A blog for entrepreneurs

Consulting Gigs

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:08:00 +0000

I speak to many bootstrapping start-ups and get the same response over and over "I consult on the side to help build my company". Company founders that are sacrificing their own income to pay others in order to deliver products and grow their company are pretty special I think and good people to have on your side.

I've been consulting ever since I left Ciena over three years ago and it has worked out very well for everyone involved. My main focus and strength is to connect companies to their potential customers to answer critical questions and ultimately achieve early market success.

In some cases, my client is exploring a new product or market and needs some early customer validation. Are we building something people will buy? If not, what do we need to change? Should we sell direct, partner or OEM/white label? Important questions I help companies answer and something I'm super passionate about.

In many cases my clients are early stage companies and launching or developing the company and first product. This is an incredibly crucial time and I help them get over the hump. I even do it pro-bono for friends and ex-colleagues in many cases ... people call, ask for help and I provide it. Don't get any ideas though ... you have to be pretty special for that to happen :)

In nearly every case, my involvement led the company to realize that what they were building wasn't the right thing. Fortunately, in many cases, the customer involvement led them to realize what they should be building instead and what the business model should be.

So what do I do to achieve success for my clients?

1. Marketing collateral
Let's face it, most collateral and especially Powerpoint presentations suck ... very badly. I'm very good at this and help companies boil down their messaging to the key value proposition .... especially from the perspective of their potential customer.

2. Customer engagement
At the early stages, meeting directly with potential customers is key. I tap my extensive network of contacts that range from media companies to Telecom carriers as necessary to help initiate a first meeting.

I have often led the initial meetings, including presenting the company or product. I dig in deep and become part of your team. After the initial three or four meetings with a particular customer, I tend to move to the background to promote a deeper relationship between your company and the customer.

3. Pre-sales
I don't do pure sales for companies but have been directly involved in the pre-sales aspect many times. This includes research (who are the potential customers, names and numbers, hot buttons and customer motivation), strategy, collateral creation and initial customer interaction.

I have deep experience in the Telecom world and dealing directly with carriers but my last four years have been focused on the web including on-line strategy, video, social networks and media, and e-commerce. I blog and tweet heavily and am deeply entrenched in on-line worlds. FaveQuest is a social media platform which helps brands, especially those in the media and entertainment space, tap social networks and utilities.

Feel free to check me out on linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/allanisfan or better yet google me :)

Cheers,
Allan
allan.isfan[at]gmail.com

I might be on a SXSW Panel next march

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Been a crazy summer with Bluesfest in July then an incredible vacation in Europe with the family. Financially not great timing but mentally could not have been better.

In the midst of all that, I was asked to join a proposed panel at SXSW on Social Media ROI. Check out my blog post on the Favequest corporate site to get some perspective on this interesting topic. I touches on only two ways to generate and measure social media ROI. Many more to come.

http://bit.ly/mGprD

Cheers,
Allan

about passion

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:06:00 +0000

I once asked myself: "what is the one thing that you would like to do more of but just don't get a chance to?". If you haven't asked yourself this question, you really ought to.

My answer: experience live music.

I used to have a band practice in my basement, have held outdoor parties with live music and pretty well live at the Ottawa Bluesfest every year in July. I also like to head up to the Black Sheep in Wakefiled as often as I can. That is actually where I discovered Lindsay Ferguson (http://www.lindsayferguson.com/), an amazing musician that I invited to play at this years Isfan Palooza (June 27th).

Entrepreneur's often advise you to follow your passions when it comes to business and I must admit I didn't heed their advice soon enough. However, FaveQuest is now deeply into the live music business with the launch of the Bluesfest Viewtube and we have many more surprises on this front coming imminently. It feels good. I highly recommend it!

It makes so much difference to be involved in a business and domain you are passionate about. It feels right, you have much more energy, have better ideas and push yourself that much harder. I think the passion also shines through and your customers see it. They see it when you pitch them and they see it when you over deliver.

Do you have something you're really passionate about that could be a business? I bet you there is! Please share and I bet you there's something I can do to help you (motivation, ideas, connections ...). So drop me a comment and let's chat.

