Day 3: Five Easy steps to plan for the future
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 11:37AM Day 3: Yesterday was a pretty successful day. I wrote a blog post (read below foolio!), tumbled a few things, and sent out 12 tweets. Once again, I failed to synthesize my top 5 favorite stories of the day, but I have got to be honest with you I am concerned about being redundant. I mean, in all likelihood the "top 5" stories of the day in my mind will be something I tweet about right? So won't this be boring? I am not interested in being boring. In fact, it is why I hate people that tweet "stillllll waiting for the bus" and other massively uninteresting tidbits. Or maybe this is just an excuse? Either way, roughly 80% successful day (I did tweet 2 beyond my quota).
Twitter followers: 100 (+6)
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So I was reading this month's issue of Wired on my couch last night and I came across a really great article: "Your Future in 5 Easy Steps".
Now, I was considering going through and outlining the 5 steps in this post but honestly it would be insanely long. Sooo what I am going to do is instead provide the instructions and in my next 5 posts (who would have guessed) walk through them that way.
Step 1: List Driving Forces
What variables, trends, and events will affect your mission? The first step is simply to list them. Next, divide them into uncertainties (for instance, economic, political, and social conditions) and relative certainties (such as global population growth and climate change). Finally, rank the items according to their importance, from most to least significant. The result: a catalog of factors that will determine the future of the area in question.
Step 2: Make a Scenario Grid
Now it’s time to map out possible futures. The two most important uncertainties — from the top of your list—form the axes of a grid, with each quadrant representing a potential future. Some may be more likely than others — and some might seem downright improbable — but they all depict the interplay of key forces. Thus, they’re within the range of possibility and deserve your attention.
Step 3: Imagine Possible Futures
Sketched as a simple grid, these four possible futures are so abstract that it would be hard to recognize them if they emerged. Make the scenarios more concrete by fleshing them out into imaginary, but plausible, news stories that are emblematic of the forces at play.
Step 4: Brainstorm Implications and Actions
Now it’s time to develop strategies for coping with the four futures you’ve imagined. Start by listing the implications of each scenario. Then come up with actions that would enable you to prosper under the new conditions. Some actions would apply to almost any scenario. These should form the basis of your plan, since they help you prepare for a range of possibilities. Bolster core actions with those related to the future you deem most likely.
Step 5: List Driving Forces
Track Indicators The main value of scenarios is that they sensitize you to the way the future is unfolding. Over time, the world is likely to gravitate toward one of your four quadrants. The trick is to recognize the shift in progress.
As you monitor the news, look for signals that a particular possibility is becoming a concrete reality. Keep a file of news relevant to your scenarios, jotting down a quick note, along with the date, whenever you come across a significant story.Evaluate these developments on a quarterly basis so you can track the trends. Adjust your action strategy to anticipate the future as it emerges.
experiment, future, self-help, wired.com in 30 day experiment, cool Day 2: The Generation Project
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 10:35AM Day 2: I would say that yesterday was a semi-success. I wrote a blog post, tweeted 8 times, and added a really cool video to my tumblr, but I failed to synthesize the top 5 stories of the day. Using an extremely complicated algorithm that only MIT professors or the Rainman would understand, I calculated this to be a 75% successful day.
Twitter followers = 94 (+4)
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Today I want to profile a really great nonprofit organization, The Generation Project.
The Generation Project is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, whose aim is to "(1) Generate ideas to benefit low-income K-12 students, (2) Generate new philanthropists by actively involving donors in the giving process, and (3) Empower the next Generation by harnessing the ingenuity of individuals to improve educational opportunities." Lofty goals.
To accomplish these goals, the GP has created a donor-directed system of charitable giving that allows individuals to explore their passions, and give kids in high-need schools a chance to explore them too.
Here is how it works:
- Go to www.thegenerationproject.com
- Click "Donate"
- Identify how much $ you want to give, where you want it to go (geographically), what age you are interested in giving to, and what you want to accomplish.
- The GP implements your donation, keeping you as much in the loop as you want!
