Crowdfunding Crowdfunding Every where!

It's amazing how ubiquitous crowd funding has become in my life. I've used and run campaigns on Crowdtilt, Kickstarter, Upstart, etc. They are allprime examples of this entirely new business case and show how powerful the connective web is and can be. Some text, nice pictures, a video, and WOM marketing are all it takes to seed a project and in some cases start an entirely new business. I haven't read much about the true economic impact of these platforms and suspect it's too early to fully measure but my guess is it's big. It's very exciting to watch this transformation and to think of new ways to use it for good or even just pleasure. I'm working on a project that uses crowdfunding for family/friends gifts...I know not original. What is original is how we'll handle the backend which if we execute well should bring a whole lot of value to merchants/service providers, end consumers, and grand parent's everywhere. More on my experiences with Crowdtilt and Upstart including UI/UX suggestions in a later post. For now, let me know what you think about my Upstart profile, consider backing me, and if you're looking for an idea for my birthday (6/4) I've promised it to the Charity: Water clean water initiative. Check that out here and consider giving $26 (my age) to help them provide fresh water:

http://mycharitywater.org/thirstymuttybirthday

Trust me, we have plenty ;)

Why I'm an Upstart

I've officially been an Upstart for 2 weeks and I couldn't be happier with the decision...though I could have a few more backers! It's great to be part of a platform where the start-up behind it just raised a round of funding and is on a roll. Like anything new there are plenty of detractors who don't quite grasp its significance. That's to be expected with any new idea especially one so personal. The MIT tech review looks at it as just a popularity contest to be one by those who market themselves well. Isn't that the case with most startup financing? I've heard others ask, "how is this any better than investing in that person's company?" Here's one of my most recent responses which really emphasizes why I personally chose to become an Upstart:

The primary reason I joined Upstart is because I would otherwise lack the resources necessary to pursue a business for you to invest. Liabilities from college loans, living expenses, etc have never allowed me to focus on my goal of building a business over getting a paycheck. Even the consulting work I'm doing now is a distraction from focusing my efforts on learning to code, building a MVP, and ultimately a team. Upstart will empower me to achieve these goals by eliminating most of my liabilities. It will also reduce the pressures of trying to raise funding for an idea rather than a product. Above all else it's a great opportunity to gain mentors who are investing in my success rather than just another seed round. Making it personal should feel awkward but it should also foster a deeper connection than is possible with a convertible note in a Delaware C-corp.  

It took me awhile to get over the awkwardness and to feel comfortable with the model. It also took some convincing from one of their original backers. By no means is it better for everyone but at this time it is for me. 

It really isn't for everybody. It is for someone who wants to pursue a dream but is saddled with college debt...this guy and most of my generation. My plan for the money is to pay off as much of my loans and credit card debt as possible. Better to pay of those high interest loans with this low interest money and hopefully get some great backers/mentors in the process!

What do you think about this new model? Popularity contest? Modern servitude? Brilliant?  

I know I love Boston but Burlington is my home.

Ironic? Hypocritical? Confusing? I know. A day after professing my love and commitment to Boston I follow up with a post on Burlington. Burlington is where I grew-up and it's where I hope to return someday but not yet. While becoming a member of the community here I'm also trying to help influence the tech community in Burlington. Our vision, I can say our for this project, is that Burlington can become a hub for tech just like Boulder. Brad Feld wrote the book on how to accomplish this feat but we're all about reinventing the wheel. My ultimate goal is to help build up Burlington so that when I return it's better than I last left it.

Our project is called the Burlington Code Factory and it's part of the Vermont Venture Foundry (I know...not very original). This is our first step in building the community and here is the email we're sending to VT's current tech leaders:

First let me thank you for your leadership and interest in advancing the creative economy in VT. Now let me get you to hear what a group of us are doing to take Burlington from what it is and to transform it into what it could be. 

We all know there is much work to be done in improving the technology community and efforts are underway to attract more developers to VT. We have the natural resources and access to big markets but something is missing to attract and retain great talent. Many place blame on the academic institutions, some to the lack of funding, while we choose to point the fingers at ourselves. No one is going to snap their fingers and instantly attract people who think in binary. 

