Peak Experience

back in the saddle

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Wow! It has been a while since my last post. A LOT has happened. On the positive side, I have started work on a new product (little premature to get into it now) but that is not insignificant. I tend to float a lot of ideas but actually undertaking one...well, that is pretty infrequent. It seems that I am interested in nexus events (where a bunch of interesting things intersect). Open Innovation, for example, was what I was involved with at NineSigma. Speaking of NineSigma, they picked-up $4 million (or so) recently of fresh funding. They seem to be making solid progress...

Anyway, I will be head-down for a while getting this rolling...

Rick

Interviewing Entrepreneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:28:00 +0000

Over the last couple of months I have been interviewing dozens of entrepreneurs. We are starting to post the interviews on Cisco eTube in the Program Guide under Entrepreneurial Mindset. We will also be adding videos to the elientrepreneur website. And, finally, I will start posting some of the interviews here and discussing what I thought was useful or interesting...

Stay tuned...
Rick

Canadian University Puts IT Whiz Kids in 'Dormcubator'

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:31:00 +0000

The University of Waterloo is turning one of its residence halls into a think tank, where students can collaborate on Web, mobile, and other apps. The University of Waterloo is giving over one of its residence halls to Velocity, a new incubator where students can collaborate on Web, mobile, and digital media applications with their fellow budding tech entrepreneurs and perhaps help breathe some life back into the incubator model. Velocity will be housed in the 72-bed Minota Hagey dormitory on campus and will house 70 upper-level students per term who will work together on creating viable products and brushing up on their business skills, according to project leader, Sean Van Koughnett, who manages the university's Media & Mobility Network Project. http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/03/068203

A big Peak Mojo out to U of Waterloo

(Thanks Thom for the link)

The old Cleveland death ray...

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:38:00 +0000

Boing Boing has a reference to the old cleveland death ray pictured here:

The old death ray is in a box in my basement here in Cleveland:

Vivek Wadhwa on Entrenpreneurship, Innovation, Education and Immigration

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:35:00 +0000

Vivek spoke recently at the City Club in Cleveland. I highly recommended the podcast if you have any interest in entrepreneurship, innovation, education, and/or immigration.

DirectCap

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:02:00 +0000

I recently set up a wiki and have added a couple of items:

-DirectCap - a lightweight investment vehicle for microenterprises (specifically startups) to raise capital

-a way to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) using interactive digital media

These are both works in progress and are open to collaboration.

All that latent talent...

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:25:00 +0000

This piece by Paul Graham nicely sums up what Peak Experience is all about. While our approach may be a little different, the objective is the same.

"There is an enormous latent capacity in the world's hackers that most people don't even realize is there. That's the main reason we do Y Combinator: to let loose all this energy by making it easy for hackers to start their own startups."

We will also be doing this at Peak...

Virgin Money

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:51:00 +0000

Virgin has acquired CircleLending. Take a look at Virgin Money. They provide a formalized system of borrowing money from friends and family. If you've used it, please share your experience.

Virtual Venture Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:51:00 +0000

I just stumbled across this...unfortunately it is already over...

Here is the competition: http://vvc.mckinsey.com/vvc/service/start

Here is the winner: http://www.slnn.com/article/finderbot/

In Search of Inexperience

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:20:00 +0000

I snagged this from Guy Kawasaki's blog (thanks Doug) -

"I once heard Mike Moritz of Sequoia explain what kind of entrepreneurs he wanted to invest in. I’m paraphrasing: “Guys under thirty who are building a product that they themselves want to use.” Amen, baby! I vote for two guys or gals in a garage who are an unproven team, unproven technology, and unproven market. "

Sounds like fun...let me know if this describes you...

Hanging by a Virtual Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:07:00 +0000

Since a picture is worth a thousand words I thought I'd try and capture entrepreneurship in visuals. I'm not sure about this first attempt...let me know what you think...

Selling Securities

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:15:00 +0000

If you have completed a SCOR or Regulation D-504 offering please contact me as I would like to learn about your experience.

SCOR and Regulation D-504 refer to SEC Exemptions implemented to help small companies/start-ups raise capital. The maximum offering amount is $1 million and the amount of paperwork is limited but implementation details vary per state. One of the benefits is that the offerings are not limited to accredited investors and in certain cases the offering can be made directly to the public. In the state of Ohio, for example,

"An issuer relying on the federal Rule 504 exemption that wishes to advertise its offerings and issue freely transferable stock must register the offering with the Division (Ohio Dept. of Commerce, Division of Securities) and deliver a disclosure document to potential investors." From the Ohio Securities Website.

I am getting up to speed on the details of the SEC Exemptions and the Ohio Blue Sky Laws and I will blog more about this...

The Accredited Investor

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:11:00 +0000

I'm planning on doing some blog entries about raising capital but I need to establish some background first.

