MAD SMARTS

When Canadians protest.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:33:40 -0700

When Canadians protest.

Today’s sign of the impending doom of Western...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:35:06 -0700

Today’s sign of the impending doom of Western civilization.

Ski-in/ski-out Starbucks brings takeaway coffee to the slopes

We’ve already seen California’s Mammoth Mountain create snowcats with built-in kitchens in order to get snacks and drinks to skiers on the move, and now we’re seeing a major brand also setting out to make refreshments more accessible for those on the slopes. Starbucks has recently opened its first outlet to be located on the side of a mountain with a ski-in/ski-out service. READ MORE…

parislemon: Excellent.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:07:45 -0700

parislemon:

Excellent.

Amazing Startup, LacrosseRecruits.com is looking for programmer(s) who want to be part of the NYC scene!

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:25:41 -0700

Amazing Startup, LacrosseRecruits.com is looking for programmer(s) who want to be part of the NYC scene!

A sweet new picture of me.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:05:15 -0700

A sweet new picture of me.

How Groupon capitalized on my temporary insanity

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:04:37 -0700

How Groupon capitalized on my temporary insanity:

moneyisnotimportant:

cnnmoneytech:

As a Jersey gal, I’ve been a Giants fan since I was a wee one. So yesterday was, well, pleasing. I holed up to watch the game with childhood friends, bit my nails down to the quick, and got elbowed in the face when the group of us jumped around screaming and the clock ticked down to zero.

After I determined that I hadn’t lost a tooth, I picked up my phone to text friends about the win. But there was a notification from Groupon about an NFL toaster.

“A GIANTS TOASTER!” I announced. My skeptical boyfriend asked if the $30 toaster actually emblazoned the NYG logo into the toast. As soon as I replied “yes,” everyone in the room stopped screaming and whipped out their phones to make the purchase.

In the cold light of day, I tweeted to Groupon damning them for tempting me with a $30 novelty toaster in my time of crazy. Groupon replied as you might expect: “We impulse bought a NY Giants pony, so consider the toaster a space-saver.” -Julianne

I love stories about ridiculous impulse purchases. That toaster will be a topic of conversation for years to come, which, in my opinion, makes it a great use of $30.

"Money isn’t everything. In fact, a sense of purpose is more important than the size of a salary when..."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:56:17 -0700

“Money isn’t everything. In fact, a sense of purpose is more important than the size of a salary when it comes to inspiring top performance from employees and team members.”

- Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/1813831/the-wikipedia-way-of-motivating-your-employees

“My startup is like 10 times leaner than your...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:21:39 -0700

“My startup is like 10 times leaner than your startup!”

Colorado Startups... Support Local Tech Journalists... Follow Tekhne!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:22:25 -0700

Colorado Startups... Support Local Tech Journalists... Follow Tekhne!

magnolius: Phonebook carvings by Cuban artist Alex Queral....

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:40:58 -0700

magnolius:

Phonebook carvings by Cuban artist Alex Queral. Finally, somebody put phonebooks to good use.

Taking an ordinary phone book, Alex Queral carves a face into this object of so many faceless names. With the book, a very sharp X-ACTO® knife, a little pot of acrylic medium to set detail areas and a great deal of talent, Queral literally peels away the pages like the skin of an onion to reveal the portrait within.

3 Entrepreneurial Lessons of the Duke John Wayne and his...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:57:14 -0700

3 Entrepreneurial Lessons of the Duke

John Wayne and his characters are my heroes. They have swagger, they’re cool, they’re always in control but most of all they’re tough… they have grit, True Grit.

Here are the 3 lessons any entrepreneur can learn from the greatest actor of all times:

LESSON 1- John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison. His parents changed his middle name to Mitchell when they decided to name his little brother Robert.

One of the toughest guys of all time was named Marion Mitchell Morrison. The only thing that I can assume is that his parents didn’t like him very much. His brother… Robert… Bob… a good sturdy name. For the man that would prove to be one of the most iconic film actors of all times…. Marion.

Kids being kids you have to imagine that Marion got made fun of. He probably got beat up. Probably got sand thrown in his face. Did Marion feel sorry for himself? Did he get fat and become antisocial? HELL No!

He had a dog who’s name was Duke. He liked that name and so he convinced the people in his small California town to call him Duke. In what can only be considered one of the greatest about faces in history, Marion became Duke… THE DUKE.