We need to do a better job of fostering new ideas, supporting budding entrepreneurs, and growing from 2 big private tech companies to dozens of thriving small-mid size startups. We need the world to know that you can come to Burlington and raise a seed round, A round, and B round w/o having to relocate to SV, Boston, or NY. We need to have more meetups, more hackathons, and more social settings if the world is going to sense a community here. We need to bring what happens in the shadows into the public so that the tech community understands VT is a hub as strong Boulder. 

In order to get there we must start somewhere. Today we are launching the Burlington Code Factory for New England based CS undergrads. Interns will receive a competitive stipend to live in Burlington and join several startup projects which already have prototypes (frameworks) and vetted business models. Each intern will have the opportunity to become a co-founder and ultimately receive equity in the project. This effort is our first step in getting those couple dozen startups. If we can change the misconception that you have to go to Boston or NYC or SV with the younger generation older developers will follow. As the pool of young talent grows so will the community. 

Help support this effort! Share the attached promotional materials and link with your colleagues, universities, and prospective coders. Offer to be mentors, advisers, backers, etc. 

Looking forward to fielding your questions, comments, support. 

All the best,

The Team at Vermont Venture Foundry

If you know of any aspiring coders who wants to build something cool this summer share the following link with them:

http://venture-foundry.com 

Know of any similar projects, internships, etc? Want to get involved? Comment below!

When life throws your city...

Last week was a difficult one for getting things done. I had no interest in blogging, social media, or even working. The posts I had written seemed incredibly insignificant given everything going on. I still held my scheduled Google HOs, responded to emails, volunteered at Pine St, and even coached my rugby kids out in Waltham. It was just one of those weeks where you reflect on life and have very little interest in interacting with the world. 

It's incredibly difficult to reflect on what we experienced last week here in Boston. It's unfortunately something that happens almost every day in this world but never in my back yard. I had never been to NY before 9/11 which made it seem so foreign even though it was clearly on our home soil. Conversely my wife and I have spent a fair amount of time in Copley Square and even bring visitors on our "This is Boston Tour." I went for a jog at 1:30 on Monday and even considered going to checkout the marathon as I ran along the esplanade and across the Mass Ave bridge. I was also planning to run for charity in this year's marathon until an Achilles injury halted my training. That said, my inability to work was less about what ifs and more about what for.     

The question I keep asking is what am I doing to ensure I maximize my impact for my family, this community, our country, and the planet? What steps should I be taking to do so in my allotted time? It's no secret that death could come at any moment but events such as last Monday are times to absorb all of the anguish and reflect on oneself. Obviously it's also the time to support the victims and community as many did last week and we are all thankful for the support the world showed Boston. 

My wife and I have fully adopted Boston as our home (as much as we can from Cambridge ;). We absolutely love everything about being in this fantastic metro area from the sports teams to the culture. We are giving back to the community and trying to help organize it. We love Boston and will never be afraid to live in it just as I won't be afraid to run in next year's marathon. See you in 2014!

Haters gonna Hate

I recently had an angel friend tell me that I was stuck in selling mode. That I had no real passion for entrepreneurship and that I was simply riding a trend. That I was no different than the banker, consultant, MBA type (he has an MBA) who sees "easy money" and fame. It took everything I had to not say FUCK YOU and walk out of the meeting...that and I hadn't finished my breakfast yet that he was paying for #BootStrappin.

With the exception of this rant I've valued his mentorship, feedback, etc but this is a case where I think he's rushing to judgment. I graduated in January 2010 and immediately resumed my work with Encore Redevelopment where I was the 3rd hire and played a critical role in their pivot to renewable energy, as an intern. This was my first real opportunity to be an entrepreneur other than the small hustles I did throughout High School (Red Sox nation wristbands come to mind). After this I tried to start 2 companies, helped several more, and eventually landed at Zipcar. I quit that job to learn to code, pursue Upstart funding, and ultimately get back in the startup game. I saw it as more of an investment as I now have sales experience and have seen the belly of the corporate beast. All of that said, I'm not sure where the gap is between my messaging and his perceived reality.

