A Sack of Seattle

The parallels between a start up and a new born baby

I got his update from one of the CEOs we're invested in. I thought I'd share it with all of you. e

It is always funny to me that in the startup world we have a tendency to measure our success and our failure by the minute.  It's a bit like being a parent of a newborn when every smile, coo, and dirty diaper are analyzed, studied, read into and the news of each is distributed to any friend or family member who will pretend to care.  I recall sitting next to my perfectly healthy daughter's crib for hours listening to ensure she was still breathing and then turning around and blogging about it ("Stayed alive through the night!  Success!").  Now that she's twelve all I have to do is log into Facebook to find out what she's up and and to make sure she's still breathing (there's a bit more to this whole parenting thing, but you get the analogy).  

I fully understand that success will be measured by what this company becomes three to five years from now, but that won't stop me from acting the paranoid parent for now and assessing and analyzing everything our little company does in these early stages.  And it is in that spirit that it drives me crazy that we appear to be about a month behind plan.  That "plan" was by no means scientific but it is a benchmark that we have and will continue to hold ourselves up against.  So we will fight like hell to get that month back, but a month behind is where we are at this point.

Entrepreneurs need to find that extra gear

Below is a story I told to 2 aspiring entrepreneurs in the Founder's Co-op portfolio today:

I used to swim in high school. I had a coach, named Mark O'Reilly, who had been my swim coach since I was 7 years old. I swam competitively -- I was a back stroker and used to practice everyday after school from 3 to 5PM. About midway through my Junior year of high school, I went to practice and that day had an awesome practice. I swim every "exercise" as if it were my last. I kicked ass during that practice. When I was done with practice, my coach came up to me and said if you do that everyday, you'll be able to compete nationally. He told me that "that extra gear" is what was required of me. I knew what he was talking about. My commitment that day in practice was extraordinary.

I told the entrepreneurs today that they needed to find their own extra gear if they wanted to make their company a success. I believe they have that extra gear -- but I can't do it for them. 

We'll see how practice goes the next couple months. I'm watching and cheering them on! My tip for all of you aspiring entrpeneurs is the same : find your extra gear. Leave all that you have on the game field (or in the pool).

My last meal : sushi and MacDonalds french fries

If you were on death row, what would you eat for your last meal?

Tuna sushi followed by an extra large order of Macdonalds french fries followed by a shot of Tequila....and likely some heartburn.

Virtual Good Buyers Graph

Pho vs BLT -- battle of the lunches at Founder's Co-op

We have a tradition at Founder's Co-op. Every Tuesday, we have lunch together at our offices. For the past year of existence the predominant lunch offering was Pho. We get the pho from Eastlake Terriyaki on Eastlake Ave East.  The owner of the store is nice and she boxes our lunches up. As the number of pho has increased to around 20 per week, we started asking for a discount on the $7+ soups. We weren't looking for much but we were spending about $600 per month on soup at the same restaurant and at least wanted to be appreciated. Various members of Founder's Co-op asked for a discount. We told her that we liked the soup but the cost of the soup in aggregate was going to force us to look elsewhere. Her response to our repeated requests for some discount was to say, "I give you a good portion".  I'd say, yes, we know but we'd like a discount or a buy 10 get 1 free given the regularity of our business.

Along came Hamlin deli. The high end convenience store next door. It's closer to us. Their sandwiches are great. I told the manager there that we ordered about 20 lunches on Tuesdays and would appreciate a discount. She response was warm, affirming, and decisive. I'll give you 1$ off every sandwich when you order 10 or more sandwiches. That's about a $20 savings per week and $80 per month.

Granted this is small dollars...and tribal to talk about. However, in the land of bootstrap businesses and frugal start up living, $80 per month is $80 dollars per month! And more important than the money is the emotional acknowledgment that our business matters to the business. So for now -- goodbye to pho and hello to BLT. 

My advice to start up companies --pay attention to customers desire to have their business appreciated!  It doesnt' take much to get customers to switch when the competition doesn't show appreciation.

What 3 things would you tell your teen self?

