Congrats to clients meebo and Turn for being chosen by Business 2.0 editors as 2 of the 25 start-ups to watch.
Check meebo out here: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0702/gallery.nextnet.biz2/4.html
Check out Turn here: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0702/gallery.nextnet.biz2/16.html
Treo No More
I finally made the switch from my Treo to the Blackberry. For the past 2.5 years I've been using the Treo and I feel like I just got out of an abusive relationship. The Treo Personal Business Connect Service was consistently UNRELIABLE. I was never 100% certain that the service worked. The VersaMail service, in theory, seemed great, but it was always terrible for me. As a phone it was fine, but that's not the reason I was using it.
So I switched to the Blackberry. I feel like a new person. It's reliable, was incredibly easy to set-up and did I mention it works???
Next change...making the switch from a PC to a Mac.
So I switched to the Blackberry. I feel like a new person. It's reliable, was incredibly easy to set-up and did I mention it works???
Next change...making the switch from a PC to a Mac.
Work Life Balance
There have been a few stories that have came out over the last month or so that talk about - Work Life Balance.
The latest is from Reuters reporting on a study from ACNielsen, which found “Work-life balance tops global New Year wish list.”
Also a story in a recent issue of BusinessWeek talks about how Best Buy is breaking the conventional thinking of the corporate 9 to 5 world – one where people need to put in “face time” and where the person who stays the longest at the office wins. The fact of the matter is that hardly anyone works from just 9 – 5. Technologies like mobile phones, BlackBerries and the wireless Internet have extended the work day well before 9am and way past 5pm. Some people look at these technologies as a bad thing... but we (three-forty) believe used properly... they enable us to be not only more productive but more importantly they free us from the florescent lit, four walls that we sit in.
They give us the ability to avoid rush hour or they let us take a break from work to go for a mountain bike ride during the middle of the day. I am not saying that these mobile technologies give us a the chance to slack off (the article talks about this a bit too) but it allows us to be more available to the client without being tied to the desk. Yes – the office gives a chance to collaborate and focus on work and that’s why we have one but your desk shouldn’t prevent you from having a life. There will be work that needs to be done by 8am or more work to be finished after 8pm but with the right mix of company culture, ethics and mobile technologies – it is possible to stretch more out of life.
The latest is from Reuters reporting on a study from ACNielsen, which found “Work-life balance tops global New Year wish list.”
Also a story in a recent issue of BusinessWeek talks about how Best Buy is breaking the conventional thinking of the corporate 9 to 5 world – one where people need to put in “face time” and where the person who stays the longest at the office wins. The fact of the matter is that hardly anyone works from just 9 – 5. Technologies like mobile phones, BlackBerries and the wireless Internet have extended the work day well before 9am and way past 5pm. Some people look at these technologies as a bad thing... but we (three-forty) believe used properly... they enable us to be not only more productive but more importantly they free us from the florescent lit, four walls that we sit in.
They give us the ability to avoid rush hour or they let us take a break from work to go for a mountain bike ride during the middle of the day. I am not saying that these mobile technologies give us a the chance to slack off (the article talks about this a bit too) but it allows us to be more available to the client without being tied to the desk. Yes – the office gives a chance to collaborate and focus on work and that’s why we have one but your desk shouldn’t prevent you from having a life. There will be work that needs to be done by 8am or more work to be finished after 8pm but with the right mix of company culture, ethics and mobile technologies – it is possible to stretch more out of life.
Phishing Scams getting more sophisticated
It's been a while since I even thought about phishing scams. But, today I got an email from Bank of America asking me to update my account. Luckily, I am not so naive to think that they really need me to do this and would actually email this to a whole list of "undisclosed recipients."
While the note looks somewhat legit, it is the next page that is pretty amazing. Here is the note:
As measures mesures of ensuring a safer and more secure Banking
environment,We have re-structured our Banking servers .
Hence, we have decided to put an extra verification process to ensure your identity and account information is protected.
Please click on continue, to the verification process and ensure your Account information is entered correctly to get verified.
It is all about your security.
Thank you.
My favorite line of course, "It is all about your security." It then sends you to a page where you'd have to fill out your information, including social security number, mother's maiden name, account information, etc.
I an not sure if I am more informed on these scams because I've worked with VeriSign or other anti-spam or anti-phishing vendors, but they still scare me. I worry that my parents or grandparents may fall victim to this. So be warned! Any incoming email that wants your private information Don't give it out.
