Entrepreneurial Diaries

Angelpad's Thomas Korte is a Great Guy to Have in Your Corner

2012-01-22T01:09:00.000-08:00

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that most incubator programs fund and work with way more companies than they can possibly develop meaningful relationships with. In fact, you hear it all the time -- founders complaining about the fact that they didnt get the personalized attention that they expected. And in the defense of the programs its pretty difficult to connect with everyone; especially your Y-Combinators of the world, who have large staffs and like 100 + founders per class.

The one thing I can say about Angelpad and specifically its founder Thomas Korte, is that he actually really knows your name. He actually gives a crap about you and your team. Its been about a year since I participated and I still feel the connection to Angelpad. Whether its the happy hours or great conversations about life in general, Thomas Korte is genuinely a good guy, who cares about his founders; irrespective of whether their start up succeed or not.

Im summary:

Thomas Korte = Great Guy

Angelpad = If you get in, great opportunity to get the visibility needed to get a chance in the dot.com/start up big league of fund raising. And perhaps, even better you become a part of a fraternity of great business minds.

The Non-Technical Founder Part 1

2011-12-21T01:19:00.000-08:00

I have spent alot of time this year thinking about entrepreneurship, particularly as it relates to the start up technology world from a non-technical founder's perspective, and I have come to a few conclusions:

1) If you are a non-technical CEO/founder your life will suck for a long time.

The tech world is ruled by, yes you guessed it -- technical people, engineers, developers etc. Guys/gals who can write their own code or challenge the integrity of their team's code. These are the folks who build the first iterations of their company's products and use it to recruit others and validate their ideas. Non-technical founders end up hiring consultants to build stuff (I've done it); which most of the time is a mistake. Why is it a mistake? Well, for one, what you build today is obsolete the moment you commit the code. Two, it usually means you have paid out of pocket; and unless you are a rich guy/gal, this is generally very painful. Three, software is never done. You hire a consultant to build like 1.0 (if you're lucky), and you end up dumping more money into bug fixing. Then you have to actually release something to some sort of user/s whether its alpha, beta or whatever the hell you choose to call it. And then, things break = more bugs = more money, etc etc. Not to mention the moment you release something, you'll want to change it; oh, yeah and 98% of your initial users will find something wrong with it and suggest changes = more money spent on the consultant, etc etc. And then reality sets in: you have spent ALOT of money out of pocket, or the money runs out and its game over.

Another route the Non-technical founder takes instead of dumping his life savings into hiring consultants, is selling the "the dream/vision". Not only does he/she have to find and convince technical people to embrace the idea enough to commit a substantial amount of their heart, soul, and attention to the venture, yet have to make sure that they maintain the enthusiasm long enough to develop something meaningful. And developing something meaningful just gets you to first base.

You do have exceptions to the rule, such as Steve Jobs. Yet, do remember that Steve was only as good as his TEAM. His ideas didn't mean anything unless his team was able to execute. Plus Steve is a complete anomaly.

2) Ideas are blaw; Team is EVERYTHING

I have been guilty of thinking that just cause I had an idea, I had a business. Then the years passed and a million ideas later, I realized that ideas are as useless as being the only player on a hockey team that knows how to skate; you wont even have a chance to play the game and will have to forfeit every time.

Repeat after me; TEAM IS EVERYTHING. Great teams can build things. Great teams can overcome obstacles and challenges. Great teams support each other when times are tough, cause they will get tough. Needing a great team is especially important for the non-technical, tech start up co-founder. He/she is literally useless without this team. And moreover this team has to be ever more awesome to be able to persevere on alongside their non-technical leader.

If you dont have a great team, you will not win. I dont give a shit what anyone else says, you are only as strong as your team. Here are some tips:

Keep Teams Local (as much as possible): Its tough enough building a company when your team is in your back yard. Working with remote teams makes it much harder. I'm convinced that having a great team is like having a great relationship -- it takes work. And when you are not able to interact regularly with your teammates, because they are in another time zone is makes it much harder. Many times there are cultural and language barriers. As we all know, often times tones and meanings can be unclear in the virtual world. Now, I'm not saying that its impossible; and in fact there are a ton of examples of teams that have been able to pull it off. My point is, if you are going to have an offshore or remote team, get ready for the challenges that you will face.
Be Clear, Definitive, and Make the Though Calls: You need to set the tone and expectation for the team from day one. Sometimes a non-technical founder will be so afraid of loosing their technical team that they will turn a blind eye to red flags or try to rationalize why things are not getting done. If they cant hack it, let them go. Its not healthy for anyone involved.
Build SOMETHING you know something about: Too many times do you see entrepreneurs building businesses that they are clueless about. I am definitely guilty of this. I have tried to start businesses that I didnt know much about and perhaps was just cool. Then reality hit.

Long Live the Cold Call!

2011-12-10T02:31:00.000-08:00

Listen Up people: cold calling is NOT dead nor is it going anywhere. I'm so sick of these wanna-be sales people writing all this garbage about how cold calling is dead. Frankly its because they have no idea what sales is all about. Yes, I'm going to say it: especially in silicon valley. You have all these brilliant people who are clueless about how to put in the work to generate their own new business. Things like how to prospect, make the calls, do the meetings, do the demos, SELL PEOPLE; aka following "the process". I believe this is a major reason why so many silicon valley start ups fail. This said, let me not pick on silicon valley, this is an issue across the world in general.

A cold call is simply reaching out to a prospect/lead that you approached rather than them coming to you. I call this Outbound Lead Generation or Outbound Prospecting. When a lead/prospect comes to you via a sign up, form submission, phone call, etc, I consider this an Inbound Lead. Generally its marketing's job to generate Inbound Leads; some people call this activity demand generation. Some companies have businesses that generate a high volume of inbound leads based on various reasons. Companies like Google and Facebook have more inbound leads than they can handle. Other companies are not as fortunate and need to spend more time conducting outbound lead generation. Alot of the time start ups face this challenge. They need the "hunter-type" sales guy; as opposed to the order taking, business development manager that just waits for leads to come in or is more focused on "doing partnership/channel deals".

Now, cold calling today does entail utilizing the tools and technology that are available now; which makes it easier than ever! Today we have Linkedin, Jigsaw, Hoovers, email, Twitter, phone, etc, etc. In the past you had a phonebook and a telephone. Today you can prepare yourself better, use multiple entry points, like for example sending the prospect an email and then maybe a Linkedin message, even perhaps tweet at him/her; and then follow up all this with a good'ole phone call. This phone call might sound something like "Hey John, its Jorge from Mopub. I sent you an email this week trying to figure out who to speak with about mobile adverting topics etc. I know you're pretty busy. Any idea who I can chat with about this stuff?" -- My tone is low and slow at this point. I am trying to make sure that this person can understand me and not feel unnecessary pressure.

Today's tools allows a sales person to call on the right people with the right titles, easier, quicker, with more accuracy, and cross-multiple channel/platforms. Today we use email more than telephone, especially during the less important periods of a conversation. My first step is to always try to find that prospects email somehow and send them a short and concise note. Either way, whether I get in touch with the prospect or not via email, my key objective is to get on the phone with them or schedule an in person meeting. You will hardly ever close any meaningful b2b business without a phone call or in person meeting.

As you can see whether you are picking up the phone or sending an email, these are all methods of cold calling. So keep up your cold calling its key to generating new business and being real salesperson.

