A Sack of Seattle

Entrepreneurs: nobody cares, be yourself

I've gotten a lot of comments about my 20th reunion photo both online and offline. The photo seems to resonate with people. Well, putting the photo up made me think. I recall when I started abuzz in 1996 with 2 partners. At that time, I didn't want anyone to know that I had worn a tie-die, gone to a Greatful Dead show, or any other activity that wouldn't be "business professional" accepted.
Over time, I've realized as a first time entrepreneur, I spent too much time trying to do what was expected or what was supposed to be "the right thing" that I missed the opportunity to lead by being myself and doing what I thought was the right thing.  Not accepting that I was a tie-die wearing entrepreneur -- was emlematic of my tendency to look outside of myself to others to tell me what I should be doing to lead my company. I've seen this trait in many first time entrepeneurs -- my advice: get over it, you have the answer and even if you don't, be yourself -- you'll have more fun.  

Passing on an old internet trend: stand by me

Worth watching and seeing this video if you haven't already

My 20th reunion from Brown University

Just got back to the office after a long memorial day weekend in Providence. I started Brown University in 1989 as a computer science major. I finished Brown in January 1990 with a BA in religious studies -- affectionately known as an 89.5er. It's trite to say, but those four and a half years were some of the best in my life. 
Returning to that place and period of time -- as a 42 year old -- was very emotional. I cried or teared up at least 4 times.  The people that were there helped me define me -- and were present as I defined me.  Sometimes that was beautiful -- and sometimes that wasn't so pretty.
Some take aways from the weekend:

• People I thought I'd be in touch with forever -- I'm not. I'm surprised at the flow of relationships. Who has been in my life and who is likely to continue to be in my life is not as I expected.
• It's not about the money.  So much of success in America is driven and measured by money. Money is not and should not be the measure of success -- or happiness.  One of the best conversations I had this weekend was with someone who has been unemployed for 2 years and spent 9 months meditating. He quit his 90K per year job to elect for unemployment because he felt the job was killing the life in him. Pretty fascinating guy. He was amongst the happiest -- if not the "wealthiest" people I met.
• Life happens to all of us -- parents die, people get sick, people get married and divorced. There is no stopping time.
• The guys (myself included) were fatter
• Going back to college is a bit like visiting family for the holidays -- everyone regresses.

Andy in college, a photo from 1986

Food as a business trade secret

I'm going to let you in on one of my secrets. Food works. As my mother used to say -- "if you can't beat them, feed them".  And she did that well -- she was a master of sweets.  Growing up, we had a cupboard of Hostess twinkees and suzi q's. Our house was the house all the kids in the neighborhood flocked.  I learned early that food could bring people together.
When I started abuzz, I used to say that "the company that dines together, succeeds together". This was my adaptation of my mothers saying. Since that time, I've used food, meals, coffees, wines as a means of inviting people to break bread, have fun, talk and ultimately do deals. In my opinion, food is an underrated and under discussed business tool -- think about it over a piece of cake. And buy your employee or boss a cup of coffee and see what you learn.

Time with my daughter

I had the pleasure of taking Friday off and spending Thursday night and Friday with my daughter.   We had a great time. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge outside of Olympia, WA.  It's a destination resort -- part of a chain of indoor water parks.  We had a fabulous time.  I try to go away with my kids at least once per year if not more -- just the two of us.  If you're in the Seattle area and want a family resort -- Great Wolf Lodge is somewhere between Disney World and Chuck E Cheese -- I know it sounds a bit much...and it probably is....but we had fun anyway!

Random facts of the day

• 9% of the US population visit a starbucks once a month
• twitter's shortcode is the most used shortcode in the US. that's a telling piece of data.
• 10 days before my mother's birthday
• 20 days of school left for my daughter and son (they pointed that out to me this morning)

Facebook vs. Twitter

They're both great services. But, in my humble opinion, Twitter is a more powerful system.  Simply put, Facebook is news and feeds from people you know and Twitter is news and feeds from people you aspire to know.
So the question is -- people you know vs. people you want to know.

Place calls to shut down your school -- for just $5

Pretty funny...read it all here

Lundeby, known online as "Tyrone," allegedly had progressed into selling his services as a threatmaker, charging schoolchildren from across the country $5 apiece to place threatening, Internet-based phone calls that would cause administrators to shut down their schools, Wired News reports.

"I heard the prank phone calls he made," his mother, Annette Lundeby, said in the Wired report. "They were really funny prank calls."

Seattle tech community takes a step forward with Seattle 2.0 Awards

I commented earlier this week on how well Marcelo Calbucci publicized the Seattle 2.0 awards event.  Well, no wI want to comment on the event itself. 
Simply put, the event was excellent.  Why?  Because.....

• Attendance was great. By nominating lots of people and inviting lots of people, Marcelo was able to get critical mass of people to the event
• Agenda was solid.  Copying the Academy Awards gave the night an air of excitement and pageantry that is rare in the tech industry and almost non existent in Seattle tech scene.
• Marcelo paid attention to the details. Even the trophies looked cool -- and simple trite plaques .  

All in all, I have to hand it to Marcelo and everyone that helped. It was an event that seemed to pull a normally disparate tech community together.
My suggestions for next year are:

• Keep the awards event to no more than 1 hour. It started to drag (just a bit) for the last 20 to 30 minutes.
• Open bar (with hard alcohol) -- charge more but make the event even more festive!
• More appetizers -- food makes the world go round. Fed people are happy people.