The reality is I think by selling he meant I'm talking to much with not enough action. This is a problem I identified awhile ago between my Linkedin title (Aspiring Entrepreneur) and my general use of forward thinking words. I've since stopped and no longer say "I'm hoping to build a company" because the reality is I am. I built a site overnight for my bootstrapping work consulting SMBs with their Macro Inbound Marketing strategy. I went through several iterations of my application for Upstart which I'm hoping launches later today. I'm helping launch an incubator in my hometown and recruiting applicants for those college sophomores/juniors interested in a paid coding internship. Finally - I'm building a team to pursue the first of many ideas I want to build because a team will ultimately get it done faster than I will with my codeacademy training.

The reality is I'm done worrying about how people perceive my abilities. I know what I can do because I'm doing it. If they're too busy, lazy, or ignorant to look at the evidence, that's on them and I can't change it. Note, one thing I am still working on is being less negative when i write...it's just so hard when there are so many people looking to knock or drag you down. That's why they say, Haters gonna Hate. So keep hating! I'll keep building :)

Yet another view on company culture.

Is it just me or is everyone blogging about culture these days? Charlie O, B Horowitz (is that how you spell it?), and Hubspot homeboy Darmesh (sorry about that one, BHorowitz got Izzo stuck in my head). How fitting that I decided to leave Zipcar primarily due to the culture of the company which in my opinion had become destructive. I mentioned it briefly in my moving on post with the intent of expanding on my observations and thoughts on how to build a world class culture. To start, lets state the obvious as expressed by all 4 of these posts (I can include my own, right?):

Beer, food, foosball, swanky office furnishings, flexible working hours, unlimited vacation, yoga, and even daycare are all part of your style as Charlie O puts it. They in no way define your culture. The best companies are people centric and everything else is just frill. A kegerator won't do anything to keep me at the office until 9pm but the people I work with will. I'm not talking about talent management, core competencies, performance reviews, or even NPS people centric. I'm talking about treating employees like they're teammates and not simply labor. Economists look at people as labor. Accountants think of people as expenditures. Managers see people as liabilities. I tell my rugby guys that the best teams act like families and that holds true for a business.

-Courtesy of 3 Geeks and a Law Blog

Flow charts like the one above make great points but they are simply overkill. As my most recent resignation letter quite clearly stated: "After much consideration, I've come to the conclusion that we are no longer following our core values or mission." Could I have been anymore blunt? I was advised to reconsider putting something so strong in text and knew I'd have to back it up. I broke down my thoughts on culture into 3 key features in my exit interview:

1. Communication
2. Passion
3. Drive

All 3 are equally important to building and fostering a corporate culture that brings the best out of your entire team. I can really only speak from my experience at Middlebury but I think college's nail this well. If you look past the bureaucracy of the administration, you'd see a sea of students all able to speak freely to any administrator, teacher, "authority" figure as long as they did so respectfully and with legitimate concerns. Everyone in the community whether they be faculty/staff (management) or students (employees) bleed Blue & White from the hockey arena to their dorm rooms. Finally everyone was so driven to achieve personal success but more importantly to make Middlebury the best place on earth...period. If a 2,500 student academic institution can nail this recipe, why can't a business?

I hope the day comes when a young, up and coming generalist at my third company walks into my space (I will never have an office) and isn't afraid to call me "a fucking asshole" followed by "you are single handedly ruining this company. That's communication, it's passionate, and if backed by data and a plan to fix the mistakes, drive. I would even promote that gentle-lady if the company had positions of authority to be promoted to.

While extreme, this example emphasizes that autonomy and respect are key to building a winning culture. You can't have either without the freedom to express ideas which is the basis of communication. If your teammates can't be frank because they fear retribution then you aren't building the right culture. Hubspot is spot on by being data driven because data provides you with the ability to take an opinion and make it a fact. A culture of finding and expressing truths will foster sharing and innovation rather than squelch it.

You can't have love without passion and you certainly can't be successful without either. Passion for the product or helping your client is fine but you need to find people who eat the dog food (drink the champagne if you will). It can be infuriating to have people say "Obsess About the Member" when they are hardly a member themselves. When you're trying to disrupt transportation and the majority of your employees drive to work in their personal cars every day...you have a problem. I don't see how you can build a productive culture without a passionate team and that's what we do at Brandeis. We weed out the people who aren't fully committed to the team but more importantly the game of rugby. That way we don't have people dragging us down because they don't want to put their body on the line or sacrifice study time for practice. Same has to go for employees (especially management) of a company. If the people leading you into battle aren't truly passionate about the product or lifestyle you're selling, your company is toast.