An "accredited investor" is defined in The Securities Act of 1933 Regulation D (added in 1982) as:

• a bank, insurance company, registered investment company, business development company, or small business investment company;
• an employee benefit plan, within the meaning of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, if a bank, insurance company, or registered investment adviser makes the investment decisions, or if the plan has total assets in excess of $5 million;
• a charitable organization, corporation or partnership with assets exceeding $5 million;
• a director, executive officer, or general partner of the company selling the securities;
• a business in which all the equity owners are accredited investors;
• a natural person with a net worth of at least $1 million;
• a natural person with income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years and a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year; or
• a trust with assets of at least $5 million, not formed to acquire the securities offered, and whose purchases are directed by a sophisticated person.

If this Wikipedia entry is accurate then only 8.5% of U.S. households qualify.

The sound of Maxwell House???

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:10:00 +0000

One of the books I am currently reading is ‘Michael Palin Dairies 1969 – 1979 : The Python Years’.

The dairy begins on the first day Monty Python begins filming – it is, as expected from a diary, a series of vignettes (vignette 'sounds' better than 'blobs of text' and as you will read, i guess sound matters). I’m only about fifty pages into the 600 page beast but at least a few of the entries had me laughing out loud. Here is one that I found to be particularly amusing. If you are not sure who Michael Palin is – he’s the one behind the counter in the Pet Shop sketch. Wow…there a trove of Monty Python on youtube – not surprising but I have not looked before. Here he is again, this time looking for an Argument. The Black Knight The Holy Hand Grenade Spam.

Watch at least one of these videos before reading on…

Monty Python has finished their first season, the reviews/results have been positive but income is still a problem so Palin is doing some freelance work.

Friday, March 16th, 1970

"Began as an ego boosting day of sorts (two fan letters and a request for autographed photos!) and ended definitely ego-damaging.

In the afternoon, full of Joie de vivre (for those of you who’ve read my previous entries - Joie de vivre is the name of Chip Conley’s hotel chain), and encouraged by the warm sunshine, I parked my car in Montpelier Square, and went on a search for Benton and Bowles Advertising Agency, where I had been asked to go in order to ‘meet a man’ about a Maxwell House commercial. I felt fairly buoyant, especially as they previously asked me to do something, but had been unable to afford my fee (only a miserable 50 pounds), and also because Jill (his agent) had specified that it was not an audition. So, I felt good as I crossed Brompton Road…

Upstairs in the thickly carpeted reception area, the girl at the reception desk is talking to a friend. She asks me my name and I have to repeat it three times. ‘Is Miss Sconce expecting you?’ This is my first rebuff. I’m not important enough for reception to have been given my name in advance. ‘Go down to the Lower Ground Floor,’ says the girl, ‘and Casting Department is on your left.’ That’s all and back to her friend.

Downstairs I go. No evidence of Jane Sconce or anybody. Through a door I hear the sound of recorded playbacks of voices saying ‘Maxwell House – the most exciting sound in coffee today.’ I hear another voice from another room: ‘All we need is just any out of work actor.’ The awfulness of the place and the awfulness of the people make me decide to leave, forget it all, forget this ghastly basement with closed doors. But for some reason I stayed and I found Jane Sconce’s office, and she was ever so nice, but really so busy, and she took me into this room, and there was a trestle table, two jars of Maxwell House on it, and at one end of the room were four men and a girl, and a camera and a monitor. It was an audition. I tried not to listen as the patronizing ‘director’, or whatever, bombarded me with instructions as to how to deliver my lines, my head swam with that awful feeling of being on the panto (pantomime) stage at the age of seven and how I hoped I wouldn’t wet myself. But try as I could, I was unable to avoid reading the script. That was the nadir of this whole sorry enterprise. “Shake a bottle of powdery coffee and what do you hear? Nothing. But shake a bottle of new Maxwell House and you have the most exciting sound in coffee today.’

I did it quickly and sent it up at the end. The ‘director’ sharply reproved me for sending it up. At this I attacked for the only time in the afternoon. ‘I can’t really take it seriously – this is the kind of stuff I spend days writing sketches about.’

But I did do it seriously, and I did hurry our without offending any of them, without telling any of them how incredibly cheap and nasty I found the whole set-up."

I found the whole of idea of Michael Palin doing this Maxwell House commercial to be totally ridiculous especially since they are selling the sound of the coffee. No wonder Monty Python was such a huge success – look what they were up against.

Forty years ago...in Cleveland...

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:42:00 +0000

In a race for high office (Cleveland mayor), the grandson of a slave had defeated the grandson of a president. That had never happened before. And it hasn't happened since.

Carl Stokes: Profile of a pioneer

...a shock to those who knew him.

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:24:00 +0000

The title comes from an article in today's Plain Dealer about Kirk Herbstreit. Kirk was a quarterback at OSU and is a college football announcer for ESPN's "College Game Day". As a child he meet legendary OSU coach Woody Hayes - the meetings are described as, "for Kirk, that was well beyond Santa Claus."

What struck me about the article and Kirk is this, 'Despite graduating with a degree in business administration, Herbstreit passed up a number of business opportunities to work for WBNS-AM sports radio 1460, The Fan, in Columbus. His salary was $11,000, with no benefits.

