Some of you know me, and where some of my inspiration comes from. One source of inspiration is from my brother, John Crowley (Technically half brother, my mom married my father after John’s father passed away). Ever since I was a young kid, John has been an inspiration. My niece and nephew, Megan and Patrick, are sadly diagnosed with a fatal disease, Pompe’s Disease. Their third child, John Jr., is fine, and quite the personality. John, with a never say die attitude formed Novazyme Pharmaceuticals in order to save them. It’s a story that’s forever changed our family, and is what has inspired me to become who I am today. The story is chronicled in a book that was recently published, The Cure. If you’re an entrepreneur, a VC, a father, mother, or just someone looking for inspiration, give the book a try. I’ve also noticed a few of the regulars on my feed reader read the book over the break and gave it a great review- Brad Feld from Mobius Venture Capital and The Gotham Gal . Thank You, as the story means a ton to myself and more importantly my family. All in all, entrepreneurs have a much larger duty than to “exit and make some money to buy yachts”. We have a duty to improve society and the lives of those that are less fortunate. Maybe our companies will do good, or maybe the success God blesses us with will allow us to good. Good Night and God Bless.
[tags] family, the cure, john crowley, pompe’s disease [/tags]

If you know me well, you know my goal is to exit one or two companies, maybe do the VC thing, but ultimately have enough money to give back and educate about entrepreneurship and technology.  I’m working on volunteering my time to a boys and girls club in Miami to teach kids about technology and entrepreneurship.  If you know of anything like it, that could use my help in Miami pleease let me know. Anyway, when I was about 16, I was part of a program called Presidential Classroom.  It was a week long program that let bright students around the globe engage in a mock united nations debate.  Think about it as Model UN on steroids.  The program also took students around DC, introduced them to other students, and let them listen to guest speakers. I think the same program would be awesome for students in high school interested in entrepreneurship (specifically juniors and seniors).  Let them develop a company over a week, present it, interact with students, get investor feedback,etc.  Have guest speakers, take them on tours of tech companies,etc.  I think this would be an awesome experience.  Just a random thought in my mind.  If anyone knows of something like this, or just wants to shoot around ideas about this, please contact me at: jason [at] publictivity.com.

[tags] presidential classroom, web 2.0, entrepreneurship, publictivity, goals [/tags]

I’ve watched Startup.com multiple times. Last time I had watched the movie was about 14 months ago, right after Frank and I decided we were going to leave my first venture to strike it out on our own. Watching the movie again, I’ve noticed I’ve learned a LOT. I think you really notice how much you learn, by going back and looking at old scenarios later on in life. Startup.com is an interesting movie, and brings out the best and worst of the old dotcom bubble. I think there’s a few obvious and huge errors the guys made at GovWorks:

Focus

For a ten minute period, about twenty minutes into the film, Tom and Kaleil are arguing about focus. They’re both on different pages, and worst of all in front of a VC that’s invested in them. Why in God’s name are they arguing about focus after raising a round of money? This is Startup 101 stuff, get your focus down. Yes, you will have to adapt, but without a simple focus, your startup is done. Example: Riya.com, now Like.com has adapted and changed, but their focus is the same: facial and visual recognition technology. They have adapted it to search recognition, but it’s still the same business. Look at Facebook, connecting people through a social directory. Three years down the road and it’s the same focus, but expanded outwards. There are three levels of focus throughout the business:

1. First Initial Focus: We provide X for Market Y, which makes Market Y work better.

2.Adaption Focus: Keeping the same focus, while adapting to feedback from your customers. Make the business better, but still Provide X for Market Y, to make Market Y better.

3. Expansion Focus: Take what you’ve done in Step 1, and expand it to other vertical businesses. Keep the same core focus of the business, but do it for Market X and its coordinated verticals.

Relationships

Business is all about relationships. There is nothing more important than relationships. Your cofounders? Should be like brothers. Your Investors and VCs? Should be like fatherly figures for advice, not Warlords. Granted they NEED to be hardasses. In Startup.com, the company lost TWO of its cofounders. It seemed to be at odds and constantly fearful of their VCs. Everyone that you have a business relationship needs to do one simple thing: GET IT. Either they get it or they don’t get it. They need to see the same vision as you. Without that, it’s not a relationship, but two people fumbling around trying to explain some odd contraption to each other. Get Co-Founders who you trust like family and VCs that are with you.