The final feature is Drive. The drive to be successful and to want to not only win your market but smoke the competition, incumbents and upstarts alike. The drive to always be improving yourself and your processes to squeeze every ounce of efficiency out of your efforts. This comes from being competitive which I'll cover soon in a post about sports and business but more on that later. It's not just competing with the competition as you should feel compelled to push your colleagues to always be the best they can be.

This brings me back to the family analogy. Families must always communicate, they are clearly passionate for each other, and most importantly they always have the will to improve their fortune as a collection rather than as individuals (drive).

What comes of my next venture will be determined by how we decide to build the culture of the team. It starts with the values and traits I set out above but is and always will be a moving target because the team sets the culture.

"My Story" for Upstart...the short version

I'm currently applying to become an Upstart and was frustrated with myself because I couldn't make "my story" concise enough for their standardized application. Also verifying my SAT/ACT scores was a challenge because I took them almost a decade ago and apparently they didn't have electronic records then...both scary thoughts. Here is the short version of "my story" as I'm still working on the long one and a Ken Burns style documentary:

I grew up in Winooski, VT in a home with my mom, younger brother, and maternal grandparents. My mom went back to school so we relied on credit cards, student loans, and government programs in my early years. I am a product of the Winooski Public School system from K-12. Going to a school where the majority of kids receive free and reduced lunch can sometimes limit your potential unless you know how to find opportunities. I excelled in academics and athletics while pushing myself to take classes at night including forensic science, public speaking, and even scuba diving. I wanted to be a Dr so I took Biology courses at UVM and CCV all while being the captain of the football, basketball, and baseball teams.

I earned my way into Middlebury College and spent 4 years "discovering myself," still working on it. I switched to rugby, won 2 national championships, helped raise thousands of dollars, and captained the club. Mentorship has always been a part of my life so I was a First Year Counselor, Guardian ad Litem, and Foundation for Excellent schools mentor. I took full advantage of the Liberal Arts even though Economics, specifically econometrics, was what I gravitated towards the most. Posing questions about our environments and using data to discover plausible answers is a powerful way to see the world. Geographic Information Systems was by far my favorite class as data structures are fascinating and topo maps can be breathtaking.

I knew I wanted to get into startups and renewable energy so I faked my way into my first job at Encore Redevelopment. I helped them pivot from having renewable energy be a phrase on their website to being the core of their business. I walked away after 2 years because I wasn't getting equity and thought it was time to start my own thing. Spent time helping startups (getting fired quickly from one) and eventually landed a "corporate" job at Zipcar. I love the product (still a proud Zipster!) but hated the business and left after a year. It was great experience to be a part of a public company going through an acquisition. Now I have a better understanding of how to make one more efficient and look forward to sharing my thoughts with the world. It's time again to find my own way and that's what being an Upstart will help me do.

I'm the type of guy who would rather figure something out then be given a set of instructions and told what to do. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines and have acquired the skills, knowledge, and ability to attack big problems. I'm a team builder and need to put my experiences learned on the rugby pitch to work in the marketplace. I just need the financial flexibility to chase my dreams without being shackled by college debt.

50 Ways to Say Goodbye

This is the second or third...maybe even 4th post I've attempted to write about this topic. I decided to throw out a few versions after soliciting advice from friends, family, mentors, etc. I even left some juicy material on the editing room floor which I'll share with those interested. My most recent title was 'I don't burn bridges...I like to blow them up' subtle, no? So here goes why I'm leaving Zipcar and what's in store:

I officially left Zipcar on March 15th (I resigned a week before the CEO, Thank You!). I'm not running away from anything. I'm running towards my future. A future where I know how to code and I stop saying "I aspire to be an entrepreneur." I don't want to be anymore, I am. I'm not learning to code to become an engineer. I'm learning how to build things and figuring out how to tell the computer what to do rather than being told. I'm learning to code to empower myself to help build the future. I've often said a startup team needs a business focused co-founder and a technically focused co-founder but that's bullshit. Everyone from the marketing team to the customer service providers need to at least understand/appreciate the technical side of the business. Yes, I'll need to build a team, but I'm starting with myself. So I'm going "All In" if you will and couldn't be happier/more confident in my decision.