Of course, the fact that he was making any kind of living on sports talk radio was a shock to those who knew him. This was not a guy with a lot to say. He never participated in class discussions. He declined to speak at his high school football banquet and got choked up during a recent pep talk to the team. He couldn't even propose a toast as the best man in his brother's wedding.

"I'm a shy, introverted person off camera," Herbstreit said. "I'm not one to be boastful. In high school if they asked me to give a speech, I would say no thanks. My face would turn red. I was embarrassed. My parents divorced when I was 9 years old, and I think I held in my emotions and internalized a lot of things. So when I see people now who haven't seen me since high school or middle school they can't believe I do what I do.

"The only explanation I have is that, for whatever reason, when the camera goes on, I don't know what happens, but I'm totally at ease. I'm more at ease talking to millions of people and looking into a camera than getting up in front of 12 people and giving some kind of presentation. . . . It's almost like a character I play."'

The guy can't stand up and give a toast in front of twelve people but he thrives in front of millions. His love of the game appears to allow him to work around a pretty clear obstacle. You can't base someone's potential/future on today's behavior.

He also says something that for me is a pet peeve - "How many people in the country can say they have a job where they get paid to do something they love?" - what does this have to do with anyone else? He is doing what he loves and that is what matters.

Shy TV host masters bright lights

Stay hungry, stay foolish

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:39:00 +0000

This video is from 2005 but I recently stumbled upon it and it packs a punch. It is Steve Jobs giving the 2005 graduation speech at Stanford. Jobs dropped out of college and started Apple when he was twenty.

Some highlights:

It is easy to connect the dots looking back
It is impossible to predict your future
But you have to trust that the dots will connect for you in the future
You have to trust in something whether gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever
Believing the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path
And that will make all the difference
It gives you the confidence to believe in something
...

Put this video in your toolkit - it's a doubt buster

The first line of this article says it all...

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:11:00 +0000

CNET Article

The next big tech hub, according to venture capitalist Tim Draper, is an apartment.

Tim Draper does not need me to tell him he's on target...but he's on target. That's a big part of the reason for Peak Experience. Moreover, using just my PC and the Internet(WWW and IM) I've run dozens of projects where I have contracted talented individuals in many of the locations cited in this article. For example, a few years ago I contracted a graduate student located in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (toward the end of the list) to do some image analysis work - it was his specialty.

We live in interesting times...

Mr. Mojo Risin’ part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:07:00 +0000

I'm not sure how it happened exactly but after my trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – I came back with ‘mojo’ on the brain. Mojo, there is just something about it. Then I started noticing it everywhere – a mojo channel on cable, I’m watching Miami Vice on HBO and the speed boat is named Mojo. Turns out that mojo has this nexus quality and shows up all over the place – music, mysticism, writing, and, of course, Austin Powers.

So, when you have mojo on the brain, what is the next logical step? Of course, go the library and get a bunch of mojo books – yes, I’m like that. I also read about it on the web but I like books too. There was a book of mojo photos, superstition in professional sports, music (Mojo Triangle: Birthplace of Country, Blues, Jazz and Rock ‘n’ roll – I am currently reading it). One of the other books was called ‘Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones: Hoodoo, mojo and conjuring with herbs’. Conjuring? I had to see this – it took a few days for the interlibrary transfer. When the email arrived that my book was being held at my local branch, I rode right over and started to flip through…hmmm…

Of all the mojo books I checked out, this was the only one I could not renew after my two (or three) weeks were up – that normally means someone else is waiting. Does it also mean there’s some conjuring going on? One of the recipes I found is to conjure up some Fast Mojo Luck - it requires:

Green drawstring flannel
Feathers
1 whole nutmeg
Red lodestone
8 dimes

Feeding Powder
1 tablespoon ground five-finger grass
2 tablespoons magnetic sand
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

I should probably point out that conjuring and the occult are not part of my business plan but if I happened to have some lodestone and five-finger grass sitting on my workbench…

The other recipe that looked pretty interesting was Money Draw Mojo and most of the ingredients are pretty common – allspice, nutmeg – but I’m fresh out of parrot feathers and John the Conqueror root. Actually, I have no idea what John the Conqueror root is.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0738702757/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-9101467-0264863#reader-link (search on ‘fast luck mojo’, it is on page 36.)

The idea is that you mix the ingredients and put them into a mojo bag. Interesting, I kind of like the idea of a mojo bag. I have lots of old computer parts in my basement…maybe I can come up with something…Fast Startup Success:

80286 CPU
Old RAM chip
Chip of glass from VGA monitor
Key from keyboard
OS/2 lapel pin
Hair of Bill Gates

I can just imagine the questions this will spawn – does it need to be a certain type of hair? Will arm hair do? I’ve got an old lock. And you just know that old lock is framed and on display somewhere with a little bronze tag.