Lesson: To hell with all the self help daily affirmation crap. If you don’t like your name, your job, your hair, whatever,…. change it! While it may seem like a vast oversimplification it’s not. Simply decide who or what you want to be and be that person.

You think the Duke would have put up with someone complaining about his parents. If you came to the Duke with a “I blame my inability to be successful in life on my parents and their inability to connect with me on a metaphysical level” story. I’m guessing he would have slowly placed his cigar in between his teeth, opened his right hand and slapped you right across your self pitying face… Pilgrim.

“Don’t apologize—it’s a sign of weakness.” – She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

LESSON 2- We hear about all the time how failure is simply a part of startup life. How we learn so much from our mistakes and how little we learn from our successes. That success is forged from the hot fire of our fuck ups.

I believe all of that. I have to. I’m a startup guy and the moment you lose that belief you’re done. It’s time to go get a real job.

So you’ve just been bucked off for the 100th time, stomped on and your horse is eating your hat. How do you get your nose out of the dirt and get back on the bitch that bucked you?. How do you do it? How do you bounce back from failure?

I ask you this WWJWD… What Would John Wayne Do?

I’ll tell you a quick story. I was recently up for an opportunity to pitch my company, Moblify at a cool event in Silicon Valley. I made it to the last 12 and the top 8 would pitch. The judge jury and executioner (the sole decision maker) is an interesting guy who is about 6’3” and weighs about 120 pounds. To make a long story short, he pissed on my parade and chose a couple of really stupid companies over me. There was politics, there was ass kissing, there was all kinds of things that should have made me be absolutely fine with losing out. The game was rigged and the guy is an asshole.

WWJWD?

Aside from felony assault (which I ruled out after pondering it for a week or two)… what would John Wayne do?

He sure in hell would not take it laying down. He would make it his singular purpose to build the worlds best company and the moment that this guy would try to claim some sort of credit for the success he would… well he would piss all over HIS parade.

Lesson- Turning the other cheek is for pussies. If someone slaps you and If you feel you’ve been wronged slap their ass back (metaphorically speaking of course). Tell me this… has the high road ever gotten you anywhere any faster than the low road? I’m guessing not. I spring out of bed every morning fired up to prove this guy is a fraud or at least a poor judge of companies You can have the high road… I’ll stick to my petty, low down, nitty gritty, target on their back low road.

You think the Duke would have let that sniveling little Aspergers boy get away with being a prick or would he have taught him some manners?

“I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” – The Shootist (1976)

LESSON 3- The thing that’s crazy about startups is the ups and downs. We all know that when you get on this ride you may want to bring a puke bag with you. It is sort of like getting on the shockwave after riding the log ride. (That’s a Six Flags over Texas Reference … but I imagine you get the reference.)

The thing is, the ups are great…beyond great….but the downs are down right scary. Anyone that tells you differently is either lying or has proven themselves by selling a company or two (I call those people other siders).

The truth is when you’re on the bottom side of that ride…the very bottom, it sucks. It makes you question your decisions. Makes you wonder if you’ve made big mistakes. If the sacrifices that you’ve made will be worth it. It makes you wonder you’ll ever be an other sider or if you’re destined to spend your life struggling to make it work.

When you’re that low there’s only one thing that get’s you through… grit. That’s it. There is no other secret. You have to be tougher than an old shoe.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about Grit:

Definition of Grit

Grit is defined as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” [2] Building upon biographical collections of famous leaders in history, researchers and scientists have reached similar conclusions about high achieving individuals. Specifically, those individuals who were deemed more successful and influential than their contemporary counterparts typically possessed traits above and beyond that of normal ability.[3][4][5]While ability was still critically important, these individuals also possessed “zeal” and “persistence of motive and effort.”[2]Duckworth and colleagues (2007) believe this dual-component of Grit to be a crucial differentiator from similar constructs. Grit is conceptualized as a stable trait that does not require immediate positive feedback.[2]Individuals high in Grit are able to maintain their determination and motivation over long periods of time despite experiences with failure and adversity. Their passion and commitment towards the long-term objective is the overriding factor that provides the stamina required to “stay the course” amid challenges and set-backs. Essentially, the Grittier person is focused on winning the marathon, not the sprint.

If there is one thing that John Wayne personified was toughness…grit. When you’re low, pull your hat down on your head. Put your teeth in the wind and put one boot in front of the other.

“All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be some place else.” – In Harm’s Way (1965)

A little help!

