Bootstrapper.com - Confessions of Serial Entrepreneurs

So those of you that know me know that I tend to put my foot in my mouth quite a lot. I can’t keep my stupid mouth shut. So I apologize to all of you out there and yes, I say stupid things and make myself look stupid, like an ass, like a space cadet and all sorts of stuff from time to time. But it’s part of the package of being a crazy entrepreneur and never being able to stop running. Sometimes you don’t even realize what the heck you’re doing. That’s why its important to take a day off once a month as a breather. My principal in like 8th grade used to say that boys get their periods too. I find that to the case where I get one day where I’m neurotic and insecure and breaking out in pimples. Those are the days I recommend to take off. It’s stress / lack of sleep and eventually it catches up.

A little bird was flying south for the Winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground 
into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Morals of the story: 
(1)     Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2)   Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3)   And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing?”
The eagle answered: ” Sure, why not.”
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.
All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

I’m going to do a set of life management lessons that come courtesy of my good friend Mia, who always needs coffee…

Lesson 1
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.
Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel,” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. 
 
When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, “Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies. “Great,” the husband says, “did he say anything about the $800 he owes 
me?”
Moral of the story: 
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
The nun said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest apologized “Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.”
Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, “Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.”
Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

So when I first got into “the game” you would almost never see a CEO on IM or instant messenger. It just wouldn’t happen in the normal corporate world unless you were at a startup. Lately I’ve started to notice CEO”s through the entire ecosystem of corporate America using IM. My friends to me this is a sign that we as a techno-society is growing up.

So I figured tonight I’d share something i hate. Keeping my contacts and papers in order. I’ll admit it, i’m not good at keeping my accounting and paperwork in order. I tell his to all of my partners up front and we figure it out but in general it stresses me out, once upon a time i used to be organized and great with it. In fact I was an accounting major at one point and taught an accounting class. What happened? I have no idea but i rather focus my time building relationships in person than worrying about all the details.

So I’d like to say that I think Jason Calacanis is a genius and if you read his newsletter I’m sure you will agree. While my blogs are thoughts on topics, his are well written, well researched treatises. With that said he recently retired blogging and can be heard through his web 1.0 channel – the newsletter. Personally, I’m much more likely to read a newsletter than a blog. I simply get less of them, it’s easier to digest. Calacanis though is the master personal PR guru and networker. For those of you who know how rabidly I preach about networking – you should appreciate how much this complement means coming from me.

So if you’ve ever built a product, I’m sure you know the pains in the asses of development frameworks and trying to decide what to do. Well in my latest startups we’ve had quite a bi of drama over what framework to use. We settled on PRADO but had a lot of long acrimonious discussions. I’d like to say there’s an easy answer but there isn’t. One of the most important things you will do is choose your framework and then subframework. RUBY, pHp, .net, FLEX – kphp, PRADO etc…. it’s a big challenge and will have a great impact on the future of your company so tread lightly because there ain’t no easy going back once you’ve decided. 

So i recently saw Tropic Thunder. It was an interesting movie. It was funny but dumb. The best part of the movie was the opening sequence when they spoofed movie trailers. That was great and hilarious. The actual film though leaves some to be desired. Tom Cruise & Robert Downey Jr. were amazing the whole time though. Overall, it’s definitely worth seeing but not quite as good as the hype.

So i just went rafting with 3 of our fellow bootstrapper bloggers, Shamoon, Gary W & Jeevan. Shout out to Shamoon for planning the trip. We went rafting in Jim Thorpe, PA and then camped out overnight nearby. I gotta say, it was an interesting experience. First rafting is fun. I love sports, especially outdoor sports. Jeevan & I even fell off the raft twice, oh well. But still a lot of fun. Then the camping was interesting, it turns out that there were no open campsites around so Shamoon signed us up for a clothing optional gay & lesbian camp site. According to him, it was the only camp site with open space in town on Labor Day Weekend. Now, I have no issues with alternative lifestyles but the clothing optional part was a bit um, i’m not sure how to describe it, somewhat disturbing i suppose. I saw things I never knew was possible nor do I want to see again. With that said, there were a couple of hot girls hanging out naked in the hot tub, so I suppose there are trade offs. Somehow I broke my panasonic lumix camera which really sucks. Anyway, camping was interesting and the trip was fun but … odd … 

Coming up soon is the Techcrunh50 and DEMO conference. I would just like to take a minute and thank both organizations for helping build our ecosystem. Some people may not like the fact that DEMO charges to present (if you are accepted), others may not be a fan of Mike Arrington’s abrasive style but at the end of the day – without organizations like DEMO and Techcrunch and people like Chris Shipley, Mike Arrington & Jason Calacanis, we would be missing out on a whole lot of great people and products. So no matter which model  you think is better or who you are a fan of – please just thank both them for being an integral part of our ecosystem. 

So I was here thinking back about the Olympics and I’m thinking to myself, would it be normal for girls to come to work in bra’s and panties and how would the rest of the office take it? Would they get fired? Well, what if you are on the beach? What the heck is the difference between a bikini and a bra/panties. Bikini’s are often skimpier. I don’t get it. I think society is just depressed. Let people wear how they feel now packed tightly in something they can’t stand….please ☺

So throughout the times of the internet, one of the most popular phrases and methods of developing companies has always been the incubator. However, for the most part, they almost all fail. I’m sure you can point out one that didn’t but what happened to CMGI, ICGE etc… and dozens of incubators that popped up locally or with universities. The problem with incubators and with any model of trying to create an operation system around innovation is simply that the top people on average do their own thing. It doesn’t how great your services are or how great your ideas. The top people simply do things their own way. There is no changing human nature and no attempt to create a better incubator model will work. Sure you can occasionally hit a home run but on average even with the best selection methods and most rigorous due diligence, on average the best you find are the top of the second tier of talent. No great talent wants to be an apprentice, they want to be boss. Unfortunately, the strictures of an incubator, no matter how loose don’t enable the unbonded creativity from which great ideas, great people and great companies flow. The other issues for incubators failing is lack of value. What do incubators offer? Space? Work from home. Accounting? ADP Coffee? Starbucks, Like minds? Meetup groups…etc…

A very impressive feature on sites is live chat. IT shows the site owner cares enough to staff someone there. However i am offended when it is one of those chatbots. it hurts the user experience because i feel like im being treated like an idiot. either real live chat or no chat at all. No Soup for you!