Cheers,
Allan
PS. I'm also passionate about new communication tools and am fortunate to have been selected as a "character" at the 140conf conference in NYC June 16 & 17th.

new post on favequest blog

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sat, 02 May 2009 07:50:00 +0000

Hey Everyone,

I have a new blog and some new blog posts I think you will find interesting specifically about FaveQuest. I will continue to blog here on startup issues, which reminds me, I've organized another Founders and Funders event on May 20. More information here http://www.startupottawa.com/?p=1118 (I'm a contributing blogger on Startup Ottawa

Ok, so here's the FaveQuest blog

http://favequest.com/blog/

Cheers,
Allan

The SUPERWEB: YOU win

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 05:47:00 +0000

Nasty three way tug of war

There's a three way tug of war going on in mobile and it is going to create massive disruptions in the web which is great news for smart entrepreneurs and great for consumers. Read on.

Two major and radically different worlds are about to collide: the fixed web and the mobile web. We're not quite there yet. A number of websites are not quite easy to navigate on a smartphone (even the iphone), there are missing components on the security side which prevent me from logging on to a number of accounts (I can't do banking for example) and so on. We're not there yeat but we're really close and what will result is one superweb.

Furthermore, accessing this superweb from a mobile device will provide some extra features and services that only make sense with a mobile device: GPS, presence, mobile coupons, mobile payments and so on (many of these services already exist). So while the mobile web is inferior to the fixed web for now, accessing the superweb from mobile will allow us to actually do more. I think that is really cool.

Actually, it is more than cool, it is HUGE
The significance of this superweb coupled with all the app stores popping up everywhere, is that anyone can now provide value to mobile customers in the form of applications and services and with value shift comes a shift in dollars. But how are the dollars going to shift?

Handset manufacturing playing tug of war with carriers
Mobile carriers (Rogers Wireless, ATT, Verizon, Orange, Vodafone ...) have traditionally controlled the end mobile consumer in terms of the critical piece: billing. Any service on your mobile (long distance, voice mail, text messaging, ringtones) was payable to the mobile carrier. However, handset manufacturers are wrestling that away from them with things like app stores. Nokia even announced that it will be including skype with some phones (will start with N97). Nokia might as well just put up their middle finger to the carriers.

An even more concrete example: I bought a twitter app from the app store for 99 cents and my carrier got absolutely nothing for that (Apple and the app developer share that revenue). Add webservices that bypass even the app stores and you can easily see the danger carriers are in: becoming the big dumb pipe. Of course, they hate that. All is not lost for the carriers of course,they are doing some cool stuff too, but that is the subject of another post (I don't think carriers are evil BTW).

Web developers playing tug of war with handset manufacturers and carriers
This one is less obvious but hang on for a bit, I'll explain. Right now, wireless bandwidth is still poor, mobile browsers are sucky and people haven't yet figured out how to build good mobile websites. Apps provide far superior functionality and usability on a mobile phone which explains why they are doing so well. This walled garden is not going to last more than a few years. PCs are now moving more and more to web services in the cloud instead of on-board applications you have to download. This same trend is going to happen in mobile devices since after all, they are simply very small, always connected little computers.

So basically, all seems fairly quiet with everyone catching up to Apple and all major handset dudes positioning themseleves to cut out the carriers from the applications market. While that is happening, bazillions of web people will ultimately be able to reach the consumer directly and cut out even the handset dudes. Fun stuff. Will be interesting to see how it will shake out .... either way though, it will no longer be business as usual which hopefully creates opportunities for you.

Cheers,
Allan Isfan
CEO, FaveQuest

TOUCH me, I'm Sexy: Mobile World Congress Theme

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 05:14:00 +0000

I just attended the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona and the clear main theme was: TOUCH me, I'm sexy.

Take a look at this picture very quickly.

What do you think it is? Yes, you are correct, it is the new LG Arena with the 3D S-Class UI. You didn't think it was an iPhone did you?

Then there is Samsung's new "TOUCH", at first look, very similar to the iPhone.

There's also Microsoft Mobile 6.5 (out second half of the year) which is sporting an apple style icon based touch screen (demo of 6.5 appeared really buggy ... shocking, I know). I can go on and on. This year's Mobile World Congress was definitely about sexy touch screen apple killers.

