Google as the new Microsoft

We just had a management meeting and someone said, "Google owns the internet and let's not forget that". Anyone who doesn't deal with that reality in the startup world, isn't dealing with reality.
Google's deal with Double Click only increases their market share and they're already using their position to their advantage. I don't think it's good when companies get this powerful -- but it's the facts, gotta deal with it.
I predict more and more law suits for google and more and more attorneys for google's payroll. This is very similar situation to Microsoft in the 1990's.

What's a blog?

We had friends in from out of town this weekend. They are a nice couple in their late 30's. The man is a real estate developer and the woman works for a non-profit. THey had heard about blogs but had never read any. I found myself explaining things I take for granted at this point:

  • what is a blog,
  • why people blog,
  • why I blog
  • how to find blogs you like

A few things surprised me:

  • I found myself saying that I get about 75% of my news from blogs. That after reading google news and CNN, I turn to my favorite 20 blogs for interesting reading each day. It's part of my ritual. They (and I) were surprised by this statement.
  • My answer to how to find a blog was -- Finding a blog you like is like finding a book you like....except it keeps living. I told them to check out technorati (which they hadn't heard of)
  • Talking to novices is fun

A good week

It's Friday and I'm feeling pretty optimistic about life despite:

  • Having a cold
  • Being in a dispute with the contract on my remodel
  • Having a disagreement with my wife
  • The supreme court decision regarding abortion
  • The war in Iraq
  • Still being above 200 lbs.
  • Not moving as fast as I'd like at Judy's Book
  • And all the other shitty things like global warming etc.

Why...you ask?

  • It's sunny
  • My kids made $19 at their lemonade stand last night after work (it was awesome)
  • My good friend doesn't have terminal cancer
  • There's progress in my fitness and at Judy's Book
  • It's Friday
  • I'm alive and healthy.

Love these market numbers

Greg Sterling -- one of the leading analysts in local search has written a couple posts about what we're doing at Judy's Book.  Check the full posts out here . I love these market numbers though (taken from his post)....

Of course, people love deals and saving money. But you still might be surprised to hear that the total face value of distributed coupons in the U.S. was a whopping $332 billion in 2006 (most of which were never redeemed) and that more than 79% of the U.S. population uses coupons. There are also data that show more than 50% of Sunday newspapers are purchased for the coupons.

Judy's Book -- Let's go, go, go!

Seattle Open Coffee a big success


CIMG0583, originally uploaded by a sack of seattle.

This morning we had 14 people attend the inaugural Seattle Open Coffee.  This far exceeded my expectations and I look forward to doing it again next week on Tuesday at 8:30 AM at Louisa's on Eastlake in Seattle. If you're an entrepreneur or just interested in entrepreneurship come join us.

monday morning lessons from my son

Had a rough morning today. My son didn't want to go out with pants that have a zipper or button because he is unable to go to the bathroom on his own. He strongly prefers pants that he can just pull down and then up without adult assistance. Perfectly logical request for a four year old. The manner in which he communicated this request left something to be desired....even if it was effective. It made accepting the request a real challenge. I've witnessed myself and others make this same mistake over the past week. 

Check out CouponLooker

My team at Judy's Book has been hard at work lately! They've just released a little experiment that I think is very cool -- it's called CouponLooker and simply put is the best way to search for a coupon online (period, exclamation point). !

WHY COUPONLOOKER MATTERS?
People love to save money! And thus, many people love coupons.  When shopping online, most online checkout forms have a field for coupon code entry. It's a pain in the ass to find the right coupon code to put into the box to actually save the money. (this probably isn't accidental). Google and other companies don’t make it easy for consumers to find this information. Couponlooker is designed to solve that simple pain -- and to save people money....which is something that the entire team at Judy's Book has gotten obsessed with recently.  Moreover,  CouponLooker would not be possible were it not for the engine that we're building at Judy's Book.  More cool stuff to come!

HOW COUPONLOOKER WORKS
We monitor top coupon and deal sites, extract online coupon information and then de-dupe and surface the best coupons. We display data like the coupon code, the store, and the expiration date to save users time and effort. Because we’re focusing on finding coupons as opposed to web pages about coupons we do a better job than other sites. (I think)

Please check it out and let me know what you think (give me feedbac) via email at :
info at couponlooker dot com. 

You can also check out the coupon widget right here on my blog....