It's Different This Time
Josh Quittner outlines why he thinks this tech boom is different than that of the late 90’s. He has some good points – companies are trying to be profitable, the exuberance has not reached the levels it once had, and Bill Gates has become irrelevant to many start-ups.
I agree with *most* of his points and I would also add that entrepreneurs these days don’t want to become a legend of a tech bubble. The entrepreneurs we are working with truly believe they have a company that will be around for the long haul – boom or not.
The idea that the web has become increasingly democratized (ahem, YOU are Time’s Person of the Year), many more opportunities will open up. Not just in content creation, but how we receive the content we want, what device, from who, when and how we can use it to help our everyday lives. Quittner also points out that many people believe that tech booms go in four year cycles. I hope that we are just on the cusp of innovation and that three years from now we’ll be looking back realizing that the YouTube’s of the world were just scratching the surface.
I agree with *most* of his points and I would also add that entrepreneurs these days don’t want to become a legend of a tech bubble. The entrepreneurs we are working with truly believe they have a company that will be around for the long haul – boom or not.
The idea that the web has become increasingly democratized (ahem, YOU are Time’s Person of the Year), many more opportunities will open up. Not just in content creation, but how we receive the content we want, what device, from who, when and how we can use it to help our everyday lives. Quittner also points out that many people believe that tech booms go in four year cycles. I hope that we are just on the cusp of innovation and that three years from now we’ll be looking back realizing that the YouTube’s of the world were just scratching the surface.
Venice Project Opens Up
I've been hearing quite a bit about the Venice Project from some industry friends, so am curious to see what it's all about. The project is pretty ambitious and has several barriers for success, though if anyone can do it - these guys can. Hopefully, I'll be beta testing it soon.
Yahoo Taps Community
I think Yahoo is doing a great job of collecting the community’s feedback... starting with this memo "leak.” Sure they are going to have to wade through a bunch of useless posts and comments but there is definitely a lot of good input out there.
I think I will start working on my memo.
I think I will start working on my memo.
Happy Birthday three-forty
Wow. A full year has passed since three-forty opened its doors officially for business. We’ve come a long way in the past 12 months – in fact, I can’t even believe it has been a full year. I guess the saying is true, “time flies when you are having fun.”
When I think back about making the jump last fall, I realize that it wasn’t such a big one. The idea around three-forty had been percolating for a while. Both Rick and I had been talking about getting up and running, what would it take, what kind of clients we’d want to work with, what kind of company we’d want to build, etc. We decided last fall was the right time for several reasons:
-the market was heating up
-there were some REALLY interesting start-ups seeking PR
-the result of the market heating up meant that some of the best PR firms to work with start-ups had gotten really expensive for start-ups
-the world of traditional media and PR was changing and we could adapt quickly
So on November 1st, I made the jump, knowing Rick would be doing the same shortly.
Over the past year, we’ve had the honor and privilege to work with some great people and clients. We are still working with the clients that we opened our doors with – Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), meebo and Brondell. (When Rick joined, we expaned our roster with scanR and Orative) We’ve expanded our client roster to include some pretty interesting projects with Broadcom and MTI Micro. We’ve also been able to work with some of the most innovative companies in Valley. We are very grateful that we get to work with such smart, fun and genuinely good people.
In addition to having great clients, we are also lucky that we’ve found great people to work with. Since the beginning we’ve had some great contractors and in August, Michaela Wilkinson joined our team.
Another exciting milestone for three-forty was the office move. We recently moved out of the home office space, to Jackson Square. We found a great space in this neighborhood. Everyday since the move you can hear one of us say, “It’s so great to be so close to… (insert a great restaurant, place to run an errand, etc.)”
The past year has taught us a lot about who we are, what we want to be and a lot of what we don’t want to be. We like that our culture is about getting our clients good results and not about facetime in the office. We like that we can have dinner with our families or friends and that we find time to balance our hobbies – running, cooking, surfing, etc. We like that we enjoy going to work.
So, now that the first year is under our belt, we need to focus on the next phase of three-forty. First and foremost is growing our team. If you are interested in joining an agency that loves its clients, has fun and lets you have a life too, email or call us. hr at three-forty dot com (415) 367-4048.
And to everyone that has helped us through our first year, a sincere thank-you.