I was unimpressed by nearly all of them (didn't play with the Palm Pre) but I did find one exception: the Nokia N97 coming out in June. At 520 Euro, not for the faint of heart but it certainly looks to be very capable with many smart usability features, slim formafactor, touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard.

You've heard of the iPhone App store right? Google had already recently announced an app store for mobile devices using their Android operating systems. Well, Nokia and Microsoft both announced their own equivalent stores at the show (Nokia's OVI Store, Microsoft's Windows Mobile Marketplace) and there are several others ones as well. These app stores are a real boon to entrepreneurs allowing many of to finally easily play in the mobile space. Though app stores are not new, they are a big deal.

This is the first time at Mobile World congress that I don't detect any true innovation or NEW theme. In years past it was the hope of WiMax, or femtocells, LTE and so on. This year, all of these themes remain but the clear one theme is "I want to be an iPhone" and very few phones come close, even if their features on paper beat apple by a long shot (better camera, FM radio, Flash, copy and paste ...). It shocks me that people forget that usability is king in this space, not features.

Having said this, there is something VERY interesting brewing under the covers. Check out my next post on that story.

Cheers,

Allan

ten reason for launching a startup NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:11:00 +0000

I was privileged to have been invited to speak to a group of entrepreneurs last night. The group was taking part in OCRI's entrepreneurs edge program. This program consists of five half days of intense training lead some of Ottawa's top entrepreneurs.

I was asked to talk about my experience at Catena Networks (where I cut my startup teeth) and FaveQuest, my new venture. Startups are much harder than you would think but also more rewarding than you could imagine. I did my best to share the highs and lows, including mistakes that I have made along the way and any words of advice.

I closed the talk with my top ten reasons why now is a perfect time to launch a bootstrapped startup or revector and recharge and existing company. Here are my top ten reasons (some borrowed from others):

10. Opportunity to demonstrate your skill and tenacity
-most people don't have the courage to bootstrap a company in this climate
-you have to be compelling to get partners and paying customers in this climate. If you do, it says something significant your team.

9. Tighter teams
-if your team sticks together in the tough times, you'll emerge extremely tight
-don't forget, if you're an entrepreneur you'll be doing lots of startups so building tight teams that stick together from one startup to another is a big deal

8. Focus
-you don't have the luxury of goofing around and build "wouldn't it be cool if" type concepts
-that is not to stay that you shouldn't test different things and experiment to see what works and what doesn't

7. More people available
-nuff said

6. Market disruption
-the market is experiencing a major disruption which creates opportunity

5. Less competition
-many startups will drop off, especially if they don't know how to be frugal
-large companies have been cutting so heavily, they are in a frozen state from a major innovation perspective

4. Frugal
-this economy teaches you to be extremely frugal. This will serve you well when things rebound. Furthermore, you frugality implies you can massively undercut your competition.

3. Lower Costs
-you can get equipment for cents on the dollar, rent office space for much less than you would in boom times and salaries are much more reasonable.

2. Forced to test the market
-if you are relying on revenues for operations, you don't have the choice but to go sell and close deals. that means you are very close to the market

1. ? I'll leave this one to you

What do you think is the # 1 reason your company has a better chance of succeding because you started it in a down market?

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Cheers,

Allan

Link to Entrepreneur's edge info (http://www.ottawacapitalnetwork.com/the_edge/index.cfm)

Paris and the secret to Success

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:04:00 +0000

A great guy by the name of Peter Kemball (CEO, Acorn Partners) reminded many of us in attendance at a Codefactory function that the key to success is this: test the market soon and test it often.

With that in mind, I've been taking every opportunity to meet with a large number of customers in as many industries and locations as possible. The intent is not just to close deals but to listen and learn.

If there is anything that this financial crisis should make us realize is that we are a truly global economy. With a complete disregard for borders between countries, we therefore brought in a very sharp biz dev guy in France to help us scope out opportunities in Europe. Our arrangement is such that we share in the success if something comes to fruition (I'll leave it that).

He was able to uncover a potentially very significant opportunity with more in the wings and I flew over to meet with the customer last week (I used aeroplan points and stayed with family .... I didn't say you have blow a fortune:). It went very well but even more important is that we better understand their needs and we have a made a personal connection. Furthermore, we learned some very valuable things about the market, and that customer in particular, that allows us to tweak our offer and really meet their needs much better.