I actually had a chance to go to the Chicago "Launch Tour" stop for GP (sponsored by Rugby), and it was a ton of fun. There was free food, free booze (YES) and there were some really sexy people there -- something I really love. Ok, I have to be clear, I am speaking about my wife and friends. But they are great, I swear!
Anyway, check out the Generation Project website and their calendar of tour events and go! Your $25 admission at the door pays for the evening and goes straight to helping a child in a high-need school district. If you can't make it to a tour stop -- or you live in North Dakota -- then donate through their website! You won't find a better way to spend $25.
(disclaimer: Eli Savit, the founder of GP, was my college roommate all four years and in my wedding party. That said, I am being honest about GP being a great cause tho!)
Day 1: Who's so social on social media?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 12:25PM Day 1: This is the first day of my month long experiment. I wanted to count yesterday's post as my "day 1" posting, but it would defeat the purpose of the experiment if I was an insincere weasel. So I didn't. Which brings me to today, and the post below about a study released this week that digs in to who is actually using social media.
Twitter followers:92
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Today, Anderson Analytics released a study tracking U.S. user behavior in social networks. The firm surveyed 5,000 users over a span of 11 months, and conducted a 15-minute survey of more than 1,000 users age 13 and older. The results of the study were actually pretty interesting. You can find the whole surveyhere, but below are some of the more interesting points:
- Users who belong to a social network arefour timesmore vocal about products and services than those who don't.
- More than 20% of Twitter users have their own blog, a large portion of which trumpet social causes.
- 44% of 35 to 44 year-olds in the U.S. and 30% of 45 to 54-year-olds have profiles on a social network.
- More than 50% of U.S. users have associated their profiles with a brand, company or product. This association has been overwhelmingly positive.
- The average U.S. user logs into a social network about 4x daily, 5 days a week, for a total of roughly 1 hour per day.
What these points (and the study itself) resound, is the idea that bloggers + social media users are not only active, but they are hugely important for brands. I know that this isn't the most groundbreaking discovery in the history of humanity -- or of this month -- but getting concrete percentage points for activity is radically different than simply saying "Brands should use social media... it's important?"
Social media, brands, experiment, facebook, linkedin, myspace, twitter in 30 day experiment, social media My Resolution: Do it until my fingers bleed
Monday, July 27, 2009 at 11:53AM The point of starting this blog was to create a portal through which I could write about what I wanted, when I wanted. My intention was never to develop my own personal brand or become the world's foremost authority on anything. I just wanted to write.
That said, I am going to use this blog as something a little different for the next month: as my home base in an social media experiment I am undertaking. I am going to dance the social media dance for one month.
The breakdown of my experiment:
- Write an original blog post every day. Because I still want this to be my safe zone, I will still be writing about the internets and anything else I find interesting. Once a day though.
- Synthesize the 5 most interesting stories of each weekday and put them here. I have pledged to do this countless times, and have never done so. I am going to do it now -- GET TO THE CHOPPA.
- "Tweet" 10 times a day. This might not sound like a lot, but I HATE "tweeting" random shit like "just leaving the gym" so this really means finding 10 articles/websites/videos/lovemaking tips that I think are interesting enough to tell people to check out. See, doesn't that sound more difficult?
- Tumblr + Flickr = I am still finding these redundant, it's true. But I will post 15 times this month.
The purpose of this experiment is to find out how much activity it takes to gain followers on twitter. I am interested in this because so many people on Twitter tout themselves "experts" in social media, but previously had jobs as Northeastern Sales reps for Bally's (just an example -- obviously not everyone on Twitter used to work at Ballys, some of you sold insurance) or owned a hardwood flooring company.
Obviously the end outcome of this experiment will not be a definitive measurement of the correlation between activity in social media and Twitter followers, but it should provide some insights into how social media impacts personal branding campaigns. I will track the entire process here, but should point out that all activity (blogging, tumbling, tweeting, flicking, ha) goes through Twitter.
I should also point out that I am starting this experiment with 92 followers.
