The Remarkable Story of How Klout Got Started

While recuperating after having his jaw wired shut, Joe Fernandez had to rely on Twitter and Facebook to communicate. Unable to speak to anyone, he noticed how online communication influenced his personal network and set out to create a website that could measure word of mouth and how it scaled.

That website is what we know today as Klout, where Fernandez is CEO. In the video above, Fernandez shares his story with Venture Studio.

Click on the photo to watch the whole interview at Venture Studio!

 

 

 

Inside the Y Combinator Experience With the Founders of Codecademy

Since Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinsky left Columbia University to join Y Combinator, their startup,Codecademy, has attracted close to 1 million users and $2.5 million in funding from elite tech investors like Fred Wilson’s Union Square Ventures, Ron Conway’s SV Angel fund and Yuri Milner.

You can watch the whole video on Venture Studio by clicking on the photo.

How a Harvard Dropout Raised $24 Million in a Recession

 

Since Alexa von Tobel dropped out of Harvard Business School to create LearnVest in late 2009, her personal finance startup has attracted more than 100,000 users and raised $24.5 million in funding.

Von Tobel stopped by Venture Studio to talk about her story, as well as shed light on LearnVest’s latest feature, Career Bootcamp, which teaches users how to negotiate a salary and to how to make sure they’re in the right job. She also spoke about her inspiration for LearnVest, why she dropped out of Harvard in the middle of a recession and what advice she’d give to those who are just starting their own businesses.

The whole interview is on Venture Studio, just click on the photo to check it out.

 

Venture Studio (27): Sachin Kamdar, CEO Parse.ly

I met with Sachin Kamdar recently, CEO of Parse.ly. In essence the company allows online publishers to optimize their existing content through personalization. Users get to visit their favorite news sites, but with Parse.ly those sites now understand the tastes of their readers and can deliver more relevant content to them. Their products have already driven millions of clickthroughs for their customers and their newest product, Dash, now tracks over 500 million pageviews a month and is growing rapidly. 

Sachin and his co-founder Andrew Montalenti have a great story- and they way they've stuck together through thick and thin, their inventiveness, willingness to adapt to the needs of the market is simply awesome.

My favorite line was: "... get product market fit, gain the domain expertise, be persistent and eventually you get there..."

Enjoy

00:10 What is Parse.ly?

00:23 Their new analytics system: Parse.ly Dash (capturing >300 million page views per month)

00:56 The origins of the company, how the cofounders literally worked nightly to figure out what they should do (while holding down day jobs), and eventually got into DreamIT Ventures accelerator

2:23:  Their funding story (Blumberg Capital, ff Ventures, Scott Becker and other angels)

3:25:  The challenges they encountered prior to receiving funding, ie. doing consulting on the side to help bootstrap the company, etc! What qualities Sachin thinks it takes to succeed

 

RIP, Smokin' Joe Frazier, 1944-2011

 

RIP Joe Frazier- one of the greats and an inspiration to many.

At 5'10" 205lbs he was diminutive by heavyweight standards and yet was a feared and colossal force in the ring.  Simply relentless- always moving forward, giving and taking no quarter, and unleashing the vaunted left hook in legendary encounters throughout his storied career. Olympic gold medalist and heavyweight champion of the world.... first man to beat Ali... and on and on....

Below is a video tribute to him below, which includes his great victory over Ali in 1971.  Something to remember next time you're about to encounter a great challenge of any kind, (entrepreneurial or otherwise).

Of particular note is minute 2:33....

RIP

What Every Student Entrepreneur Needs to Know to Succeed (4) Social Media

This is part of my new Series on Student Entrepreneurship

In the previous posts in this Series we established the mindset and awareness required, the immersion you need to inititate in your local startup ecosystem, and what you need to do to acquire subject matter expertise, all with the objective of greatly increasing your chances of success as an entrepreneur.

In this post I'm focused on making sure you develop a robust on-line presence as I truly believe it to be an essential ingredient of your overall approach. I've noticed, however, that when I bring this up to student entrepreneurs I am mentoring, any combination of the following three questions and/or protestations typically arise. Here they are:

1. Not sure why I need this? Sounds like a waste of time
2. I wouldn't know what to blog about anyway
3. Even if I agreed with you, I'm just too busy

 

Allow me to respond: 

1) Not sure why I need this? Sounds like a waste of time

If you're in this to win this, you need a robust online presence because entrepreneurs are only as strong as their networks. A strong online presence comprised of an active blog and/or twitter presence, facebook page, klout score, etc. is simply mandatory in the world we're living in. Everyone's online, everyone will be looking you up online and if you're not there when they look- or hard to find- you essentially don't really exist. That's the opposite of what you need to have going for you if you aspire to running a company where you'll be depending on the good graces of a multitude of people including customers, service providers, potential partners, online tools, investors, etc. Work in obscurity and you're company will most certainly fail.

