February 2012
1 post
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Why I love the Whole Planet Foundation even though...
I’ve always wondered how a libertarian CEO like John Mackey - running a company popular with liberals - deals with the touchy subject of charity. It’s a fact, Whole Foods ‘donates’ a lot of money to charity. But after having my cereal this morning I discovered something really interesting printed on the side of the box.
They’re not actually “giving”...
January 2012
1 post
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December 2011
9 posts
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Seasteading: Cities on the ocean | The Economist →
Sign me up. I’m joining legendary founder of PayPal and tech investor Peter Thiel on the high seas! (and cool to learn he’s a Libertarian). Great overview of Seasteading pros, cons, and challenges. This should resonate with startup founders and entrepreneurs.
“The idea is to convert a cruise liner into an offshore “incubator” for small, high-tech start-ups and position it just...
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Trust and Personal Scaling →
via continuations
“I have had the privilege of observing a number of founders grow their companies from just a few people to over a hundred employees. Leaving all the other growth challenges aside, I have come to conclude that personal scaling is the most important issue. By personal scaling I mean figuring out how…”
I’m going through this now and it’s really...
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“The best thing you can do for a prospect is eliminate her fear. Offer a trial...”
– Harry Beckwith, Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing. Think about how much of the marketing mix is devoted to eliminating fear. Practically all of it! Free trials, 1-800 numbers, FAQs, SSL logos, BBB logos, no credit card required, cancel anytime, money back guarantee, free...
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Boulder’s Entrepreneurial Weakness – Space →
Brad Feld, a local Colorado VC, just wrote an interesting article about Boulder’s startup space problem. I couldn’t resist and left the following as a comment on his post…
I know this won’t happen, but I secretly wish the Boulder entreprenural community was transplanted to LoDo Denver. Specifically, the part of downtown North West of Market Street. LoDo is remarkably...
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US Postal Service will lose $15 billion next year,... →
A great example of how the government ‘runs’ a company. Un-freaking believable.
For the record, I have no problem with any business restructuring or cutting costs however they see fit. But check out the backwards way the government goes about it, largely because of the massive bureaucracy and handcuffs they’ve chained themselves to. Having to run every change by Congress, a...
November 2011
18 posts
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“China and India are likely to produce many rigorous analytical thinkers and...”
– Walter Isaacson, the author of Steve Jobs. From the wonderful NY Times article Steve Job’s Genius.
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“Have we forgotten to say thank you? Have you forgotten? Do you thank people...”
– Harry Beckwith, Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing. Thought this was a great Thanksgiving quote!
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Where to live in Denver: Best neighborhoods for...
I recently moved out of Boulder into a friend’s cono in Lakewood (or Lakehood as I sometimes call it). It’s a great temporary spot but I’m still in the market to buy. Only problem is, I can’t decide where to live! Here’s my most recent heat map of awesome (colored green) and pretty-awesome places to live (yellow) based on my criteria…
The idea here is to be...
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How SOPA Works [Infographic]
I can’t believe it. Well, actually I can - because everything Ayn Rand wrote in Atlas Shrugged is coming true right before our eyes.
Obviously this bill needs to be stopped (along with 99% of all other legislation from all political parties).
But my real view?
I’ve actually given up on ‘reforming’ the government or ‘stopping’ legislation. The more I look...
“People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants....”
– Elizabeth Gilbert; Eat, Pray, Love. I’d argue this is equally true in business. Rule of thumb - business is exactly like marriage and romantic relationships, without the sex!
Jason Fried on telling your story with video →
If you didn’t already know, I’m a huge 37signals fan. This is their latest brilliant move - filming everything they do. I’ve always wondered why more startups don’t create reality-style episodes. Bloomberg TechStars TV and This Week In TechStars is a great example of what I’m talking about. I fully expect 37signals will be as good, or better.
Food for thought,...
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Rules as Excuses →
There is something worse than breaking the rules—following the utterly pointless ones. The reality is that most rules are dumb. And poorly thought out. And an impediment to action. They tell us how to dress. How to think. Make us be like everyone else. The more banal the rule, the more likely it is to have these effects—less reason for existing for smart people. These rules steal our time and our...
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Facebook’s Zuckerberg: I would not have moved to... →
Zuck says he’d do things differently if he was starting Facebook now, namely not moving his company to Silicon Valley.
I found this interesting, knowing so many entrepreneurs who’ve moved to the valley ‘just because’ it’s what everyone else is doing. Or they think there are more qualified people to work at their startup (there are, but there’s also 100x more...
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“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for...”
– Elizabeth Gilbert; Eat, Pray, Love.
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Dropbox's unconventional approach to marketing →
Super interesting article in general, but really peaked my interest because Dropbox is selling a solution to a problem people don’t even know exists. This is similar to SwagLove, people don’t know there is a company that will do all of the work for you, they have no idea. But then there’s the “ah ha” moment when they find out.
Also, similar to our company:
...
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PDF: Building a profitable online business: what... →
Great article from Brian Clark of Copyblogger Media. Highlights:
The Internet:
- Allows for two-way communication (dialogue);
- Facilitates anytime access to information and continuous learning;
- Promotes community.
The Internet is a relationship medium. And it’s a perfect medium for promoting the relationship between those who can teach and those who need to learn for the rest of their...
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A sister's eulogy for Steve Jobs →
Originally published in the New York Times, an amazingly well-written and moving piece about Steve’s life from his biological sister. An acclaimed novelist, Mona Simpson writes about his life, his illness, and his death. His last words were “Oh, Wow. Oh, Wow. Oh, Wow” - looking at his family and his wife.