When I think back about making the jump last fall, I realize that it wasn’t such a big one. The idea around three-forty had been percolating for a while. Both Rick and I had been talking about getting up and running, what would it take, what kind of clients we’d want to work with, what kind of company we’d want to build, etc. We decided last fall was the right time for several reasons:
-the market was heating up
-there were some REALLY interesting start-ups seeking PR
-the result of the market heating up meant that some of the best PR firms to work with start-ups had gotten really expensive for start-ups
-the world of traditional media and PR was changing and we could adapt quickly
So on November 1st, I made the jump, knowing Rick would be doing the same shortly.
Over the past year, we’ve had the honor and privilege to work with some great people and clients. We are still working with the clients that we opened our doors with – Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), meebo and Brondell. (When Rick joined, we expaned our roster with scanR and Orative) We’ve expanded our client roster to include some pretty interesting projects with Broadcom and MTI Micro. We’ve also been able to work with some of the most innovative companies in Valley. We are very grateful that we get to work with such smart, fun and genuinely good people.
In addition to having great clients, we are also lucky that we’ve found great people to work with. Since the beginning we’ve had some great contractors and in August, Michaela Wilkinson joined our team.
Another exciting milestone for three-forty was the office move. We recently moved out of the home office space, to Jackson Square. We found a great space in this neighborhood. Everyday since the move you can hear one of us say, “It’s so great to be so close to… (insert a great restaurant, place to run an errand, etc.)”
The past year has taught us a lot about who we are, what we want to be and a lot of what we don’t want to be. We like that our culture is about getting our clients good results and not about facetime in the office. We like that we can have dinner with our families or friends and that we find time to balance our hobbies – running, cooking, surfing, etc. We like that we enjoy going to work.
So, now that the first year is under our belt, we need to focus on the next phase of three-forty. First and foremost is growing our team. If you are interested in joining an agency that loves its clients, has fun and lets you have a life too, email or call us. hr at three-forty dot com (415) 367-4048.
And to everyone that has helped us through our first year, a sincere thank-you.
Congratulations to Orative
Orative, one of the first clients to work with Three-Forty Communications, is to be acquired by Cisco. And any company with a mountaineer as a CEO is a good company.
New Space
We moved... well we are moving. We have the essentials... desks, a Wi-Fi connection and our mobile phones. Some other items need to be moved and set-up but starting tomorrow we will be at 649 Front Street in Jackson Square, SF – very cool space I may say.
Google News Archive Search
If you are in the business that we are in... then chances are you use Google News and Google News Alerts... rather often and almost obsessively. While the service doesn’t capture every piece of news out there – it is a great resource and the price is right (free). I have been using the new Google News Archive search and it is pretty useful. So far I have only been using it to search for specific names and companies but it has been providing very efficient and accurate results. The timeline option looks like it might have some quirks to it but all-in-all it is another great service from Google... plus it was getting boring just doing regular Googles on my own name ;-)
Tough Day
If you think you are having a tough day… just take a look at this story.
From Erika Brown's "The Thin Green Line" story
From Erika Brown's "The Thin Green Line" story
Last month, an executive at a cellular technology startup in Israel was called up for duty by the Israeli Reserve Army to defend the country against attacks from Hezbollah. He headed north to the border between Israel and Lebanon, also known as "The Thin Blue Line," where bombs and bullets were flying from both sides. Determined to not let the war get in the way of his business, he worked on a complex technology deal with a European equipment maker via his BlackBerry from the inside of a tank. (The soldier-slash-entrepreneur asked not to be identified because he feared his client would be angry to learn he was in battle.)
Party Crasher...
The Journal reports that big media companies are buying up some college newspapers.
Big Media on Campus
The article goes on to talk about how these newspapers are bucking the trend and are having success in their markets. So... this begs the questions will Dean Wormer be a buzz kill.
meebo us
Congrats to meebo – a client of ours, who announced a pretty cool release today. This is pretty significant for meebo as well as the IM world… meebo now enables you, me or anyone with a web page, a social networking page, a commerce page, etc. to put meebo into that page and engage in real-time, no-software required IM. Also, for the page owners, you can now track who is visiting your site. You can get it here: http://www.meebome.com/. Happy meebo me-ing. :)
Been meaning to get to this - VC investing
I was on the road last week and didn’t have a chance to get to this. The NVCA came out with the latest venture investing numbers. The good news is that there are investments being made, the bad news (if you are an entrepreneur) is that most of the investing is going to the later stage deals.