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:44:40 -0700

Hi Guys and Gals,

I need a favor… again. We are up for the finals in a NEW pitching event but we need some serious help to break in to the top group. That means if you can vote again even if you voted last time.

It takes about 30 seconds and you need to create an account at Vator.TV but they won’t spam you.

Step 1- Click on this link….. http://vator.tv/registration

Step 2- REGISTER for a new account with Vator.TV…. Yes I know it’s a pain but they’re good folks..it takes about 10 seconds…. Facebook is easier but if you’d rather create an account using your email address you can do that too.

Step 3- Press this link to vote for Moblify… http://vator.tv/competition/splash-feb-2012?for=moblify&vote=1#participants

Step 4- Tally up one more favor that Chris owes you…. walking dogs, washing cars, you name it….

Smartly Stupid and Stupid Smart

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:30:05 -0700

I got some bad news this past week. My company was up for a chance to pitch at an event in Silicon Valley. We were in the last 12 companies… 8 will get to pitch 4 got left out. I was sorely disappointed that we didn’t get an opportunity to pitch but you have to tough skin in this business.

In fact we’re back at it and could use your support so we can pitch at really cool event in a couple of weeks. Vote HERE.

I felt sorry for myself for about 24 hours and then got back at it. Now that the sting has worn off, I have to share the whole story and the lessons learned… because it’s damn funny.

The leader of the organization is an eccentric fellow… and by eccentric I mean he’s an asshole. Like many that have “made it” in our business he has a tremendous ego and believes that he is amongst the smartest human beings on the planet… I believe the term he used to modestly describe himself was…”Stupid Smart”

I was on a call with him this past week. He was bullying a young entrepreneur in to the fetal position by , “There will be 300 people in that room. You can assume that the average intelligence level in that room will be a 9…THE AVERAGE!”

Hmmm. Seems nearly statistically impossible outside of the mens room of the Harvard Physics Department after Taco Night…but whatever… he’s stupid smart right?

A few minutes later on the same call he was undressing an entrepreneur who just so happened to be from abroad on his “communication style”… the dude spoke fairly good English but he struggled with some of the nuances… as most people do… THAT LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH AS THEIR SECOND… OR THEIR THIRD LANGUAGE.

That’s when our stupid smart friend tipped his hand, “You know…I don’t if it’s because you’re not from America or what…”

And that’s when it hit me, this guy is stupid! He’s paddling with one oar. He’ only got three tires and one of them is going flat. You get the idea.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story…He’s held some impressive positions… done a lot of cool things, with some cool people. He had to have SOME smarts, but he seems not be using them.

We’re in need of a new definition… I humbly submit a new a term, Smartly Stupid… here’s my definition:

Smartly Stupid- adj. When a smart person acts stupidly, ignorantly or like a total asshole.

But here’s the big lesson. If you’re Smartly Stupid… and let’s be honest if you are one of these guys you probably don’t have the highest level of self awareness so you may need to ask your friends. But if you wake up one morning and suddenly in a moment of clarity come to the realisation that you’re Smartly Stupid here is my advice to you.

Try… try really fucking hard… to be nice.

Japanese Department Store May Want to Look Up the Word ‘Fucking’

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:47:56 -0700

Japanese Department Store May Want to Look Up the Word ‘Fucking’

Mom My Ride

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:12:00 -0700

Mom My Ride

Don't Be an A$$ H*le!

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:28:33 -0700

Back by popular demand…Don’t be an Asshole

I was reading a Tech Crunch post about one of the coolest companies I know, Nokero. If you haven’t checked them out, please do…http://nokero.com

Nokero is a collection of smart people who are dedicated to getting solar lightbulbs in the hands of the billion plus people worldwide without regular access to electricity.

Their business is simple. The billions of people around the world burning kerosene for light is lousy for the environment. Thousands of kids that get horribly burned every year in kerosene fires. This product creates micro entrepreneurs around the world. Solar lightbulbs are the answer to a lot of big problems. In short they are a kick ass company and a great group of guys.

When I saw that they had gotten some coverage in Tech Crunch, I was excited…until I read through the comments.

Here was the first one:

Thomas Schreier

uhm. are you kidding us? This application is already widespread in use here in europe. For example to light the path through the garden to people’s home entry and so on. Oh and they are cheap too.

Reply · 6 · Like · Follow Post · September 17 at 1:41am

Here’s my personal favorite:

Trent Palmer · Top Commenter · Boring, Oregon

Non-solar Powered Light Bulbs Provide Light After Dark.

Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 18 at 7:12pm

You can see the whole thing here, but you get the idea.

This got my blood boiling. It’s like the Simpsons Episode where Homer worked as the food critic. When Lisa stopped helping him come up with new material he reverted in to bashing everything. Not because he disliked the food, because it was easier to bash than it was to give a thoughtful criticism. Homer was being an asshole.

Instead of bashing the bashers (which would probably make me fell better) I’m going to make a simple appeal on behalf of all of us entrepreneurs to all of you who regularly respond on blogs.

Please stop being assholes.

If you have real and thoughtful analysis…. tell us! PLEASE tell us! We are constantly seeking feedback. Entrepreneurs crave it. It’s ok to tell us that you think our UI stinks. That our product is inferior to a competitor. It’s even OK to say that you think we’re dumb if you tell us WHY!

Just don’t be an asshole.

Here is a simple test to see if you‘re acting like an asshole. As you are about to reply to this or any blog post, ask yourself the following question: Am I offering something or am I taking something? If you are offering something post it. Please post it. The world could use your knowledge and insight. Otherwise don’t.

Still need more help? Try this… If you‘re posts contain: “this sucks”, “this is stupid” or “are you kidding me?” You might be slipping in to asshole mode. Stop, take a deep breath and give us something of use. Tell us what we could do better. Ask a question. Offer your opinion on a certain feature. Give something.

Still need more help? Send me your questions. My 6 year old seems to have a pretty good handle on whether people are being nice or mean. I’ll run it by him.

Cheers,
http://moblify.me/chris

Thank You! Moblify is In!

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:52:00 -0700

I just got word that Moblify made it to the second round of the Founders Showcase. Thank you to all of our friends who voted! You have no idea how much we appreciate it!

We’ll hold open our friends and family FREE Moblify Account for the next few days.

Click HERE… http://www.moblify.me/signup_free.php
Use the coupon code BETA

Cheers,

http://moblify.me/chris

Vote in the smarter than Iowa Caucus

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:51:00 -0700

Vote in the smarter than Iowa Caucus

Free Membership to Moblify

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:20:24 -0700

Hello Friends…

My startup Moblify, has the chance to pitch at a prestigious event in Silicon Valley but we need your help to get there! We’re currently out of the running and need a lot of help over the coming days to get in the running.

You can learn all about us and vote us in to the Founders Showcase here:

http://showcase9.strutta.com/entry/229909

In return for your 10 seconds of time we want to thank you by giving you a FREE MEMBERSHIP TO MOBLIFY!

You can sign up here: http://www.moblify.me/signup_free.php

Use the coupon code: BETA

Still want to know more?

Moblify helps you build your personal and professional networks by:

1) Making it ridiculously easy to share your contact information with the people you meet.

2) Capturing and managing the contact information for the people you meet.

3) Managing that interaction by sharing only the social networking profiles appropriate to that setting.

4) Tracking your progress along the way.

Thanks and Happy Moblifying,

http://moblify.me/chris

The 3 Worst Startup Pitches of All Time

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:22:03 -0700

I want to conclude my short week of posts around pitch competitions by telling you the story of the three worst pitches I have ever witnessed and hopefully finding something we can learn from their shameful, shameful, failure. (I’m kidding… every pitch is a good pitch.) I don’t need to change the names to protect the innocent because I truthfully don’t remember the company or the peoples’ names.

This is all springing from the fact that I’ve entered Moblify into the Founder Showcase. We could really use your support so vote for us here.

The Smack Off

This one goes down as one of the funniest AND one worst pitches of all time. I can’t remember the setting but I’ll never forget the pitch. A well dressed guy got up and gave a fairly standard introduction but what happened next was anything but normal.

Now, I’ve never been a fan of professional wrestling but apparently this guy was. He later told me that he was copying, what he called a smack off. Apparently this involves a wrestler (or wrassler, as he called it) standing on stage and describing in great detail what he was planning to do to his upcoming opponent. Things like… “So and so… I’m coming for ya and I’m bringing the pain!”. But instead of talking about his opponents he talked about how he was going to dominate his market and beat down his competitors in the space. Like a car wreck, I couldn’t watch but yet I couldn’t look away.

The best part was his movements coupled with his extremely expressive facial expressions. He would sort of pose like a body builder to emphasize his points despite the fact, he was only about 160 pounds but could still be considered to be overweight.

The crowd loved it and everybody laughed including the pudgy wrassler and while his pitch was memorable, I couldn’t tell you a thing about his company.