Sales for Start Up Events

2011-10-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

So I just did a sales for start ups event with a few Angelpad companies including: Pipedrive, which is a simple way for a company to manage its sales pipeline. Wishery, wants to improve customer service, sales and marketing with its Gmail add-on. And also our 500 Start Ups friends at LaunchRock, who allows you to setup a viral “Launching Soon” page in minutes. The event was sponsored by Angelpad and Brugan run and hosted at the Crittercism office in Soma, San Francisco.

The event was pretty fun. We had about 200 RSVPs for a Wednesday night, and about 80 people showed up which was pretty cool. Cooper Marcus, who is the founder and CEO of Wishery, did a kickass job of opening the night by demoing his product and explaining a bit of the stories behind the Feedgen and Privedrive teams. Timo Rein, myself, and The Southwestern Company sales trainer Wade Floyd, spoke to the crowd about leads, sales pipeline, and what is takes to be a top sales producer.

What is crazy about this whole night was that people seemed to really appreciate and take the information to heart. I am absolutely excited about doing the next few in the bay area and LA.

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

Wow. It’s about 4:56pm on this San Francisco day…at some point over the last hour I heard folks in my SOMA office mentioning that Steve Jobs just passed away…so I did what we do now days and checked my Twitter..and well, sure enough it was true.
I then saw a tweet from someone referring to Apple.com’s landing page and this is what I saw:

Needless to say, it hit me immediately. A deep sadness overcame me -- which was followed by tears. A few weeks ago I saw a news story about Steve, which explained his life story. How he was adopted and how he was a dreamer. How he had this me against the world attitude and was always willing to risk everything for these dreams. And although, I knew of Mac, Apple and Steve Jobs, I never knew how his outlook reminded me of mine. And at 30 years, I became a Steve Jobs fan. I immediately felt like this hope inside that I was NOT crazy for spending most of my life dreaming and even though I didn’t know him personally, I felt a connection, and almost an obligation to continue to fight for dreamers like us.

RIP Steve Job. On behalf of all us dreamers and rebels out there – we will keep the tradition alive.

Day 219 - Resilience

2011-08-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

So today marks the 212th day since I moved to San Francisco to build Feedgen. Its definitely been a long financial and emotional rollercoaster.

Its been a crazy few days. Aslam and I are both having issues with our apartments and Cass is sick with a fever yet still writing code somehow. Its funny how I have conditioned myself to look at every obstacle as simply a possible distraction and seem to plow through them with ease as if I expected it to happen. The thing is that I know crap will happen. I know that people will get sick, landlords will act up, and even girlfriends/boyfriends will break up with you. Yet I believe that our ability to be resilient under pressure is a huge key to our successes – both personal and in business. In actuality, my father was the person who taught me to persevere through the difficult times. He’d been doing it all his life. From his days as a Cuban Exile in the 1950’s to now being a great psychologist and businessman; there are not many things that seem to rattle him - Anyways.

So I guess the moral of today’s post is resilience. Merriam-Webster defines it as:

1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

Number 1 makes me chuckle a bit. Just cause when building a company or trying to do something great it literally feels sometimes that you are being squeeze to the point of deformation! Things can get so tough on your mind, body, and soul that if you don’t stay focused and expect to power through obstacles they will knock you down.

Stay resilient folks. We’re almost there.

The Feedgen "Why"

2011-07-31T23:57:00.001-07:00

I was listening to one of these motivation speaker guys the other day and the thesis behind his talk was trying to figure out the “Why” in what you do as a business person. And well, it led me to take a step back and analyze why the hell I was doing what I am doing. Why I spend 24/7 thinking and working on Feedgen and somehow find the time to work a full time sales gig at another start up while maintaining a high level of production on all tasks. And the reason is because there is a massive "Why" behind everything I do and somehow I have partnered with a bunch of guys who share similar eccentricities and passion for life and business!

Anyways, this is what I call: The Feedgen "Why".

We exist because we are a team of passionate entrepreneurs who love to build and inspire others. We are thinkers, dreamers, and people determined to change the world. We just happen to be passionate about building exciting sales software.

We want to change the way that people feel at work. We want our employees to be happy and inspired by us and the work that they do.

We are not perfect and will make mistakes, yet we will be committed to learning from our mistakes and continuing to grow as an organization and company culture.

We encourage entrepreneurship and thinking outside of the box. We promote the idea that every employee should be passionate about what they do. And if they’re not yet, we’ll help them figure it out.

My Angelpad Experience

2011-07-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

I was a participant in the Spring 2011 Angelpad class, which happened to be the 2nd class conducted since the program was founded summer of 2010. My view on the program was perhaps a tad different from some of the other founders. I was about to be 30 years old and had spent my entire 20’s trying to build my own companies. In fact, since my junior year of undergrad, I have done everything from door-to-door sales to running a nightclub promotions company to launching a travel-based social network called myTripz.com; which by the way, was largely funded by my mother taking a second mortgage on her house, just to give me enough to cash to bootstrap the company (I love you mom!)... Angelpad was a complete no-brainer for me. I figure it was just what the doctor ordered -- luckily was I right.

There are a few things that I think Angelpad really did well:

• Mentors: Every start up typically finds a particular mentor that they essentially bond with. This mentor really starts to get close to the team and provides very granular advice.

• Social Proof: Thomas Korte is a great marketer. Between his connections and the brand he has built in a short period of time, it was very clear to us that doors would open if we built something that was compelling and performed well as a team.

• Product Market Fit: As several other founders have suggested, Angelpad focuses heavily on building the right product, at the right time.

• Connections: Based on participating in the program my network has grown tremendously.

Mopub: A REALLY great company.

2011-06-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

The @mopub team is awesome. I believe this is the next big thing on the horizon. Great leadership and talent coupled with a fun environment (check out their facebook page -- do I see Mopub promo models?!) is a winning story.

Now I must admit that I am pretty close to the management team. I’ve known them for a while and have always known they would do something great. The thing is that I am NOT just supporting a bunch of friends; I honestly believe that Mopub will emerge as one of the leaders in its space. The market is for the taking and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. The cool thing about Mopub is that they are a bunch of ex-Admob and ex-Google guys who really understand the space; in fact help helped define it and are now taking it to the next level.

I’m definitely excited to see what CEO Jim Payne and crew are working on over the next few months. Knowing these guys, it should awesome.

Great Sales People...

2011-03-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Great sales people are not only hard workers, yet are students of their craft. They are always prepared and understand the process of selling. They focus on understanding why people/teams/companies buy things; and as silly as it sounds, a lot of the time it's about simply ASKING and then listening. Over time you will be amazed what you learn.

One of the biggest challenges is overcoming the psychological hurdles associated with developing the mental toughness and discipline that leads to becoming laser focused in sales. Some of the greatest athletes in history were the most disciplined people in their sport. Most people struggle grasping the idea that "NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO BUY". In fact, MOST WON’T. -- and that's perfectly ok. Some will buy now, others tomorrow, and some will never buy from you even if you give your product away for free! You CANNOT let the "NO"s bring you down. Every no, brings you closer to a yes. In its most basic form, its simply the law of averages. These are laws that all sales people must internalize before they can really be effective.

Now in regards to the notion that: "Some will buy now, others tomorrow, and some will never buy from you even if you give your product away for free!" --

There are a few key concepts to think about:

BE PREPARED:
How do I prepare myself so that no matter what "objection" the prospect gives me, I am going to provide a valid response?