2) I wouldn't know what to blog about anyway

This may be the highest hurdle of all for most people. It is the virtual equivalent of the real world aversion certain fledgling entrepreneurs have about actually speaking to potential customers. 

Here's the thing- don't worry if you're not a subject matter expert in your field yet. The cool thing about a blog is you can write honestly about what you are actually going through. Turn your perception of what blogging is about on its head and think of your blog as an actual vehicle to learn about areas that interest you! For example, as you study the topic, why not post about certain things you have learned, about articles or books you have read, about lectures or conferences you have attended! Take photos and post those along with your written content. Be insightful, thoughtful, original. Before you know it your blog has become a workspace for you. Get a blogroll of all the blogs you follow, archive your posts and categorize them. Have fun with it and be authentic. In time, you won't ever look back.

3) Even if I agreed with you, I'm just too busy

Wow, ok. I always need to take a deep breath when this is said. And I think I've maybe been a tad too polite with certain folks who drop this one on me (which is a disservice to them actually). I know other folks like Gary V that would probably flip out at this point. Here's why:

As busy as you feel you are, you'll actually never have as much freedom (read: time) on your hands as you have right now. You probably aren't married yet, don't have kids yet, don't have a full-time job, etc. Obviously there are certain students who do have difficult situations on their hands and concommitant obligations and I'm not disrespecting anyone in this situation. But if you are not burdened by such obligations, then the real problem is probably that you are just not cut out for entrepreneurship. I know that *sounds* harsh, but it really isn't. If you aren't prioritizing the things that give you every advantage possible as a fledgling entrepreneur, your heart's probably not in it. And if this stuff isn't making sense and seems like a burden to you, that's totally fine, but I think it may be best for you to start thinking about getting a job somewhere. 

For the rest of you, look forward to seeing you on twitter and to reading your blogs, because....

You'll soon have a robust social media presence... 

 For Part 5 of this Series, Click Here

Venture Studio (26): John Frankel, Founding Partner, ff Venture Capital

I recently had the pleasure of visiting with John Frankel, founding partner of ff Venture Capital, at their beautiful new NYC headquarters.

Originally from England and with 21 years at Goldman Sachs under his belt John brings an unconventional background to the table as a venture capitalist. Yet his approach is not what one might expect upon hearing this singular detail.  I learned, for example, that he's been actively investing in early stage startups (such as Quigo (sold to AOL) and Cornerstone onDemand (now CSOD on NASDAQ) for well over a decade before finally deciding to leave GS and starting his own fund full-time. I also learned that he has a unique (and refreshing) sense of the notion of "risk" in the realm of early-stage investing. Lastly, I learned that he's immensely thoughtful about the macro trends and forces at play in and around the tech space- not surprising from a guy who studied philosophy at Oxford.

Anyway- my favorite line was when he said in a tongue & cheek way that during all those years at the bank he was asking himself what he wanted to do "when he grew up". Looking at ff's formidable portfolio and the amount of fun he's having working with great entrepreneurs who want to change the world- it seems that he's found his calling.

Enjoy!

00:05    Coming to VC from  a so-called non-traditional background

01:32     Transitioning from angel investing to full-time venture investing

02:23     John's great and original take on the notion of early-stage investing being "risky"!

03:21     What motivates him as an investor? (Some great stuff here) "A better education than he received at Oxford"... "Working with great entrepreneurs who   want to change the world"

04:19     John's take on where things are going and all the "bubble talk" these days

05:50    "We continue to see an unbelievable number of amazing companies"

06:22     On getting in touch with @ffventure  (warm intros please!)

 

For the full interview click on the image of John just below: 

 

What Every Student Entrepreneur Needs to Know to Succeed (3) Know Something!

This is part of my new Series on Student Entrepreneurship

In the previous posts in this Series we established the mindset and awareness required as well as the immersion you need to inititate in your local startup ecosystem in order to greatly increase your chances of success as an entrepreneur.