Another book I picked up is ‘mojo conjure stories’. It’s a compilation of short stories edited by Nalo Hopkinson. Here is what Nalo has to say about mojo –

“There are lots of theories about the etymology of the word ‘mojo’ but one thing seems true: It originated with people press-ganged out of West Africa and brought to America to work as slaves. It refers to a small cloth bag with magical contents that is kept on the person as protection; but more generally, ‘mojo’ can simply mean magic – a magic imbued with African flavor and with the need of indentured peoples to take some control over their lives. And yes, it’s tricky, powerful and dangerous if not used wisely.”

Wow, it seems like if you scratch the surface of just about any topic you’ll find the painful truth of American history lingering just below.

Nalo defines magic as, “…the practice of altering the fated progression of events to suit one’s desires. In some ways, magic is the ultimate act of presumption. It is tricky, powerful, and often dangerous.”

Sounds like entrepreneurship and magic are kin folk. I am all for invoking a little magic and myth as a motivator in the pursuit of new ideas.

Also during my mojo research I found a book about to be released called Peak – How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow by Chip Conley. What’s interesting is that I was not thinking about this project from a Maslow point of view - though I had some basic familiarity with him. I’d simply designed ‘it’ from the ground-up to meet certain objectives. The problem was that ‘it’ needed a name.

Chip Conley owns and/or operates a number of successful boutique hotels in San Francisco. On page 14 Chip says, “The subtitle of this book speaks to the idea that today’s most successful companies consciously and unconsciously use Maslow’s principles of human motivation every day.” Hmmm. He goes on to say, “’Mojo’ means a lot of different things to different people, but if you check the slang dictionaries you’ll find that it refers to a narcotic or some kind of magic spell. From my perspective, mojo is the secret ingredient that gives life and vitality to your organization. Peak is dedicated to helping you and your company build and sustain high-performance relationships with your employees, customers, suppliers and the community.”

Hmmm…Peak. So, at least for now, this project is known as Peak Experience or Peak or peak mojo. Thanks Chip – for the name and turning me onto Maslow.

Yo Cleveland

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:10:00 +0000

Just a heads up -

I'm a member of the Cleveland Video Game Developers Meetup group. We meet once a month on the 3rd Tuesday (i think). I've been going for a few years but in the past few months the group has sprung to life - new games and concepts are being demo'd all the time. If you are interested: http://gamedev.meetup.com/69/

Mr. Mojo Risin’

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:14:00 +0000

One recent day, looking for some inspiration, I decided to make a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (HOF) and The Doors 40th anniversary exhibit. I took the train downtown, walked through an outside exhibit of oversized, decorated guitars, paid my twenty bucks, got my wristband and began to wander through rock ‘n’ roll history.

First stop, at the bottom of the elevator, a few of Jerry Garcia’s custom made guitars were on display…off to a rockin start…

I went through the exhibits, and slowly worked my way upstairs…on I think the fourth floor there was little exhibit related to The Wall. Across the top of the wall segment was the huge, inflated, caricature of the school teacher used in the video of Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 - “…we don’t need no education….we don’t need no thought control…no dark sarcasms in the classroom…hey, teacher, leave us kids alone…” Scribbled on the back of The Wall exhibit, graffiti style, was a message from Roger Waters offering a brief insight into why The Wall (the album) was created…photography is prohibited in the HOF so I just remember the essence of what he said. Pink Floyd had gotten too big, too commercial, too successful, he was having a tough time coping with success – he was torn between the trappings of fame/wealth and his longing to be an artist…and one day during a performance I think in Montreal, he kind of lost it and spit in the face of a fan…afterward, shocked by his behavior, the ensuing process of self-exploration resulted in the album.

Historical Note: His father, Fletcher Waters, was killed during the WWII battle of Anzio as Allied forces moved through Italy in early 1944. Roger was less than a year old when his father was killed. The impact of the loss of his father is infused throughout his work and his lyrics are as relevant today, as ever…

Here is a brief excerpt from Another Brick in the Wall Part 1 –

Daddy’s flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
A snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave behind for me

I took a break for lunch and wandered down to the Lake Erie waterfront directly behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was blown away – the day was beautiful, warm, sunny…I thought I was in San Francisco… people sat along the wall eating lunch, reading, talking on the phone. I was totally amazed to be in Cleveland. And, I’ve sailed on Lake Erie a number of times so it was not entirely new…I was just surprised how clean and pleasant it was…

I retuned from lunch and worked my way up the sixth and final floor to The Doors 40th anniversary exhibit. The exhibit contained some hand written lyrics, some of the early equipment - an amplifier and some other stuff, some clothes, reel-to-reel masters, etc. Overall, the exhibit was pretty small but there was one item that stood out, a letter written by Jim Morrison’s father.

Before getting into the letter, some context is required – The Doors formed in L.A in. 1966. The exhibit, extended and still going on, celebrates The Doors 40th anniversary. In April two remaining members ((Robbie and Ray) and Jim’s brother (Andy) came to Cleveland to open the exhibit. Afterwards Robbie and Ray – as part of Riders on the Storm - played at the House of Blues. (The picture in the upper left corner is me with Robbie Krieger. I'm on the left.)

