Big Omaha Recap

16May09

The Big O

Big Omaha was radical, creative, and outright inspiring!  The conference was a mash-up for my mind.  The speakers dissected and retuned my brain to the new technological revolution.  I’ve been to a few conferences before and usually try to avoid them because, let’s face it, I can sleep at home.  At the end of this one, there was so much adrenaline pumping, Reflect7 would have thrown down in a cage match…  or at least an intense game of thumbwar.  I’m no tech-savvy genius.  In fact, I am pretty much tech-retarded.  Before the event, I didn’t know what the hell was going on…  I had no idea how big social media was getting.  Now, I see the F’ing light, and that light is bright.

Jeff and Dusty

First and foremost, let’s give props where props are due:  Jeff Slobotski of Silicon Prairie News, and Dusty Davidson of Brightmix.  These guys tore it up.  This was their first Big Omaha but it seemed like a seasoned event.  They decked out the place with style and personality.  There was always something to do, or something to see (reference “I’m a bathroom” pic below).  The place had attitude, but a good attitude.  Like, “hey little buddy, come into this room so I can give you a little tech-candy.”  And instead of throwing a bag over my head and kidnapping me, it gave me the candy, and it was laced with awesomeness.

Man Love

The scheduling went off without a hitch.  WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg couldn’t make it but Jeff Kalmikoff of Threadless.com decided to run an impromptu panel on the spot.  It worked out great, the speakers were able to align their commonalities and point out their differences.  Most differences seemed to be more semantics.  I thought they were all pretty much together.  You could definitely feel the man-love in the room.

For the born losers who didn’t attend, or for the people that just didn’t know about it, here’s a quick recap of the events (inside jokes notwithstanding):

Gary V. Wine TV at Slowdown

Slowdown: Booyah!  Every great event begins with a great preparty.  This place was awesome and had a nice indie vibe.  We were so sad to miss the Gary V. Wine Library TV Show but that’s what happens when you get caught up tweeting stupid pics at dinner.  We met a lot of great people here: the associates from Bozell, our Lincolnite friend Lateef, Shane from Intellicom in Kearney, and many others.  The free wine and large tweetscreen were the icing on the cake.  A special thanks to Dusty’s sister Sarah and her friends Jill and Katie for working the event with style.  Everything went smoothly and hanging out afterwards was a blast.  And even though Jill tried to kidnap a baby out of a minivan, you guys are still cool in my book (actually, a sort of scary cool).

After partying it up, Reflect7 went down the so called “pee-slides” and called it a night after scarfing down some pizza.

The next morning, we arrived at the Kaneko building and got our seats front and center.

Jason Fried

Jason Fried: The first speaker was this dude who formed a little company called 37Signals.  My partner JP suggested their book, “Getting Real”, earlier this year and I was completely blown away.  The book is great for anyone in business, not just software development.

Fried is your classic word-hater, but closet word-lover.  He hates words like “Entrepreneur” and “Monetize” but likes words like “Like” and “And”.  I would tell him to take his word-hating demon soul somewhere else but he’s so damn compelling that you have to listen.  And you’re glad when you do because he unearths these little rubies:

1)      Inspiration is perishable.  If you find yourself inspired then act in the moment.  Later, that inspiration will fade, and so will your motivation.

2)      Whenever you create something, you create a byproduct that you can also utilize.  37signals has a blog for usability and design.  That blog was synthesized into a book (“Getting Real”) which grossed them over $500,000.

Micah Laaker: Micah is a Yahoo developer who discussed some of the cool websites that he had been working on for Def Jams.   He also showcased some of the interesting Yahoo APIs.  Yahoo Pipes and YQL are two powerful ways to filter internet data.  I’ve used Pipes several times and the graphical user interface is a breeze.  Web 3.0 anyone?

Adrianna Gascoigne

Adrianna Gascoigne from Girls in Tech (GIT): Adrianna discussed the declining percentage of women in the tech industry.  How we as a community need to stop perpetuating the self-fulfilling prophecies that are being impressed upon young women these days.  Adrianna also talked about building a support network of women role models for the tech industry.  This is what GIT provides.

After reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success, I think Jason Fried should put the word “Talent” in his hatorade pile.  In fact, I’m sure it’s already in there.  In his new book, Gladwell describes talent as a social construct.  Talent is the willingness to practice day in and day out.  Not something you are just born with.  The people that work the hardest are those who are most successful.  And those who work the hardest do so because they are encouraged to by society.  Success is largely a social act and so is talent.

If we’re looking at talent as something out of our locus of control (men are innately good at math, women are innately good at communications) then we’ve just introduced a demotivator into our culture.  I thought this type of pigeonholing was so 1990s, but apparently it’s still going on.  Encouraging more women into technology will bring in more perspectives and greater flexibility, and hence, benefit the entire industry.

Micah Baldwin

Micah Baldwin: Micah has started six businesses and his latest is Ligit Networks, a search tool for publishers.  Micah embedded his powerful message in a funny, laid-back presentation.  His message: Failure is part of the process.  Failure is not the end, losing is the end.

In the beginning, you may have more failures than successes.  After a while, you start to learn and get better.  Then, your success rate starts to increase faster than your fail rate.  Soon your fail rate falls below your success rate as you enjoy more and more successes in your life.  Micah gets street cred for the Runner Up Best Quote:

Paraphrased: “I had like, retarded amounts of money.  I was rolling around in the shit…”

Jeffrey Kalmikoff

Jeffrey Kalmikoff: Jeff is the founder of Threadless.com, a multimillion dollar T-shirt company where anyone can submit designs.  Jeff’s presentation was on transparency.  Deal with your customers in an authentic way.  Don’t try to hide your screw-ups with spin-ally press releases.  Just be honest.  Be the first to tell your customers what happened, how genuinely sorry you are, and what you’re doing to fix it.

In his example, Jeff highlighted the great blog incident of 2006 where Threadless.com lost some 300,000 blog posts.  The company remained honest and forthright when communicating to it’s customers.  The first few responses back went something like this:

1)      It’s cool man, shit happens

2)      Out with the old and in with the new

3)      No worries

4)      I may know how to fix your problem

Similar responses flowed in until one of their customers found a way to use google’s cache to recover about 40% of the posts.  That’s not a group of customers, that’s a community with evangelists ready to fight for you on the frontline.  This is what Jeff and his team have created with Threadless: a community.

Ben Rattray: Ben came to the conference

with one purpose in mind: Save the World.  His superpower: Compellingness.  If you were there, you were compelled.  If he hasn’t compelled you yet, he will.  Ben is the founder of Change.org, a social network for activists.  Ben’s message: Do something with your life that matters.  He had great energy and great passion.  Check out his site for ways to get involved. Getting started is as simple as giving a bowl of rice…

Panel: Nick Hudson of Nomad Lounge hosted a panel discussion with local entrepreneurs.  Each panel member was able to share how they attained startup funding, their riskiest move, their startup story, and what keeps them up at night.  My major take away from this came from Charles Hull, founder of Archrival: “Don’t pitch, tell a story.”  Charlie basically bootstrapped his first large sale by having his friends “sign on” as Archrival employees.  At the pitch, they told a compelling story instead of competing with wireframe mockups.  Archrival got the account.

Gary V

Gary V:  Gary Vaynerchuck pretty much hijacked my brain and hasn’t given it back yet.  The Best Quote of the conference goes to him.  Actually he get’s Second Runner Up as well, both paraphrased:

1)      “T.V., Newspapers, Radio, they’re all dead.  Internet is killing them.  And that’s what’s crazy: The internet is only 14 years old, it hasn’t even had sex yet, and it’s already murdering these standards.”

