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’m probably a little bit late on this topic (all of 12 hours), but I find it to be an important one. The Yahoo! memo by Grad Garlinghouse, that was leaked today finally let’s Yahoo! come clean: they’re in trouble. They’ve spread themselves too thin and are way too big, is the basic overview of the letter. How can Yahoo! fix the problem? THINK LIKE A STARTUP. Best of all, Yahoo! has some of THE best startup talent out there ie- Flickr, Delicious, Bix, etc. Yahoo! is brewing with startup ideology, and it needs to be let loose. Right now, Yahoo! feels like a boring old traditional media company. That’s a shame, because I’ve always loved Yahoo!, and still do. Yahoo! was one of the first sites I used as a kid, at about the age of 11. So here are the startup tips Yahoo! needs to focus on:

Focus- Find a clear and simple message for the company. What are you going to make your mission internally, and then how can that be displayed to the public. Is it search, is it advertising, is it social media,etc? What do you want people to start thinking of Yahoo! for starting 2007 on. Startups need to focus on something and do it right, ask any VC or entrepreneur. Yahoo! needs the same from itself
Consolidate- There are way too many Yahoo! products doing the same damn thing. This is an identity crisis for the user, and it takes away mind share. Yes, delicious is growing, but it will never become monstrous with MyYahoo. Same with Flickr. Stop confusing your users. Unify everything, and consolidate it. Think about it, all the good startups are clear with what their product features do. They definitely don’t have repetitive ones.

Bring Out Leaders- Get rid of the hierachy that is too entagled, but create leaders. With the consolidation of products and focus, it needs to be glued together by GREAT LEADERS. The same way startups work because of who leads them, is the same way Yahoo! can succeed if it has larger than life leaders in the company.

Be Smart With You Money aka Bang For Your Buck- No you don’t need to buy Facebook to shock and awe the world with a big acquisition. That’s right, get rid of your “Google bought youtube” pride. Startups are known for doing A LOT more with A LOT less. Snatching up smaller companies in the 10-30 million dollar range is a great move, and something Yahoo! has been doing. DON’T SPEND, JUST TO SHOW OFF.

Is it stupid of me to suggest that Yahoo! can succeed by acting like a startup? Maybe. Something has to happen. Yahoo! is getting to be big, boring, and just the status quo like AOL. I love Yahoo!, and I believe that they will reinvent themselves. It will be one hell of a ride.

PS- Peanut butter Sucks

[tags] yahoo, web 2.0, startups, memo, google, youtube, facebook, delicious, flickr, publictivity,tech crunch, Brad Garlinghouse [/tags]

We had internally called Publictivity, StartPR for the better part of five months. We officially decided upon a launch name for the project about a month ago. Frank gets the credit on this one. Publictivity, if you couldn’t tell is a combination of Productivity and Public Relations. So what are the steps towards getting the right logo for your startup? There’s quite a few, and I’ll guide you through what we went through in the past few weeks:

Overall Feel-Overall feel of a logo is the huge first step. It should coincide with what your product defines. In our case, we’re business software. We had to go with a more professional and straight forward logo. If you’re a consumer app, or possibly a brick and mortar business, there are other feels. Consumer apps tend to be more bold, “fun looking”,etc. Brick and Mortar businesses tend to have a feel that can easily translate into a physical logo to place above the store.

The Colors-Most likely, you will have started some of the design for your application. If so, pick colors that match the application or compliment the scheme. You’re also going to want to have “alternate colors” developed, that will present alternate options. This is pretty straight forward. If you haven’t picked the colors for the design of your app, then you should do that first.

The “StandOut”-What is going to be noticeable about the logo? Sometimes it is a graphically designed letter, an accompanying icon, or something very clever. Look at FedEX’s logo. Inbetween The E and the X, it forms an arrow. Very cool, right? In our logo, we have the P designed graphically. In MySpace’s logo, there are the group of people. Basically, pick something that makes the logo distinguish itself. Make it a talking point, or something that if a person was only able to see that part of the logo, they would know it was your company.

The Slogan-This is sometimes very easy or very hard. We had to play around with words. At first, we had it as: Making Public Relations Productive. Well, that was kind of arrogant. We made it seem like PR practitioners did nothing all day long, which is far from true. Then we had Making Public Relations More Productive…. whoops. We’re a combination of productivity and public relations, not productive and public relations. Finally it came down to: Increasing Productivity in Public Relations. Not arrogant, and had productivity. The slogan should be your ethos, the one sentence that defines your product. For example, Sales Force is “Success On Demand”. It defines that their product is on-demand, and gives you the feel that it increases your productivity. Very short and very simple. Perfect.