Similarly, someone recently offered to do something along the same lines in India. No trip yet ... that one is a bit tougher on my budget but if the lead is well qualified, someone's gonna talk face to face with that customer.

The message is really this: don't assume anything! Go talk to a large variety customers immediately and don't let artificial borders stop you. I know .... we were way off the mark when we started and would have build something useless.

I would love to hear your crazy travel stories about going across the world for a 1hr meeting. Was it worth it? Could you have done it over the phone? Don't be shy!

Cheers,

Allan Isfan

ps. If you want to know where to get good crepes and free wifi in Paris, I've become an expert

5 easy tips for social media

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:32:00 +0000

To me social media means "people having conversations online".

It can range from writing and/or commenting on blogs, posting pictures to facebook, uploading youtube videos, micro-blogging on twitter, listening to or creating podcasts. The list goes on and on.

I've been toying around with social media for a while. I post on four blogs and even decided to start a company to create a new social video platform (favequest). I also produce & direct a fun on-line video show called the Nasty Hockey Show. This is a space I believe in.

Over the last few months, I have been asked to help with more complete social media campaigns and thought it might be worthwhile to share some tips I've come up with to kick off the discussion with you. Please correct me if you think I'm off base or am missing something major.

Here are my 5 tips:
1) ask why: ask yourself why you are considering social media

Social media is not for all situations. Are you looking to create buzz around a specific event or looking for a long term relationship with you customers? Are you trying to save money and want a bigger bang for the buck? Get some help and advice before you dive in. Many of us would do that for free.

2) be patient: success in social media is about providing value and building relations with people in various online communities .... not about interrupting and annoying people.

For example, I sometimes see people twittering with every other tweet being a pitch and link to their website or blog. Don't bother. It just makes you look bad.

3) be human: you or people close to you must be directly involved in the communities and be transparent

Most people don't like to interact with robots or faceless companies. It is critical to have an actual person get involved and connect with people. Hire a community manager, ideally one that is already involved in the communities that are relevant to you. Lot's of pretenders out there. (no, I'm not looking for a community manager position in case you're wondering but I know many good ones)

4) contribute: truly be part of the community without constantly pushing your agenda.

For example, if every other tweet on twitter is a link to your blog or website, people are not going to follow you. Help people, listen, provide advice and tips if you can.

5) not a silver bullet: social media initiatives don't replace traditional PR, advertising, interactive agencies, Search Engine Optimization and so on.

Social media can be part of the complete equation. Applied properly, it could make your customer engagement and even your major campaigns much more effective. And yes, you could even save some money as your champions carry your message on your behalf. Does Obama rings a bell?

I'm sure I'm missing some major points here so feel free to set me straight in the comments.

My next post will provide 5 key steps in any social media initiative and I will follow that up with some very specific details and examples. Be sure to register to my blog so that we don't miss an opportunity to connect and have a constructive discussion.

Cheers,

Allan Isfan
CEO, FaveQuest
blogs:
http://connecttheworld.wordpress.com/
http://nastyhockeyshow.wordpress.com
http://www.startupottawa.com/

twitter: @isfan

carleton students and favequest: win win win

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:42:00 +0000

I was very fortunate to have been in a co-op program during my university years and remember clearly all the great projects I was involved in. I was given real jobs ranging from board design to building a test robot (that was the coolest!). It was an absolute thrill and helped launch my career, getting a job offer before I graduated from electrical engineering in the early nineties when jobs were scarce.

It is now time to create the same opportunity for a couple of very bright students. I am happy to announce that FaveQuest is collaborating with Carleton University and OCRI to place two students with FaveQuest starting this January. The lucky students will get to develop real products at the absolute bleeding edge of social networks, on-line video and mobile applications. On top of that, they get to be part of a real start-up that is just about to launch publicly with a large media partner. They'll get to truly experience and learn how it is done at a very early stage (and probably see some mistakes too). They'll even get to attend meetings with real customers! Wait ... it gets even better. The students will get paid and can work part-time (15-20 hrs/week). There could even be opportunities for summer work and even equity (i.e. shares). How often does a student get such an opportunity?

