning exercise for a lot of the young Web 2.0 crowd who thinks that haven't a blog means having influence. Get to know these people folks... they're the men and women behind the curtain... the names you've never heard of. They don't all show up at Meetups and they don't all blog, but they eat millions of dollars for breakfast.
My thoughts:
Biggest omission: Jeremy Philips. At 33, Jeremy is the "driving force" behind News Corp's reported interest in LinkedIn. He's the EVP in the Office of the Chairman of News Corp. Not even on the list. Are you serious?? That's a big miss, guys. Jason Rapp, by comparison, is #74 and he holds just about the same title that Phillips used to have as head of all internet acquisitions.
Should have been higher: The Connected Ventures Team. Their ability to consistently create properties that appeal to a youth audience, from CollegeHumor, BustedTees, to Vimeo is something that makes them all extremely valuable to big media companies. Clearly, IAC isn't valuing that enough, as the boys are dropping like flies from that wacky looking building on the west side, but I'm sure someone else will. Look for these guys to have very long and productive careers in digital media. They deserve to be more than just one notch ahead of me.
Correction: Path 101 is not "a social network/job site for college grads". Here's the description from our site:
"Path 101 is a NYC-based startup company focused on career discovery on the web. The site helps everyone from college students to professionals in late-career transition figure out their next career steps using innovative analysis of publicly available resumes and profiles, community powered advice, and personality assessments. Job candidates can figure out what "people like me" are doing with their careers and the site aims to be the first stop for career research--a "pre-Monster.com".
Anyway... in general, I think it's a really good job of capturing a lot of various different types of influencers.
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Does Jamba know we Twit?: 10 ways marketers should take advantage of Twitter (lol!)
Do you know what Twitter is yet?
It's the reason more and more of the blogs you read have been referring to people as @innonate and @robmay.
Twitter is a social network based on one simple concept: What are you doing? It takes the concept of a Facebook or AIM status message and yanks it from those closed networks and applies it as an open platform. You can send Twitter messages from GTalk, the web, various clients built on an API, or, most importantly, by SMS on your phone.
While not a mainstream tool yet, it's become a very popular service among key blogging influencers.
One interesting feature is Tracking. Tracking allows you to get any mention of a term sent straight to your phone. So, if you are a Twitter user and you send "track snot" to 40404, every time the word "snot" appears in a Twitter message, it will get sent to you.
Being an avid fan of Jamba Juice, I track "jamba".
I figured I'd get a sporadic mention here and there, but, as it turns out, Twitterers are avid Jamba Juicers and I regularly get posts.
(MONEKE): Jamba juice here i come
(lunaraine): i've introduced 2 new fruits into my life. lemon, meet blueberry and banana. we'll all get along just fine. i could go for Jamba Juice now.
(surfingfarmboy): Currently drinking a "Lime Sublime" smoothie at Mix Juice on Hollywood Rd. in Central Kong Kong. Mix Juice is a precise copy of Jamba.
(michryan): flag football is next, after Peet's and Jamba Juice. it's a branded family day.
When people talk about buzz marketing, tracking conversations, as you can see, Twitter is where it's at.
People ask about the business model... I have no doubt there's a serious business model in here providing tools and services to brands to enable them to help track these conversations, over and above the "track" feature. Who's talking about your brand? What other things do they talk about? Who are they? But before that happens, brands need to get serious about Twitter.
I'm quite sure Jamba Juice has no idea what's going on here, or if they have, they certainly missed this exchange:
(emilychang): 6 days ago i twittered i was jamba juicing.
today i got a $20 gift card in the mail from jamba juice to emily "twittered about jamba" chang!
(emilychang): turns out the jamba juice gifter wasn't a twitter-savvy company, but a nice gift from @ceonyc. haha Yeah... so I was the gifter.
You have to know the backstory. Quite a while ago, Emily and I got in a little blogger tiff, due to my slightly overaggressive poking of the bear. It totally blew up in my face. So, when I saw Emily's first Twitter message, I immediately thought this might be a good opportunity to bury the hatchet. I went to the site and got her a gift card. When I saw she thought it was from someone at Jamba Juice, I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Clearly, she gave the company too much credit for being Web 2.0 savvy. I mean, they don't even have a blog.
So what should they do? How can other brands and marketers use Twitter? Here are some suggestions, brought to you with the help of I Can Has Cheezburger.
Listen first. "Track" your brand, if nothing else. It's really great information. Unfortunately, you can only send tracks to your phone at the moment, but I'm sure that will change.
Listen more. "Follow" the key influencers and the people that are talking about your brand to here their stories, what other brands they use, what their lives are like, etc.- Create a Twitter account for your brand. It's easier than a blog. Can't find a person who can write two paragraphs a week that legal and PR approve of? How about just 140 characters or less at a time? You could get that approved daily without a lot of fuss, I'm sure. You can even send links through it... tips, news stories, links to a corporate blog if you have one.
Free stuff. A bunch of people sent around that "Buy one, get one free" coupon from Jamba that went around a month or two ago. That's how I found out about it...via Twitter tracking. Send links to coupons via Twitter... especially ones that can be redeemed with just a phone.
- Point of advertising follow up. You put your website on all your outdoor and transit ads, but how many times are people actually in front of a computer when they see it. Yet, they probably have their phone on them. Just tell them "Send 'follow jamba' to 40404" to get updates about Jamba Juice via Twitter. 40404 is an easy short code to remember, and instead of just being a one way communication tool, you're signing them up for a platform that enables them to be a connector and word of mouth marketer as well.
