Surf.

Why Bonobos and Warby Parker Get the Online Shopping Experience Right

Venture Capital Must Adapt to Crowdfunding (If PR Can Survive Twitter…)

When I started practicing PR in 2008, there was thing thing called “Twitter” that people began to talk about.  Some even did this weird thing called “tweeting” - tweeting???  The early tech adopter in me began to use the network as a way to.. well, network.  It was a great way for me to connect with those I previously had not had access to.  Just 1 year later, I looked at Twitter as possibly destroying the value of my (now former) profession.

Twitter completely changed the PR landscape.  The role of the traditional PR professional was altered as soon as Twitter went mainstream.  Essentially, everyone had the power to do their own PR and spread their message to the world.  Journalists could interact with founders without the need for the middleman - the PR rep.  For a profession with a somewhat negative stigma already attached to it (at least in the tech startup space), the value of a non-internal PR professional came into question.

PR as a profession stil exists obviously.  It hasn’t died out, rather the role has adapted.  With the power to communicate one’s message to the world, perhaps the smart PR professional is even more important now.  After all, who is going to keep one’s messaging in check when you can tweet about your company and how much you hate cheeseburgers from the same account?  Out of chaos, comes organization and strategy - which an intelligent communications professional should help you craft and guide.

With the rise of crowdfunding, I’m seeing a lot of talk lately questioning the value of the VC in light of new disruptions.  While being able to raise one’s own capital is fantastic, any good VC brings with him/her a value add that one simply can’t obtain from Kickstarter.  However, just as the PR professional had to, today’s VC must adapt to this new world of raising capital to show why funding through venture capital is still just as necessary as it was prior to crowdfunding.  

I’m very cautious of the JOBS Act and think that VCs truly have an opportunity to seize right now.  It is up to the venture capitalist to clearly demonstrate why he/she is as relevant now as ever.  What do I get when I take investment from a VC?  Guidance, introductions, mentorship, or just a check?  Well, venture capitalists, show the world what you have to offer a startup.  I think you are just as important now as ever - convince the skeptics.

Just as Twitter disrupted the PR profession, crowdfunding poses new chalenges to VC firms (and angels, etc.).  It’s time for VCs to truly flex their muscles and perhaps become more involved with their clients’ passions and pursuits than ever before.  

Google That: Tech Startups & Product Placement Ain’t Nothing to F%$# With

I was all set this morning to do a big post on the up-and-coming phenomenon know as “startup product placement” - and in a broader sense, product placement with tech products in general.  I spent four years at NYU studying product placement.  Of course back then (all of 4 years ago), when one associated product placement with any vertical, it was entertainment.  Hollywood to be more specific.

Earlier this morning, news broke that Angry Birds producer Rovio was rumored to include content from The Simpsons in the next Angry Birds update.  I’m nowhere near a fan of the show as I was growing up, but hey, that’s some pretty cool synergy there and why shouldn’t Fox leverage its relationships with two booming IPs?  The Simpsons IP is no stranger to video games, so it’s really only natural see them pop up in one of the hottest selling mobile games on the market right now.

A week or so ago, rising NYC-based startup Birchbox announced a deal with the CW’s hit, Gossip Girl.  I can’t admit to watching Gossip Girl (I was a huge O.C. fan back in the day so I can’t hate on it either), but knowing what I know about Birchbox, including Birchbox within the context of Gossip Girl makes perfect sense - and more importantly, is a fantastic new way to acquire new adopters.

Entrepreneur (linked above) does a fantastic job in explaining why product placement is the wave of the future for startups who are looking for non-traditional ways to acquire new users.  I was fully onboard to promote this today and highlight some potential examples, and then unfortunately I read the following headline:

Things You Never Thought Would Happen: Wu-Tang’s Raekwon Makes “Google That” Rap Video

Oh where to begin.

Look, I know this isn’t product placement in the traditional sense and there is no way Google had anything to do with this. If we have learned anything from the stiffs at Novartis (R.I.P. “Theraflu” which is now “Way Too Cold”), “Google That” may quickly become “Search That” very soon.  Anyone who has followed the careers of NORE, Styles P and Raekwon know that this is an odd and strange move on their part to capitalize on the Google brand name.  ODB is spinning in his grave right now.

I still haven’t had the time to properly digest this (if that’s possible), but this does signal one huge warning sign to me - when you try to collaborate with anyone, be it a startup or a rapper, please, please make sure the partnership you engage with makes sense and is an extension of your brand value.  Angry Birds and The Simpsons - love it.  Birchbox and Gossip Girl - terrific!  Google and the Wu?  I’m pumping 36 Chambers right now just to try to drown this monstrosity of my head.

There’s No Winning Without a Great Startup Team

I spend a lot of time in the gym.  If you don’t believe me, just check out my Level 34 score on Fitocracy.  While I work out for many different reasons (health, structure, discipline, etc.), perhaps my favorite result of staying in shape and those efforts in the gym showcases itself on Saturday mornings.  Saturday mornings are when I get to play pickup basketball in the greatest environment possible to do so outside of Madison Square Garden - the streets of NYC.