In this post we are focused-on developing subject-matter expertise. So let's elaborate on what I mean by this.

If you're an undergrad perhaps you've already declared your major/minor, etc. and if you're in grad school you're already something a specialist. So there's no question you're developing some serious knowledge. But that's simply not enough and you should refuse to rest on the laurels academia might bestow on you. It means close to zilch in the business world and often leads to insane disconnects when the two worlds collide. This cultural divide only deepens over time and believe me, I've seen it over and over again. Don't ever let it get to this. With some extra effort you can "change the game" completely.

If the sort of businesses you're thinking about launching one day happens to spring from the subject matter you're studying in school, that's definitely a "leg-up" so to speak, but don't be lulled into complacency by thinking you've got the space figured out. I meet plenty of grad students who are deeply intimate with a field of research, but this simply doesn't come close to knowing what they need to know.

If you can become intimate with the following matters as well, you're really on your way:

• Who are all the established companies and startups in this space (historically and now) and what happened to them and why?
• What were and are their business models?
• Who are all the successful entrepreneurs/teams in this space? How did they achieve what they achieved? Where are they now?
• Who are the entrepreneurs & teams that failed and why?
• What is the customer base in this space like? How is it segmented?
• Who are the key investors in this space and what are they looking for?
• Where is the industry moving? Where are the white spaces, the unsolved problems?
• Who are the best writers/bloggers/journos giving the most unique insights into the space? 
• What are the best events/gatherings/conferences in the field where everyone gathers?

I guarantee you that if you master all of the items above you will be absolutely unique among your peers. Amazingly very few people actually even know to do this in the first place but even if they do they usually don't pursue it for whatever reason.

If you are one of the few that develops this subject matter expertise you will have achieved fluency in a new language and everyone in the business world you encounter will immediately recognize this.

Now You'll have Subject Matter Expertise!

 

For Part 4 of Series Click Here

What Every Student Entrepreneur Needs to Know to Succeed (2) Get Connected!

This is part of my new Series on Student Entrepreneurship

In the first post in this series I encouraged you to take stock of where you are and to understand your unique position in world-history as a student entrepreneur. Your awareness of the surreal advantages you have over every student entrepreneur that has come before you is massively important. So let's assume that this has sunk-in. Now what?

Very simple. All the folks on the side-lines have been talking about startup bubbles these days. How about your own bubble? That's right- how about getting out of the bubble that you are in. 

Steve Blank, Eric Ries, Trevor Owens and the whole lean start-up crew tell you to "get out of the building". They're right...

But I'm telling you to actually get the heck off campus and go to where the startup action is. (If you're in New York that means downtown by the way.)

What do I mean? You need to dive into the startup community of your city or town wherever you live. Get a list of all the events each Monday morning and go to as many as you can possibly attend. Meet everyone, be friendly- have fun and get involved- don't be a wall flower. The best way to get to know people is to work with them and engage. So, I'm talking about you jumping all over the various meetups, hackathons, startup talks, startup weekends, lean startup competitions, entrepreneurship talks, conferences, cocktail parties, entrepreneurship weeks, breakfasts, dinners, societies, roundtables available.

When I tell students to do this, some say: "But what do I say to people when I'm there?", or "I don't really know anyone, it's a bit intimidating".

Actually- the reality is that the startup ecosystems are an incredibly welcoming and warm environment. People in the startup community aren't a bunch of uptight careerists decked-out in suits. For the most part it's comprised of people like you who want nothing to do with corporate personalities and environments. If you're a student they're typically extra-welcoming. Just be honest and tell folks you are a student and are diving-into the startup community. You'll typically get high-fives.

And remember- the key is this: Roll-up your sleeves and participate. Pull an all-nighter at a hackathon with a makeshift team, sign up for a leanstartup competition, present your un-baked ideas at incubation events. Before you know it you'll know everyone and they'll know you. You'll feel that team spirit and esprit de corps and it will change you forever. 

You'll be out of the campus bubble now and will be part of the world you need to know intimately if you want to be an entrepreneur.

You'll be Connected

For Part 3 of the Series Click Here

Venture Studio (25): Ari Rabban, CEO of Phone.com

I recently sat down with Ari Rabban, CEO of Phone.com, a company that offers cost-effective VOIP phone solutions and services to the SOHO market (small office/home office). Phone.com is a portfolio company of ff Venture Capital in New York City.

