Unroll.me Web App Review

I first met Steve and Jojo of Conceptual.ly last summer at a BD Meetup in NYC. Their only product at the time was a service that turned your twitter followers into a T-shirt. Nothing special but they had a great development team and were looking for ideas to build. I tried partnering with their CEO, Josh, to build a contact management app but they were concerned it would be competing with Hashable who was still a SXSW darling at that point. With the rise of Brewster and Smartr over the past few months our timing could have been perfect but that's another story.

Their latest product unroll.me is something I've used since they launched last December and have been impressed by how they've improved the product. Their MVP was a site that made it possible for you to manage your email subscriptions and successfully unsubscribe from a single place. What once required the user's participation is now an automated email reduction tool that manages your subscriptions by condensing them into a single daily email. It's perfect and I came across it again by accident.

I was voting for my friend Syed's startup LetsLunch who was competing for a free intro video through SwithVideo, unfortunately they didn't win...

Blogging for a cause

Haven't blogged personally for a little while as I've been trying to help spark a community effort to bring a Co-op or market to Kendall Square (well my wife and I are). It's a little side project to address a need we've recognized since moving here in October. It's not something we want to own, run, or manage. Just a fun little project to use Inbound Marketing in order to organize our community. We've seen a little success while in the early stages of building awareness aka trying to get our messaging down. Hopefully we'll eventually have a thriving online community to manage as we look to build a team, develop a plan, and hopefully raise the capital needed to get this thing launched. Check it out:

http://kendallmarket.blogspot.com/

How Much Is Too Much?

I often laugh at people who tell me they're too busy right now. The excuse is often that they're applying to grad school, working ridiculous hours, or having a baby (lame). No doubt people are busy but ultimately these are nothing more than excuses to avoid possible failure/"burnout". Perhaps it's because I'm horrible at saying no or because I have trouble finding limits (never was very good at Calculus). But it's clear that I'm happiest and most productive when busy. Busy enough that it makes other people's heads spin when I tell them what I'm up to. Here is a list of my commitments/activities that put a demand on my time (Note: no particular order of commitment level or amount of time):

1. Zipcar employee (Inbound & Outbound Sales)
2. Rugby Coach (Brandeis University Men's team)
3. Rugby Referee
4. Blogger (Clearly doesn't take up too much time)
5. Career Development (networking, events, emails)
6. Side Projects (Kendall Market, The Mutty Election)
7. President of Friends of Middlebury Rugby (clearly shows my dedication to rugby)

Unfinished Randomness

How many times can you post about restarting your blog and then post nothing? My count is about 3. It's not as though I haven't been writing. It's simply a lack of posting and ability to commit to finishing a few thoughts. For example, here is a post I wrote in January but never posted:


Here is my first post in a series where I'll be using three new apps and reviewing them for this audience. My goals are to demonstrate expertise as an avid user of technology while increasing my knowledge of specific apps and the larger app marketplace. Hopefully these posts provide insightful feedback for the development team while also uncovering obscure apps to new users. My samples will be limited for the time being to the Android Marketplace and web based apps until I get my hands on an iphone, ipad, or Kindle Fire...cough...cough...send me a free one!

Back in the Saddle Again

That's Right, back and better than ever or at least that's what Mike Greenberg says every morning on Mike & Mike in the morning. It's been nearly sevens months since I made and promptly broke my New Year's resolution after a triumphant visit to NYC. It's been so long that google didn't even recommend my blog (my Blogger blog mind you) when I started typing Thoughts Before They... It's also been so long that I missed the  1,000 page view milestone for this blog.

A hiatus from blogging was prudent when I accepted my Inside Sales role at Zipcar for a couple of reasons:

1. Didn't see the benefit to my current position
2. Needed a full break from the entrepreneurial/venture mindset I was stuck in

New Year's Resolution 2012

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post to the blog. After setting a schedule, dropping said schedule, and then finally restarting for one post, it's sat neglected and ugly. My only excuse for not blogging is laziness but it has been an incredibly busy/exciting fall. Moving to Cambridge, sleeping on couches, 3 hour commutes, and two freelance jobs have consumed the majority of time. I had the opportunity to work with three great companies in 2011 and hopefully 2012 will help me grow even more as a professional.

I've never been the resolution type but something hit me over the weekend that inspired me to try. It may have been the hipster glasses or possibly even the obscure mix of cocktails that resulted in an interesting ride home from Brooklyn, but something made me fully commit to the Tech Industry (whatever it was resulted in a drunk email to Dennis Crowley...why no Mail Goggles on the Droid...work on that Google). In order to continue working towards my goal of starting a company I'm going to set the following three goals/Resolutions:

1. Get a job as an Analyst or Associate with a VC firm (Preferably EIR but I'll take what I can get).
2. Blog more consistently
3. Get Less Sleep

1) I've yet to find a job that will pay me for reading Mashable, Techcrunch, blogs, or for networking, learning about cool new products, and advising startups. Enter a VC firm. My daily routine is that of a VC with cash to back it up. Unfortunately, I've only seen 2 such position in the past 10 months since starting this path. Hopefully 2012 will bring better prospects as I'll be sending my resume to a few firms today. My first resolution will be to meet at least 2 VCs or Angels per week to learn more about the industry and getting started.

2) It's no surprise I want to blog...but blogging consistently has been my Achilles heel. You can't build an audience without consistently delivering remarkable material but you've got to avoid the trap of posting for the sake of posting. Hopefully posting on recurring topics will help me build quality content while also producing consistently. This goal leads to my next resolution of downloading, testing, and reviewing three new apps per week. These could be Droid or facebook (hopefully iOS soon) apps and may be new to the market or just new to me. This resolution should also support my first goal as I should be able to leverage that knowledge/experience in any interview. 

3) Some pledge to sleep better as their New Year's resolutions but I'm taking the opposite approach. Entrepreneurs have to be working around the clock and I've been hindered over the past 12 months for medical reasons. The blinders are off and 2012 will be the year I start to resemble my sleep deprived college self.     

Are resolutions really meant to be broken? Am I setting myself up for failure? Only my health and work ethic will decide...and possibly the end of the world...