Now this is an interesting concept. Unprepared sales people often sound like liars and frankly are full of crap. And the reason is that they were not prepared, gave a senseless answer, resulting in the prospect to smell their lies a mile away. The result is often the sales person loses credibility and trust. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you will always lose the deal; yet you now will have to dig yourself out of the pile of skepticism.

Be Organized: Every great sales person has their own system of staying organized. (shameless plug coming) In fact, one of the premises behind Feedgen was to build a tool that was easy to use, so that sales people actually used it properly and were able to stay organized and disciplined. So although we hope everyone uses Feedgen, find a system that works for you and USE IT. It will mean the difference between figuring out who is going to buy NOW, TOMORROW, or NEVER. Moreover, finding the people that will buy tomorrow consists of making sure that you are organized in a way that will keep you top of mind and in contact with them until they are ready. Again it's simple in concept, yet requires mental toughness and discipline to execute.

Start preparing today. The sooner you begin to internalize these rules the sooner you will begin to yield great results.

Attributes of a Real Sales Person

2011-03-04T18:35:00.001-08:00

Cold Calling skills are essential when your goal is to be a top sales person.

We live in a digital age where people consider themselves "salespeople" just because they studied business in college or responded to inbound leads provided by marketing. It is fair to say that technology has evolved the sales process and online marketing/social media gives a sales person a helping hand, yet at the end of the day a real sales person understands human behavior. They understand the way people want to be approached irrespective of the channel or method; whether it is via email, phone, social media etc.

For example, in the same way that we hate being called up by a telemarketer who is clearly reading a script, sounding phony and impersonal, we don’t like receiving mass email blasts, which are clearly marketing generated. These only work when your brand is recognized and trusted, NOT on a cold approach.

Real sales people can pick up the phone and generate their own leads. They understand how to create a prospecting or “approaching” strategy and the processes of executing against that strategy. They understand that some will take your call and some wont. Some will respond and others won’t. They are masters at crafting properly worded emails, with just enough messaging to intrigue the prospect to giving you a chance.

At the end of the day we are the same old human beings simply using new methods to communicate. If anything technology provides more transparency than ever before.

MoPub: Rethinking Mobile Monetization

2011-01-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

I have recently been chatting alot with Jim Payne CEO of an awesome new start up called MoPub, which is focused on optimizing the way the world views mobile monetization. MoPub is a mobile ads serving platform, built by app developers for app developers. It's pretty sweet; the thesis behind MoPub is to help publishers in mobile to increase their revenue by working directly with advertisers, running cross-promotional and house ad campaigns and working with backfill ad networks like iAd and Google AdSense etc.

Jim founded MoPub along with a group of talented fellow ex-Google and ex-AdMob product managers and engineers: Bryan Atwood and Navis Jamal.

Bryan Atwood, who is currently head of product, gave me a sneak peak at the latest iteration, and lets just say that I am very impressed and excited to see them crush it in 2011.

MoPub is backed by Accel Partners and Harrison Metal Capital, two of the most respected investment firms in the Valley.

Emotional Rollercoaster

2011-01-04T05:06:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends just raised a series a round of $1mm for his new mobile ad serving start up. During a recent conversation he began to explain how difficult and emotional is was, yet the pressure has really just begun.

Doing a start up is really as emotional or perhaps even more than a romantic relationship. You are always second guessing yourself – Did I choose the right partner/s? Will they flake on me like the hundreds of guys before them have over the years? What if the others in the space catch on to what you are doing and add features that will make your product not as compelling or less competitive? What features should we go to market with? or "Wait, I’m bootstrapping this venture and am on my last $100.00 and don’t have much but a few screenshots, what do I do? How do I get someone to listen?!"

The worst part is being that you spend 1000 hours a month examining the space, you end up finding solutions that are similar to what you are building or have features that you thought were unique to your new product! I’ve come to the conclusion that unless you are in real estate, where if you buy all the land in a region, there is no way someone can compete with you in that area. Yet on the web, there are zero barriers to entry and competition is fierce; it’s freaking global. There are no physical constraints or land to purchase other than domains maybe; but then you just change the URL and/or brand. Although the chances of some kid in Bangkok in his basement competing with a team of professionals in let’s say Silicon Valley, are very slim, it’s still possible.

The web space moves at such a RAPID pace, and you can bet that someone somewhere is building the same or similar idea to yours. All this said, this is what makes the web space so dam exciting and worthy of yielding high returns upon an exit. Its freaking hard!

I have just made the move back to Silicon Valley from NYC. New York City is an amazing place, yet the start up culture is still nowhere near the valley.
So I guess I’ve accepted that this will be an emotional rollercoaster for a very long time – wish me luck.

Successful Leadership – Fear or Inspiration?

2010-12-17T01:16:00.000-08:00

I have recently been chatting with some friends who are at an about 5 year old start up whose management just makes you wonder how the heck they ever made it into a leadership position.

These recent conversations have also made me better understand how some people are really not fit for leadership and simply fall into these positions based on who they know, resumes they have built up, and perhaps people they have stepped on to get there. That said, it’s also made me appreciate the leaders who have lead by inspiration and truly believe in others, and by default others end up following them.

In my opinion, there are two ways of leading: 1) Leadership by Inspiration and Empowerment and, 2) Leadership by Fear and Arrogance.
What’s ironic is that I know leadership at this start up very well and have seen the leadership shift over time. I have seen it lead by a group of people who were inspired and thus inspired others, and have seen it now being led by management that leads by fear and arrogance.

What’s interesting is how bad moral and innovation is affected when fear is the main driver. When employees are simply “going through the motions” and all they care about is not losing their jobs. I am totally against this tactic. Think about this for a second. What happens when countries are plagued by fear? You see mass exoduses or defection, and the inevitable revolution. Sure, fear keeps the proverbial “assembly line” going yet isn’t it a matter of time until the people revolt? - And in the world of business revolting means not caring or looking for other opportunities. How can fear be an effective tactic? Especially in today’s world where there are opportunities everywhere, of course relative to the days of the baby boomers and before and ESPECIALLY in technology and the world of start ups. I personally have walked from opportunities a few times based on awful leadership.

As you can tell I am very much affected by this topic simply because leadership is something that I take very seriously and understand the impact that it has on people’s lives – both short and long term.
For me it boils down to what your motivation to lead is all about. You are either leading for the greater good or your selfish/arrogant needs. People forget that companies consist of human beings. Human beings that have families and friends and in the web world, often times are young trying to figure out their own path in life. Bad leadership can and will affect its employees. Trust me, it’s happened to me.

So I pose the question: What is it - Fear or Inspiration? What motivates you to succeed?

Realizing Your Passion, Leading To Your Success - 1

2010-12-03T02:41:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired by a fellow yogi friend of mine. The dynamics of being a part of a yoga studio are quite interesting. To many, it’s a place where people seek answers to life’s questions by tapping into their mind and body via this meditative state. I’ve actually been doing yoga for nearly 2 years and am still trying to completely surrender into meditation and not think about all life’s nonsense, thoughts, during my practice. Regarding my yogi friend, I don’t know her much outside of the studio yet could tell that she was a smart young lady and a go-getting. And during a recent SMS chat with her we were talking about achieving great things in life and how I felt that her future was bright beyond her currently day job; which mind you is not too bad. She works for probably the most prestigious investment banking firm in the world. Yet, I have become increasingly aware of how many of these organizations operate and that at times employees are overworked and under-appreciated. In my opinion, I believe that people either get burned out and become jaded or turn into the seemingly heartless monsters they once saw in others; both very sad outcomes.