If you could travel back in time and meet yourself as a teenager, what three things would you tell yourself?
Submitted by Digital Scrapbooking.

 This is another "question of the day" from Typepad....and I've left the opening sentence that Typepad submits automatically on your behalf so you all can see it -- simple, smart, and effective!

My answer....I'd tell my teen self the following:

1. Have more sex....but that likely goes without saying. Most everyone will write that answer.  More specifically, be sure to follow through on potential relationships or opportunities to kiss Diane MacDonald, Judith Goldman, Justin Hodiak, Alice Tasman and probably 20 or more others.  If anyone reads this and wonders why they're not listed in name-- please email me and I'll add you :-)
2. Finish your computer science degree -- I entered Brown Univ as a CS major and came out a religious studies major. I never finished my cs studies....and then I went to MIT and had a second opportunity to compele the degree and decided just to do an MBA. I would have liked to have finished the degree. 
3. Buy lots of domain names -- In 1994, there's going to be this thing called the internet -- buy lots of domains. It still blows me away that I started an internet company in 1994 and don't own 1000 or more domains!

Typepad new implementation is very sharp and sexy

I was beginning to wonder what moveable type was doing. It's been a long time since I was impressed as a customer. I have to say that their most recent release is a vast improvement on their core product. It actually may save me from abandoning them for a new platform like wordpress. Features that I have caught my eye after playing with it:

• The overall user expereince has improved. It's easier to blog and track your blog traffic. Every step of the writing process feels more intuitive than it did before.
• Integration with twitter and facebook and a whole host of other platforms like dogster and amazon -- effectively they've implemented a feature that we at Judy's Book used to call write once publish many.
• They've implemented a follow feature very similar to twitter. This makes the prospect of discovering other typepad blogs and other authors much easier.
• They've introduced a question of the day which gives bloggers who don't know what to write about a suggestion of authoring. These questions of the day are sponsored by a company and include a link ot that sponsor. This is very smart revenue creation and allow them to sell unique content and links to lots of companies. This is powerful and smart -- and is also well done. 

Well done guys.  The changes make me happy to be a customer!

What I would splurge on this year to improve my future?

This question was presented to me by Typepad -- the blog platform that I'm still using even though I know I should switch to wordpress.

I'm playing with the Typepad new user interface and one of the things they offer is a question of the day to inspire a post. These questions are sponsored and have a built in link in them (i've include the exact text below):

"What's something you would splurge on this year to improve your future?
Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow."

Pretty crafty SEO and monetization strategy -- nice job guys.  Anyway -- I digress. Back to the question of the day - things I'd splurge on:

• More time -- If there was a way to buy more time I would buy it.
• 4 romantic weekends (1 per quarter) with my wife: I'd go to London, Hawaii, Saigon, and Santiago. Oh -- and I'd teleport myself there rather than take the flights.
• I'd get a personal trainer 3 x per week
• I'd get a personal chef and shopper too. They would fold laundry when not making me tasty salads for dinner. 
• I'd go to the magic house outside of LA with my son and I'd go to the best waterpark in the country wth my daughter (I believe it's in AZ).
• I'd buy a convertible lexus
• I'd buy health care for the US -- and introduce medical mal practice reform.
• I'd buy peace of mind.

Welcome Back Kotter

Tweeting vs. Blogging: you can follow me on twitter at @asackofseattle

I'm wondering if other people are considering tweeting as a viable and attractive alternative to blogging. In the last 30 days I've found the experience of tweeting to be easier and more engaging than blogging. I'm still blogging but the thought of just tweeting is attractive to me. In the end, I think the twitter medium and user experience is just lighter and easier than blogging. 
I suspect I'm not alone in considering a transition to tweeting. In fact, I suspect that there is a significant shift from blogging to tweeting and that this new form of microblogging is likely to far outpace the growth of blogging.
As a friend pointed out, I'm already a fan of the "short" blog post. I generally try to make a point and not belabor it in my blog posts.  If you read this blog, don't worry...I'm not quitting the blog. But I'm interested in my desire to tweet more over blog more and think there's something to the phenomena. I'd also suggest you follow me on twitter #asackofseattle