Seattle Tech Entrepreneurs networking is improving

There's a small group of technology entrepreneurs (mostly CEOs) who are getting together once a month for informal dinner, drinks, talk, and the occasional poker game. I went last night and got home at 1:30AM. Had a really fun time. All the people there were high caliber. This was our second meeting. If you'd like to be invited to the next one please email me -- while this is an invite only event out of necessity, it's an open good group. Maybe there is hope for networking Seattle entrepreneurs.
Reminder: the first Seattle coffee club is next Tuesday. I look forward to seeing you at Louisa's on Eastlake.

Speeding ticket in California

Back in January, I got a speeding ticket on one of my trips to CA. I promptly lost the ticket. I can't remember what police department actually gave me the ticket. I just know it was on 280. I'm trying to track it down but having a heck of a time. Is there some online database for doing this? Can anyone help me?
It was just 10 years ago that you could get a ticket in one county and not worry about it in another. Not anymore. Made me think about the progress cities and towns have made of interconnecting all the different databases to track people. We've made a lot of progress and still have a lot of progress still to make. 

Kefta acquired by Acxiom

This past week Kefta was acquired by Acxiom for an undisclosed amount (it was a good exit). 

The story is one that is filled with good karma and good entrepreneurial lessons.  The most notable part of the company story from my perspective was the founder perseverance.  In the face of market and financing (i.e. venture capital) adversity, the founders managed to bring the company back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2004!  Philippe, Michael, and Fazal should be congratulated for a outstanding job!

I'm going to blog about this story over the next few days....stay tuned.

Seattle Open Coffee Club Trial

I've long complained that there isn't more early stage entrepreneur and investor networking in Seattle....so I decided to try and do something about it.

I'm going to try this format and see how it goes. I'm setting up a weekly meeting at Louisa's on Eastlake, Tuesdays at 8:30 AM starting on April 17 2007.  Come have a cup of coffee with me and others.

And please spread the word!!  Check it out here.

Time as the enemy

I wrote yesterday about time being the enemy....people want to know why?
It's simple.  Judy's Book is onto a new evolution of its business.  I'm feeling good about what we're doing but we've got to move faster. I think there's a real opportunity to grow a business in the local shopping space and we're very well positioned to execute on the opportunity ....we just need to move more quickly on that opportunity. More product evolution, more consumers, more traffic, more revenue....yesterday.
There's a second reason time is the enemy. As a company that is evolving it's business model fairly significantly and approaching it's 3rd birthday, there's an even greater sense of urgency to get it right and make substantial progress quickly.  Everyone's patience (including mine) for getting it right is that much thinner than when you just start out -- that's just a reality that I deal with each day and in that way, time is the enemy. 

I want to be clear -- my post about time was not as some reader has suggested that we are running out of cash (we've got plenty of runway thankyou) or out of business.

204.5: Two pounds forward, two pounds backward

I don't know if I should be disappointed or not but today I did my Wednesday weigh in and I was 2 pounds heavier than last week. I exercised a lot last week. I ate pretty well -- except for last night when I had a huge meal. I ate at Chandlers and had king crab, soup, and appetizers. I'm hoping it was just a bad day and that I return to sub 203 next week. We'll see. Work to do. Food not to eat.

An email from the void...

This blogging thing can be a bit of a solo journey. You write posts each day and they go out into the ether. Most times this is a pleasant process... but sometimes it feels like you're writing into a void.
And then the void speaks back ... It's awesome.

I got the following email today:

I've been enjoying what you've been writing lately, no matter how short the blog posts are. I'd really be interested in reading a more lengthy version of Time is the Enemy when you have a chance.
Also, I've been meaning to write to give you big props for giving your operations folks some kudos a couple weeks ago.
Anyway, keep them short if you have to, but keep them coming.

Adam

Thanks for the encouragement Adam. I'll be sure to write more on the enemy time....post coming soon.

Weeds


weeds, originally uploaded by a sack of seattle.

My brother David has been telling me to watch this show -- Weeds -- for years. I finally listened to him this weekend. I rented the DVD. It's a great show on showtime. Loved it. Recommend it to any adult ....no need to have inhaled.

CEO driveby

I've learned that CEOs need to be careful about the perennial CEO driveby.
As CEO, I have permission and responsibility to go outside the normal organizational boundaries to make sure the organization succeeds. I can ask what is going on in any part of the organization. Here's the problem with careless use of this right:

  • Simple inquiries can and often are mis-interpreted as a request... or worse yet, a demand to do something.
  • The random question or suggestion in the midst of an on-going process can and often does have the opposite effect -- it can interrupt ....or worse yet, undermine forward momentum of an existing team or manager.

Thus, the name -- CEO driveby.  I've learned the way around this is simple -- don't do it. Resist the temptation. (easier said then done) Make a note of your inquires and suggestions and bring them up during your weekly meeting with your managers.