Ari is an experienced entrepreneur and it was great to get his take on what founders should look for in a partner and some advice he has for first-time entrepreneurs. Enjoy

00: 12      What is Phone.com

00:42      How the service works

01:39       How they got into the business

02:29       Ari talks about some of the things you need to get right as an                           entrepreneur

03:42       What he looks for in a partner 

For the full interview click on the image of Ari just below:

 

 

 

What Every Student Entrepreneur Needs to Know to Succeed (1) Just Win, Baby

 

I've had the privilege of mentoring lots of student entrepreneurs over the past years and based on this experience I've decided to lay-out the roadmap I believe every student entrepreneur ought to have in place in the interest of increasing the chances of seeing their venture succeed. 

The map above (which I shall be improving upon over time) lays out the major high-level ingredients required to maximize success for a student entrepreneur. In this mini-series of posts I'm going to flesh-out each step in more detail. 

By way of preface to this deeper dive here are a few preliminary points having to do with awareness and perspective I'd like to make:

For a multitude of reasons student entrepreneurs are in the greatest position in the history of the world to launch new ventures. I have called this period University Entrepreneurship 2.0 :

 

1. the cost of starting a new business has plummeted due to revolutionary developments in bandwidth, cloud computing and open source software
2. investors are lining up to discover the next gen of great young entrepreneurs
3. many universities are now providing real support to student entrepreneurs  
4. there are tons of contests/competitions/organizations targeted to student entrepreneurs at your disposal now  

 

Think about all this. Take it all in. And remember- there is something that actually hasn't changed that's greatly in your favor too:

Launching a company during your student years is the best time in your life to do so because there is no downside. You can only learn, meet people and sharpen your skills. You can't lose...

But actually, I want you win.

That's right- I said it here. Just win, baby.

For Part (2) of this Series Click Here

Venture Studio (24): Paul Gollash, CEO of Voxy

 

 

Hope you enjoy my recent interview with Paul Gollash, CEO of Voxy- a language learning company with a uniquely practical, mobile & real-world model. Paul recently closed on a Series A round of $2.8million from Seavest, Countour Ventures and FF Venture Capital- and he's hiring!

00:11   Paul describes what Voxy is

00:29  How does the service work?

00:58  Some examples/use-cases

01:48  Where they are in the fundraising process?

02:45   What are the big challenges for him as an entrepreneur?

03:52   What's next for Voxy? (They are hiring!)

 

For the full interview click on the image of Paul just below:

Venture Studio (23): Neil Capel, CEO of Sailthru

I sat down recently with Neil Capel, CEO of SailThru, a company that was born out of a need for a higher standard of email delivery. We met at his offices @ AOL Ventures.

In our conversation Neil describes how he went from consultant at Morgan Stanley just a few years ago to founding a company that will soon be expanding globally. He takes us through his experience of first bootstrapping his company and building a team, to raising a seed round last year, to their $8 million Series A round.

He also gives specific advice to folks like himself who have the entrepreneurial drive- but who are working in large company environments.

Enjoy.

00:06 – What is Sailthru and how does it work?

01:14 – How Neil started out

01:36 – The story of Sailthru's scrappy beginnings, bootstrapping, credit cards, moonlighting, etc.

03:03 – Their first round: all NYC investors: AOL Ventures, RRE, Metaphorphic, Thrive, Lehrer Ventures, DFJ Gotham

03:21 – The big secret in building a team!

03:54 – Something about their customers

04:03 - What's next for Sailthru

04:45 - Neil's awesome advice for entrepreneurs that are just starting out! (Going full force!)

For the full interview click on the image of Neil just below:

 

My Entrepreneurship Class at Barnard's Athena Center for Leadership Studies

 

I was asked recently if I would teach a class entitled "What You Need to Know When Starting a New Business" on Sept 27th at Barnard College. Having had a chance over the last year to get to know some of the great people at Barnard's Athena Center, I accepted with enthusiasm. I'm a big supporter of their mission.

The evening class is part of the many offerings Barnard College's Athena Center for Leadership Studies which is dedicated to the advancement of women leaders.

So if you're a woman who is starting her first business this may be of interest for you. Details are below. The class costs $199, all of which goes to support the great programs at Barnard- I do not accept compensation. So, if you are interested click on the link below where you'll be able to regoster and I'll see you soon.