Why is this? Why do we stick around at jobs that make us sad or we dislike? Are we scared of change? Are we afraid of the unknown? – I think the answer is yes for many of us. We use the excuse of having to put food on the table for ourselves or our family; which is obviously important. Yet does this mean that we have to live in misery in order to accomplish this? I am serious! Is this really living life to the fullest?

I believe that the answer is having faith in life. When you were a baby in your mothers whom you had zero idea what would happen next. Yet you surrender to the natural course of events and things worked out as they were meant to. Now, I’m not saying quit your job and sit on the couch and wait for something to happen, yet I am saying to take a deep breath and confront the fear of the unknown. The fear that is keeping you unsatisfied at work and break your belief barriers. For me personally, breaking my belief barriers meant, realizing that I was capable of achieving as much success as I wanted to in life. And for me, part of how I quantified success was building businesses and inspiring as many people as possible along the way. That belief barrier was broken nearly 8 years ago during my junior year in college. Part of that process was understanding that it was a commitment in itself to continue to believe and motivate myself. I had to also understand that there was a journey involved and that it would not come overnight. And well, here I am 8 years later, still pursuing my goals and loving the journey. My blog is unique in that it is not a story of someone who has already achieved immense success, yet is the diary of my journey and when possible the journeys of the people who are growing along with me towards achieving our personal successes.

I decided to add a few steps that I have identified that might help others realize their passions and begin their journey towards personal success.

1) Get Inspired – I know this is easier said than done and it may take a while to find, yet find that thing that fills you up with joy. Steve Jobs speaks about having to have an undying passion of your craft or business and how without it you will not be able to persevere through the difficult moments that will confront you during your journey. This is a VERY VERY important step. Once you have identified this passion think about how you can build a business around it. Think about the people you can help and the pieces that you will have to bring together to begin building.

2) Help Others From The Heart – I can’t stress this enough. It’s got to be about more than just the money. Sure I want to accumulate financial wealth via my businesses, yet aside of the personal fulfillment, it’s about building something that is greater than I am alone. It’s about building a company that will inspire its employees and their families, and empower them to be great. So whether you are starting a yoga studio or building the next Google, don’t forget that your company is only as special as the sum of its parts and the greater and happier those parts are the greater your business will be.

3) Do it Right – Doing it right can mean many things. Yet, when I say do it right, I mean working harder than you have ever worked, being honest, and maintain your integrity. Look, I get that we are not perfect. Trust me, I am far from perfect yet at the end of the day we represent our business and our business should represent who we are. Making sure that we strive to be the best people we can be will yield great dividends in life and business.

I will continue to think through the concept of "Realizing Your Passion, Leading To Your Success" and write as I learn, yet for now I want everyone who feels that they are not living life the way that they want to or feels that they are destined for greater things to take the FIRST STEP and GET INSPIRED.

I'd love to hear your stories of acquiring inspiration. Please post a comment below if you feel compelled to do so...

The Owner Mentality

2010-11-28T01:56:00.000-08:00

I received a call a few days ago from a good friend of mine in California who took over a business I started a few years back. By the way, she was really the person responsible for making the business a success; I simply provided a platform for her to display her talents. In any case, she had gotten pretty bored of the business which was an event promotions business operating within the nightlife scene. Upon discontinuing the business she ended up taking a day job with a company in her area and was explaining to me how it’s driving her nuts! How she was so used to being the one calling the shots and being the owner. I of course laughed and gave a her a resounding “It’s because you are a leader not a follower”. She went on to say how we think like owners not employees and how difficult it is for her. The ironic part is that they gave her a raise after only a few weeks on the job based on her ability to get things done and lead. To most people, this is more than enough to keep them excited about their job, yet for my pal Jennie she can only be a leader, an owner, the captain. It was not too long ago that I came to her with the gift of entrepreneurship and leadership; the knowledge that would change her forever. It’s awesome to see her growth and continued evolution in parallel to mine.
So in conclusion, it’s ok to have the owner mentality. Simply understand who you are and make sure that you are taking the steps towards achieving your goal. Don’t get frustrated and wonder why you are reacting negatively to being just an employee. Embrace it, learn from it, and think about how you can make the employee experience better for your future employees.

Burning the Midnight Oil…or better yet, its 4:59am; yikes.

2010-11-11T02:20:00.001-08:00

So it’s interesting (thinking outloud as I prepare to write this post...), I have recently decided to return to the days of fully committing my entire life to building a start up. Now don’t misunderstand, I have been on this entrepreneurial journey for nearly 8 years now, yet many of those years I have had a day job to be able to support myself. Well, recently I decided to follow Paul Graham’s advice regarding half-hearted efforts and quit my day job, never to return again and go full throttle on my own biz. Now, I’ve done this before, and yes it sucks at times, cause you find yourself broke a lot of the time, you tend to see all the “rest of the world” getting up at 7am rushing to work, and every once in a while you have a moment of insanity and are tempted to jump back into the rat race, only to snap out of it cause you realize that you are not one of them; you’re an entrepreneur (whether it hurts or not). Sure those stable paychecks are nice, yet that’s about it. You end up spending most of your work day on your Blackberry working on your own stuff and lunch breaks at meetings with your own teams. You even sneak out for bathroom breaks to get on a call with a developer who you’re trying to motivate and manage. And again, nothing to do with your day job. This was my experience at my most recent attempt to work at a cushy corporate job. Yep it even sounds gross.

So here I am, I’m 29 going on 30 years old, have spent all my 20’s pursuing a dream, failing, yet loving just enough of my mini successes to have evolved into who I am today, a freaking entrepreneur. Love it or hate it, you are who you are, and this you cannot deny at the end of the day. I am a hard headed, risk-taking, crazy S.O.B, who is the captain of his own ship and will simply always be like this.

So here I am, its 5:15am, I have just finished a night of creating a business brief for a start up idea that I am increasingly excited about. I have nowhere to be in the AM, no boss but myself and guess what, I’ll be up in a few hours, rolling out of bed checking my Blackberry, warming up the PC, and going at it all over again…

This time it’s my way, and I’m loving every minute of it.

Sent to Me by a Mentor of Mine...M.M

2010-10-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders.

Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

"As for the future, your task is not to forsee it, but to enable it."

from The Wisdom of the Sands by Antoine de Saint - Exupery

SkillSlate Raises $1.1 Million in Funding!!!

2010-10-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

SkillSlate Raises $1.1 Million in Funding

Investment co-led by Canaan Partners and First Round Capital

New York, NY – October 20, 2010 – SkillSlate (http://www.skillslate.com), a website for easily finding individual service providers such as tutors, dog walkers, and personal trainers, today announced the closing of its first round of institutional capital, co-led by Canaan Partners and First Round Capital, along with participation from a number of prominentNY-angel investors, including Jason Finger (Founder &Former CEO of SeamlessWeb), John Caplan (Founder & CEO of The OpenSky Project), John Goldsmith (Board Member of Gerson Lehrman Group), Kal Vepuri, Josh Abramowitz, and Matthew Grodin.