2)      In response to a lady working with three young guys: “Cougar that shit up” (you had to be there)

Gary spoke on content, and how content is king.  With the stream-it-whenever-you-want-it feature of the internet, someone who loves thumbtacks can take advantage of well-targeted advertising (Linen’s and Things, Hobby Lobby, etc.).  We’re getting to a point where everyone will be their own distributor of content instead of the networks giants.  This puts a giant heap of advertising money (some 50 billion a year) into play for everybody.

Props and Slops

Props: I’m never too good to mention the same guys twice, so Jeff and Dusty each get a big “You tha bomb” knuckle explosion for organizing the event and coming through like the hauses they are.  I would be really interested to hear about their experiences setting up this conference.  I’m sure there was plenty going on behind the scenes but when the curtain opened, it was all finesse.  Great job guys, see you next year.

Props: All of the Speakers.  I mean that.  They were all great.  Everyone who shared in the local business panel was also appreciated.  Seeing locals who have made it brought the dream that much closer to reality.

Props: To the pizza delivery place.  You delivered on time and the pizza was great.  We didn’t have a microwave so I hot-ironed some slices the next night and they still tasted magical.

Massive Big Ups to my boys JP and Corey for making the trip such an adventure.  You guys are great and we definitely did it proper.  Massive Ups to Katie for making both of my boys look like chumps in a drinking contest.  12ozs in about 3 seconds, one word: Wow.  Massive Ups to Heather from Colorado for staying out with Reflect7 until 7am partying.  You tore up the Village People Slots.

Slops: The wordpress guy.  Just kidding, I’m on wordpress right now typing this.  Scheduling difficulties are going to happen and we hope to see you next year at Big Omaha.

Slops: Courtyard Marriot: Boo for charging for amenities that are usually free.  Your non-free continental breakfast was weaksauce.  I’ve been to places all around the U.S…  Days Inn has a better continental breakfast than yours and it’s free.  And what’s with the wi-fi charge?  Call me cheap, but aren’t we past that as a society these days?  Hell, I get free wi-fi in the airport, the same place that charges $12 for a Rueben.

Slops: The chair that I traded into for J.P. for the last two speakers of the conference.  The mofo was trying to swallow me up but I didn’t have the bullocks to switch out after manning up for J.P.’s small wiener.

Slops: The dudes who kept getting up to perpetuate arguments with Adrianna from Girls in Tech.  Let me just address all of those arguments right now:

1. No, Adrianna is not trying to discourage men from being in technology.  Just because there are more women doesn’t necessarily mean there are less men.  If the man growth rate (I just said that) stays consistent, because men are nurtured into technology, and the women’s growth rate rapidly increases because we start to encourage them, then the whole class gets bigger!
2. No, Adrianna will not go on a date with you.

Slops: Me.  Usually I can find at least ten things to give slops to.  I mean, I really like giving slops, and normally I’ll give them to inanimate objects like street signs and chairs.  That’s how great Big Omaha was, I’ve run out of slops prematurely.  Shut up!  It happens to every guy!

I’m out Big O – See ya next year…

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Build Fast

07Mar09

Build Fast

The meeting over naming our company went a little something like this:

JP: “How about this name?”

Brian: “What about this name?”

Corey: “Reflect7”

JP & Brian: “Perfect.”

JP & Brian & Corey: “Wow! Reflect7 ties into our business and perspective in these ways…”

Name Meeting Adjourned. Meeting time: 5 minutes.

I’ll reveal the full meaning of our name in another blog. Right now I want to focus on the “7”. One of its meanings is to remind us of “7” Days. That is, act as if you only had 7 days to complete your entire project. It’s the Build Fast approach: make your decisions in a concise manner and don’t sweat the small stuff. In fact, by having this philosophy, business’s can altogether avoid the long and cumbersome meetings that end up more of a tangent, power struggle, and/or town hall forum rather than a business meeting.