To be clear, I'm looking for a couple of very special individuals. They need strong software skills (idealy Java) who love writing code so much, they do it for fun! At least one applicant needs to have strong interest in the business side of things. You must also be a full time student at Carleton U or the Bachelor of IT program (in collaboration with Algonquin College) with preference given to students in 3rd or 4th year.

If you fit the bill, click on the following link to register for an event on November 17th at 4:00. Note that there is a limit of 20 people so don't wait. "You get one shot, one chance to play"

http://favequestandstudents.eventbrite.com/

I'm so excited to meet all of you and get your assitance in launching a great new Ottawa based company. C U soon.

Cheers,

Allan

prep for founders and funders

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Fellow Founders and Funders,

The Founders and Funders Ottawa event is entirely sold out! I'm so glad! Many thanks for James Smith (LaBarge Weinstein), Tim Hember (thinkRF, The Ottawa Network) and Ian Graham (CodeFactory) and a long list of sponsors (LaBarge Weinstein, Ramius, Acorn Partners, Verdexus, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Royal Bank). We took a real chance initially when we pulled the trigger on this, made it official and started taking registrations. There was always a fear that we'd get 20 people coming out and have them all be founders. A great night I'm sure but not exactly what I was looking for. So now to final preparations. If you're not registered already, I'm afraid it is too late.

I've written this blog to help entrepreneurs prepare for the event as it could change your life. Really. Rarely are so many investors and fellow founders together in one place ready to listen to YOU. Don't forget that each one of these individuals is likely very well connected to other investors, customers and partners so your personal network could literally explode in a significant way. You'll also have a few us floating around working hard to help you make connections. It is now up to you to make the best of this event so here are my ten pieces of advice for what its worth:

1) Be punctual: the event starts at 6pm and dinner is at 7pm.

The one hour before the dinner will be the best portion of the evening for working the room so don't be late.

2) Have your elevator pitch nailed solid

If you don't have it down to less than 30 seconds, then I suggest you get practicing with your wife, your dog, the mirror and get people to give you honest feedback.

Here is mine for what it's worth:
FaveQuest is a young start-up that has created a social video platform to help media companies reach out to people in social networks like Facebook and MySpace. We take content they already have access to and make it available through special video portals integrated into the social networks of their choice. The viewers get access to great content but more importantly, they get to create their own channels based on their interests and share videos and channels with their friends. We're launching with a major media company at the end of the year and have several more major ones in the pipeline.

Investors reading this, feel free to provide advice on the elevator pitch above and in general (I'm now devoid of ego ... just want to make it better).

3) Bring decent business cards

In my opinion, the flimsy print at home ones suck. Some people may disagree but when I get a crappy biz card, it takes my opinion of the person down a notch. If you don't have a proper card, it isn't too late. Clean it up and get it printed in low volume at a local print shop. I use http://www.jiffyonline.com/ . They are a small shop in the west end (near Hazeldean & Eagleson) and have been absolutely fantastic to deal with. I send them a jpeg or pdf and they get stuff printed often the next day. I usually get about 30 cards printed at a time. Basically, there's no excuse for a crappy card.

4) Come prepared

You will be getting a list of all attendees and should do some research on each and every investor in attendance. If you want to get a BRIEF note to one of them ahead of time, feel free to do so directly or through me. It is much better to come to the meeting with a well planned mission and if they know your name ahead of time, even better.

Note: the list you'll be receiving is private and for your use only. Please do not publish it or email it to others. I will hunt you down if you do.

5) don't get drunk, at least not until much later in the night when you're by yourself

The open bar at a similar event I went a while back got a bit abused and wasn't good for anyone. For that reason (and the budget), I decided to not have an wide open bar. You'll be getting two drink tickets for the bar and wine with dinner.

I hope the evening works out for you and that you make the connections you hope to make. If there is anything I can do, please let me know.

Lastly, if you agree, disagree or want to add to this blog, please fee free to leave a comment.

Cheers,

Allan Isfan

why I brought Founders and Funders to Ottawa

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:45:00 +0000

I'm a bit nuts ... I don't stop much except to hang with my family or learn to play guitar. Between running FaveQuest, consulting, three kids, filming/producing/directing/editing "The Nasty Hockey Show" and starting to design Zoogeez ... things are interesting for sure.

