Time to Step Back and Give Some Thanks

It has been a tough year for me. I tried to sell my car to support my startup habit but the economy crashed and that didn't work out. Speaking of the startup, we missed just about every deadline we set. And, my dog of 14 and ½ years moved on to doggie heaven. But, truthfully, I kind of like the car anyway. And, the deadlines we missed were mostly because we changed up some functionality and have really made our product better. The dog… well, anyone who has ever had a pet die knows that it is just tough. Still, I have much for which to be thankful!

First, I would like to take a moment to thank some of the great people I've met this past year who have been extremely helpful in making Public Chalk a reality. There are all the great people at NextNY who host great events and support the NY Tech community. There are the folks over at Mashable who keep us informed as to what is going on in the world of Social Networking. And there are the guys at Center Networks who keep us up to date on just about everything.

Second, I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with Tobin Schwaiger-Hastanan from Cupid's Lab. Tobin has been instrumental in getting our iPhone application off the ground. And we got some great advice (and some inside information way back in May about who our next president was to be) from Marc at Celebrifantasy.

Third, I'm thankful for my business partners John and Matt. We don't always see eye-to-eye or even understand what each other are talking about. Sometimes John and I think Matt is crazy. Often, Matt and I think John is crazy. I cannot even imagine what they say about me when I'm not there… I hear enough when I am there. But, our individual strengths over the year have really moved Public Chalk forward.

Finally, I'm thankful to Claudia, Sara, and Paul… the "significant others"… for letting us get away with working so many evenings and weekends instead of spending more time with them. I know that all three of them often think that the three of us have lost our collective minds… especially when we get home from working all day on Saturday and make them look through all the new design changes and features before we eat dinner.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

ETJ

Dating Your Website

No, not putting a date on it or using graphics or logos that date it like the rings on a tree. I'm talking about actually dating your website. Taking it out for dinner and a movie and then deciding whether or not to call it the next day. I know it sounds a bit odd at first, but really, it is what we do. We all visited Facebook or Yahoo! or Google or any of the other thousands of sites on the internet and we make a decision as to whether or not we like the site enough to come back… after waiting 3 days, of course.

The problem with "dating" web sites isn't on the client side. I don't really care if a site I visit isn't attractive enough or smart enough. I just move on. And, unlike dating in the real world, the web site itself is just a bunch of code that somebody put out there. It is incapable of feeling and is therefore not "rejected" and won't devour a ½ gallon of ice cream while wondering why you never called if you never go back. But there is a parallel. Just like the teenage girl out there who is starting to date, the web site has creators (parents). And, just like the teenage girl, the creators of the web site want nothing but the best. A boyfriend (or users) who will call often, use the web site for its intended purposes, and love (maybe even worship) the web site… not only for its great looks but also because it is smart and adds something to that person's life. Of course, as creators of a web site, we are really interested in the dowry.

Much like dating… when you arrive at a web site (or see a potential mate), you must find something very attractive to make you want to stay and find out more about it. Without that initial attraction, you will probably pass right on by without looking any further. Now, once the entity is a bit more well-known you may be inclined to stop by for a visit even if it isn't the prettiest choice out there. For example, you might find out that, while it doesn't look the best, that it is really easy to use and you get a special prize at the end. But, suffice it to say… the old adage holds true, "Looks aren't everything, but they sure do help.".

Again, like dating… after you arrive and decide to stay for a while, you're going to start caring about much more than the looks. How well do we get along? Do they do everything I want to do? Can I live with the things that they don't do? Can I ask to have certain features added? Are they smart? Can I talk, be heard and understood, and get stimulating feedback? Or is it a one-way conversation.

In the world of building websites, this dual-need means that you need a great user interface and some great software that users will find intriguing and useful to back up your good looks. If you can manage this, you'll have plenty of dates… I mean users…

ETJ

Inventing the Internet

Barak Obama is now president elect of the United States and if you believe the media, he owes much of his success to something “invented” by a fellow democrat… Al Gore… and his magical internet.

Okay, we all know that Al Gore did not invent the internet. A whole slew of scientists and scholars invented the internet and the all important TCP/IP protocol. But, it was in a writing by Vinton Cerf where the term “internet” was first used in 1973, and, as a result, we still “Cerf” the internet today.

I highly doubt that when Vinton Cerf first wrote the word “internet” that it would become a global phenomenon and propel the World Wide Web to be a hub for the exchange of ideas, commerce, and social networking. But, it certainly has done just that.

And, the internet is far from being done expanding. The internet is still a baby in many ways. Most communications over the internet today are still asynchronous (e-mail, wall-to-wall, message boards). We’ve seen access expand from the colleges and universities to the workplace to becoming a revenue generation monster supporting entire businesses such as Google, Yahoo, Ebay, 800flowers, Expedia, and the list goes on. As more people get high-speed access to the internet it will continue to expand. And, lately, it has jumped off the desktop and laptop to the phone.

The applications have also grown dramatically. First came static home pages for businesses and individuals. The logical growth from there was eCommerce and Business to Business commerce. Then the social networking boom that started connecting people for various reasons – professional contacts, dating, and long lost friends from high school or college.

Public Chalk is built to take on what we believe is the next growth spurt in internet applications, the community in real time. You live your life among groups of friends surrounding particular interests or events in real time. We are building Public Chalk to provide the ability to create the group of friends who are interested in a particular topic or event and allow that group to converse about that topic or event, share media, and plan from their PC or their iPhone… synchronously (real time). All the discussion will be archived for future reference and new topic will rise in the place of past topics.

Still wish we could say we invented the internet…

ETJ

Long Way to Run

This past Sunday, I ran the New York City Marathon. As I set out crossing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, I thought of just how much running a marathon and starting a company are alike and, of course, how much they are not at all like. Here are just a few of my thoughts.

• Alike – You spend hours upon hours preparing for that one day that you will “go live” or run the marathon. Your family and friends watch you doing all this prep work – working late hours – or getting up really on Saturday morning to run 20 miles – and wonder what is wrong with you.
• Different – You may get a headache from working on your startup company but you won’t get sore legs.
• Alike – To truly be successful you need to surround yourself with the right people. In a startup company this includes your business partner(s), the staff you hire, the staff you contract, and if you are lucky, the first few customers. In the marathon it is finding the right group to train with and then recruiting the right race support people.
• Different – When you finally launch your company, chances are that you are not going to have a crowd of millions of people in the streets cheering for you… but, if you can manage to get that – go for it – make sure to invite me.
• Alike – At about 7/8 of the way through either the marathon or starting a company you may be overwhelmed by the stress of it all and violently puke up a stomach full of Gatorade and water.
• Different – The results from getting your company started are not going to be posted the next day.
• Alike – The devil is in the details! Making sure you have the right shoes and your lucky socks is very important on marathon day. Making sure you have the right PowerPoint presentation is also very important on the day you present to investors. The right shoes and lucky socks couldn’t hurt either.
• Different – Once you start the marathon – it is all up to you to run your best and have a good time. Launching and running your company is a team sport.
• Alike – If all goes well, you will be rewarded handsomely for undertaking either endeavor.
• Different – If you are successful, you’re going to pay lots of taxes on your startup company. You won’t pay taxes on your marathon unless you win.
• Alike – After starting your company or finishing a marathon you’ll have plenty of war stories to tell your friends who will be very interested to hear almost every detail.
  

This list might not be all-encompassing. Some might not even agree with some or all of it. You’ll have to cut me some slack. My legs are starting to tighten up and I’m ready to get a good night’s sleep. But please write me if you have any insights. BTW – I finished in 3:39 and I had a GREAT time!


ETJ