So why am I really leaving Zipcar? The short answer and the one many expect is that they screwed me out of compensation. Every sales manager knows you don't screw a salesperson out of comp they earned. It just comes across poorly especially when it's planned for and budgeted. The long answer is I no longer have faith that the company is being managed by their mission or core values which is corroding the company culture. We market Zipcar to prospective employees as a public company that still feels like a startup. Beers, exceptional benefits, and flexible working hours are common within a startup but hierarchies, crippling indecisiveness, and a general lack of communication are not. I don't mean communication from the CEO to the managers and the managers to the employees. What I mean is that nothing was up for discussion and feedback was rarely taken into consideration. That creates the sense that you're expected to sit down, shut up, and tune out because you'll get chastised for stepping out of line. That's no way to foster creativity and innovation. Nor is it how you attract A type talent. For most people job security is enough even if it means a smaller paycheck than they'd otherwise expect. Others want and expect more out of their job.

So how would i fix it? I expect to be able to respectively ask questions without fear of retribution. I expect to have open conversations with my manager about the direction of the company and what I face on a daily basis. Plans shouldn't come down from above and expected to be executed without input from those they effect. That goes twice for decisions that have a direct economic impact on employees and they should never be presented as final. Finally, there should never be a C-suite and if there is, it should never be locked off from the other employees of the company.

I take some ownership for the grievances I have with the company over compensation. It goes back to communication being a two way street as I could have done more to get them to see my point of view. I could have gone out of my way to make my opinions of the culture known but what can an Inside Sales Rep really do in a year? It gets back to culture and openness. I hope this post as well as my vote to leave helps make the situation better for my colleagues and ultimately the company. I LOVE the product/service that Zipcar has created and will be a member until it falls apart or a better alternative comes along. I hope that Avis keeps it simple, continues to obsess about the member (me), and delivers a great product at a fair price. If not they'll be pissing $500M down the drain and destroying a truly revolutionary business model...unless that's the point.

To my colleagues, Thank You for the past year+. It's been a wild ride at times but ultimately it's been rewarding on many levels.

To my family and friends, be ready for an amazing journey.

To my wife, let's start kicking ass and taking names! You are the best.

Take Care and Talk Soon,

Christopher Mutty

(update: This post was written on 3/8 when I submitted my resignation. It was originally posted on my last day 3/15 and updated slightly after the events that transpired on that day.)

A simple "Hack" Burlington Free Press Edition

Being from VT it's only natural to check the Burlington Free Press (BFP), Seven Days, and any other source of information that helps me keep in touch with the homeland. The information is valuable but isn't essential and certainly not worth paying to consume. Enter the Paywall. The BFP introduced one last year which limits a visitor to read 8 free articles before throwing up this message:

Pay a subscription to read 3-4 articles per week? That sounds an awful lot like the cable business model with a whole lot of data intrusion and over targeted ads.  It's clearly not worth paying to read local sports scores, OP-eds, and the occasional renewable energy article especially at nearly the same price as the NYT. That's where old reliable, Google, comes in for breaking past the Paywall. It takes an extra step to read each article but it's as simple as copying the title, popping it into le google, and hitting enter. The pay wall gets tricked into thinking this was your last free article:

Thanks Google! This trick also works on the New York Times website:

There are plenty of other types of Paywalls to get around with Google, including my least favorite, Linkedin. More on that in my next "hack" post ;)

UX Flop: Fbook for Droid

I've always been a HUGE fan of Google but recently discovered a flaw in the Fbook app that might be the final straw...that or it's not having access to Twitter's new app Vine. Anyone else running Android 4.1.1 and notice they can't download pictures from facebook directly to their gallery? or SD card? or at all? It seems as though the book is intentionally keeping people from backing-up and possibly removing their pictures from the social network. It could also simply be an overlooked feature or a Droid SDK limitation but both are unlikely. Here's what it looks like on my phone:

A Gentleman's Bet circa 2013

These are the stakes of losing a Gentleman's Bet in the digital age:

One week of being reminded that Bernard Pollard is a genuine Patriot killer. Thanks Tom! 

At least if we had wagered beer there'd be something to drink. Enjoy your bragging rights Eli, double or nothing on the Super Bowl? 