SkillSlate helps consumers find individual service providers online, enabling users to search thousands of business profile pages complete with pictures, prices and reviews. These one-person businesses often provide great service at highly competitive prices, but, until SkillSlate, have been hard to find online. Many individual service providers lack a web presence – and are thus underrepresented in search engines,where 82% of people look for local services. SkillSlate’s technologyensures service providers’ pages surface highly in search engine queries, driving greater web visibility for their services and helping more potential customers find them.

“Fifteen percent of the US workforce is individually employed, yet they are underrepresented on the Internet. SkillSlate gives individual service providers a way tomore effectively market themselves to consumers. With the support and guidance of Canaan and First Round Capital, we can now move forward in executing our vision,” said Bartek Ringwelski, co-founder of SkillSlate.
SkillSlate allows consumers to easily filter through individual service providers to find the ones that exactly match the criteria they’re looking for. To build out these filtering tools, the company has taken a focused approach with regard to both service type and geography, ensuring there are a sufficient number of service providers for consumers to receive relevant search results in their area.SkillSlate is currently focused on the greater New York metropolitan region, but plans to expand nationally in the future.

“Although individual service providers tend to be less expensive than companies, finding them online isn’t easy. Search engines tend to favor larger, more established companies, while classified sites don’t give consumers any specific criteria about the people providing services,” saidDan Ciporin, Venture Partner at Canaan Partners. “SkillSlate makes it easy for consumers to find detailed information about service providers by emphasizing pictures, prices, and reviews. Equally important, SkillSlate gives these self-employed individuals the search engine visibility they need in order to be found where a vast number of consumers are looking.”

SkillSlate recently re-launched its site with 3,500 service providers in 10 service categories throughout the New York City area. The company will use this round of funding for technology development and to expand its service category breadth and depth.

“Skillslate will provide value to both buyers and sellers of local services by reducing friction in the discovery and quality assessment process. Their unique approach solves a real problem for both sides of this large and inefficient market,” said Phineas Barnes, Principal at First Round Capital.

About SkillSlate

SkillSlate allows consumers to easily find local individual service providers like tutors, dog walkers, and personal trainers. SkillSlate aims to empower the more than 16 million individual service providers in the US to more effectively market their services directly to consumers online. SkillSlate provides detailed professional and personal information including pictures, fees, and reviews within a searchable, sortable directory where consumers can find service providers that fit their specific needs.

About Canaan Partners
Canaan Partners invests in visionary entrepreneurs and provides them the networks, insights and operational guidance required to build high-performance technology and healthcare companies. Founded in 1987, the firm has raised eight funds and completed more than 78 acquisitions and 53 IPOs. With $3 billion under management and a worldwide footprint, the firm is committed to catalyzing the growth of innovative digital media, communications & mobility, enterprise and clean tech companies. Among its successes are Associated Content, the people’s media company; VOIP equipment supplier Acme Packet; CommerceOne, the company that pioneered B2B ecommerce; DoubleClick, the leading online advertising solution; Match.com, the most popular online dating site in the world; and SuccessFactors, the global leader in on-demand performance and talent management solutions. Other Canaan investments include 3Crowd, Active Networks, blip.tv, Blurb, Cardlytics, iYogi, KABAM, Lending Club, ON24, OpenSky, Prime Sense, SOASTA, Tremor Media and Zoosk. Canaan maintains a presence in California, Connecticut, India and Israel. For more information visit www.canaan.com.

About First Round Capital
First Round Capital is a seed stage fund dedicated to helping talented entrepreneurs build remarkable companies. Often providing a company’s first outside capital, the team at First Round likes to take an active role and work with the founders to launch a new product or service. First Round Capital invests nationally and has offices in San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia.

A Half-Hearted Effort by Paul Graham

2010-10-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

This comes directly from Paul's http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

18. A Half-Hearted Effort

The failed startups you hear most about are the spectactular flameouts. Those are actually the elite of failures. The most common type is not the one that makes spectacular mistakes, but the one that doesn't do much of anything—the one we never even hear about, because it was some project a couple guys started on the side while working on their day jobs, but which never got anywhere and was gradually abandoned.

Statistically, if you want to avoid failure, it would seem like the most important thing is to quit your day job. Most founders of failed startups don't quit their day jobs, and most founders of successful ones do. If startup failure were a disease, the CDC would be issuing bulletins warning people to avoid day jobs.

Does that mean you should quit your day job? Not necessarily. I'm guessing here, but I'd guess that many of these would-be founders may not have the kind of determination it takes to start a company, and that in the back of their minds, they know it. The reason they don't invest more time in their startup is that they know it's a bad investment. [12]

I'd also guess there's some band of people who could have succeeded if they'd taken the leap and done it full-time, but didn't. I have no idea how wide this band is, but if the winner/borderline/hopeless progression has the sort of distribution you'd expect, the number of people who could have made it, if they'd quit their day job, is probably an order of magnitude larger than the number who do make it. [13]

If that's true, most startups that could succeed fail because the founders don't devote their whole efforts to them. That certainly accords with what I see out in the world. Most startups fail because they don't make something people want, and the reason most don't is that they don't try hard enough.

In other words, starting startups is just like everything else. The biggest mistake you can make is not to try hard enough. To the extent there's a secret to success, it's not to be in denial about that.

Man in the Arena - Awesome Quote by Theodore Roosevelt

2010-10-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Man in the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Entrepreneurial Overdrive

2010-09-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Entrepreneurial Overdrive - This is a characteristic that I believe every successful entrepreneur must possess. It’s the ability to reach that extra inch when you are tired or feeling like giving up. Its that extra sales call or line of code that you write at the end of a long week or while you’re dying to keep your eyes open. Its waking up on a Saturday, opening your laptop and getting at it, even before you brush your teeth.

Its not caring about spending half of your paycheck on getting that new logo designed or spending a weekend shacked up in your basement writing PRDs, fueled by pizza and beer.

In my mind it’s the only way to get things done. Cause in business excuses don’t matter, nor does anyone really give a crap why it didn’t get done. It just must get done. And especially when launching a start up, the momentum generated by getting things done is so VERY, VERY, VERY important. I have found that once you are at a standstill its incredibly hard to keep going. Its why coaches preach momentum to their team all the time. As an avid sports fanatic I see the change in momentum in games all the time. Loosing momentum will loose you games.

This is Entrepreneurial Overdrive.

Its True about True Ventures...They're cool guys

2010-09-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

So, I had a cup of coffee this morning with a guy from true ventures, and was definitely surprised at how cool this dude was. I mean, I have met and know a ton of VCs in the web space and many, not to generalize, are so full of themselves that its a breath of fresh air to meet some that are not so pretentious and full of sh%t. This guy was actually listening to what I had to say and provided some very relevant feedback; actually feedback that that actually solved some of the issues that I was currently tackling on my Incubator55 research platform. It was awesome. The interesting thing is that us young entrepreneurs tend to forget that getting funded is like getting married, and its not entirely only about the money. In our case, its a matter of time, and funding is a way to accelerate things drastically. Its like marrying a hot women who's a pain in the a#s to deal with. Once you tie the knot you are stuck and getting out is a messy ordeal.

Now that we are in the process of exploring funding its very important to us to partner with the RIGHT fund, who will be mentors and innovators, not just a pile of cash.

Check out

or Follow them :

KickApps Launches Social Media Strategy Division Led by Alan Wolk and Justin Chase

2010-08-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

* Although I spent a few great years at KickApps, my opinion is as objective and un-bias as possible.