ENT1. Starting Up: What You Need to Know When Starting a New Business

Launching a new business can be daunting. What are the steps you need to take to maximize your chances of success? What are the typical mistakes you need to avoid?  In this class we focus on getting fledgling entrepreneurs prepared to get through this difficult process with every advantage possible.

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Location: 5th Floor, Diana Center, Barnard Hall

 

Venture Studio (22): Reece Pacheco, CEO of Shelby.tv

 

 

I recently met with the entrepreneur who's trying to transform the way we share, discover and enjoy web video. Reece Pacheco, CEO of Shelby.tv and his team can take all the videos you've been linking to on facebook and twitter and pull them all together into a custom channel for you. They're making discovery and sharing a lot easier, more personalized and of course- enjoyable.

Reece also has a really unique background having traveled the world and worked in Hollywood for a while after his Brown University years and also having been a professional lacrosse player before diving into tech entrepreneurship! He also founded TeamHomeField with Joe Yevoli before launching Shelby.tv which is still going strong. Reece founded Shelby with his good friend Dan Spinosa who he met while they were students at Brown.

Everyone who knows him knows that Reece is an entrepreneur who is all about teamwork, hustle and making it happen- hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Follow Reece on Twitter

00:11 - What is Shelby.tv and how does it get viral?

00:52 - How did it all come together?

2:05 - How Reece approached the investment community (great stuff here!)

3:53 - Reece describes the TechStars experience, the mentors, speakers, month-by-month process

4:45 - Cracking the big problem of sharing video on the web

6:01 - Walking off stage at TechStars demo day & being intro'd to investors

 

For the full interview click on the image of Reece just below:

 

Venture Studio (21): Stacy Spikes, CEO of MoviePass

 

Are you one of those people that actually loves going to the movies? Do you like to go with the family, a date, or solo? Whatever it is- has Stacy Spikes has got a deal for you! In this conversation learn what Stacy, CEO of MoviePass is up to. He's trying to change the way the whole movie-going experience works. Others are obviously big believers- he's backed to the tune of $1.5MM in seed money from the likes of AOL Ventures and True Ventures. You also have to listen to the story of what he's gone through as an entrepreneur to make MoviePass a reality. It's real-life stuff we entrepreneurs benefit from hearing about. Stacy came up in the business at Miramax and then deepened his experience in the space by founding urbanworld and growing it into the largest minority film festival in the world.

For the full interview click on the image of Stacy below:

Entrepreneur Survival Guide: Some Motivation, Courtesy of Uncle Nikolai

(Click on either of the photos above to watch the video of the key scene)

This is part of my Series on Entrepreneurial Culture.

"I tattooed 'survive' on my hand the night before I went away to prison.
And I did. We do what we have to do to survive..."

Uncle Nikolai (25th Hour)

I've posted here about how to deal with massive and unexpected knockout-type punches as an entrepreneur. But there's another type of dangerous threat to an entrepreneur's well-being and survival:

It is the phenomenon of interminable waiting.

You see, entrepreneurs are always in perpetual motion, hurrying from one task to another, taking calls, having meetings, raising money, cajoling, selling, emailing, tweeting, blogging, hiring, partnering, selling some more, stressing, exhorting others, and so on and so forth. To the outside world it all seems like a dizzying whir of movement. Less visible is the fact that this is exactly how the entrepreneurial species waits. Waits? Waits for what exactly?

Think about it. You know what I'm talking about. It's that internal clock we have ticking inside that's coldly tracking the next milestone in our business amidst all the apparent chaos: private beta, first product release, first customers, first investor, Series A, hitting break-even, that big partnership, that first million in revenue, that first bad-ass hire, that first good piece of PR, that first big spike in traffic, and on and on. It never ends. We feed off of it- we live for it.

The problem is, most of these major milestones seem to take forever to materialize. There are always delays, endless obstacles, issues, difficulties, crises that delay our progress. We're fighting inertia, indifference, short attention spans and it's inevitable that moments arrive when our resolve, our will, our morale and in many cases our cash begin to melt away. That internal clock of ours so intent on progress gradually goes haywire and all this interminable waiting begins to cause despair. Thoughts of capitulation slowly creep into our minds...

How we handle and see our way through these moments define who we are as entrepreneurs and whether we survive or die.

That's why I recommend you rent and then watch a certain scene in 25th Hour several times. It is the scene in which Uncle Nikolai describes to Ed Norton's character how he survived through his toughest moments in life. (Norton's character is facing seven long years in prison.)

