Moving

Laurel and I have been moving for 3 days now, and we are finally done. I’ll be back to posting on here, FASTForward and StartupNorth soon.

Glad to be done.

Everything is Twitterable

I am sitting down with Everything is Miscellaneous.

Half way in to the first chapter, Dave talks about the idea that bookstores are designed for people who know what they want to buy, but in fact there are probably better ways to organize a bookstore if you want to discover new things to read.

Periodic review will come as I read along.

Enterprise2Rave Remix'n

A quick note to remind readers that the Enterprise 2.0 Rave is now a virtual event that can be attended, for free, by all who register. The program, organized by Longworth Venture Partners and sponsored by FAST, kicks off at 2 p.m. on Monday in discussions led by Euan Semple, John Musser, Jevon MacDonald, Susan Scrupski, Joe McKendrick, and Bill Ives.

Join us again on Tuesday May 22nd at 11 a.m. focused on adoption issues with Enterprise 2.0 projects. Speakers include Andrew McAfee, JP Rangaswami, Euan Semple, Jenny Ambrozek and Jim McGee.

Find out more and register.

New Consultant insights from Kanye West

“This ain’t no tall order, this is nothin to me
Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week
I do this in my sleep,
I sold Kilos of coke, (so?) I’m guessin’ I can sell CD’s
I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man
Let me handle my buisness, damn!”

The Assault on Reason and the Public Radio Manifesto

I am sure that this excerpt from Al Gore’s latest book is sending shockwaves through public radio circles.

If it isn’t yet — it should be.

Public Radio has been one of the few defenders of discourse in America, and the burden has been tough. The failure of PBS and it’s implosion (and hopeful resurrection) is an example of what TV cannot do. Much like the printed word, Radio is a Hot Medium.

While the obsession with sounding good and having great production are worthy distractions, Public Radio needs to instead focus itself fully on aiding the recovery of the american democratic conversation.

How can this happen?

Public Radio has to stop being embarrassed every time it is attacked politically by conservatives, but it must also liberate itself from it’s image as a lefty hippie camp. Down the center of American politics is a void, and in that void sits millions and millions of teenagers, senior citizens, new immigrants, workers, entrepreneurs, mothers and everyone you can imagine.

It’s that space, the discourse with the disenfranchised rather than the punditry, that will bring reason back to America.

Al Gore is Lazarus, just not your left wing touchy feely democrat anymore.

The Startup's Guide to Mesh

So, you are going to make the trip to the Mesh Conference in Toronto? Well, let’s take a look at it from a web startup’s point of view and see what we should, and shouldn’t, be doing.

First off, how far along are you? If you are just in the idea stage, I suggest you get some screenshots done at the very least. You’ll want to have a laptop with you that you can whip open and start pouring the kool-aid with about your amazing product X.

Read the Whole Story on StartupNorth.ca »

No better time than now

“Statistically, most people take the leap and attempt a startup in their mid to late 30s. I’m not sure why that is, I suspect it is a big group of people who have been making nice salaries since their late 20s, have the house well on it’s way to being paid for, and have the college fund tucked away for the kids.”
Read the entire entry on StartupNorth »

Building Featureless Software is Hard

One of the instant reactions I see about 25% of the time when demoing Firestoker is instant disappointment. As I whiz through one or two scenarios, and then stop abruptly and say “and that’s Firestoker”, I get a blank stare in return. A sort of “I thought we were just getting started” sort of look.

We are conditioned to turn our brains off when we see a software demo. We expect to have some sales guy take us through a whole slew of “features”, as if features are going to save you from an inferno.

Features are the inferno.

See, most of us buy features. We read the back of the book to get a summary of the features of the story, or we like to know that the new gum has a feature of long lasting flavor, and a chewey caramel center. Low calorie is a popular feature.

Brand is often used to convey the non-feature sides of a product. We buy Wrigley’s because it evokes a certain feeling.

But back to software. You see, there is no Wrigley’s in software, there is no BMW or Mercedes in software either, there are just features. We buy tires, rims, seats, steering wheels.. and often we buy them all separately in our mind. One at a time.

So when I get up and show you a smooth ride, safe handling and low fuel consumption, you freak out and start to wonder where the GPS Nav integrated drive shaft and auto trunk opener is.

The only thing harder than keeping features out of software is selling software that has very few features.

I just have to get you behind the wheel, you’ll never go back.

Business Plans?

“I’m not going to tell you not to write a business plan. There are a lot of good reasons to write one, but what I am suggesting is that you cannot rely on your business plan. We need a much more evolved way of understanding how our business is changing each day, week, month and year. Constantly editing a business plan is going to suck your time dry.”

Read it in full on StartupNorth.ca »

Conferencisms

With a track title like Evolving Enterprise Collaboration Platforms, I was ready to sign up for the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston.

However, take a look at the lineup for that track:
* Building a People-Ready Business with Microsoft
* IBM Lotus Strategy: Enabling the Virtual Workplace – Today

And then, after those wonderful, well balanced and inquisitive presentations you get *drum roll please*

* Vendor Spotlight: Assessing IBM & Microsoft Platforms for Collaboration & Unified Communications

Now, granted, Stowe seems to have saved the day with Social Tools for the Enterprise which looks really great.

New Ways to Work: Organization 2.0 also looks like a great track that I would like to be there for amongst others.

Overall it looks like a good conference, and I would be there if I could make it. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts when it’s done.