The silver lining is I have real incentive to update my social media image. 

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...

The 10 Rules of Building Community

The blog was resurrected yesterday and already I'm dropping bombs!  Today I'm providing the ten rules of Building Community which I included in my Community Manager pitch to talkto!  Enough of the dramatics andon to the value added info:

Community Manager is the buzz term for Social Media Marketers.  A firm's community manager is responsible for engaging customers through social networks with the following goals:

1. Coddle prospective users
2. Gain user feedback
3. Mitigate criticism  
4. Spread the Message

These goals are all aligned with the principles of Inbound Marketing which is the gospel of Hubspot (note they've been voted the best place to work in Boston...cough...cough...look over here).  I don't need to preach the benefits of social media or Inbound Marketing (their blog and book cover it thoroughly) but can interject on the subject of Community Building.  Community isn't something you can build overnight.  It also isn't something you can buy or expect to produce immediate benefits.  Your community efforts can fail miserably if your only interest is to find sales.  Here are my ten rule rules for building community:

1. The user is always right
2. Go where they are
3. Always be fresh
4. Be Responsive 
5. Foster Relationships
6. Encourage your evangelists
7. Amplify your supporters 
8. Address your detractors
9. Get outside voices
10. Be Patient

By no means is this an exhaustive list of best practices for building community but it is a good start.  Looking forward to comments and will elaborate on each of these rules over a few upcoming posts.

And We're Back.

I'm tentatively resurrecting the personal blog after a month long hiatus.  Several forces have been pushing me towards reigniting this flame which will hopefully be more sustainable this time.  The first is because I've finally killed all of the traction I gained over the summer by not posting for a month...so it goes.  The second, I've been working for LetsLunch for ~1 month and feel it's prudent to start reflecting on the experience by sharing my insight.  Finally, my personal life is starting to settle down now that we've moved to Boston (sorry NYC) and now that my Great Grandfather has passed (More on that later) after a month long battle in the hospital.  Although, things could change again as we still don't have a place to live and will likely be moving soon.  Anyone know of a sublet in Cambridge, Somerville, or anywhere on the Red Line...Call Me!

Here are a few titles for some posts I'll be churning out over the next few weeks:

1) What is community and how can you build it?  

2) Why I still read the WSJ...on paper.

3) How to increase your Twitter Followers.
4) What's wrong with change?

No promises on delivery but hopefully I'll start posting again on a regular basis.

Enough, Enough...It's time for a break

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't posted over the past week and a half despite publishing an ambitious schedule (damn you scheduled posts!) for the blog on 8/29.  The schedule called for 4 posts per week (who did I think I could be, Fred Wilson?) including weekly and biweekly series on current events, business, and finding a job.  Why the sudden HP like change in direction?  I've taken a "position" with www.letslunch.com to help them market their incredible product and to increase their user base in anticipation of expanding to new cities/countries.  I sadly haven't had time for personal blogging while strategizing how to post four days/week, write their business plan, manage their social media presence, recruit brilliant talent, help raise capital, and everything else associated with running an early stage startup.

I'll be posting whenever I feel inspired and have time to discuss current events or to provide business advice for the foreseeable future.  That includes my series on finding a job in NYC.  I'll look to put that series together in the fall when I hopefully have landed in a new city (whether that be NYC, Boston, DC, etc).  However, I may actually stick to starting the series of interviews that I mentioned in the Plan as it will be a great way to connect with new people I meet on my adventures.  Keep an eye on Twitter and Linkedin as I'll be sure to push updates when I manage to muster up a blog.

I WILL be keeping a more personal Tumblr dedicated to my new diet and exercise routine which could be quite entertaining.  It should be a little easier for me to post pictures with captions and smaller updates on Tumblr than it would be trying to write 3-4 column style posts per week on Thoughts.  Just another attempt to stay current and hopefully share my wisdom with whomever cares to read.

Who knows, maybe I'll post even more now that I don't have a schedule to keep.

You should definitely register for and try LetsLunch if you're in NYC or Silicon Valley.  It's a great tool for expanding your network or when starting from scratch in a new city like I recently did.  We're looking to be live in other major cities over the next 3-6 months but want to get the product right before we scale out of control.  Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, and Subscribe to the Blog!