Tangent Heaven:

In my last business venture, my partner and I would go to tangent heaven every once in a while. We would start out grounded and then slowly begin to entertain every thought of grandeur that entered our mind. By the end of the meeting, we were the gurus of our sector, cruising in our yachts, and expanding our clothing business to include space travel. These are the meetings where the train derails and doesn’t get back on course for a few hours. While tangent heaven is great for getting the creative juices flowing, it’s also great for wasting time. None of the ideas were ever relevant enough to implement. Some ideas were so far into the future, you would need The DeLorean just to see them. And look what happened: I sold my half of the business and all of the embellished planning proved fruitless.

But don’t stifle creativity. Some tangents can lead to great breakthroughs. I recently had the luck to book a vacation excursion with one of the creators of Naked News, an internet broadcast where anchors strip as they deliver the headlines. He recounted the origins of the idea to the excursion group…

His coworkers and he were out having drinks after work. One of his co-workers looked up at the news show and made the comment: “This newscast would be a lot better if that news anchor was taking off her clothes.” And right there a multinational, multimillion dollar idea was born.

Reflect7 has its share of fun, but we try to keep the decisions at a throw and go pace. With only three people it is much easier because there’s always a majority, if needed. This is an asset to any meeting. Leave the tangents for the bar talk. It’s the best place to go off into a tangent and it won’t affect your efficiency.

Town-Hall syndrome:

You’ve all been to one of these meetings before. It’s when you get 10 minutes of work done in an hour because a few people had to chime in on every decision. In a business meeting for a 7-day project, no one has time to care about how everyone else feels. And the chime-inners (copyright Reflect7 LLC) are more preoccupied with hitting their deadlines than showcasing their perspective. If you have a major objection, voice it. If not, onto the next the next topic. Just throw and go. This is a rush offense, the sooner you can implement the play, the sooner you can learn from it. If it was a bad decision, then you made a fast mistake; your team still has 3 downs and 2 minutes left to score. If it was a good decision, then excellent; you just made first down and you still have 2 minutes left to score.

Power Struggle:

Turf wars always make for great entertainment, but rarely make for great efficiency. Running on a 7-day deadline puts everyone’s ego in check. Their power needs become subservient to the business goal of putting out a final project in 7 days. Often, psychologists will prescribe volunteer work to those who are depressed. They do so, in part, to preoccupy their patients’ time. There’s an important message here: limiting time, limits introspection. The 7 day method puts the focus on the task, which keeps egos at bay.

Caveat: Watch out for Group Think. Don’t let the impending deadline undermine speaking up against a really bad idea. Just remember:

So if your business scope is small enough, set up some ambitious projects to have completed in seven days. Anything that takes longer, break it down into multiple 7 day projects and proceed to divide and conquer. Always make your decisions as though your project is due that week. Always build fast.

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Start Small

03Mar09

Start Small

For many of us, the days of massive start-up costs are over. We live in a digital world.  Nearly every design aspect of a product can be completed on a laptop.  We no longer need costly business teams to handle advertising, brochures, TV spots, and web pages. With a little time and a lot of effort, the computer-savvy business owner can do it all from the comfort of their own couch. This can be both a bane and a blessing. Multitask too much and you will get caught up with everyday tasks, failing to streamline and grow your business. Outsource too much and you may break budget and lose the reigns over your product. Don’t try to balance them at first– you don’t need to. If you scope your business appropriately, you will be forced to multitask first and outsource second. In fact, this is the natural progression I have unknowingly followed my entire life, largely as a result of not having large sums of start-up capital

Like many, my first business began with a paper route at the age of 14. Talk about starting small. I was just a kid with a Huffy White Heat bike and dreams of a car when I turned sixteen. Nothing else was needed. My first payday was like hitting the lottery: $180 for a month’s worth of hard work. I immediately made it rain baseball cards and comic books. I had a new addiction: an insatiable appetite for shiny cardboard crack. This led to another paper route. My school day was sandwiched between black and white. Twice a day at 3:30, I rode my bike in the darkness and sunlight, hurling papers onto porches and sneaking by barking dogs.