I have to say that this was another great move by Alex Blum and his team. KickApps already has solid technology which over the years has evolved and is going through a hyper-innovation period at the moment. They have a world-class services team; no really it’s awesome. I had the pleasure of working with EVP of Clients Services Tom Gaffney during my time at KickApps, and they don’t get any better than Tom and his team; period. And now with the addition of a Social Media Strategy Division, I believe that this will further enhance the KickApps business, offering their clients strategies that transcend on-domain social experiences to destinations such as Facebook and Twitter. Although, I don't know Alan, I do know Justin Chase and his work, and can say KickApps is lucky to have him. Justin spent several years working on social strategies with Digitas NYC.

Although, the social software space is quite congested and highly competitive my instincts tell me that KickApps will continue to prove to be a real leader within the social media and online publishing spaces.

Also New: KickApps’s CMS Capabilities

Also New: KickApps AppStudio Allows you to create Facebook pages on-demand

Skillslate: Good Idea

2010-08-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

So I spoke to Taylor VanAlle of Skillslate.com today and thought that the idea was pretty cool. She called it the "Match.com" for finding a handyman, dog walker,
tutor, or any other individual service provider focused on people as opposed to
companies.

They guys and gals are based in NYC, of course a startup at the moment, looking to change the way people find trusted, local individual business owners.

At First Glance:

The UI looks pretty good. Looks web 2.0'ish and is pretty easy to navigate. Its 1000 times nicer than Craigslist, which is always a plus. Also these guys seem focused unlike some of the other players. Also, its a Rails app so naturally being a fan of rails I like it already.

They are funded, just raised a seed round of venture capital. Of course, these folks are a bunch of young entrepreneurs so I'm definitely in their corner and would love to see them succeed.

Check it out at:

www.Skillslate.com

I Actually Like Facebook Ads

2010-07-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, I can’t believe that I am saying it but, yes, I actually really like Facebook ads.

And there are a few reasons why:
First off, they are relevant to me. Because they are so focused on me, I actually like on them and are quite interested in learning more. For example, I am a big yoga lover. I constantly see ads for yoga retreats and products; which is awesome. I almost click on them 100% of the time. Another topic is entrepreneurship; which duh, is something I really enjoy. Again, there are always awesome events and info that come via Facebook ads.

Wanna-Bes vs Doers

2010-06-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

This is a topic is really gets under my skin.

Its like putting a team together to play a basketball game and everyone comes to try outs, and then first game; and then some come to the game but don't play. And before you know it your stuck playing the game alone.

The problem is that games are not won alone. Teams win games; not individuals. And as cliche as it is, yet logical, its the wanna-bes who just don't get it. You don't join a team and give up. Doers understand the importance of commitment and know their role within their team. They know that games are won by a balanced attack.

Mr and Mrs. Mediocrity

2010-01-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

This is a concept that I learned selling books door-to-door with The Southwestern Company. Current President Dan Moore used to speak about the concept of Mr. Mediocrity and how it effects success.

I am using Mr and Mrs. Mediocrity :)

So who are these creatures? These are the little voices that say "I'll do it tomorrow" or "I've already had a good week in sales, let me just take the rest of the week off; I deserve it", or “it’s too cold/hot outside, I’ll go to the gym another day”. Etc etc etc.
The thing is that we are all familiar with Mr and Mrs. Mediocrity, yet so many of us are unaware of the impact that they have on our lives.

I believe that successful people, top sales people, for example are able to ignore Mr and Mrs. Mediocrity and even excel when they are pushing their hardest. People like Michael Jordan and Joe Montana are well known for their 4th quarter production and last minute heroics. Do you think it’s because they were tired or their body ached any less than the rest? They are just as human as the next player, yet there are 3 key components that I believe defined their greatness: first they prepared and worked harder and longer off the court/field, both mentally and physically, so that they were better during the game; secondly they knew to push their hardest when things were the most challenging.

I believe, that the first step of your advancement is being aware that Mr and Mrs Mediocrity exist, and are not impossible to defeat. I believe the next steps are mentally training yourself to anticipated scenarios in which laziness, procrastination, doubt, etc, all of Mr and Mrs Mediocrity’s methods, will strike. Once you are able to anticipate these attacks you can simply ignore them. Get it? If you are ready for them, then they become non-factors.

Think about this and try it out yourself…

Visualization of the Plan

2010-01-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

I have been speaking a great deal about this lately. The idea that if you are able to visualize achieving a goal, then you are 100% capable to manifesting it in real life. Here’s the analogy that I use. We all know the steps of getting to work in the morning. We get up brush our teeth, take a shower etc etc. Many of us take the subway to work, some drive, others use alternative forms of transportation. My point is that we all can close our eyes and visualize this commute. And well, I believe that achieving success and building businesses are the same way. If you are able to visualize this you are able to achieve it .

So what does this mean exactly? Does this mean if I close my eyes and picture stacks of cash sitting on my bed that it will magically happen? Of course not! What it means is that if you take the time to plan and visualize the logical steps, many of these steps you may have already physical walked through, achieving this goal is now simply a matter of execution.

Take a moment to think through this concept and test it out for yourself. I believe that you will be surprised.

Popfossa.com - Health Professionals Get Together

2009-12-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

Popfossa was developed to provide health professionals with an efficient service that will make their lives easier. How? Simply by giving them the chance to make use of a learning portal where they can find the information they need to get in touch with other colleagues and boost their professional development.

In this way you will have the chance to join professional meetings as well as conferences and events where to improve the way you learn about different subject matters. In essence this site was created to make e-learning easy and possible for everyone.

In case you want to grow as a professional, this service will be highly beneficial for you due to the fact that you will have the opportunity to get in touch with professionals from other cultures to share your knowledge and expertise.

Keep this service in mind if you want to find both global and local online conferences, and if you want to submit and promote any educational event. You will be also able to organize your knowledge by keeping track any event you have attended. In case you want to be highly benefited with this service you just need to navigate through the site and keep learning about it at Popfossa.com.

Koda.us - Useful Solution For Job Seekers & Companies

2009-12-30T06:40:00.001-08:00

Many of us tend to be attracted to this kind of services because they are friendly and give both, professionals and the company the chance to improve. Koda is a service that gives users the interesting possibility of being benefited with all the advantages of social recruiting. Yes, clear and simple this service aims to be a good way for changing how new talent and smart companies get in touch in order to be mutually benefited.

LinkedIn’s iPhone App Gets a Major Upgrade @MASHABLE

2009-12-29T20:13:00.000-08:00

LinkedIn’s iPhone App Gets a Major Upgrade @MASHABLE

Google Puts Lid on New Products

2009-12-29T20:08:00.001-08:00

Google Puts Lid on New Products

Realizing that its myriad services are confusing users, it will focus on refining what it has.

October 06, 2006|Chris Gaither, Times Staff Writer

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In another sign of Google Inc.'s growth from start-up to corporate behemoth, the company's top executives said Thursday that they had begun telling engineers to stop launching so many new services and instead focus on making existing ones work together better.

The shift is a major departure from Google's previous strategy of launching new services rapid-fire and highlights the 8-year-old company's struggle to stay focused during swift growth.

Facebook Redesigns Help Center, Gives Unique URLs to Help Topics

2009-12-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

Facebook yesterday announced they’ve redesigned their help center, making it more accessible and easier to use.

