Sep

24

Startup analogies

Filed Under product design, production, public relations | Leave a Comment

Read a really cool article today about what Startups can learn from Superheroes. It is a neat little blog post that shares a lot of the same values we have around here, basically: Focus, Don’t Quit, Be the Best, Be a Team Player. All of this results in a team having one goal and being able to accomplish pretty incredible things. Even if you aren’t in a startup its worth the three minute read.

This article led me to reflect on all that we’ve been able to do in the past year and how we’ve been able to do it. Amazingly next Wednesday is our one year anniversary. Next week we can officially say that our company has survived for 365 days, which if you ask me is a pretty monumental accomplishment. We’ve done some really cool things along the way, but I’m not going to detail them in this post (we’ll save that for later).

This all seems pretty fitting for what will happen next Wednesday. On October 1st, we will launch the open beta of Event Seek - free for everyone who wants to use it. No closed doors, no invitation codes required, everyone is welcome. Event-Seek.com will be focused on Atlanta for the time being, but expect that to change moving forward. I’ve watched a lot of websites go up and down in the past year, some grow, some shrink, some explode, and some fold altogether. We’ve stuck to our singular purpose and the fruits of our labor are about to be exposed to the world.

Is the team excited? You bet. Are they nervous? Absolutely. Will we throw one hell of a launch party? Damn straight!

Pretty soon you’ll be hearing about Event Seek all over the place - get ready we’re about to take the events world by storm.

Oh and just for fun I took the test that compares you to a superhero, I’m Ironman. Who are you?

 

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

 

Sep

19

Event Seek in the press? - You betcha!

Filed Under fundraising, public relations | 1 Comment

Well its official. Event Seek is no longer in stealth mode. We’ve been working for so long to make sure that no one outside of Atlanta knows who we are that I’m not sure how I feel right now.

Today an article just came out in Tech Journal South that profiles Event Seek. It’s a short little piece on who we are and what we do, but its fairly flattering and highlights the majority of key points for our business. For those of you who haven’t gotten an update on the business in a while, its a good update on our current investment and sales messages.

Anyway, I just thought that it was a neat piece on Event Seek and you all would enjoy checking it out. Feel free to share your thoughts!

Tech Journal Article on Event Seek

Sep

17

Am I becoming an iNerd?

Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

This past weekend my blackberry decided to call it quits. The trackball stopped working along with several other buttons. This kind of thing happens to me from time to time as I’m pretty demanding of my phone, so I wasn’t all that surprised, but usually its a slow decay of sorts.

This time however it was more like an all out system failure. Given that Saturday night was a long and somewhat inebriated one, I had to rethink my night. Had I dropped it? Poured something on it? Sat on it? No, no, no. Ok so I didn’t do anything especially destructive to the phone (that I remember). No big deal, I’ll do what I always do when my phone hits the fritz. I’ll call Verizon and tell them to send me a new one, I’m sure I’m still under my warranty. FAIL. Long out of warranty.

Faced with the idea of spending a few hundred dollars on a new bberry I was somewhat disheartened. Luckily I am up for a new contract with Verizon and get a phone discount. Or…I could switch carriers and get a whole new service contract..and…dare I say it..an iPhone.

Suddenly my phone dilemma seems like an opportunity! New cool phone with lots of features and new services! And thats when it hit me…

I’m a Mac toting, soon to be iPhone using, apple evangelizing, startup dork. What happened? I used to be a IBM carrying, crackberry typing, die-hard PC proclaiming, strategy consultant. Just 12 months ago! I was hesitant about the Mac switch, but my team talked me into it and I’ve never looked back. I love the thing - its simple, powerful, wonderful, and supported by so many wonderful open-source applications. And now the iPhone? Maybe this is too much.

But if it is anything like the computer, I won’t be dissapointed. It seems everyone who has one loves it. And talks about it all the time. And tells you how much better it is than your phone. And did I mention can’t stop talking about it?

Do I want to be one of those people? Do I want to be a member of the Mac cult? Do I need to buy all the same stuff to “think differently” than everyone else?

The answer is, of course, an emphatic Hell No! But it might be too late. I’ll get the iPhone because it is a great device and I want one, but I have a few points that I will hold my ground on:

  • I won’t wait in one of those damn lines at the Apple store to get it
  • I won’t pull it out at every possible opportunity to show it off
  • I won’t talk about it incessantly and argue its merits at dinner with people I don’t know that well
  • I won’t buy over-priced Apple products just because they are made by Apple
  • I won’t wait with baited breath for Steve Jobs to tell me about the next great Apple innovation
  • I won’t read the MacRumors blog to find out about what is coming
  • And most importantly, I won’t become an iNerd
Yeah, I’m gonna stand my ground.

Sep

11

For all “intensive” purposes

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The other day Andrew (our designer) looked at me funny when I said “Well for all intensive purposes” and said “You mean for all intents and purposes?”

It made me laugh, because Andrew is dead right, and I’m pretty sure I’ve been called out for that before. It reminded me that we all use common phrases to express our thoughts and feelings. Some of us use them more than others (myself included) and arguably as a crutch for not having anything new to say.

I have a few that I use most commonly:

“I mean this in the nicest possible way…”

“Not to be an asshole, but…”

“This is going to come out wrong, but I’ll try anyway.”

“To be honest…”

“To be fair…”

“With that being said…”

What do you use frequently (maybe overuse) in common everyday speech?

 

Sep

10

Meeting with “The Board”

Filed Under management styles, public relations | Leave a Comment

 One of the neat things about running a small company is that if you are lucky you can convince smart, successful, busy people that they should be a part of your advisory board.

Every company uses this group differently, but I recommend building a group of individuals who you believe are smart, passionate, experienced, and willing to take your calls! Once you’ve put this group together, you reach out to them individually and ask for their advice as you work through the day to day operations of your business. They can be incredibly insightful, especially if you ask them for advice on topics they know well.

Once every few months or weeks (depending upon your company stage and board interest) get everyone in a room for 2-3 hours. If you’re putting together a strong group of advisors, this should be damn near impossible! Not because they don’t want to do it, but getting 5-6 successful people in a room means juggling some crazy schedules. Let’s just say we manage to pull it off by scheduling about a month in advance and giving lots of options.

I’m not going to get into the details of who should make up your advisory board - thats really up to you and what you want to do with your business. I would like to say one thing on the topic however. Build your board out of people who won’t bullshit you. No room for this attitude in an advisory board meeting. You need people who will give an honest and clear assessment of how they see your problems and potential resolutions. Just because their “name” is impressive to add to the corporate resume doesn’t meant that they will be helpful in anyway to your business.

Thankfully our board is merciless. Think of them as the kid who would kick you when you were down, but smile when they did it!

When we do get a chance to pull up and meet with our advisory board, it is really a wonderful breath of fresh air. Anytime you can get some of the smartest people you know in one room, you really have to feel good about what you’re doing and the fact that they are willing to spend their time with you.

Of course they questioned our assumptions, debated our strategy, argued points, and discussed the thought process, but they did the whole thing in an effort to help build a successful company. There really is nothing like unfettered access to brilliant minds who want you to succeed.

Today we discussed production, sales, and investment - and managed to have lunch somewhere in between. It was a lot to tackle in two hours and took us longer than expected (big surprise). However we were able to discuss some difficult issues as we struggle with challenges in each of those areas. Nothing is easy at a startup, but being able to have great people help you work through your opportunities is just invaluable.

Thanks to our board. Thanks for putting up with our incessant requests and providing guidance and support when we need it.

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