I find this very interesting. I hear from a lot of VCs that the early deals are the most interesting, it’s just that finding the right ones or getting in at the right time is proving to be trickier these days. It takes a lot less money to create a start-up right now and it’s easier for entrepreneurs to show some traction and growth on pennies before pulling down a big funding round. The entrepreneurs starting these companies now either have an established network, or don’t want to take on a first round from a VC. What typically ends up happening is that the next time they go to raise a round of funding, they’ve proven themselves, have more customers or users and their valuation is higher. This makes it more expensive for the VCs to get in and then the deal becomes less interesting or too expensive. So while it’s easy to blame Sarbanes Oxley, etc. but I think that valuations are playing a pretty big role in early stage financing – or lack thereof.
I find this very interesting. I hear from a lot of VCs that the early deals are the most interesting, it’s just that finding the right ones or getting in at the right time is proving to be trickier these days. It takes a lot less money to create a start-up right now and it’s easier for entrepreneurs to show some traction and growth on pennies before pulling down a big funding round. The entrepreneurs starting these companies now either have an established network, or don’t want to take on a first round from a VC. What typically ends up happening is that the next time they go to raise a round of funding, they’ve proven themselves, have more customers or users and their valuation is higher. This makes it more expensive for the VCs to get in and then the deal becomes less interesting or too expensive. So while it’s easy to blame Sarbanes Oxley, etc. but I think that valuations are playing a pretty big role in early stage financing – or lack thereof.
Pirate Radio (with the Church Lady)
Everyone has a “Meet-up” these days. (well at least out here in The Valley). I went down to the Third Thursday PR Meet-up to listen to a discussion about podcasts (not sure why they didn’t do it via a podcast? I guess it kind of defeats the purpose of the “meet-up” …)
Anyway, it was pretty interesting to listen to two of the woman who have podcasts and how/why they got started. One was from Palo Alto and seems to resemble my mom (in even more of Church-Lady sort of way and I mean that in the nicest way possible...) while the other was a younger woman from Fresno but both are pretty much doing the same thing. Their podcasts fill a void that traditional broadcast media can’t fill – in depth local issues. The issues aren’t necessarily “huge” like Korea pointing a nuke at me type-of-issues… but none the less, it serves a purpose – an alternative to what currently exists.
There are all sorts of flavors of podcasts that help lengthen the “Tail” but to me local seems interesting. Radio is still very much a local medium but just like everything else it is either getting swallowed up by the big guys or local stations are having a tough time keeping the lights on and the signal broadcasting. At some point when we have IP-based radios that can stream or store podcasts directly to our cars – it’s good to know that there will still be a place to listen for the local spin on things… and more importantly the opportunity to have multiple choices for the local spin.
Anyway, it was pretty interesting to listen to two of the woman who have podcasts and how/why they got started. One was from Palo Alto and seems to resemble my mom (in even more of Church-Lady sort of way and I mean that in the nicest way possible...) while the other was a younger woman from Fresno but both are pretty much doing the same thing. Their podcasts fill a void that traditional broadcast media can’t fill – in depth local issues. The issues aren’t necessarily “huge” like Korea pointing a nuke at me type-of-issues… but none the less, it serves a purpose – an alternative to what currently exists.
There are all sorts of flavors of podcasts that help lengthen the “Tail” but to me local seems interesting. Radio is still very much a local medium but just like everything else it is either getting swallowed up by the big guys or local stations are having a tough time keeping the lights on and the signal broadcasting. At some point when we have IP-based radios that can stream or store podcasts directly to our cars – it’s good to know that there will still be a place to listen for the local spin on things… and more importantly the opportunity to have multiple choices for the local spin.
Seeing Sound
This is just amazing. No matter how big/small, fast/smart a computer/gadget we can build the human body and brain still shows us how advance and adaptable it can be. This is a story about boy who can “See Sound.”
Another Sign of the Times
No pun intended… The New York Times is reducing the size of it’s paper and closing a print factory. The size reduction will take away about 5% of the space the paper devotes to news coverage. Earlier this year, the New York Times did a major facelift as well as added some necessary RSS feeds, blogging features, etc., in an effort to pursue a more strategic online strategy.
In a time where more and more people turn to the web for their news, traditional media sources *MUST* find a way to compete and adapt their business models. Always interesting watching these cycles evolve.
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