More then 35 years after Jim's death the impact of The Doors continue to grow...here are a few examples of recent Doors related activity:

Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek started touring together a few years ago after a thirty year hiatus – they performed at the Cleveland House of Blues in April in conjunction with the opening of the HOF exhibit. They are currently touring as Riders on the Storm since they can’t legally use The Doors name.

The Doors collectors’ site - http://www.doors.com/

Jim Morrison’s grandparent’s house in Florida was dismantled recently, the doors in the home were collected and they are being painted by local artists. The Doors themed doors are then auctioned off for charity. Here’s an EBay auction for one of these doors - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110181655876 – the current bid is $3500.

In an interview, Jim Morrison talked about an auto accident his family encountered when he was five (or so) years old when they were driving through the New Mexico desert at dawn and the influence the accident had on him. In December (2007) a documentary will be released revealing the historical facts around this accident – (http://www.dawnshighway.net/). The research behind this film was submitted to the HOF this month (Oct. 07).

Drive down I-480 today and you will see a billboard promoting the Doors exhibit.

A book was released in French by a former manager, Sam Bennet, of the Rock ‘n’ Roll circus located in Paris. Bennet claims that Jim Morrison OD’d on heroin in the club bathroom and was dead when they found him. I obviously don’t have all the facts and this seems to have stirred up a lot of passion and controversy…as a result of the book, more witnesses have come forward, though all the facts don’t align, it’s becoming more apparent that Jim Morrison, the 27 year old, charismatic lead singer of the doors died on July 3rd, 1971 of a heroin overdose, not a heart attack. It seems that the last 24 hours of Jim Morrison’s life will be the focus of ‘Final 24’ on the Biography channel on Oct. 31st, at 11:00 PM ET (2007).

… for more Doors related activity and influence, check out Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Morrison.

…so I’m reading the letter by Jim’s father but a little more context is needed before I get into the details.

Jim was arrested after a Miami performance in 1969 for lewd behavior – if you are interested in the details, just search on ‘the doors miami’ and you can read all about it. He was tried and convicted in September, 1970. He was sentenced to six months of hard labor but was released on bail pending appeal. Jim and his girlfriend Pamela Courson left for Paris in March, 1971 to get away. He never returned and is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.

I forgot to mention that there is a movement currently under way to get Jim Morrison a full pardon for the Miami incident!! http://www.doors.com/miami/one.html

But, back to the letter written by Morrison’s father…

George Stephen Morrison (Steve) is a retired U.S. Navy Admiral currently residing in California. In 1964, he was a Navy captain and the commander of the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard. The Bonnie Dick first saw action in the Pacific near the end of WWII; she was active in the Korean conflict and was on a routine patrol in Indian Ocean, when on Aug 2nd, 1964 the Tonkin Gulf Incident took place. (Incidentally, Aug. 2nd is my b-day though I wasn’t around at that time. It’s also the day Saddam invaded Kuwait…hmmm). From what I can gather, though my data is by no means definitive, his father’s task group was on its way back to port when the Incident occurred; the task group turned around and sailed into the Gulf of Tonkin to “commence operations against the North Vietnamese”. http://www.geocities.com/~bhr31/VIETNAM.htm

I went to the HOF to find some inspiration and hear some music…the next thing I know is I’m tracing the history of a WWII aircraft carrier into the Gulf of Tonkin and reading about the beginning of the Vietnam War. I don’t know the exact role the Bonnie Dick played during the U.S. entry into war but if this photo is accurate she was there in late 1964 while Steve Morrison was the commander. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h97000/h97344.jpg)

Perhaps in the context of what I’ve just described, this letter will seem insignificant but when I read it, I didn’t know many of the details about his father that I’ve just shared…

Jim’s father received the following inquiry from the Florida Probation and Parole Office:
---
September 24, 1970
Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office

Admiral George Morrison,
I am presently conducting a pre-sentence investigation on your son.

As you are probably aware, Jim has been found guilty of indecent exposure and profanity in Dade County.

Jim tells me that it has been 2 or 3 years since he last had any contact with you. I would very much appreciate any comments that you would care to make regarding your son's behavior and his present situation to include in my investigation.

The sentence date has been set for Oct. 30, 1970.

Thank you very much,

Robert Disher
---

Here is what Steve Morrison said in his response that got my attention:

“While in London, I was called by an old friend in California who had been approached by Jim for a loan to finance his first record. Concerned by his appearance, particularly his long hair, the friend called me. I, in turn, wrote Jim a letter severely criticizing his behavior and strongly advised him to give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I considered to be a complete lack of talent in this direction. His reluctance to communicate with me again is to me quite understandable.” He also went on to say that, “Jim is fundamentally a respectable citizen.”

(The full content of the letter is reprinted here - http://www.idafan.com/FloridaProbation-ParoleLetters.htm)

Admiral Steve Morrison - after perhaps participating in the U.S. entry into Vietnam – a fight against the spread of communism and the preservation of freedom - tells his oldest son Jim to give up his dream. Little more than two years after Captain Morrison left the command of the Bonnie Dick (Nov. ’64), The Doors first album was released (Jan. ’67). The first album included such classics as Break on Through, Light My Fire and The End.

