Bootstrapper.com - Confessions of Serial Entrepreneurs

This is a follow up to yesterday’s post on social networking. I would like to share for a minute how i do “social networking” those of you that know me in real life know how generous i am with introductions. My version of social networking works like this. I go to lunch with friend, friend tells me what he’s doing. I say “hmm…” here’s a few ideas and get back to my desk and send out 5-20 introductions to help said friend. Thus friend just tapped my social network for a purpose. Friend follows up with introductions via email, arranges calls and meetings. Relationships are created as a result.

Let’s compare this to online social networking. I login to facebook, browse for hot girls, send friend requests, poke. forget. or login to facebook, get friend requests from multi-level marketers in china, befriend him, turn down his offer of ginseng on rice with a touch of lice. Forget.

Which do you think is more valuable?

So I’m sick of social networking sites. I get way too many invites. Everyday I get invited to all sorts of dumb sites. It drives me insane. Someone please stop. I just want to have real life friends, I don’t care how much you think i should check out this new social network, I don’t want to! I spend on average 3 minutes a day on facebook and that’s it. That’s the extent of my online social life. I don’t even use AIM anymore. I like real life. If anyone reading this wants to contact me, please do so via email or phone. I don’t want to talk in second life nor do I want you as my second life girlfriend. I don’t mind having a beer with you though, maybe even a shot of tequila - but yes the tequila must be real. It cannot be a virtual worm. I do not want to virtual fish. I want to hang with real life human beings. Wow!

So I’ve decided I’m going to do a series of posts on ideas from the past that I built and never did anything with.

Today’s post is about CircleofZen.com (long defunct). This was one of the first social networks, built by my old team at ClickZen. Back at ClickZen, every 3 months, we would spend a bunch of money building some sexy new concept, usually to kill it 3 months later. Circle of Zen was inspired by Friendster and development was spearheaded by a coked up Mixed Martial Artist if I remember correctly who ended up in Jail for beating someone who assaulted his sister. (I could be wrong). The site was built and launched and had beta users.

Then I remember asking my partner, Ruchit back then what the heck we were doing with all this worthless inventory. I forced him to shutter the site. Social Networking was worthless! I thought…

So this service probably exists, I just don’t know it. So please someone send me a link. I want a service where I can enter in the email address of my new friend Dave and then Dave would get an invite to be connected with me on every service I’m a member of from twitter to digg to facebook to linkedin so I can make sure to take proper advantage of my network. Then on the backend, I should be able to export and merge together contacts from everywhere so i can start a personal newsletter to all my friends. Email is still read and reaching a mass of people is still a great way to tell people about things.

So I used to love the Barbie Girl song by Aqua. It was a hot song that makes you want to take Barbie home. Simple enough right? Now, that has nothing to do with my post except that it inspired the title of my post.

My post today is an observation that because of our socially networked world, we can’t get away with what we used to be able to. You can’t go to a bar and give someone your real name and expect them not to track you down. That crazy girl or stalker guy can and will find you. So we must be conscious of the information we give out because we are found on linkedin, myspace, facebook etc…Maybe that scandalous photo of Gary licking Denise’s neck will be posted by someone on facebook and his girlfriend will see it? There’s a high liklihood that indeed that will happen these days.

As a result, i’ve noticed that people these days are far more relaxed, less uptight and more open. We subconsciously are aware that whatever we do will be broadcast, twittered, posted, shared, dugg etc… so why not just admit to everything upfront.

That leads to my last point of this post, I’ve noticed most of the people in our little startup community talk about sex a lot, a lot, a lot. And that’s cool.

The next great question, Google or Microsoft. Is the future of
computing about desktop computing with Internet fused into it or internet computing with desktop elements. In the early days, Internet speed was slow and computing was all about the computer, then it became
about networking, mainly corporate and educational, then the Internet came in full force and suddenly it was Internet only. Occasionally, you saw an application that allowed itself to be connected to the Internet but with the exception of outlook and email tools almost never used. The internet has seemingly became a GooglePlex being about to do
just about everything online - or offline as created mainly by
Microsoft….the question is what is the next step?