Flickr, Tumblr, blog, experiment, experts, facebook, lovemaking, twitter in social media PR for a Startup
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 10:00AM Like every internet entrepreneur my understanding of the web is rooted in my own experience. My beliefs on best practices for handling development, marketing, operations and branding are all informed by my experience at Glassbooth. And while I know that the idea of a set of "best practices" for the web is basically ridiculous, the experience of launching a successful site provided me with some insight into the process (Disclaimer: I'm not claiming these are interesting or original insights).
Now that that's out of the way, I want to weigh in on something: Startup PR.
You see, there has been a lot of discussion the past few days about an interesting article that was in the NYTimes this weekend focusing on "PR in Silicon Valley". Techcrunch weighed in on the article almost instantly and VentureBeat covered the article yesterday. And while I think that Michael and Matt both make good points in their pieces, they both fail to address what it's like running a PR campaign from inside a startup. I mean it's all well and good if you are funded to "just get a solid PR firm, and have them do the work" as Matt says, but lets face it... not a lot of startups have the funding to hire major PR firms to run their launch campaigns.
And while Mike compares Wordnik to Topsy, his example just isn't particularly insightful. Comparing one startup that launched exclusively on Techcrunch to another that intentionally avoided tech blogs really gives founders very little direction about the right move to make. I mean, Techcrunch admits that they get TONS of submissions from startups that want to launch and don't respond, so what's a founder supposed to do? Here's my advice:
1. Focus on your product. Before you do anything else, you need to focus on you. It doesn't matter how sexy or amazing your PR team is if your product falls flat on launch. Now "falls flat" certainly does not mean that your 1.0 should be perfect. In fact, if it is you probably launched too late. But you need to make sure that you have a solid understanding of your products goal and that you are effectively working toward accomplishing that goal. This has to be your primary concern.
2. Know your demo. It might sound silly, but if you are launching the next ClubPenguin you are probably safe avoiding a courtship with Jalopnik. I can tell you personally that bloggers and journalists who have no interest in your product are going to get irritated when you shoot them your press release and try and pitch them. At Glassbooth we made the mistake of believing that everyone would be interested in a tool that helped their user base make a more informed voting decision... In our defense, the 2008 Presidential election was the most important story of the year for EVERYONE in the US, so we assumed that everyone would be interested in our site. Wrong. I am just glad that I don't have that email from Cat Fancy magazine in my inbox anymore :). Point being, if you are launching the most exciting SaaS company of the century identify your target market and then work on hitting the blogs and newspapers that they are going to read. Don't know how to find these outlets? Try alltop. Seriously though, in the end less is more. Trust me.
3. Grindiiiiiiiing. Just ask the Clipse, there is no substitute for the hustle. If you are launching an internet website, mobile app, Firefox plug-in or spaceship pod, you need to BE ONLINE and be EVERYWHERE. Is there a meetup in your city? Go. Conference? Go. Signed up for LinkedIn? 12Seconds? Flickr? Tumblr? Do it. You need to be able to connect with investors, partners, users and other entrepeneurs as often as you possibly can, wherever you possibly can. You never know who you are going to meet at any moment, so you need to always be ready. Also, no one knows what the next twitter is going to be, so being an early adopter gives you a distinct advantage among your peers. As an entrepreneur it is your J.O.B to be in the N.O.W.
4. Stick to the story. Trust me, it pains me to write it as much as it pains you to read it, but no matter how played out the term "branding" might be it is something you need to understand as a startup. At Glassbooth, we were lucky to have Alex Jacobs -- who is a branding wizard -- constantly harping about branding and keeping it cohesive. This was key, and something all of us came to really understand. What we learned and what you need to do RIGHT NOW is put together a style guide and mission statement that you read until your eyes bleed. It might seem esoteric and silly, but when you are pitching EVERYONE (because you need to pitch EVERYONE), you need to be certain that every member of your team is saying the exact same thing. This will give your team greater flexibility, which is a distinct advantage to have at conferences and parties.