I interned one summer at the NBA.  At 5’ 6” tall, that’s as close as I’ll ever get to the NBA hardwood floors.  Playing competitively when you are my height can be difficult.  Luckily, I am fast and in good enough shape from the gym to compensate for my vertical inefficiencies.  Naturally, I run the point.  While my shot can be hit or miss,  I generally know my role on the court and there is one thing that is always certain - I play better when surrounded by a good team.

I play a lot of sports, but to me, basketball is the greatest example of how winning is reliant on a team effort.  You can have your stars who know how to lead, but without team chemistry and selflessness, you more than likely will struggle to beat those other five players on the court.  To have a truly great team, each player must utilize personal strengths and abilities and fuse them with those surrounding him to compete at the highest level.  This is true for any sport, but again, most applicable to the 5-on-5 game of basketball in my opinion.

This concept of team is hitting especially home with me right now as I attempt to figure out the next stage of my career.  I’ve flung myself into entrepreneurship with a few ideas I’d love to see develop.  The titles of “founder” and “CEO” sound great, but after a month or so, I’ve come to the realization that without a great team to work with, titles and ideas mean nothing.  If you asked me a month ago why I wanted to go into entrepreneurship, I probably would have said something along the lines of wishing to get my own DNA into a company and create my own destiny.  That was the wrong approach to all of this.

You can have great personal success (and I am far from it with only a few ideas in my own starting lineup right now).  But it means nothing if you can’t celebrate that success with others.  

I was captain of my soccer team in high school, both on the freshman squad and later on as a co-captain of my varsity team.  Sure varsity soccer had more prestige to it, but I never had more fun in my life playing sports at a competitive level than that year with my freshman squad.  We were 11 individuals on a field with one goal - to go undefeated. Without the pressure of advancing to varsity (it was very rare for a player to go varsity freshman year in my program), every single player put their egos aside that year and worked with one another to achieve a perfect season.  

My varsity experience never lived up to that year, as I was forced to compete with those same players and friends to earn a starting spot amongst the entire high school crowd of players.  We achieved similar success as well as great failure, but none of it meant anywhere as much to me as that undefeated freshman season.  

I think as I move forward into entrepreneurship, I really need to remember that freshman year of soccer.  My Saturday basketball games serve as a good weekly reminder of what it means to play (and win) as a team.  I know my role on the court is not to try to take every shot and try to dunk (I’m short but I have ambitions!), but I can certainly throw a lob pass or two and hustle back on defense to get the job done.  

All of the hard time put in throughout the week at the gym enables me to be a better teammate on the court.  Personal efforts matter, but the best comes out when working with others who carry similar work ethics, passions and goals.

I must also realize that if any opportunity presents itself to become part of a winning team, I should not dismiss it because of an urge to “create” rather than “contribute”.  If this past month has taught me anything, perhaps I got into this whole entrepreneurship thing to work with an awesome group of individuals who can together build the blueprint for a great new company.  Additionally, if there is a foundation already in place that I can help improve on and learn a great deal in the process, then that could be just as beneficial right now.  I’m not a technical person, I’m an idea person, a strategist, marketer - the label doesn’t matter.  I’m a team player at heart who is most satisfied when achievements are made together.

Oh, and I hate losing but that’s a whole other subject…

3 Golden Rules When Starting A Business

The following are three simple rules I adhere to.  Embrace them for yourself or don’t - the choice is up to you!

1.  Treat others the way you want to be treated - before and after success.  

Everyone was at some place in their own career, usually starting from the bottom with the goal of rising to the top.  Always keep that in perspective as you interact with anyone.

2. Startup karma is a boomerang.

Help others out when you can - you never know when that good will will come back and strike for… more good.  That being said, treat others poorly and expect the same in return.  This is particularly true in startup land, as many rely on each other for support.

3.  Family and friends first - business somewhere near there.

I can’t say “business second” because anyone who has even attempted to start their own company knows that their passion consumes them.  Never lose sight of those who have been there for you from day one, and when possible, involve them in the excitement of your new journey.

Karma.

What Muggsy Bogues Can Teach Everyone About Responding on Twitter

Remember walking into the high school cafeteria on the first day of school and having to decide where to sit?  Yes, almost everyone at some point in their lives experienced that all too familiar cliché.  At that moment you have to label yourself and brand yourself - am I a jock, a nerd, a “jerd” (hybrid of jock and nerd, I made that one up the other day)?  I could go on, but you get the point.  In a dream scenario, you had people saving you a seat at any table you wished to sit at that day.  Ah, if only the world was like that every day.

The freedom to sit and interact with anyone because you had access to them.  If there is any medium that offers this today, it is Twitter.  That is what has always excited me about the medium and made it distinct.  Big or small, jock or nerd, on Twitter, as long as one’s profile is open to others, you have access to anyone at any time.

