• gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards": so what's all this new marketing stuff, anyway?
  (tags: marketing)
• A Slice of Time - December 2007
  (tags: music)
• www.kilsy.com
  (tags: music)

Saturday night I went to go see Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie at the Garden.  It was a pretty good show and certainly the most animated I've ever seen Ozzy.  Clearly there are some invisible cattle prods going on there.  

Seeing Ozzy wasn't so much about the performance as it was just being able to get to see him, so I'm giving him a lot of leeway on the quality there.  Whatever energy he lacked, the crowd certainly made up for.

Rob Zombie, however, was an animal.  Here's a clip of one of my favorite songs, "Dragula":

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I caught this band Kilsy on TV last night...  so I checked out their site this morning. Admittedly, I don't know too much about indie music, so must of the stuff I listen to, if purchased, would like the pockets of music publishers, not the band.  That's why I'd rather actually go to show to be supportive instead.  But that wasn't the case here, so I decided to buy some tracks. Headed over to their MySpace page first:

Yeah, um, not so much.   

Ok, how about this PayPlay thing?

No, thanks.  I don't want to register or join anything...  I just want to buy music.

Hmm...  I wonder if they have a last.fm page.

They do.

That led me to Amazon, where the album was actually cheaper..  a 1-click buy... until....

Jeezus... No wonder they've only got 103 total plays on Last.fm. Folks, you gotta make your stuff easier to get.   Are you even making any money from online album sales??    Seems it would be easier to just give the stuff away and play more and bigger venues.

I wound up downloading the Amazon thing, but I don't trust it.  I think its watching me.

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Joe Sheehan from Baseball Analysts writes this great piece about keeping the ball on the ground.  He notes two things:

"...What was a little surprising to me is how the groundball percentage of every pitch decreases at almost the same rate with increasing height."

And that sinkers have a "...huge advantage... in generating grounders compared to any other pitch. "

Best part about a sinker?  It won't wreck a young arm, because you don't twist your wrist.  Here's how Jake Westbrook does it.

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Who invested?  Who joined the board?  Find out here.

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Thanks Marc!

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There, I said it.

Apple just "came to an agreement" with Nick from the ThinkSecret blog--you know, the one that a 13 year old started in 1998 about Apple product rumors.  He wound up getting one too many rumors (truths) out before Apple was ready to make it public, so they sued him.  They settled... meaning that Apple will drop the suit and Nick will shut the site down.

Remember... this is a guy who liked Apple so much he started a website dedicated to the company. 

They shut him down... a college student.

What is it going to take from this company for people to stop drinking the Apple kool-aid?  Seriously, folks, its just another company.  Let's take an inventory:

iPod...  They charge people a license to make products for it... like those iPod home stereo things.  Plus, they insist on selling drm music.  "Don't blame us, blame the record companies."  Yeah, because I'm sure the record companies wouldn't budge if the company that has a near monopoly on online music distribution decided they wouldn't sell DRM music anymore.  Oh, and you can't replace the battery on your own without voiding the warranty...  and video Ipod screens... yeah..   do I need to go on?

iPhone...   One carrier gets an exclusive deal.   People build apps for it and then Apple crushes the apps in an upgrade.  Screen?  Cracks.  Battery.  Can't replace it.

Safari...   The browser caching problem means that it will display the version of your site that it sees fit, not as it sits on your server. 

I own an iPod and that's the only Apple product I use.  I had no urge to own an iPhone.  Hey, Windows products may suck, but at least Microsoft doesn't tease me and make me think they're my friend.  By the way, how many of you know someone (maybe you) whose iPhone has cracked already.  I think I'll buy a Zune or something next time. 

Hell, they don't even buy anyone.  Google may be the borg and Microsoft may be evil, but at least they spend a few bucks from the coffers filling the pockets of entrepreneurs once in a while.

Yeah... Apple makes beautiful things... that break... and that hurt you when they violate you with them. 

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Because if you are, you saw the first drafts of the look and feel of our real front end design.

And some ideas around our logo.

And, if that doesn't entertain you enough, the world's most boring web TV:  Our live webcam.

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Over the last couple of weeks, I've had the same conversation with three different startups.  They were all started by businesspeople and they were frustrated over the fact that they couldn't find a great tech person to build their dream into a reality.

So I asked them if they were willing to actually make it a partnership and give them an equal share of the business.

They all balked.  Didn't even hesitate.  No way.

Well, if I was a tech guy capable of building your application, then I wouldn't work with you either.   Good luck, buddy.

One of the reasons people work at startups to begin with is because they feel like their work will be a lot more rewarding versus working in a big company.  If their work isn't highly valued by the people that start the business, then what's the point of even working for a startup?  No one's going to join a business team as the CTO for a 5% stake in the company or if your first thought is, "I don't want to give that much away."

I've never had that thought, when it comes to making offers to people, of "That's too much to give away."   (My angels have talked me down to reasonable numbers, not to worry...)  But, I'm always thinking, for the right person, that this person makes my business worth that much more... so why wouldn't I give away more equity?  If anything, it's the financing rounds you need to be careful about giving up equity on, not people costs (within reason).