It’s not a huge difference compared to what the help center looked before, but it’s definitely an improvement. Filters on the left have separated help for specific applications, help discussions, sheer Facebook basics and safety information from the rest of the help.

Furthermore, the new search interface displays related help pages and helps you find help in other languages (if there is no result in your language). Perhaps most importantly, specific topics now have unique URLs, which means you can easily share them with others.

While we’re on the subject of Facebook help centers, you can check out our recently released Facebook Guide Book, which explains some of the more complex Facebook-related tasks, with an emphasis on using Facebook for business and brands.

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL POST: @MASHABLE

Android Finally Gets An Official Yammer App

2009-12-28T21:39:00.001-08:00

Android Finally Gets An Official Yammer App

AT&T Reverses Course: iPhone Available Again in New York City

2009-12-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

AT&T Reverses Course: iPhone Available Again in New York City

Momentum

2009-12-01T08:59:00.001-08:00

Momentum:

"An impelling force or strength" or "the amount or force of motion in a moving body".

Momentum is one of the most important elements when achieving success, building a business, or selling a product/service; in fact, now that I think about it, it’s a key element of life in general. It’s what wins championship games in football and battles in war. Although this concept is pretty logical Momentum is pretty under rated. I don’t believe that many of us in business understand the power that it has. As a salesman, I can remember the days that I was jamming were the days that I had a ton on energy, confidence, and MOMENTUM throughout this successful period. Successful leaders understand the power that it has and when they identify it know how to leverage it.

For us out there engaged in our journey towards success, the first step is internalizing that momentum is key and when its active we must leverage it.

So what does this mean?

Well, of course it is all relative to your personal/business goals or definition of success, yet I believe that not letting up, reaching that extra inch; pushing your hardest during the moments where complacency is setting in, because you feel comfortable with status quo or your current production. I have observed that it is the people to work the hardest in the 4th quarter that break records resulting in breaking their own belief barriers. These are the guys/gals who do great things. These are things that others consider as great or impossible, and they consider as baseline.

Folks, I have seen the concept of breaking belief barriers succeed over and over again. And don’t get me wrong, I have been guilty many times of letting these mental barriers restrict me from achieving my goals, yet it is an exercise that we must all participate in. The beauty is that once these barriers are broken and new goals are expected, momentum has already started and will only gain strength with your continued pursuit.

Lets together allow our momentum to grow and focusing on the task at hand and pushing our hardest when complacency comes knocking at our door.

This is when champions are made.

Procrastination is the #1 Killer of all Success

2009-11-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

I must say that this post was inspired by a few things that I am experiencing in my life today as well as a blog entry that a friend of mine Rory Vaden posted (http://takethestairs.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/causes-of-inaction/).

Rory speaks of the 4 Causes of Inaction. The last cause titled “Lack of Accountability” really resonated with me. I find that this is the root of all failure. It leads people to rationalize and make excuses which allows them to absolve themselves of all accountability.

The problem is that one must first be aware of their behavior to be able to fix it. Many managers out there simply tell their employees or partners what they are doing wrong, without helping them understand the root cause of the issue themselves. My personal opinion is that you can only walk someone so far; you can only preach to them so much, before they need to understand the issues themselves and hold themselves ACCOUNTABLE.

There is a reason that so many speak about success; less take steps towards achieving success; and very few achieve success.

Potential is useless without action. Thanks for the inspiration Rory.

Thoughts from the treadmill (no really, I was on my blackberry on the treadmill...hehe)

2009-10-07T20:33:00.001-07:00

So I was always told throughout my life that I was a dreamer. I remember as a child my mother telling me that I had better be rich or I'd be in trouble. My mother was also a woman who valued the natural beauties that life had to offer...things like music, love, family, friends, art; in fact she was also the only person who when she said that she wanted a simple life, with little money and full of love, well, I believed her. And when I grew older, I believe I was in college attempting to build my businesses, she told my father that my problem was that I believed that this world owed me success....

You see guys, over the past few years I started to realize that what my mom was trying to tell me was that I deserved to achieve the goals that I had set out for myself. And after years of playing around with start up ideas and projects, I realized that it was about the journey and what we become in the process. It was about achieving little goals some days, and huge ones others.

You see, as I see it, success is a personal decision. For some it's building businesses and for others its being the best on the playing field. On that note, I find that there are so many parallels between sports and business. One commonality is the idea that things will get tough; real tough. And its the people who reach that extra inch that ultimately succeed. And see guys, succeeding doesn't always mean winning. In fact, many times loosing the game is inevitable. Yet the key factor is leaving it all on the field. Its knowing that you have tried your hardest to succeed. And if you can look yourself in the eye and hold your head up high, and know that you have given your all, then you are a winner.

We all have obstacles in our lives. In fact, if you haven't dealt with many yet, get ready, because you have a hard road ahead! You see, these obstacles make our journey ever so gratifying. Its overcoming adversity that makes success ever so sweet. I remember hearing stories, while I was selling books door to door, of top salespeople having their best days, yet those days being the toughest mentally and having the most adversity. What I learned was that it was their ability to overcome these mini obstacles that made their day so great.

So as we sit in our beds tonight reflecting on our goals, dreams, passions, not matter what they are, let us make the decision to succeed and to push our hardest; no matter how hard things get. Internalize that obstacles are inevitable, and that our ability to overcome and continue to strive forward will define our greatness...it will define our success!

Tonight I challenge ourselves to identify a tough moment in our lives this week and simply overcome like a champion. Remember that success is ours for the taking...

Give Back - Friends, Family, Mentors

2009-09-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is another item that I try my best to always remember. When I say give back I am not speaking about monetarily, I mean recognizing the people who have influenced you throughout your journey. The people who have supported you and believe in your crazy ideas when no one else did. The people who never gave up on you, even after your 1023rd idea! The people who lent you money to start something that they didn't even understand, yet just knew that it meant something because you said so.

For me, this is actually a long list. I must begin my honoring my mother Maria Soto. She has been there for me both financially and emotionally from day one. She has always supported my ideas, no matter how silly they were. She helped me finance myTripz early on, as well as many other projects. In fact, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be in the web 2.0 space today.

Another person who has made a huge impact on my life was a gentleman by the name of Peter Atwal. Peter was a technology entrepreneur, VC, and wonderful business mind who took me under his wing, while I was a young energetic college student. Peter, his son Alex, and I worked on a wireless Internet start up in the early days of WiFi. It was a phenomenal experience which really gave me a direction in my entrepreneurial life towards technology.

Lee Kitchen, or as we called him during my days studying abroad in Spain, Senor Cocina. Lee was a very special man who taught me so much about business and thinking out of the box. This funny thing is that he taught through real life stories. He inspired me to be great. Lee has a unique way of making you feel special. Lee was the BEST professor I have ever had and a wonderful friend.

Then there's Sid Bhatt, who I met on a plane heading back from a one of my father's business trips almost a decade ago. Sid was actually sitting in between my father and I and offered to move over. We somehow started chatting about technology and start ups, and then a few years later we founded myTripz.com together. Although Sid and I have had our ups and downs over the years, Sid taught me so much about business and working hard. Sid is dedicated to succeeding and frankly, I could have never done myTripz without him, period. He is a super sharp human being who learns quickly and is willing to take huge risks.