Sometimes we entrepreneurs need some inspiration and encouragement and this scene will fire you up if you are out there now giving it your all- trying to survive. Let me know what you think.

выжить = survive   :)

Venture Studio (20): Ari Jacoby, CEO of Solve Media

If you're curious about what kind of entrepreneur it takes to get funded by the likes of Chris Dixon, Roger Ehrenberg, Aydin Senkut, Brian O'Kelly, First Round Capital and AOL Ventures- have a listen.

I recently sat down with 3x entrepreneur Ari Jacoby, CEO and co-founder of Solve Media. Ari's a super-smart guy who somehow found time between various startups to work at Reed-Elsevier and Google. In our talk you'll hear just how he's positioned Solve to replace traditional CAPTCHAS in a very clever manner that actually generates revenue for publishers and improves user experience. Enjoy.

There are two videos following. The one just below is a description of Solve's product:

For the full interview click on the image of Ari below:

Venture Studio (19): Lee Hoffman, CEO of Veri

 

A few weekends ago I sat down with Lee Hoffman, CEO of Veri at TechStarsNYC headquarters during a gathering they were having for the outgoing crop of TechStars companies. (That’s what all the noise is in the background). Many thanks to Dave Tisch and his terrific team for setting this all up and accommodating us.

Lee is a very talented guy who is a both a developer and designer and I jokingly like to say that he and Reece Pacheco are part of a burgeoning “Brown University Mafia” that has descended in NYC of late. I not only learned a lot about Lee’s trajectory as an entrepreneur and about his extraordinary vision for Veri but unwittingly he ended up giving us all a master class on entrepreneurship through the telling of various stories of startups he was involved with, mistakes that were made and many of the ups and downs he's encountered.

You'll find the whole interview here at: Venture Studio

 

Pop Quiz on the Airbnb Debacle

If you missed the whole Airbnb affair- (now referred to as #ransackgate), you should probably consider yourself lucky and should stop reading here. You probably don't rent your house out to perfect strangers too often so this piece of news passed you by somehow. Perhaps you were more focused on how the Syrian government just wiped-out 70+ civilians last night or how a nutjob in Norway savaged a similar number of people in a national tragedy. Maybe you're one of those people that knows there is a famine going on in Somalia even though it's not getting too much press.

Still here? Well- then you probably heard that a meth addict used an alias on Airbnb recently to rent a person named EJ's house while she was travelling and then proceeded to violate, steal, defile, destroy the victim's home. What happened to EJ's home is horrific and criminal. Anyone who's had something stolen from them has some sense of the outrage and sense of violation and pain that comes with this territory. The alleged offender is apparently in custody now and will hopefully be tried. If she is indeed found guilty- I hope she'll be convicted and jailed to the full extent of the law.

But we haven't heard much about this "alleged" low-life. Media coverage of the crime has instead focused either on Airbnb's alleged complicity in EJ's misfortune and/or their poor handling of the P/R aspects. The alleged felon who committed this odious crime is hardly mentioned. This is not surprising. Airbnb's success and billion dollar valuation make it a perfect target for this sort of criticism. 

Could and should the founders have handled the P/R aspects a lot better? Definitely! But who are we kidding- did they really have a chance?  The headlines here are simply tailor-made for generating eyeballs. I am not making these up:

Airbnb Pillage Victim Says Company Tried to Keep Her Quiet

A Billion Dollars Isn't Cool. You Know What's Cool? Basic Human Decency

The Airbnb Horror Story Continues

You read these headlines and it sounds like Airbnb is some kind of rich serial murderer on the loose- pillaging and laying waste to scores of innocent and kindly citizens in its path.

Much like the Craigslist imbroglio of past years, this entire Airbnb affair has again brought to the fore questions about where a company's responsibility (legal and ethical) to its customers' safety begins and ends. Rather than presenting a long opinion on the matter I've instead decided to ask some admittedly facetious questions. For the sake of brevity I've made them multiple choice.