5. Don't pitch. Believe. By the time we launched, our pitch at Glassbooth was something much different than a pitch. It became an organic and intuitive experience, something that was uniquely pleasurable (keep it clean kids), and honestly, easy. Compared to our first attempts to fundraise, the pitches we made to potential partners after launch were of an entirely different breed. To get to this place, all you need to do is devote your life to your product. Forget about extracurriculars. Forget about sleeping. Dive head first into your project and come up for air as you launch. If you do this, your pitch will evolve. If you don't, it's probably just going to stay a pitch.
Ok, so take my advice with a grain of salt. But we were pretty successful at Glassbooth garnering press. In our first month we did over 150,000 uniques, and appeared in over 50 major blogs and/or media outlets, including the NYTimes, Wired, BBC America, HuffPo, Techcrunch and tons of others. And we had a budget of basically nothing. We definitely didn't have the funds to hire a PR team. We just hustled, and worked until our eyes bled and obeyed the five principles above (we also had some help from our friends!). We were certainly lucky -- we had an exclusive national launch with Thrillist, who happened to share an office with The Huffington Post -- but in the end it was all of our diligence and hard work that made the luck possible.
So take my advice. Or don't. Either way, good luck. Go make the internet better.
PR, alex jacobs, glassbooth, huffington post, silicon valley, techcrunch, venturebeat in startups Shirts your way
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 11:28AM So via Techcrunch I stumbled across this really awesome site: ShirtsMyWay.com
Based out of China, this company was founded by two young entrepreneurs who use a nifty little flash program to allow anyone to design custom dress shirts. The shirts themselves run anywhere from $65-$95 (which I know is on the higher-end) and there are apparently like 15 million different possible variations. Practically, this means that if you are like my friend Erin and love the Nazi combo of Red-White-Black you can pull the trigger on that look, or if you prefer a more understated white shirt with nautical pocket (because you love yachting, caviar and murdering that Natalie girl in the Bahamas) then you can go this route. Point being, there are a bajillion possible options.
The reason I am vouching for this store is not the model--although I do think customized goods are genius--but because the UI is amazingly simple. Within 30 seconds of splashing on site you can already be designing a shirt. Love disgusting brown stripes? CHECK. Square pocket? CHECK. French Cuffs? Check. All of these options are available within like 2 minutes of arriving on site. More importantly the load times for the site are super fast (which is important when you are focusing on delivering a ton of different options), and you can switch in and out designs seamlessly.
So go check it out, because you never know when you are going to be hitting up an Armenian wedding and you will need a paisley inner collar.
For more info visit www.shirtsmyway.com
Google Wave: (insert clever wave pun)
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 06:39PM So today at Google I/O, Google unveiled its newest communication platform: Wave.
To put it simply, Google Wave is a new platform in which users can utilize both asynchronous and synchronous methods to communicate. Ha.
Ok, so what Google Wave really does, is create a communication portal where people can communicate via IM, Email, collaboration and real time functionalities. This means that using Google Wave two people create a living breathing space, where documents can be uploaded and edited in real time (think etherpad), and communication is simply dependant on who is online and when. This type of interface should allow for deeper interaction than email, and provide users with a dynamic environment to communicate.
Now I have to admit, my friends know that I have a sincere appreciation for Google and the model they have of filling practical vacuums, but even if you hate Google I think you can appreciate their attempt to overhaul email; Something that hasn't really changed in decades.
For more info on Wave - click here.
glow in the dark monkeys
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 09:41PM Not what I normally write about, but this is too amazing to pass up.
Today the BBC announced that a team of Japanese scientists created a fluorescent protein and integrated into monkeys. This is pretty cool. But the really exciting thing about this isn't the glow in the dark monkey protein -- although who doesn't want a glow in the dark monkey?!? -- the exciting aspect of the story is the fact that the monkeys mated... and their offspring have the protein in their dna!
This means that hypothetically monkeys in the future could be engineered to carry specific genomes. Which means that they could be a serious asset in the fight against genetic diseases (like Alzheimers and Parkinsons).
Now, I know that there are a ton of issues surrounding the testing of monkeys for medical purposes, but it is admittedly exciting nonetheless.
bbc, glow in the dark, monkeys, science in cool Top 10 trends of 2010? I hope not.
Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 11:31AM So today Techcrunch covered the Churchill Club’s 11th Annual Top Ten Tech Trends
The basic idea was that a panel of experts would posit what they thought the web trends would be over the next year, and then the crowd would vote. Super exciting stuff. Also, the crowd got to pick a few of the trends for the panel to discuss. Anyway, here are the 10 -- and my thoughts on them.
1. The Millennials Are Here. Everything is changing. Rapidly! — Joe Schoendorf, Partner, Accel Partners | The audience mostly agreed on this trend.
I mean, ok? This is a startling insight? For those of you who don't know, "millenials" are basically everyone from the age of 18-27, with the real point of the grouping being that we (I am one) have never really lived w/o the existence of a digital world. Anyway, this being included as the number one trend sets the bar very low in my opinion. It is basically like pointing out that butter is delicious or that bow ties are hilarious and awesome at the same time. "People who grew up with the internet are changing things? Holy shit."
2. Advanced batteries will be the most popular alternative energy investment in ‘09 and’10. But the medium term will provide the best returns — Crowd Idea | The crowd was evenly mixed on this trend.
I have to be honest. This is not something I am interested in. Although, I guess to the point that this is a trend in the future that is awesome -- who wouldn't want advanced batteries?? Would this mean I would stop having to switch the Wii batteries for my blu-ray remote? I hope so.
3. The unstructured data deluge creates the next great information leaders — Ann Winblad, Partner, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners | The crowd mostly agreed with this trend.
As we build Cerebreo out, I can't help but think this should be the #1 trend. The fact of the matter is that when you identify that people are growing ever more connected to the web (see #1) and that technology needs to address a fragmentation of information, then this makes complete sense. I don't want to give anything away, but this is basically the premise of Cerebreo.
4. Wireless broadband be will one of the only IT sectors to see increased funding this year — Crowd Idea | The crowd almost entirely disagreed with this trend.
This certainly makes sense, but I cannot imagine something less sexy. The fact of the matter is that broadband regulation is looming (woohoo! government!) and advances in broadband networks are likely going to come from the major players we already have. I guess this answer means that I disagree with this, but the outcome is what I am more concerned about and the funding question has little impact on the outcome (feel free to disagree).
5. “Maintech” not “Cleantech” — Increasing carbon efficiency of global GDP — Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures | Pretty much everyone agreed with this trend.
Carbon is sexy these days. And not sexy like #2 pencils or moon rocks. Sexy like caps and trades and government involvement. I am curious how/when we can measure a global GDP that is interesting or significant, but I am going to disagree that this is an important point. Isn't the premise of this trend basically that cleantech will replace "green-awesomeness" in people throwing money at products? If so, spectacular. I am fully in -- I just love styrofoam and plastic diapers myself.
6. Power and efficiency management services will see a flowering of investment and innovation — Crowd Idea | The crowd mostly agreed with this trend.
See #5.
7. The triumph of the distributed web — Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson | The audience was about half and half on trend.
See #3.
8. Healthcare administration will see the best growth in B2B software in ‘09 and ‘10 – Crowd Idea
Someone wake me up. How in the fucking world is this a new trend? Healthcare will grow? Is this also a convention of people who were frozen during 2008?
9. Consumption of digital goods on mobile devices is THE growth story of the coming decade — Ram Shriram, Managing Partner, Sherpalo Ventures, LLC | The audience mostly agreed with this trend.
Not sure I buy this. Micro-transactions seem to be far more relevant in my opinion. I guess they are likely indistinguishable, but focusing solely on mobile diminishes the market cap of micro-transactions -- and that is something that makes little sense to me. That said, if they substitute "micro-transactions" with "in mobile devices" then I wholeheartedly agreed.
10. Electronic displays will prove the hottest investment in hardware this year and the next — Crowd Idea | The audience almost completely disagreed with this trend.
Like Netbooks? Or touch tablets? I guess. Although if you lump the G1 and iPhone into this category then this is also completely fucking obvious. That said, I don't see how this is particularly valuable insight--monetarily speaking--if you are simply talking about touch/display interface advancement.
2010, boring, tech, trends in Top 10 List