Brian Ross and The Southwestern Company Experience - What can I say about Mr. Brian Ross. Brian was the best sales manager I have ever come across. He understood how to conduct himself appropriately and with class at all times. I have never seen him slacking or disorganized. More importantly, Brian is REAL leader. He understands how to delegate by inspiring people to want to get things done and by showing them how the feeling of accomplishment is one of the most powerful energies in life. Lastly, Brian is a phenomenal public speaker; in fact I wish to be half the speak he is one day.

Julio Hernandez, my dear friend. Julio is an inspirational leader, who's always looking to help others and has been leading for as long as I have known him; which has been since middle school!

Jim "JP" Payne, a true friend and one of the most brilliant minds that I have ever met. JP has been a very influencial person in my life both as a friend and business partner. In fact, I have learned so much about the web space from him.

Last but not least, my father Jorge A Soto. My dad is an amazing man. In fact, he has always been an amazing father and person. And although he is not aware of it, he's a pretty dam good business man too. He owns consulting company that is engaged in providing companies with employee counseling and training services. He has been a great example of a hard worker and man of integrity.

Prepare not to Fail, Dont Fail to Prepare

2009-09-18T10:10:00.001-07:00

"Prepare not to Fail, Don't Fail to Prepare" - Me :)

So this is a concept that I feel very strongly about. The idea that when starting a new venture you must prepare yourself for anything. Not to be pessimistic, yet you must expect things to go wrong. You must expect things to get REALLY tough. Here are a few items that I always just assume will happen, so if and when they do, I am ready. Now I'm not saying that all these things will happen to all entrepreneurs, in fact I'm simply itemizing things that I deal with like almost 100% of the time.

People will be complacent and lazy: Look we are human beings and sometimes we allow ourselves to become overwhelmed by life's details, whether it be family, work, etc. In fact, the stresses of the actual venture becomes very draining and leads to you making excuses to be lazy.

Expect to feel like quitting: You will feel like quitting at some point during the course of your venture. It may be that you have worked yourself to the point that you are just exhausted or perhaps your company is moving slower than you expected. The point is that something will make you feel like quitting, yet the key is to expect that moment to happen, and because you were prepared, it becomes a non factor. You might say to yourself "I knew this would happen, let me fix the issue and move on". Needless to say people, quitting in not an option. Quitters Don't Win, and Winners Don't Quit - a Southwester Company Bookman quote.

Expect Delays: Face it, especially when developing software, there will always be delays. So when planning your sales initiatives don't over promise a prospect or partner. If you promise a deadline or a product that you cannot meet, you will look silly and disorganized. And although, this may not totally tarnish the relationship, its still not a good way to begin a relationship.

Expect Disagreements: Look if you seriously doing a start up, its because you have an opinion and have the ambition to make special things happen. In fact, I have never met an entrepreneur who didn't have an opinion. So, expect that your partners will have opinions that at times will conflict with yours. And guess what; that's ok! Be open to others' ideas, comments, etc.

Others will not pull their weight (make sure you do!)t: This admittedly drives me freaking crazy. All I have to say about this is, IT WILL HAPPEN. So what do you do? Well, assess the true value of this or these people and contributions to date. If you know, that they are valuable and have contributed, then you RESPECTFULLY address the issue. You might just find out that there are some legitimate issues around why they are not pulling their weight. With that said, ultimately you can only control what you do and make sure that you are doing what you have committed to do.

The Beginning...

2009-09-16T15:06:00.001-07:00

So where did it start? Where did the addiction that I now call entrepreneurship begin?

Well, frankly, I don't remember the day that I took my first risk or faced my first challenge, which are items that ALL entrepreneurs deal with on a consistent basis. But I do remember the moment that I realized that I could achieve anything within business if I simply wanted it bad enough and was willing to work hard for it. It was my junior year at Florida State University, when my new and equally as ambitious friend Senor Cesar Garcia and I decided that we wanted to attend a huge conference in NYC which featured the owners of some of the top companies and sports organizations in the world. The problems were a) we were broke college students and didn't have the $1000 + for the registration cost and b) we needed to be part of the media to get in for free.

So what did we do? Well, like every good entrepreneur does, we used are freaking brains and started to think out of the box! - and at that time that meant beer + pizza (umm...not sure too much has changed over the years...lol...hehe). After a days we came up with a strategy, which entailed representing a New Jersey-based local newspaper at the conference and covering it for them! Brilliant right?! So We applied for media passed and waited...and waited even more...and more. Until the a few days before the conference, we got a call stating that we were granted the passes and that we were good to go! You can imagine how happy we were, yet we still had one issue to overcome; we were in Tallahassee, FL and the conference was in New York City!

Well, folks I can tell you that we never made it dude to our transportation issue, but what i will say it that we succeeded. Cesar and I won. And our takeaways were simple; we can do anything, concur anything, and succeed at anything if we think wanted bad enough, were willing to work hard for it, and more importantly used our brains!

As silly as it sounds, that year Cesar and I would speak nonstop about businesses that we were going to start businesses and how successful were we going to be one day. And that my friends was the beginning of my journey...

Peace!

Jorge

Is the Market Improving? What's up with all the acquisition action!

2009-09-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

So, I'm not sure if its me or are there a crap load of acquisitions going on right now!
I mean just this week, you have Mint.com being bought by Intuit (Shut outs to Sid, I'm proud of you man!), Nokia buying Plum, and talks regarding Adobe buying Omniture - and I'm sure I have missed a bunch more.

Ok so, the Mint.com deal was a good one I believe. Mint.com is a great application, uniquely positioned within its space. Additionally I believe it will continue to grow. It was a decent deal at $170 million dollars or whatever it was.

Regarding the Adobe deal, I get it; they want to grow a new business line within online - Ok fine. It could be a good win for Adobe and Omniture is a well known, solid organization.

Now for the stinker of the crew, Nokia, what in Gods name are you doing buying Plum. I can name a million better options than this. For example, KickApps.com here in NYC, has a product called KickFamily.com which would kick Plum's ass. Share on you Nokia. As for the Plum guys, atta boy or girl; you managed to get a decent valuation on your thing.

So the question is: Are M&As really back??

Cool Quotes

2009-09-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

"It is only as we develop others that we truly succeed"- Harvey Firestone

I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot . . . and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan

First Entry

2009-09-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

Good morning world - So I'm siting here at my day job, getting ready to start my day of cold calling new prospects, researching markets, and dealing with the everyday joys working for someone else. Now, don't get me wrong, life at work is nice. We have a young company, which is doing well, in fact, we are doing better today than we have ever been. It's just that I learned a long time ago that no matter what I do, I will never be completely happy working for someone else. It's a realization that I had to come to grips with. Yet for now it's ok though; I am a learning a crap load and have met some great people. It's yet another training ground for what lies ahead in the near distant future...

I must say that I am a better business person today versus I was when I first got here. I have had the chance to work within a space that I really love, web 2.0 & social media, while having the chance to make some good friends: like TJ "Dragon" M who is probably one of the most brilliant creatives I have ever met and all around good hearted person. Maliki O, a truly special human being; the type of guy that you wouldn't mind spending hours around speaking about life's philosophies or a new business idea. Halit B, an honorable gentleman who seems to do no wrong. The type of guy that you would fight for in the heat of battle and who you know would have your back without question. Big E, a visionary, who has enough ideas and energy to fill a room. Speaking of rooms, when he is around the energy he brings is infectious and inspiring.

Of course, there are a few more people that have really made an impact on me by being who they are as people as well as colleagues.