The next step, I think at least, is this, the two most popular tools
are instant messaging and email … the core of computing will be
around communication based on applications - sure you can access them wholly on the Internet however the key will always be on the system - the reason: internet always has and always will go down and people always will travel - therefore I propose the main system revolve around
a communication device that logs all email / messenger and file
transfer communication between people, accessible via simple search, you want to learn about a person, pull up their profiles from 5 different sites and your communication history and add in notepad and you have a little slice of history of all of your friends…

Social Networking will be tied into the tool but different than it is
today. There is some value visceral based networking such as myspace and there is value in more in depth platforms - the most important component however is a) ability to find friends b) ability to link
through their friends and c) search - all will be able to occur through the same tool …

When it comes to applications such as word processing and spreadsheets - the key will always be on the system, 1 person, 1 creation, however using this same communication center, users will be able to collaborate
on different projects, the applications based mainly on computers for stability purposes but fused into the Internet so it is dynamic - similar to how AIM works.

Users will be able to have one single system for creating and storing creations as well as communicating about them and distributing the final product. Of course as soon as this product is complete it will be
need to be modded, updated, changed and added on to - ala Open Source - right now there are all sorts of open source platforms for search, messaging, networking, browing etc…the future will combine them in a
way that saves time and money for all involved…my 2 cents, whats yours?

So I was browsing someones profile and he had at least 30 applications on it. To me thats a sign that ADD has taken over facebook in its entirety. Now there are so many apps its crazy out there and there’s app for just about anything you can think of but while some of them are very good, there simply is too many, building facebook apps right now has quite a limited effectiveness compared to six months ago, i no longer think its an awesome opportunity, still could be but much harder to market apps now.

So i’ve been playing around on a ning social network and I have to say its become a solid platform. I used to hate it but now it’s good if you have a solid existing group (B2B) or a small personal group. I still wouldn’t use it for any commercial consumer group but its a solid platform for small tight knit existing groups to use. I may move my seed capital group to the ning platform. I’m thinking about it.

So i heard a great term the other day - David Cutler at EatMedia.com is the inventor - NMF (pronounced “nymph”) or new media friend. What is a NMF - it is someone you meet through online channels or the occasional networking event and rarely if ever meet in person. Of course they also are beautiful young women. After-all, no matter who you are, its a complement that you look like a beautiful young woman. Gotta love greek mythology. So will you be my nymph?

So some of my avid readers remember my old ASW post why it is doing to poop. Well, I’d like to write a follow up. I currently lost all discussion forum and private messaging privedlges on the site - essentially i am being freezed out. Why?

I started a post that was the most viral and popular and endearing in the last year but copying my Picking up Chics Vs Networking post to the forum and showing people how us humans think and screwing around. I got 500 replies and everyone on there loves me yet they took away my site usage because i used inappropriate content. I said the word “ORGASM”, yes ORGASM. Who does not love ORGASMS? I love them. I love them, I love them. I also love giving them. What’s the big deal.

Those who know me, know that i like to say “I just say what everyone thinks” - which makes me transparent and makes people like me fast and trust me quickly. What’s the big deal? None.

ASW is moderated by police. They are going to die because they pissed off connected people like me that actually enjoy starting controversy when people piss them off.

I am a super connected, super fast talker with a lot of goodwill with people. i am not the one you should be kicking off, i am the one you should be embracing. ASW = boneheads.

No - not leveraging your money 100:1 to gamble on commodities and certain not leveraging the house to gamble in a casino … but leverage is extremely valuable …

Leveraging your network is very important. If you know 2 people that could use each other, make the intro, just a handoff and hope for the best and wish them Happy Networking! Even if it doesn’t work out they will thank you.

Or say you have 10 friends that are all in the same boat or same part of the industry, set up a dinner with everyone, then everyone will hopefully love it appreciate you and usually be happy to return a favor - or at least not get annoyed when you ask for a favor.

Leveraging your network to build goodwill is an extremely valuable tool that everyone should use. Avoid brokering unless you add value or if its your full time job. Make the intro’s…if a big deal is struck, hopefully they’ll send some crumbs back your way but at the least you’ve made 2 huge connections as a result and when you need help, you won’t get resistance or look or feel like a leech.