When a car-maker manufactures a car what scenarios do they need to anticipate? For example, is it morally or ethically obligated to protect its customers against:

a) car-jacking attacks

b) hitch-hiking meth addicts that drivers pickup on the road and invite into their car 

c) damage caused by strangers to whom drivers lend or rent their car to for free or for a fee

d) none of the above (muttered under one's breath)

Should the car-maker be obligated to place disclaimers on the driving wheel of the car warning people that inviting strangers into their car out of the goodness of their hearts or for a fee comes w/certain risks?

a) yes- people are not intelligent enough to know this and need to be treated like children

b) yes- car-makers are greedy and want to save money. They should be monitoring all their drivers via video cameras and be able to intervene via installed speakerphones when their customers are making dubious choices

c) yes- we need to legislate this. I am calling my congressman

d) none of the above (accompanied by possible expletive)

Oh wait, carmakers are brick and mortar businesses. They don't count. What about if someone uses a fake LinkedIn Profile on the internet and invites me to become a connection with them because we share two business groups in common? Then that person wants to have coffee and they seem cool and I let them stay at my house while I am vacationing and they trash my house. Shouldn't LinkedIn vet these people? Wait- what if instead of trashing my house that person partners with me in a new business and then steals all the cash I put in the business bank account?

a) yes, LinkedIn sucks! They are too greedy and don't bother to vet people on their network.

b) yes, LinkedIn should actually pay for the damage to my house. Their business model doesn't really protect me enough. I thought this person was legit! I'm calling my lawyer. 

c) this is an outrage- the LinkedIn founders don't care about their customers. They've gone IPO and cashed out. I'm calling my congressman.

d) you know it by now :)

For Part 32 in in this Series, click here

So, You Think You Have to Deal With A**holes? Think Again

If this is your first visit you may wish to follow me on twitter here, my RSS feed here or subscribe via email here

Who hasn't dealt with the occasional a**hole at work? Every American knows it to be one of the unavoidable rights of passage for an employee. Think about it- you have voluntarily chosen to work in an environment created by others and staffed with people not of your choosing. If you didn't have the luxury of choosing carefully you are basically a victim waiting to be victimized.

In fact, I agree with Mark Suster, who often makes the point that getting away from a**holes is probably the single greatest motivator for entrepreneurship in the world.

One thing that frustrates me to no end however, is hearing people who work for a wage complain constantly about all the unpleasant people they have to work with. My view is simple- if you can't stand it, no one is forcing you to work there so why not get the hell out of there? Start bootstrapping a business, join a startup, find a better environment- do something- but by all means- stop whining about it.

So for everyone that thinks they have it tough, here's the true story of a buddy of mine who's going through some tough times right now dealing with some real a**holes- and I mean a lot of them!

This guy is actually an incredible salesman and entrepreneur and co-founded a venture-backed company for 3 years that ended up going sideways after a herculean effort on his part. He was recently getting set to be a part of yet another venture but his wife let him know that she'd prefer it if he took a steady job for a while as they had plans to start a family. It so happens that she has a great job that pays well and has been the family's primary source of income for the previous four years of their marriage. Being a good spouse, he obliged and began a job hunt in earnest...

I saw him recently and asked him where he ended up working. It turns out was able to land a sales position with a medical device company wherein a large part of the job involves him assisting surgeons with a procedure that utlizes this company's device. He makes approximately $1,000 per procedure- not bad, right?

There's a slight problem. The procedure, which he described in excruciating detail, involves people's a**holes- literally. Yes that's correct- you read it right.

Basically, he has to prep the patients (many of whom are elderly and not terribly hygeinic) using iodine and then pieces of tape to "set the stage" for the physician (I won't elaborate), talk to the patients before, during and after the procedure as they are only slightly sedated during these surgeries, and deal with a miasma so rancid that he is often suffering from nausea throughout his workday. (The surgical mask is apparently no match for these odors). There are multiple such procedures daily and he dutifully assists the surgeons as this is part of the excellent customer service he must provide.

I want to point out that the story he told me was so foul that at some point I actually asked him to stop. (Normally I am a pretty good listener). I was literally becoming sick after just a few minutes of hearing about what he has to actually do 5 days a week.

The crazy thing about this was that the guy wasn't complaining to me. He was just telling me about it and saying that he needs to hang in there for now as it pays well and they're going to start a family soon.

Here's someone who has one of the most disgusting jobs a person could ever imagine- and he's handling it somehow. It was profoundly humbling talking to him. Next year he'll be on to his next start-up no doubt- but for now he's taking care of business and making sacrifices for his family's well being.

Anyway- there's some motivation for you next time you're dealing with some a**holes at work or are finding it challenging to bootstrap your next venture.  :)

For Part 31 in in this Series, click here

Venture Studio (18): Mike Brown, Jr., Partner & Founder AOL Ventures

Recently I sat down with the terrific Mike Brown, Jr., one of the Founders and a Partner at AOL Ventures, the VC arm of AOL which focuses on Seed and Series A non-strategic investing in tech-oriented consumer internet companies.