Picking a Design Company-First rule of thumb… DONT CHEAP OUT. You will pay for it in the long run. The extra 75 dollars you save, will bite you in the ass. It will cost you more time, energy, and give you a logo you don’t want. Also be sure to check that you retain the IP rights to the logo. Also look up some past reviews on the company. In our case we went with LogoJeez. Reason being? NOTHING TO PAY UP FRONT. That’s right, they do all the work, and if you don’t like it, you don’t pay. We got 5 different options, and from those 5 different options we could revise one logo upto four times. Hands down, go with LogoJeez. We were able to receive a discount that made the bottomline price 208 dollars. Well worth it.

Revising It-This depends which company you go with. At the end of the day, you need to be picky. Revise it, and add what you really want… you’re paying for it! We used all four rounds of revisions we were allowed. Also, modify the version you get in photoshop, and send back detailed instructions to the artist. Trust me, this helps. No one can see what you see, but it helps them get closer to it.

So thats about all. Your logo is important, and take your time with it. This is the logo, slogan, and branding that will *hopefully* be seen by millions of people, and most importantly YOUR CUSTOMERS.

[tags] web 2.0, logos, logo design, logojeez, corporate branding, publictivity, myspace, web 2.0 logo design, tutorial, startup logos, startups, fedex [/tags]

I’m from New Jersey, if you already don’t know. I was proudly born and raised in Norwood, NJ, a town only a few miles from New York City. Growing up, 50% of everyone you knew would attend Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Some of my best friends go there, and I’ve even taken a class there in the past. If you haven’t partied there, trust me you ARE missing out. This is coming from someone who has gone to the University of Miami, so trust me on this. Anyway, up until recently, more like this year, Rutgers football, well hasn’t been anything too amazing. Fast forward to this year, and Rutgers is a Top 10 football program, that’s right, and undefeated. One of the key ingredients according to their Fearsome Leader, Greg Schiano, is “The Chop”. What is it? Simply put:

“Coach Greg Schiano has instilled the phrase with the No. 14 Scarlet Knights, his way of telling the team to maintain focus no matter what the situation. “

This applies easily to a football game, but it applies to business just as easily. Here are some simple scenarios where “The Chop” applies to business.

1.) STAY FOCUSED

A startup will throw you tons of curve balls. Your team is small, your budget is limited (even if you are venture or angel funded), and your immediate future is uncertain. This may even be your first startup, which makes it even harder. The best thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to keep moving forward. Set your goals up, and then knock them down. If things come along in between… which they will, ignore the drama/ bullshit, and take care of the very few that are important. Once that’s done, get back to your goals and keep chopping. If you have a goal, just get it done. SEE A GOAL, CHOP IT DOWN UNTIL IT IS FINISHED.
2.) Adapt And Keep Moving

In Football, you may lose your quarterback due to injury in the second quarter or receive an unjust penalty. Guess what? Life is unfair. Football teams that succeed adapt to the changes, and stay focused on their goal of winning the game. As an entrepreneur, you may get thrown curveballs, have a venture deal fall through, lose a partnership, have downtime, lose a key team-mate,etc. The best thing you can do is understand the situation, take it in, and ADAPT. Once you’ve adapted, stay focused on your goals. See a curveball, CHOP IT DOWN.

I hope everyone found this useful. Entrepreneurship is a lot like a football game:

• It is long. Football is not one quarter, one game, but a series of games leading to a championship. Sometimes games have overtime. YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT FOR THE LONG RUN.
• You will lose. It’s inevitable, you will lose some games. You really lose, if you do not learn what you did wrong during those games. Same thing with entrepreneurship. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.
• It is a team sport. Football is a team sport, and the best teams succeed. Entrepreneurship is the same. Ask any venture investor, potential hire, advisor, or even seasoned co-founder… THE BET IS PLACED ON THE TEAM.

I’m not a sports expert by any means. If anyone has any contributions to this post ie- analogies, insight,etc. post them in the comments. I’ll add them to the post. Thanks again everyone.

[tags] rutgers, football, bcs, rutgers football, greg schiano, new jersey, entrepreneurship, rutgers chop, the rutgers chop, scarlet knights, business, web 2.0, blogging, startups, jason l. baptiste [/tags]