When the Doors formed Jim Morrison was pretty shy and could not face the audience when he sang, it took a while for the Jim Morrison to emerge. I read an interview with Ray Manzarek and in the interview Ray was asked what he saw in Jim. Ray said that Jim was smart and he was obviously going to be a star.

Well, it could not have been that obvious. Steve Morrison was no slouch, he commanded an aircraft carrier with thousands of men and led them into harms way - few men shoulder greater responsibility. Yet, he was angry at his son behavior and told him to give up, to walk away from any idea of music.

If this ever gets made into an “inspired by” movie, the last scene may look like this:

Scene: Aircraft carrier at sea, wartime. Rough sea…sound of thunder as sea crashes against ship’s hull. Roar of engines as jets catapult at regular intervals off carrier deck. Periodic jet landings. Rock ‘n’ roll blares over ship’s PA. Frequent blasts from the 16 inch guns of nearby battleship- visible shells arc toward unseen targets.

The voice of the Captain’s dead son comes over the airway…This is the end…beautiful friend…the end…this is the end…my only friend…the end…it hurts to set you free…

Blast from the 16 inch gun. The men, the pilots, the sailors, pause briefly and begin to sing along…thousands of men.

Of our elaborate plans…the end…of everything that stands…the end…

In distance a badly damaged jet limps towards carrier. The pilot is the man the ship’s captain wishes were his son. Through binoculars the jet smokes. No lights, no communication.

…the killer awoke before dawn…he put his boots on…

Blast from16 inch gun. The approaching jet wobbles, tries to stabilize. Moves closer.

…he took a face from the ancient gallery and he walked on down the hall…

Jet crashes onto carrier deck. Slides, trailing sparks. 16 inch blast.

father…yes, son…I want to kill you…

Jet explodes. Burns.

Run credits

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“A penny for the old guy” -> can anyone tell me the source of this quote and why it is relevant?

The archetypal nature of that story seems fitting. The general leads his troops into war while his son turns the people at home against him. Is that a fair characterization? Beyond the success of The Doors and the intersection with the Vietnam War is the story of a father telling his son to give up his dream.

I went to the HOF looking for some inspiration and I ended up researching a fragment of the Vietnam War and writing the ending to an “inspired by” movie. But there is more to the story…

To be continued…

Entrepreneurship Industry Roundtable

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:56:00 +0000

Yesterday I attended the NOCHE (Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education) Entrepreneurship Industry Roundtable. I’d say about sixty people participated – we divided into groups around nine tables. I don’t know about all of the tables but the two tables I participated in were primarily academic.

As groups we were asked to discuss four questions:

1) How would you describe a well-prepared entrepreneur who is a recent graduate from one of the region’s colleges or universities? (For the out of town readers: Northeast Ohio has a number of colleges including: Case Western, Oberlin, Kent State, Youngstown State, U. of Akron, Hiram College, Cleveland State, Baldwin Wallace in addition to a number community colleges (Tri-C, LCCC, etc) and I am sure that I’ve missed several.)
2) What kind of curriculum and Internship design would create a well-prepared entrepreneur?
3) What programs or initiatives currently exist to foster the development of a well-prepared entrepreneur? What is working and what is not working? What new initiatives or ideas would you suggest?
4) What actions would you commit to now to advance the development of a well-prepared entrepreneur to launch new businesses in Northeast Ohio or function as “intrapreneurs” sparking innovation and growth inside existing entrepreneurial businesses?

The problem is that we only had about an hour to discuss all of these. Anyone have feedback to these questions. Though I enjoyed the meeting and the discussion, I not sure what to make of the event. I am formulating my responses to these questions and will post them at a later date.

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Along these lines, I’m frequently asked for business and technical advice by startups and people with ideas. As such, here are some questions I have for folks in Cleveland:

-Does anyone have residential or office space they will provide in exchange for equity or reduced rent and equity?
-Are there any lawyers or accountants willing to do work for equity?
-Any web designers or software developers willing to do work for equity?

I don’t expect to get many responses – please prove me wrong. Send me your contact info and I will act as a connector.

If we can change the culture so that aspiring entrepreneurs can get services in exchange for debt/equity/deferred payment it will allow for greater flexibility. How about this for an idea, let’s have the startup equivalent of a barn-raising. Let’s get some entrepreneurs, professionals, designers, programmers, etc. together once a month and prop-up a few companies. Until people are willing to trade services for equity or other forms of delayed payment, the entrepreneur remains isolated. Startups are always short on cash.

Anyone willing to get dirty?

How to start a business for $20*

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:27:00 +0000

The first step to success is showing up - showing up means you release a product or service and actually interact (directly or indirectly) with customers/clients. The following is an inexpensive and quick way to 'show up'.

Second Life (SL) is a virtual world. And I do mean world. The place is huge – after you get set up (instructions follow) you should spend some time just examining the map – zoom in and out – teleport around – and you will realize just how massive the place is. It is inhabited by thousands of real people masquerading around as all kind of people and creatures – vampires are common.