At sixteen, I had saved enough to afford my own used car, a 1991 brown-crusted Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. With Big Brown in tow, I could now partner up with my cousin, Scott, and take on a much more ambitious driving route. The morning route took an hour and 45 minutes. For two summers we worked the same circuit at increasing speeds. Along the way, we streamlined. We went from tedious rubber bands to plastic bags. We moved from one of us walking, and one driving, to both running. I’d drop Scott off and drive up a block. He ran his side and I ran mine. Then we’d meet back at the car and he’d reload our satchels while I drove to the next drop. After that, it was steamy-hot BK croissan’wiches and videogames. By the end of the second year, we had successfully shaved an entire hour off the delivery time and increased our Mario Kart skills beyond all comparison.

Like any kids, we made do with what we had and scaled as we progressed. We eliminated the obsolete tools such as bikes and rubber bands, and worked to streamline our process. We adapted. The same rules apply now. Just because you can get a big bank loan, doesn’t mean that you should. Just because you can outsource the busy work, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spend some time coming up with your own solution. Granted, scale when needed, but don’t worry about having to start big. Starting small will give you the chops you’ll need for the skills you’ll eventually be managing. Starting small will acclimate you to a constantly changing environment; you’ll either adapt or sink. If you adapt than you have earned the right to get big. If you sink, put the swimmies back on and try again. And take solace in the fact that you didn’t take the whole ship down with you. No massive loans to repay and no arsenal of employees to fire.

Reflect7 began with a big idea but chose to start small and build towards that idea. Everyday, that decision proves worthy as we face new challenges in manageable amounts rather than an onslaught of landmines.  Through development, we can also gauge how well we work together and where our strengths and weaknesses lie.  These are the growing pains that a company needs to go through before it can make it.  This part is putting in the work and feeling the pain.  But the pain is good because it proves that you are out of your comfort zone and moving in a new direction.

To summarize, think of starting small as the training wheels.  From there you can move on to a bigger bike and eventually you’ll be driving your own car. If the startup seems overwhelming, it probably is. Take three steps back and start there. You’ll thank yourself when you’re steamrolling past your initial plan. In short, snowball your business, don’t let your business snowball you.

-Brian

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Dream Big

22Feb09

“The Journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” –Lao Tzu

I was going to begin this blog off with a lot huff and puff about how we are the new big bad programmers on the block. I was going to start off with a hype piece on how we are ready for success and larger than life. Then I scrapped it. The truth is, we are just like everybody else, optimistic yet cautious, ambitious yet guarded. We know in this flat world that technology and software can change on a day to day basis. We know that the economy hangs on by a thread. And finally, we know we’ll be competing with thousands of other programmers who are doing the same thing. So what separates us? Maybe nothing. Maybe something. That is what this Journey is about: the struggle, hardships, and victories of a company that had no other choice than to start small.

Our first baby step is onto the iPhone scene. Our team has done enough research to know that the market is flooded with over 20,000 apps and counting. We see a new fad app rise from the ashes every week touting some new gimmick or fart noise. For most of these apps, great programming and creative marketing were the driving forces for success. As a result, programmers are scrambling to cover every niche possible in an effort to corner any untapped market. Consequently, hundreds of great apps are swallowed up into the abyss known as the app store. As I write this, the Reflect7 team peers over the edge of that abyss, ready to push into the storm. Will we drift down and become just another snowflake among thousands? Or, will we be able to build fast, mounting victory on top of victory, creating a towering snowball?

This is the journey of three ordinary guys just like you, who decided to act on the idea that something extraordinary can emerge; that we are all more than just the sum of our parts. So grab your popcorn and get a pencil because this ride is going to be both entertaining and educational. You’ll learn from our victories and mistakes. I will ask for your input and suggestions. Think of this as not only a newsfeed, but as an ongoing brainstorm and strategy session.

So how does a modest team of three hurdle the pitfalls of this bloated scene? How do we advertise and promote with a modest budget? Follow us day to day as we face these challenges. Follow us as we create innovative solutions, build marketing campaigns, expand our business practices, and Dream Big.

-Brian

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