I’m a small fish in the ocean that is Twitter.  At 740-something followers and a guppy at best, I use Twitter to communicate with peers that I know, and more importantly, the whales I’d love to get a chance to engage in dialogue with.  I try to respond to every relevant @me I get, as no one likes to be ignored.

In the startup community, I’ve admired co-founders who take the time out to respond to fishes (and mammals, a whale is a mammal) of all sizes.  From VCs to day 1 users of their products and even the haters, when co-founders respond to the entire community on Twitter, it shows that they care about everyone.  They open their cafeteria table up for anyone to sit with them.

If anything bothers me about Twitter, it’s when we use it too much to promote ourselves.  I can be guilty of this myself, and am doing my best to tweet less about me and my own thoughts and instead use Twitter to engage in dialogue with others.  This is a major goal of mine in 2012.  I’d also love to use the medium to engage with anyone who thinks I could help them in any shape or form.

I still believe Twitter hasn’t peaked and offers so much potential for collaboration and idea exploration.  And hey, if Muggsy Bogues can get back to me on Twitter….

New day, new ball game. Mo blows, Andy learns.

“Patience.”  Easy to say, harder to practice.  Yesterday, I had two moments which reminded me that in the long haul, you must not let minor letdowns get in the way of the grand picture.

1.  I missed the E train at West 4th Street on my way to Penn Station.  Ohh, how I hate that feeling when you see the train doors close right before you.  A few wasted expletives later, the next E train arrived in a mere three minutes and I was on my way to 34th Street as planned.

2.  Mo blows it as the Yankees drop their season opener in the 9th inning to the Rays.  Ah, the risk every baseball fan takes when tuning it to follow their favorite team - your team may lose that day.  It may hurt and sting for a few seconds, but guess what?  Today is a new day and we get a chance to cheer on the Yankees at 7 pm tonight.

Sure, these are two things that seem rather mundane, but when thinking big, it’s important to learn lessons from the small things around you.  Today is a new day - time to forget the setbacks of yesterday and play ball once again.

Theraflu and Launching into Startup World

In the projects one day, to Project Runway..

- Kanye West, Theraflu

That was about the only clean lyric I could pull from Kanye’s latest G.O.O.D. Friday release, “Theraflu.”  But it is quite apropos to my current state of mind, so I’ll roll with it.

For anyone who knows me and who has been following my Living Resume updates, the last few weeks have been somewhat tumultuous to say the least.  It may be the worst kept secret that for a while now, I’ve thought about working at a startup (as opposed to with startups in my previous gig), but more so, I’ve thought about committing to entrepreneurship and becoming a founder.

Ah, “entrepreneur” - has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?  Recently, I remarked to a friend that I “listen to way much Jay-Z (and hip hop in general) to not become an entrepreneur myself.”  While that remark was largely tongue-in-cheek, there certainly is a degree of truth to it.  As Fred Wilson and Brad Horowitz frequently highlight, there is a common connection between those in the startup game and those in the rap game.  To get to the top, sometimes you need to start at the bottom.

Jay-Z went from “rags to riches” only after a very early rough start slinging dope in the Marcy Projects. For as arrogant as he can get (and I love it), Kanye West humbles himself (yes, that’s possible) in “Last Call” - I could pull many lyrics from that, but take a listen and hit up Rap Genius for the full scope of how close he was to failing before his big break.  Take it from this Jersey guy, Newark is a scary place.

Now as much as I love “The Wire”, by no means am I hitting the corners to start on my grind.  But like Jay-Z, Kanye, and pretty much any entrepreneur who ever had that first hunger biting away inside of him (or her), I do find myself in a position of uncertainty at the moment.  Ambition can be a real double-edged sword sometimes.

That road to the top?  Well, I’m not quite sure what the journey is supposed to look like.

I have an idea for a company that I’d love to see happen.  It involves many of my favorite things and I truly think it could be a hit.  After just a week of research, I’ve only begun to realize how visions and dreams are great to have but very hard to execute on.  By no means am I ready to pivot, but that initial thrill of “I’m going to start my own startup” has been somewhat replaced by a sobering realization that great companies are not built overnight.  

The ideation stage right now almost feels like being “stuck in the projects” - I see the grand vision, but also see many challenges around me that I’ll need to overcome.  Yes, I realize that may be a gross exaggeration, but for someone who grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey, it’s the closest I’ll ever get to that analogy.  It really can be quite overwhelming at times - and this is week 1.

That’s not to say this idea can’t be accomplished.  But it certainly can’t be done alone.  Jay-Z had multiple mentors and ultimately served as Kanye’s “Big Brother.”  I’m lucky to have people around me to turn to as I dive head first into this endeavor.

At the end of the day, who knows what my current vision will look like.  It’s very exciting and scary at the same time.  If this was going to be easy, it wouldn’t be worth it, right?

In the meantime, I’ve got my friends, my family, an entire city and new G.O.O.D. music to inspire me.  And right now, that’s the most I could ever ask for.