There is something very Greek mythology about the whole thing. Philip Rosedale (the creator of Second Life – known as Philip Linden in game) and his employees at Linden Lab (his company) are the gods of SL. We, the other millions of players, are the demi-gods. In game, thousands of real people operate virtual puppets from deep behind the scenes. The interactions are still person to person but the context is different.

The big draws in second life are social (broad interpretation), shopping, business, real estate, and escape (to an actual second life). You can listen to live music (played by another SL’er and streamed in) while your avatar is dancing in an elaborately decorated club complete with 3d lighting and smoke. You can run a shop, buy and sell virtual real estate, and among the many, many things you can do, you can go shopping…and shop and shop and shop. Shopping in SL is surprisingly fun (and inexpensive).

All kinds of stuff goes on in SL. Some of the stuff will interest you and other stuff you won’t want to know about. You’ll encounter odd characters – literally and figuratively. Just keep in mind that behind each of these avatars is a person sitting at a computer somewhere on earth. There is a free tool called Babbler that can help you converse (text) in foreign languages - it is by no means perfect but it is helpful.

Before you can do anything in SL, you first need to get set up…

Go to Second Life (http://secondlife.com/whatis/faq.php) and read the installation instructions and create an account. You don’t need to sign up for a premium SL account unless you intend to buy land. You can start with a free account; transfer in some funds using Paypal or another currency service. Start off with small transactions (a few U.S. dollars at most) and be cautious – there are unscrupulous people online.

When you create a new character (known as an avatar) you are dropped off at a place called Orientation Island (I think – have not been there in a while) where you learn the basics of how to operate your avatar and interact with the virtual world. You should spend some time and go through orientation. You will constantly use what you learn.

After orientation, you should get familiar with SL by exploring it. Use the Search window to find things of interest and teleport around. (I think you learn how to do this during orientation). When you teleport (move around in-world) you will need to stand still for a little while because the landscape/buildings will form around you…it is neat to watch as the scenes are Dali-esque but it does get old and it can take several days to get acclimated to operating within SL. Also, Second Life is pretty buggy and bogs down if too many avatars are in one area at a time, so don’t expect a smooth experience.

A brief note on the technical state of Second Life: I find it pretty frustrating because of bugs and the technical limitations. However, I also recognize that SL was not possible five years ago – it requires a modern personal computer and broadband. Even a frustrating SL today is worth the long-term benefits. (In a later blog I will probably go into a more general discussion of the opportunities in cyberspace).

A great way to help you get acclimated in SL is to take online, in-world classes. These classes are taught by a real person. You communicate through typing or the recently added voice system – you can type or talk, your choice. There are usually several other avatars in the class so there may be ten of you chatting and working on the project. Classes are a great place to get shopping tips, technical tips and tips of all kinds. You can find classes using Search -> Events -> Education. In these classes you can learn how to change your avatars appearance, how to build stuff, how to write scripts, etc.

To really appreciate what Second Life is, you need to think along the lines of a shared imagination. Because it is virtual and the content is user generated you are able to construct pretty much anything that can be modeled and represented in 3D – from castles in the clouds full of mermaids to Diagon Alley (from Harry Potter). The environment is open and participants are free to un-tether their ideas. There is also a lot of crap.

Over the next ten or so years as the technology matures, the bugs disappear and mass collaboration catches on - amazing stuff in going to happen. The dotcom era put down the foundation and now we have a fully functional pervasive digital infrastructure. (more on this at a later date)

If you are a college student studying graphic design or 3d modeling, does it make more sense to deliver pizza or use your design/modeling skills and sell products of your creation in SL (or elsewhere online)? I expect that if you put as much effort into your SL shop as you would delivering pizza you can make as much money but I don’t know this for a fact. It may take a while to get going, but once you have developed a product line, people can purchase your work even while you are in class or doing other things. At any given time around 40,000 people are logged into SL, around nine million avatars have been created, and maybe a million people use SL regularly.

Suppose you decide to open a virtual car dealership in Second Life. You can design and build the cars or you can contract someone else to build them for you. You can hire salespeople and depending on your specific needs, you may be able to get an in-game retail salesperson(s) for your dealership for $1US or less per hour, maybe even on pure commission. If an avatar enters your store your salesperson will be there to answer questions and facilitate the sale. The idea of hiring retail help for twenty five cents an hour plus commission may be counter intuitive but your salesperson can be in his/her home studying, reading, or working on something else – maybe even working elsewhere in SL on a second computer.

Let’s say that you decide to design and build your own cars for your dealership. Let’s say you can make one car per week (it could be one car per day or one car per month depending on you). And you want to sell your cars for $500L (about $2 U.S.) because that is what another dealership charges. After you have spent two weeks making your first two models, you rent a location for $500L per week in a reasonably busy retail mall. Since you are in a mall you are getting decent foot traffic. And, since you can detect the presence of avatars programmatically, you know who and how many have visited your store. After your store is up for a week, you’ve had 40 visitors and you have not sold a single car. Hmmm…what is going on? What do you do?