Leverage my friends, leverage your network!

See you’re reading this….marketing works… learn it….

And don’t you love inuendo? it works…

The web2.0 strategy of if its good people will come to you is wrong. Every great idea needs seeding. Just ask Brad Greenspan founder of myspace, the first huge web 2 play. Myspace was seeded by 300 employees telling all of their friends and by sending out millions of emails promoting the site. Always market.

Even if you’re site is invite only market. Do negative pr - make people wish they could have an invite

If you don’t market you fail or you don’t succeed as much as you would if do market.

I don’t care what your investor says, marketing is more important that fucking whizbang product. Go ask Steve Jobs how the EXTREMELY defective nature of ipods hurt their sale?

My GF’s ipod EXPLODED in her ear…

Apple sells millions of them still…Apple has NEVER made a good/useful first generation product. Steve Jobs is just a marketing genius.

Now I’ve been a member of ASW for about a year and am one of the most active people on their forums. For those who don’t know ASW is an elite social network catering to the jetset. It’s a great site where you get to interact with artists, movie producers, hedgies and entrepreneurs. I’ve thrown events for people and ASW and gone to some great parties. I’ve made some good friends from it as well. However the site has serious flaws and every single active user of the site I know is very pissed off at them. Now, they may kick me off the site for this post but they need to hear it or the site will die or someone will listen to me and start a competitor…

1) Police. They police their forums and limit people to starting 3 threads a week. In a real community, moderation should be internal by its members via flagging (ala CL) and active smart members should be given moderator status (ala all the old webmaster forums). Instead they hire forum cops. I have had many threads deleted and almost kicked off the site. This one fact is enough to cause a mutiny. As an active member of the site i am routinely insulted when i should be the person they court.

2) Lack of real events section, sure you can post events and the events are great but there is no rsvp system and no way to do follow up on events. You target the jetset, why not offer event tools?

3) Shit Search. No tagging on the site and the search is the definition of poop in the dictionary

4) Horrible PM system. No search, no folders, no attachments, enough said.

5) They don’t do enough to encourage page views. I can go over this for about an hour. After all I am a marketer.

6) they started a magazine. they ripped off quintesentially and started a magazine. To me this is the sign of death. Worse off its not user generated but professionally written. There are published authors and big time magazine editors on ASW and they professionally publish. Give me a break. They also promote the magazine internally like a cheap hooker. It’s really sickening. Focus on your core competentecy - you’re community first, once you have a community that is working properly then be a publisher and if you are going to do that take advantage of your people.

Bottom line: Great idea, great community but ripe for failure because they do NOT listen to their community and are not community friendly. Still I spend time on it, too much time. What does that say?

Now if you’re like me, you talk to way too many people and way too many entrepreneurs. I mean its nice to know I’m not the only lonely and crazy sole that can’t sleep at night because he’s found Santa’s secret sauce (psst: Rudolph invented it and Hannukah Harry added in sugar).

However, one thing that isn’t fun is everyone thinking their venture is web 2.0. Now I would like to make a bold statement. WHO CARES!

I don’t care if your company is web 1, web 2 or web whatever, I just care about one simple thing, well actually two….1) Are you making money / can it make money & 2) Do you have enough traffic to sell it to Yahoo before they realize it’s a bag of flees?

If you’re creating a cool new web2ish website to take make it easier to show off your socks online, I really don’t care and I doubt most people really do so unless you are building a web business that actually can be a business, please stop using web2 because everytime I hear web2, my mind drifts towards a sock puppet. (Now, get your mind out of the gutter!) Pets.com, that defined the bubble, will your web 2 venture define the next bubble or should I just buy a pack of Bubble Yum?

What is the future of the Internet? People ask me all the time for ideas for new business and website. My typical response is this: personalization. Now, I have been saying this for 4 years, long before myspace, facebook or true.com - back when most people were still on dial up and internet video companies were being swatted and killed like flies. Now, we have google video, myspace video, a myriad of picture sharing sites, tens of millions of people on social networking sites.