Don’t Be a Fool With the Money

I know it was the bubble, but please don’t be an idiot with the money. 30 employees, only 200k in the bank,etc. WTF? By the way, did they even run a damned company. All I saw were trips to the Valley and across to New York to raise more money. The valuations I heard, seemed like they were diluted to hell and back. The product wasn’t even close to being launched and they were burning through money. I’d love to see with how little money and scarce resources that a Web 2.0 company could build something like GovWorks. I’d be astonished. You know what, we’re not in a bubble. We have startups who are more nimble and can do it with very little money. Not to tout my horn, but we’re a small team of 3 right now and are building this product with very little money. Why else aren’t we in a bubble? The products are more focused. They may seem ridiculous to some, but that’s because they’re not mainstream products. The products are niche. They serve actual needs that people actually have. Calling this a bubble brings pageviews, that sells advertisements. It’s not a bubble, and I’m happy to be in Web 2.0.

[tags] web 2.0, web 1.0, startup.com, publictivity, startups, failures, riya, like.com [/tags]

If you’re reading this blog, you probably know what Tech Crunch is. It’s the place to go for Web 2.0 reviews and information. It’s run by Mike Arrington, and now includes many blogs in the “Crunch Network”. I met Mike, who was a very humble guy just taking some pictures, at an event that was thrown at the famous Tech Crunch House/Ranch in September by Noah Kagan. It was a VC vs. Entrepreneur Wine Tasting Event. Yes, the VCs beat us. Anyway, Mike is at over 139,000 readers, and that’s happened in less than a year and a half. When I was searching the internet a few months ago, I somehow stumbled upon Mike’s first personal blog. I think this is really cool to see, and an inspiration for bloggers as well. It shows when mike was just starting out with Tech Crunch and had just gotten into blogging. One post shows “Tech Crunch Gaining Subscribers“… 63 Subscribers. Well, hes at more than 2,000 times that. There’s a lesson to be learned here: Even the the big guys were once just “starting out”. We all long to get to the place where “We’re kind of a big Deal”, but sometimes don’t want to wait. It happens, and one day you’ll be there if you do two things: Stay Patient and Stay Focused. We all have to go through the rites of passage and pay our dues. I haven’t fully paid my dues, but I’ve been doing the startup thing for 2 years, and I will tell you: Failure Rocks. It will increase your knowledge exponentially. So in the end, stay focused and stay patient, because one day you can be a big deal too.

[tags] tech crunch, mike arrington, web 2.0, publictivity, blogging, noah kagan, failure, learning [/tags]

So this is sort of a rant and sort of a business post.  I went to pick my car up before heading up north two hours for Thanksgiving.  Something had been wrong with the coolant/ hoses.  When I got there I had been hit with some pretty random charges.  They also diagnosed my vehicle for a new warranty, and said in order to get the warranty I’d have to spend over 5,000.  Keep in mind, they suggested Pirelli P Zero Tires. WTF, those are un-needed and cost about 500 dollars each?  I also had been given only two days of coverage with a Rental Car, instead of three, “just because”  So I asked to talk to the manager.  He was polite at FIRST.  He said he would reduce the pricing, then turned around and literally a second later told me to go screw myself, this is the bill, and I’m not helping you.  I asked politely if he could tell me why there was a certain change in attitude. He said, that it was none of my business, to pay my bill (which was $200 and they didn’t even fix anything), and get going.  Bottom Line, this act of straight up rudeness lost a customer and possibly more.  I would travel to this dealership, which is in Ft. Lauderdale, all the way from Miami, just because of their exceptional service.  If you’re going to run a company and a business, every single employee from the janitor to the CEO has to understand customer service and be exceptional at it.  One of the core tenants of our business and the way we plan to make ourselves known is through exceptional customer service.  We’re going to offer 24/7 Customer Support for Free to All levels of membership. I’m also going to have my personal number public, along with my email.  Keep your customers satisfied, and you will keep them for life.  Be rude to you customers, and you will lose them for life.  I think Rackspace puts it best: Fanatical Support.  Be fanatical about your customers, you work for them, they are your boss.  Have any other good examples of customer service? Let me know.

