Archive for November, 2006

Thanksgiving with family

Published November 26th, 2006 in Family and Thoughts. 1 Comment

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Lots to digest after Thanksgiving. During this holiday I took up the personal task of reconstructing my families gene pool. Its not a scientific study. Right now I’m trying to figure out who in my family is most similar to Great Grandmother. Its easy to do since as I realized at our large Thanksgiving gathering, women outnumber men. I’ve only seen one picture of my Great Grandmother, so I’ve had to ask “who most looks like her” and then I asked “who most behaves like her.” They weren’t the same people.

Perhaps the reason I’m so interested in my Great Grandmother is because she was extremely tall. I’m trying to figure out

      Why did I not get that gene
      Will my children get that gene.

I’m fascinated about what type of traits we pass on. Seeing four generations of family in the same house, all decedents of the same person I could see a piece of her in all of the women. I wondered what of me do I owe to her? And what of my self will I pass on to my children? This type of perspective is impossible without a place for families to gather. We need holidays like this. Its food for the soul.

Microsoft should sell hotmail

Published November 19th, 2006 in Technology and Thoughts. 9 Comments

Google is great at storage, and displaying stored information and monetizing that information. Microsoft is great and producing software and selling licenses. Yahoo! in addition to Google are both good at monetizing other people’s information. Microsoft not so much. Microsoft is all about life cycle of licenses and getting you to renew. But trying to apply the same business model to email is just dangerous. Me and a group of my friends were shocked to find out that all of out hotmail email was deleted because we hadn’t logged in recently. Apparently Microsoft thinks you can treat email, which is basically a storage service, like a license that expires. And when that license expires you lose all you content. No it doesn’t work that way.

Why is Microsoft in the email business anyway? To sell advertising? They have never really cared about the Ad business. It wasn’t until Google came along and kicked the crap out of them that they realized there is serious money to be made in advertising. But deleting peoples stored email and disabling their account isn’t too smart if you want people to entrust their personal communications with you in exchange for allowing your company the privilege of showing them advertisements.

Sell hotmail or spin it off. Hotmail is about people and content something Microsoft as a whole has been slow to realize.

Can I download it?

Published November 18th, 2006 in Technology and Thoughts. 2 Comments

I have estimated that I throw away about ten pounds of paper a week. Mostly newspapers. Reading the newspaper in the morning is my justification for sitting in Starbucks before I start working. I would be just as happy reading it at my desk online and I would save the $5 a day I spend at Starbucks. Yet, my Wall Street Journal discount only applies if I agree to receive the paper version too. I don’t understand the math behind that but they are the Wall Street Journal so maybe they know something I don’t.

Then there is Harvard Business Review. Its a beautiful publication, glossy cover with a heavy and firm feel. The pages are thick and convey value, “this is a publication with standards of quality” it screams. And so I like receiving it. I like looking at and holding it. Reading it…? Well, no so much. But the greatest value in that subsciption is being able to download the archives.

Today I wanted to buy a CD. Its an unusual purchase for me, I don’t pirate music. I just don’t listen to it much. My last CD purchase was in Hawaii. Israel Kamakawiwo’ole a famous Hawaiin singer. That was an impulse buy.

When I want something I want it now. Its a result of growing up connected. Even if I want a book I walk to the bookstore and buy it. When they don’t have the book, which happens a lot because I read obscure books, I just forget about it. I wanted a obscure CD and the only way I could get it was if I had it delivered. I would have to wait 5 days! Soon everything will be for download, it makes no sense to charge people for shipping one CD or one book. Lets see of Vista changes things.

How entrepreneurs really think

Published November 9th, 2006 in Entrepreneurship. 0 Comments

From Seth Godin: How marketers really think. The only thing I can add is, if you’re an entrepreneur thinking like this, you might want to reconsider.

Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?

Ted Stroehmann: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.

Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7… Minute… Abs.

Ted Stroehmann: Right. Yes. OK, alright. I see where you’re going.

Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin’ there, there’s 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?

Ted Stroehmann: I would go for the 7.

Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.

Ted Stroehmann: You guarantee it? That’s — how do you do that?

Hitchhiker: If you’re not happy with the first 7 minutes, we’re gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That’s it. That’s our motto. That’s where we’re comin’ from. That’s from “A” to “B”.

Ted Stroehmann: That’s right. That’s — that’s good. That’s good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you’re in trouble, huh?

[Hitchhiker convulses]

Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody’s comin’ up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won’t even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.

Ted Stroehmann: That — good point.

Hitchhiker: 7’s the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 doors. 7, man, that’s the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin’ on a branch, eatin’ lots of sunflowers on my uncle’s ranch. You know that old children’s tale from the sea. It’s like you’re dreamin’ about Gorgonzola cheese when it’s clearly Brie time, baby…

The entrepreneurs view

Published November 7th, 2006 in Entrepreneurship, Technology and Thoughts. 0 Comments

Entrepreneurs View
Here is a picture of the same mountain from two different perspectives or paradigms. The view looking down from atop a high mountain is the view most people assume entrepreneurs see. The second view from the bottom of the mountain looking up is the actual view in my opinion of most entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur I wake up asking the question, what more can I do?

  1. Non entrepreneurs call this drive, but entrepreneurs call it survival.
  2. One perspective is that of accomplishment, but the entrepreneurs perspective is that of untapped potential.

I’m not saying that one view is right or wrong, but they are so vastly different that it causes a sense of loneliness at time among entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Do you have an entrepreneur in your family? Someone close to you that you have watched go through this process? Well, you understand better than anyone else how differently they see the world. As an entrepreneur I find myself attracted to other entrepreneurs because I don’t need to explain this perspective. They know it. And family of entrepreneurs know it too.

So, when you meet a entrepreneur instead of asking “How did you do it?” ask “What are your current challanges?” that will show that you want to understand their perspective and as you listen to their challanges you just may.

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