- Twit of the day. Encourage people to talk more about your product by holding "Twit of the day" contests that mention your brand.
Executive twittering. Twitter makes your staff seem more connected and real, and provides transparency. When they Twitter about their day, it gives outsiders insight into how decisions at the company are made. Its all the benefits of blogging, only with a much lower overhead. Doesn't even require a computer!- Mobile information. Use the Twitter API to build in an information tool via Twitter. Tell me where all the nearest Jamba Juices are when I send @jamba location 10010. Flavor of the week? @jamba weekly?
- Sponsor a Twitter display. Conferences are great places to allow people to interact live with a big TV display. Twitter allows people to send messages that can be displayed in prominent locations... like a conference backchannel. Connect a few big TVs up to a box, give people instructions, and slap your logo next to it, and you're now the sponsor of the communication hub, and again, enabling all your audience to go forth and spread the word.
- Track the competition. What are people saying about the other guy? Here's an opportunity to make the Folger's switch. "Bob normally drinks Folgers, but today, we've switched his regular coffee with Bright-eyed and blueberry. Let's follow his twits and see what happens.
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Tags: jambajuice, twitter
Trading Cash Compensation for Options in a Startup: A Formulaic Approach
Sean told me about this approach to compensating employees at an early stage startup and I'd be interested in some feedback:
You take what you normally would pay someone and for every dollar that they don't take in cash, you give them two dollars of equity.
So, if a developer normally gets paid $100k, and he agrees to work for your startup for $60k, then you have to give up $80k worth of options.
It's really the first time I've ever someone put something logical like that on paper. Has anyone seen this before?
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Subway Thumbing
I'm wearing a big red and black SkySports winter coat because my old coat is still at Oddcast...left there one day that warmed up enough for me not to need a coat on the way home I guess. I haven't had the time to go over there and pick it up. Hopefully I will tomorrow. Still, this coat is the best shwag I ever got... It came from my friend Allison who works at Showtime. Thanks, Babe. You know, bald guys are really susceptable to weather. I hate to admit it, but I get pretty cold in the winter now.
I hate waiting on this platform. 59th Street in Brooklyn...it's cold and everyone's pissed because they're like 20 min into their commute from Bay Ridge and they've made it all of two or three stops. I have Christmas gift I can actually think of wanting this year...a good electric toothbrush...one with a water pic. I love the idea of a water pic.... I'm a flosser, but it just seems so archaic. I need more technology in my mouth. I wouldn't mind bike pedal clips, too.
Train's here. Time to look around me to see if anyone looks like they want to push me in front of it. I do a lot of little things like that to prepare for random acts of violence. When I walk home alone late at night, I also hold my keys in my hand with my biggest key wedged in between my fingers sticking out. So, don't ever sneak up on me late at night, because I'm quite likely to stab you in the throat with the ignition key from my Mustang. What a way to go, huh? I also sit in the back of planes if I can, so I have a fighting chance in a crash. The last row is the safest because you have a shot of that tail breaking off and throwing you from the burning wreckage. Yes, this is something I think about when buying a plane ticket.
I just noticed in a banner ad today that ATT is selling the double sliding phone that Helio had, only with WM6. Pretty slick. Who says people don't notice ads.
I think I should be able to keep a running list of the ads I've seen to go back to them later and give them a thumbs up or down like hot or not.
I'm going to hit the heavy bag in the gym again this morning. I've been getting into that lately and it's a lot of fun.
I miss softball. I think I need to hit the batting cages this week. I'd hit everyday if I could. The Mets used to have this commercial with Lenny Harris as he was chasing the career pinch hits record. He'd carry around a bat all day just saying, "I hope I get to pinch hit today."
I heard my high school girlfriend is getting married. I haven't talked to her in years. It would be fun to just grab coffee one of these days and laugh about how young we were....man, twelve years ago. I watched a video of my first communion over the weekend. Twenty-one years ago...jeez. I had such a crush on my second grade teacher that I invited her to my party...and she came! There she was, twenty-seven year old Laura Cimmino (in case she ever Googles herself), at a party with my family, neighbors, and a bunch of seven and eight year olds. She's a year younger there than I am now. Wow... Mrs. Cimmino is like 48 now. Oh, that's hard to believe. OK, on that note, I'm out of here.
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Chocolate Rain: A plant from the beginning or unbelievable stroke of luck for Dr. Pepper?
Back in April, Zay Monday posted this "Chocolate Rain" video:
Over 11 million views and a summer of virality later, he's put out another take--this time, a "Cherry Chocolate Rain" video sponsored by Dr. Pepper, who just released a flavor of that name:
So... wait a sec... how did this happen?? Am I to believe that Dr. Pepper had this product in the works, and just by sheer dumb luck, found this guy writing about chocolate that happened to go viral and then convinced him to add "cherry" to the beginning and make a video?
What would their ad campaign be if this guy never existed?
How long was this product in the works? Any chance it was actually inspired by the video itself?
Or... any chance that the original video was a plant, six months in advance, making this the greatest viral advertising campaign stunt ever?
Imagine 6 flavors are being considered... they plant 6 ridiculous videos from 6 different people... and decide that whoever, if anyone" takes off, that's the flavor they're going to put into production, and use the popularity of the first video to push the second.
It's possible, no?
I'd love to see the inside scoop here.
It's hard for me to bet that the Dr. Pepper folks would have been so clever to plant the original so far in advance, but if I don't believe that, then the existence of Zay Monday is the greatest luck a brand ever had.
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