You can send some messages to your visitors and ask them why they didn’t buy (aka market research). You might find out that they were just wandering, are new and don’t have enough money, etc. You realize you are getting the wrong traffic; foot traffic won’t get it done. How do you get customers? You can run ads in the Search system – ads start inexpensively and go up into the hundreds (U.S) of dollars. You place a couple of cheap ads, rent some advertising board space – you are now spending about $10 US per week promoting your products. You need to sell five cars per week to break even. Though the amounts of money are small, you are running a real business with very little risk and have the opportunity to make real money. It may be virtual but it is real enough.

A few months ago I saw an ad on a website for 3D Lighting business that was for sale in SL. He was asking $15,000 U.S. and he posted several months worth of his SL transaction history. He was making $1,000 U.S. or more per month. I stopped by the business, checked it out, and chatted with the owner. I don’t know if he sold it but it seemed legit. He’d worked on the business for a couple of years and has an elaborate product line. I can’t vouch for what he posted but he had a business in place to back up his claims. Only a small group, probably numbering in the hundreds, makes over $5,000 U.S. per month. (If you have more info on this item, please post it as a comment. Thanks.)

Running a business in SL is real work but it is easy to get started and it is low risk. You also get to play all the roles including boss, manager, designer, builder, programmer, salesmen, customer support, etc. It is a chance to figure out which aspects you like and which you don’t.

Please post any comments and/or questions…

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*Warning:

-The scenario described here requires you to log into Second Life
-You must be 18
-You will likely be exposed to adult content
-There are unscrupulous people in cyberspace – start small, build up your cyber knowledge as you build up your cyber business
-If you start a business - there is NO guarantee you will succeed.
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Also, here is my new standard disclaimer: All Advice is Suspect. In fact, well intentioned advice is often misguided or destructive. This applies to any advice you find in this blog. Trust yourself.

A few more details...

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:06:00 +0000

Because my background is in software, Peak Experience will at least initially focus on software and digital media startups. We will expand this focus in time and I am still open to discussion…

So, let’s say you are twenty or so years old. You are in college or went to college for a couple of years but decided to take a break. You’ve been studying computer science, engineering, graphic design, or some field that applies to what you really want to do. You found out about Peak Experience, read through the documentation and you know what, you are interested and maybe even excited by what you’ve read.

The idea of an entrepreneurial lifestyle resonates with you. You like the idea of living in an environment with like-minded people. You love the idea of working full-time on your product, in your company. You really want and need to be around people full of passion and drive. And to add icing to the cake you will have daily access to an experienced entrepreneur to keep you on track and honest with yourself.

As you think about how obvious the idea is, you begin to wonder why there isn’t a Peak Experience in every city. Ok. Ok. You’ve gotten a little ahead…give me some time…get back to the task at hand, focus…

Right, you want to know how to get started. Well, Peak is pre-launch. I am working with my accountant and lawyer to get the necessary structure and contracts in place. This will take a while longer so the earliest possible launch is early 2008. I will use the blog to keep you posted. In the meantime, start seriously thinking about your ideas, put as much as you can down on paper – maybe start with a rough outline and then go over and add content on each pass. After a few passes your document will have some meat. Take a look at how to write a Painless Funtional Specification and get busy with your spec. Put your ideas down as to how you business is going to at least cover costs and some ways to make a profit.

When you apply to be a Peak participant I am going to ask you what you’ve done and, because space will be limited, I will be looking for people who are ready to hit the ground running.

Contact me with questions or post them as comments…

Ultrapreneurs and the rest of us

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:32:00 +0000

I was looking at Rachael Elnaugh’s website recently. She has an entrepreneurial profile test that lists nine different types of entrepreneurs. One of the types is called an ultrapreneur. She describes an ultrapreneur as “highly driven, ambitious and visionary, Ultrapreneurs have the potential to become billionaires…” She categorizes them as “high alpha drivers” meaning they are motivated by money, power, ego and winning.

According to Wikipedia there 371 billionaires in the U.S., so that means there are the ultrapreneurs and then there are the rest of us. Does the following bit of text describe you?

“[your name], a gawky, washed-out [hair color], confesses to being a “wonk”, a bookish nerd, who focuses single mindedly on his [industry] business though he masters all sorts of knowledge with astounding facility. [your name] left [university name] after his sophomore year to sell [product description]. Intensely competitive and often aloof and sarcastic, [your name] threw himself into building a company dedicated to technical excellence. “All [your name]’s ego goes into [company name]”, says a friend. “It’s his firstborn child.”*

If you read this and think, WOW, that is me, then you are an ultrapreneur and you do not need Peak Experience. In fact, you need to stop reading my blog and get back to your single minded focus…well…actually, if you are reading this, then, um, your single minded focus needs some minding.

If this description definitely does not apply to you then keep reading…

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*Excerpt from the July 21st, 1986 issue of Fortune about a well-known ultrapreneur taking his company public.