[tags] customer service, support, miami, ft lauderdale, web 2.0, rackspace,publictivity [/tags]

Ahh, so everyone is curious what exactly happened to theWeblogWire. Let me give you the background story. In early June, Frank and I, had decided that we wanted to start developing technology for the Public Relations industry. We stumbled upon the opportunity, just due to interest at looking at the market opportunity. Frank and I had been spending the past 9 or so months evaluating opportunities and startup ideas. Some were built, some were just conceptualized,etc. We figured, hey why not at least look at the PR Software Market, and Frank had a PR firm contact. Well, it turns out, the PR industry was ripe for some great software, especially on-demand software. It really just hit us the right way. Know when you see that beautiful girl for the first time? This was her, in a business form. Boy was she looking good. At the same time, Brian Breslin, who designed theWeblogWire, was interested in doing a startup for 500 dollars in under 1-2 weeks. We said, hell why not? Let’s break into the PR industry by creating some initial buzz, and generate some leads for our main focus: Publictivity (at the time, StartPR and originally: Software Services). At worst, we’d gain some credibility, insight, and buzz, and at best, a real money maker. Fast forward a two months into it… we realized theWeblogWire would be a startup itself, requiring tons of time. We were so involved with Publictivity, that we just couldn’t handle a side project. So Frank and I made a decision (Brian stayed working for his design firm Infinimedia) to be focused. theWeblogWire was near and dear to our hearts, but personal emotions cannot get in the way of a business… it just can’t. So we decided we were going to let theWeblogWire be, and stay focused 110% on Publictivity. It was a valuable lesson for us: Stay Focused and Keep Your Eye on the Prize. If I can give ANY piece of advice to an entrepreneur, it is to just stay focused. This whole entrepreneur thing takes time. When you’re underfunded, understaffed, underexposed, and underdogged you need EVERY ounce of energy you can get. I hope this clears any questions up that some of you might have. If you used the service, Thank You!

[tags] theweblogwire, publictivity, web 2.0, startups, pr, startpr, public relations, software on demand, sas [/tags]

I Think this is my first time venturing into a topic that involves public relations, journalism, and technology. I’m a big fan of Marc Benioff and what he’s done with SalesForce, and the on-demand industry. It’s a huge inspiration to what we have planned here at Publictivity. Nick Denton at ValleyWag broke the story of Marc Benioff and his interaction with Pui-Wing Tam. To get a really simple overview of the situation, go see what Tom Foremski has to say at Silicon Valley Watcher.

There’s a Fine Line

There’s a very fine line between a person’s privacy rights, and the freedom of the press. The Recent HP Board scare, which Pui Wing was involved with scared a lot of Silicon Valley High-Ups, and rightfully so. I can understand Marc’s need to privacy, but having her arrested may have gone too far. I don’t know everything about the situation. Emotions were probably running high.
Some Things Are Meant To Be Kept Personal

Marc supposedly flew to the WSJ offices to “browbeat” top officials there. Some things are just meant to be kept personal. The press has a duty, and every right to report on issues. If they didn’t, freedom of speech wouldn’t be where it is today. In this case though, mentioning the arrest and the details of it, would have created un-needed drama. It would have erupted a whole new situation, which is happening already due to Denton’s reporting. This situation would have been bad for all parties involved. It’s good to stay away from the Tabloid articles, that focus on nothing, but creating un-needed drama.

Just a simple post, since it is something that’s been running through my head. Feel free to correct me on many facts, as this seems quite intricate. More posts to come later in between work.
[tags] silicon valley watch, valleywag, nick denton, gawker, salesforce,WSJ, marc benioff, reporting, hawaii [/tags]

It’s great to hear Web 2.0 startups exiting, as it is the pinnacle of any entrepreneurs career.  Today we saw two awesome startups, Bix and MyBlogLog sell to Yahoo!. Check out the tech crunch links for the juicy details. Once again, Congratulations guys!  Feel free to comment who is next.  No, not publictivity…yet.

[tags] startups, web 2.0, entrepreneurship, exit, bix, mybloglog, tech crunch, congratulations [/tags]

If we linked to you, don’t worry, this blog will be up this week. Just testing

[tags] web 2.0, public relations [/tags]