Mike comes to AOL Ventures from the Virgin Group's investment arm and talked with us about the history, vision and approach of the AOL fund- which you'll learn is definitely not your typical corporate venture arm. He recently moved the operation to the venerable Brooks Brothers building on Broadway and Bond in NOHO and absolutely did wonders with the space- check the video below for footage. In 1874 the New York Times effused as follows concerning the place: “Externally it is an ornament to the street, and its internal arrangements are of the most perfect kind.” I can state unequivocally that this description still fits the bill and that all AOL Ventures portfolio companies headquartered or being incubated there are enjoying one of the best workspaces I've encountered in NYC.

Learn about how AOL Ventures' approaches investing in the very early-stage sector of a startup's lifecycle in our conversation below:

You'll find the whole interview here at: Venture Studio

 

Venture Studio (17): Kevin Prentiss, CEO RedRover

 

 

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Kevin Prentiss, CEO of Red Rover, at Tech Stars NYC headquarters. Here’s another entrepreneur who “put it all on red” at one critical point in his company’s lifecycle. He’s got a great story- is on his fourth startup, and is an alumnus of TechStars NYC’s inaugural crop of companies. He also has the great distinction of being the only person I’ve spoken to who consciously teed-up his fourth startup by launching his third. That’s some high-level chess. Intrigued? I was too… Enjoy.

You'll find the full interview here at Venture Studio

Venture Studio (16): Nick Seguin, Kauffman Foundation

 

I recently sat down with Nick Seguin, (@nickseguin), Manager of Entrepreneurship for the venerable Kauffman Foundation. If you’ve heard about Kauffman before but really don’t know their story and what they’re mission is, you’ll definitely want to listen to Nick describe it. I can see why they brought him on to manage entrepreneurship- the guy is a terrific communicator and evangelist for them. I particularly loved hearing the story of Mr. Kauffman himself- it is epic and inspiring. Nick is an entrepreneur and community organizer in his own right- having founded Dynamit during his college years and having served as an organizer for another terrific organization- Startup Weekend.  Enjoy.

You'll find the full interview here at VentureStudio

 

@nickseguin

Arrington Channels Colonel Kurtz & Says of his Journalist Detractors: "#&$!@% Them All"

 

Recently, in response to criticism he has been receiving, the editor and founder of TechCrunch, Michael Arrington, channeled his inner Colonel Kurtz and unleashed a terrific riposte regarding the absurd notion of objectivity in journalism and how he intends to handle disclosures and the like at TechCrunch going forward. The title of this piece had all the subtelty of a piano being hurled cartoon-style onto his detractors in the tech press from an upper storey: The Tech Press: Screw them All.

Along the way he ended up calling-out a number of his primary critics by pointing out that they themselves have plenty of conflicts (some of a semi-permanent nature) that have not been properly disclosed:

some excerpts:

"... there is no objectivity in journalism. The guys that say they’re objective are just pretending. Everyone is conflicted in different ways, and yet the “rules of journalism” don’t require any sort of transparency or disclosure unless it’s a direct financial conflict...."

"...The man who said just a week ago how horrible I am for investing in startups has financial interests in a whole slew of tech companies – “Disclosure: Current and past consulting clients and sponsors of Silicon Valley Watcher: Pearltrees, Intel, Tibco Software, Edelman, Infineon Technologies, SAP...”

"...Before I started TechCrunch I never understood how screwed up this whole news world was. It’s ugly as hell out there, people. These people, the tech press, just disgust me..."

Regardless of what one thinks of Arrington, (I do not know him personally), what is maginificent about him is that he has the courage to stand his ground and call-out some of the old guard on their sniffling pretensions. He's basically been eulogizing them to their faces and letting people know that much like Shelly's Ozymandias, only their colossal arrogance will remain. Good for him.

I also have an inkling that Arrington knows his Conrad - his jousting with the establishment is an echo for me of this exchange from Coppola's epic 1979 Film, Apocalypse Now

Kurtz: Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my command?
Willard: I was sent on a classified mission, sir.
Kurtz: It's no longer classified, is it? Did they tell you?
Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.
Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?
Willard: I'm a soldier.
Kurtz: You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

For Part 30 in in this Series, click here