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“Those three things—autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and...”
– Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success.
Thinking of this statement in terms of my own life, I’d say I have autonomy and complexity nailed. I do what I want, and it’s damn hard. But I need to work on #3 - the connection between effort and reward. I’m exerting a ton of...
October 2011
2 posts
“It stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting...”
– Ayn Rand
September 2011
1 post
I've been writing... elsewhere!
I’ve been writing elsewhere, mainly on the Printfection/ SwagLove Blog. Here’s a few of the more popular posts. If you like them, subscribe to my company blog as well!
Attacking three sucky excuses for not marketing It took me years before I understood the basics of marketing. Here are three big excuses I told myself, over and over!
Unsexy Companies I love boring, profitable...
January 2011
1 post
Speaking at Metrics Marketing Bootcamp
I’m excited to be a part of Metrics Marketing Bootcamp, a three-evening event in Boulder February 7-9th. Marketing can be measured like never before. But what do you measure, how do you measure it, and what are your targets? Come to the Bootcamp and find out! I’m going to be talking about the lifetime value of a customer, how to calculate it, and how it affects your cost...
September 2010
1 post
Hear me Speak: How to Build a Million Dollar...
I’m speaking at the DaVinci Institute on Monday, September 27th at 6:30pm. My talk is titled From the Dorm Room to the Board Room: How to Build a Million-Dollar Startup. I’m going to talk about how we started Printfection in our dorm room while going to school full-time and grew it to a real business with real revenues and profits! I’m also hoping the audience comes prepared with...
July 2010
1 post
You're a lot less influential than you think
I’m a huge fan of Bob Parsons, the founder of GoDaddy. I have his 16 rules poster hanging in my office. I watch his cheesy video blogs religously. I like his unique style.
Recently I was on a family trip to Crested Butte. In the middle of a heated arguement, the sleazy motorcycle guy from Arizona popped into my head shouting “it’s been two hours and you’ve gotten...
April 2009
1 post
Denver vs Boulder for Startups, Entrepreneurs, and...
I’ve been in a year long battle trying to weigh the pros and cons of Denver vs Boulder for personal living and for my startup. My apartment lease is up in 45 days (and I don’t want to renew it) so I’ve been thinking real hard about where I want to live next & where I want to work should we ever move our office from its current Denver location.
I hope my thought process sheds...
February 2009
1 post
Next Door Neighbor's House Burns to Ground in...
Last night at 2 AM I wake up to a police man banging like hell on my front door. I have no idea the neighbor’s house is engulfed in flames 30 feet high until I walk up the stairs from my basement bedroom. The living room is bright as day with a nasty cast of orange. Out the windows I can see flames rising 10-20 feet above my neighbor’s roof and only mere feet from the side of our...
January 2009
2 posts
Switched from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps &...
It’s been a week since we decided to switch our company, Printfection, from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. I’m ecstatic to report we couldn’t be happier and wish we’d made this switch a long time ago.
The switch over happened last Saturday and took us about 10 hours of solid, hard work plus a few more hours of tweaking to get everything working right. We expect to save...
Switching from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps:...
Tomorrow we’re switching our company from Microsoft Hosted Exchange to Google Apps. This should be an interesting transition and I hope to blog again in a week or two after we’re Microsoft-free!
Background: A few years ago, frustrated with a standard Outlook/ IMAP/ Linux mail server configuration, we signed up with USA.net Hosted Exchange. At first we were thrilled. It was a much more...
May 2008
2 posts
Startup Story Radio podcasts me!
A few weeks ago I met serial entrepreneur Rob McNealy. Rob featured me in a postcast interview and magazine column last week for Startup Story Radio and ColoradoBiz magazine. Thanks Rob! The interview discusses how Printfection started, the challenges & benefits of being a young entrepreneur, and the future plans for Printfection. Grab the MP3 here.
Denver Post available on the Kindle
Amazon’s expanding the number of newspapers, magazines, and books available for the Kindle. Today I found out the Denver Post is available on the Kindle. Finally, a local newspaper (I love the WSJ but also like to keep up on the local news too). I’m excited to see how the Kindle format works out— I’ll update this post after I have a chance to try it out! Still on the wish...
February 2008
1 post
20 Mbps Fiber Internet
Today our IT department turned up a new 20 Mbps fiber line at our office :)
Sitting at my desk I clocked over 2MB/sec from Microsoft’s download servers:
What’s even cooler is the fact Qwest really installed a 1 Gbps line and choked it down to 20 Mbps in the Cisco box. 1 Gbps Internet is just a phone call (and a fat MRC) away.
January 2008
2 posts
Start-Up Junkies, a Really Cool Reality TV Show!
A new reality TV show premiered last week on MOJO HD called Start-Up Junkies. I’m not very big into reality TV, but this show is great. The first season gives you an inside look at Earth Class Mail, a start-up I blogged about last week. The first episode follows around the CEO as he tries to raise his first round of venture capital. The entire season is viewable on-line, so even if you...
Simplifying Life with SimulScribe and Earth Class...
Since the start of 2008 I’ve been trying to simplify my life. Naturally, I turned to technology-based solutions to help me accomplish my new year’s resolution.
The first thing I did on January 1, 2008 was sign up for SimulScribe. This was a good decision - I’ll never have to listen to another voice mail… ever! More about this wonderful service in a future blog post.
My...
March 2007
1 post
Hello world!
After learning what a blog was in 2004 and finally understanding RSS in 2005, I’ve started my own blog (2007). We’ll see how this goes.. I’m a busy guy focusing all my energy on Printfection. Hopefully I’ll find time for a blog post now and then!