The right CTO can make all the difference.  It's not just getting the site built...  it's making sure the site scales appropriately, and in a cost effective way, too.  A partner is going to care about not overbuying hardware, because his or her stake is tied to how much cash is left in the bank.  They're going to spend the late nights solving some untraceable bug and not charge you by the hour for it.  A contract lead developer?  Meh.

And best of all, they're not going to walk away right when you need them the most... at least, not if they're properly incentivized.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard of nightmare scenarios of contract developers that not only flake out, but maliciously break code or leave startups in a jam.  It's fine to do some outsourcing, but if you don't have a founding partner who can build, I think you're up a creek. 

And if you don't realize that it takes more than just a business idea and a little cash to make a successful business, I'd have no interest in coming to work for you if I was a CTO or even just a great developer. 

If you find the person who can not only build your idea, be committed to it for the long haul, and that you can get along with, give 'em an equal share (with proper vesting, of course... 1 year cliff...).   Trust me that you'll thank me later.

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• evhead: Will it fly? How to Evaluate a New Product Idea
  (tags: ideas products)

"Our architecture is also based on a reliable template - lightweight caching reverse proxys in front, proxying to the heavier app servers, which in turn are driven by the databases. We will aim for a shared-nothing architecture - decouple everything, push the state out to the client, compress, minify, and cache the static content, eventually pushing it out to a CDN."

I made a last minute trip up to Boston to go see Mere (@ptrain) because we hadn't seen each other in a while. We weren't planning on seeing each other after Christmas and we were both insanely busy, but I made time to go up anyway.

So, when she brought up the fact that I wasn't doing some of the little things, like asking her how her day was enough or wishing her good luck on her finals, I was kind of thrown. In typical male fashion, my first response was, "But I drove all the way up here!" and "But you don't even care about your grades...you're not going to law school...you don't need the ranking!"

I totally didn't get it... not until I compared it to my own experience with our angels, who are pretty good at this kind of thing. A week or two ago, Pete and Josh just "checked in" to see how we were... not to pressure us, but just to see if there was anything they could do for us and just to catch up. When the Silicon Alley list came out, I got a note from Fred saying that he was more excited that I got on it than being on it himself.

Little emails...they just take two seconds to write, but sometimes they feel just as important as any money we got from these folks, introduction they could make, or strategy they could advise on.

When you're in any kind of relationship, be it dating or an investment, its easy to mark time with big events--board meetings, anniversaries, vacations, launches... but what does the relationship feed on in between? Neither startup life, or, in my case, long distance relationship life, is easy. Sometimes you need a little quick fix to keep you going... cheap love.

I'm generally no good at cheap love in relationships. It feels too easy... a text message, a rote "How was your day?" I'm a big things kinda guy, but now I get it. You just want a ping every now and then just to let you know that the other person is still out there, still thinking about you, and still excited to be part of this relationship.

Send your significant other or angel investment some cheap love today!

• Cisco I-Prize Contest Overview - Cisco Systems
  (tags: cisco contest entrepreneurship startup)

AdReady just got funding from Bain and Khosla Ventures for "do it yourself" display advertising on websites. 

They have "...developed an online library of about 600 prefabricated display ads in categories such as real estate, education and travel. Customers choose an ad, customize it and then -- with AdReady's help -- launch it into the ad networks from Google and Yahoo's Right Media."

Clickable "makes creating and managing search advertising simple and effective."  They can recommend keywords and ad copy for you and manage all your search campaigns in one place.

Hmm...   imagine a place where small businesses could go to create and manage ALL their online campaigns, both search and display.  These two things are very different from each other, so to combine two companies that have expertise in each area seems like a natural fit.

So many companies would love to go to search engine marketing shops, but don't have enough traffic to make it worth the time of those shops.  And forget display... I don't think anyone's really helping small businesses with display advertising.  There's a huge, untapped market for both of these services and since they serve the same customers--customers who want to sign into one place to manage their online campaigns--I think it would benefit everyone to see them work together.

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Boston got 7 inches of snow this morning, but it was light and fluffy when it first fell.  I was able to clean my car out pretty quickly with just a broom.  I had a little help from a Harvard facilities plow as well.

Supposedly, its going to turn to rain, so I should be able to get home ok tonight.

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• Political Dashboard - 2008 Presidential Election on Yahoo! News
  Full news coverage and opinions on the 2008 presidential election. Find photos, audio, video, and related sites about the 2008 election on Yahoo! News.
  (tags: 2008 election politics)

• BBC NEWS | Business | Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed
  In the information economy, communication skills and curiosity about the world is as crucial as an interest in science, says Bill Gates.
  (tags: careers skills)

At first, we weren't sure if we were going to do a holiday party, because there were so many going on, but we had so much fun last year and it was such a great turnout that we decided to do one again.  The best part is that it coinsides with the ITP Winter Show, and so you can go to that, and then meet us for drinks at Apple Bar right around the corner.

Here's the RSVP list... you can show up anyway, but its always nice to let others know you're coming.

Monday, December 17th.  7PM - 10PM

Apple Restaurant and Bom Bar:
http://www.applerestaurant.com/
located at
17 Waverly Pl. Between Green and Mercer

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• Both make a person look fake
• Both provide a physical advantage in the entertainment industry
• Both are tied to serious medical side effects
• Both are influencing younger and younger kids to have unhealthy self-images and seek out enhancement
• Both don't really fool anyone

And please, no jokes about stiff penalties.

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