Lesson: Being entertaining is good. Making the pitch more about you than about your company…dumb.

The Implosion

A group of students were charged with pitching me their ideas as if I were a rich investor and they caught me in an elevator (get it … an elevator pitch). Playing a rich investor was the acting challenge of my life and while I have no idea how to act rich the top hat and monocle were nice additions to my character. The students were amazing, confident, funny and courageous. A few of them had some really good ideas.

Now I have been told that a lot of people fear public speaking more than death. I’m not sure if it’s true but, in this case, I think the young girl would have preferred death by root canal without painkillers to the torture of standing in front of a classroom of 30. From the moment I saw her, three things were obvious. First, she was deathly nervous. Second, she was no more than 12 years old (probably closer to 19 but she looked like she was 12). Finally, she thought I was the devil (or at least looked at me as if I were).

She managed to whisper her way through the opening but started to come unhinged after about 10 seconds. She looked up, met my eyes and froze. Flushed 3 shades of pale and began to sway on her feet. It was hard not to take it personally.

At this point, I was guessing there were two possible outcomes. She would either pass out (In which case my best bet was to take a step closer so I could catch her before she knocked her head on a desk and inevitably sue me), or she would puke. (In which case my best move away, move away quickly.) You can see my dilemma.

The girl was frozen with fear. I felt as if I needed to say something. “Do you need a second?” I asked.

The sound of my voice was apparently too much for her to handle and she let a shriek that loosened the fillings of everyone within a two mile radius. With tears streaming, she sprinted for the door and disappeared to the hidden realm of the lady’s room.

The best line of the day belonged to the professor. After a couple of long moments of awkwardness. He calmly looked down at his list and said, “OK…next up we have…”.

Lesson: Figure out how to stand up in front of people… I know, easy for me to say but if you’re going to be the next great American Entrepreneur, you should probably figure that out. If you simply are not “that” person, hire one. The world is full of wanna be pitch men. Go to any corporate training department and you’ll find bushels of them.

The Geek Fight-

There are two camps of entrepreneur mentors that I have found. The first, let’s call them Jobsians, will be honest. When I say honest I mean they’re assholes. This group tends to take delight in telling you that your company is stupid, your idea is dumb and your shirt is ugly. Their thesis is that most people will tell you only what you want to hear so it is up to them to tell you what you need to hear. I do not, in theory, disagree but I’m from the South and in the South we’re not assholes we’re passive aggressive…which is way better!

The second (I fall in to this camp) will give you their opinion but do it in a way that does not kick the shit out of your hopes and dreams, throw them on the ground and urinate on them. I call these people Nordmarkians named after one of the nicest entrepreneurs you’ll ever meet Jon Nordmark.

As a proud Nordmarkian I was listening to a young energetic guy pitch an idea around group dating. He wanted to do something around location based technologies and meeting like minded singles. I’ve probably heard this idea pitched about 40 times and while the presenter had a ton of excitement, there was nothing in thehis idea that distinguished it from the other 40. At the end of the pitch, I was asked to give my feedback and as a good Nordmarkian, I complimented him on his pitch, his energy, his enthusiasm. In my last sentence I gently mentioned that he may want to look in to the competition in the space and try to find an angle that made him unique.

The young guy looked as if I had stolen his Birthday. I sensed tears forming under his eyelids and that’s when it happened…The kid got pissed.

He lowered his sites on me and let a round fly. “Oh really, what have you ever done that was so great?” It went on from there. I sat quietly and let him finish and was about to respond when the Jobsian next to me, tired of being left out of the fun, jumped in to the fight with a few well timed insults about the stupidity of the company and the color of the guy’s shirt. Pretty soon the young guys business partner had waded in to the fray and what followed was an out and out Pitch Fest Riot (all rights reserved…working on the movie script).

There is nothing quite as entertaining and yet sad as being in the middle of a geek fight. The insults fly fast but generally revolve around the opponents intelligence or lack there of. After a few minutes, us geeks had tuckered ourselves out and the young guy, now with tears running down his cheeks, ran out of the room like a girl at prom who discovered that her friend is wearing the same dress.

Lesson: Smile and take it… No matter the feedback, arguing with the person giving it will get you nowhere. The Jobsians of the world can be brutal but they are (in their own way) trying to help. If you plan on standing up at a pitch competition plan on being shredded, it’s just the way it works. Smile and thank the judges for their feedback….unless of course, you want to cause a…. GEEK FIGHT!