With all of that going on, I decided to organize a major event taking place next week. Crazy!. Here is why.

There's a lot of complaining on both sides of the funding table and way to much negativity. Lots of bitching about lack of support from government. Constant chatter that Canadian VCs have had poor returns. While some of this may be true ... there's also another possibility which is this:

"there are many investors who are looking to place money and numerous high quality, fundable start-ups looking for investment. "

Funders and Founders need each other and an event that brings these two groups together may very well unlock the apparent frozen state of start-up investment in Canada. The Founders and Funders Dinner is a grass roots by invitation only event that brings these two groups together for an evening of hard-core networking. No presentations, no demos. This initiative was started by Austin Hill (who is coming to Ottawa for our event) and Patrick Lauzon in Montreal and similar events have sold out across the country with support from David Crow & Jevon MacDonald.

After attending the Toronto F&F last spring following an invitation from David Crow, I decided it was time to bring the event to Ottawa. With the tireless assistance of James Smith (LaBarge Weinstein), Tim Hember (thinkRF, The Ottawa Network) and Ian Graham (CodeFactory) and a long list of sponsors (LaBarge Weinstein, Ramius, Acorn Partners, Verdexus, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Royal Bank).

Within barely a week of registration, the Ottawa event being held on October 29th nearly sold out as of now (and will sell out). It is especially encouraging that roughly one third of the Ottawa registered attendees are investors (VCs, Angels, government funds, working capital ...). We have some founders and investors coming from Montreal and Toronto and many well known and new local investors will be in attendance.

This is a story about people taking action at the grass roots to make things happen while everyone else is worried and complaining about the economy.

Cheers,

Allan
BTW, if you are interested, shoot me an email at allan.isfan at favequest.com

"cute kitten!" approach to business

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:50:00 +0000

With all the talk of financial meltdown, it is easy for entrepreneurs to panic. Here is my advice inspired by the addition of a kitten to our family:

1) find paying customers ASAP

This is not the time to worry about ramping users while putting yourself in the hole for the sake of demonstrating traction. This is a bad time to look for investors and acquisition valuations aren't going to be very high so forget about trying to impress others. It is time to focus on revenue, plain and simple. That has led me to prune the list a potential clients to those that can pay and are highly motivated.

2) cut overhead to the bone

We gave up on office space last spring and any and all frills. Anything that doesn't get us paying customers is simply not pursued. Everyone continues to work for sweat equity, we're partnering with a local university to get students to work with us while getting paid through a University program. Essentially, we're building this company on less than a shoestring and we're still getting traction!

The fact that nobody in the company gets paid anything until we get revenue keeps us extremely hungry and focused. Much easier to have a false sense of security with a few million in the bank from a recent round. Raising money is not a sign of success and it could be your undoing if not handled properly. Our lack of money will make our company stronger ... I'm convinced of it.

3) Apply the "cute kitten!" sales approach

My kids are very good at sales. I have been against getting a cat for as far as I can remember. Today, one of our neighbours was giving away some kittens and the kids brought one of them in to show us. Darn thing was so cute and was cuddling and purring right away next to my wife. A quick trip to the pet store for supplies and we now officially have a four week old kitten.

We have now moved to a simpler pitch and with the fortune of a few new team members joining us recently, we can pre-build a working mock-up before going into a customer pitch. "Look how cool this is, it already has your name on it and it is ready to go ... we can have this up and running tomorrow!" I now call this the "cute kitten sales approach". It just worked on me and I didn't even want the product!

4) Make it easy for customers to say yes

Customers are going to be thinking twice about putting money out right now, no matter who they are. There are three possibilities:

a) they add to their budget to get your product ... tough sell right now
b) they eliminate something to get your product ... again, tough ... they have to change their mind which is never easy
c) your product allows your customer to save money or make money and ideally both at no or very minimal risk. a revenue share can be a good way to go with the right type of customer

5) this financial chaos can be the best thing that has happened

Are your customers going to be able to achieve their goals while spending dramatically less using your product? In good times, people don't count their pennies as much and are not motivated to change. They are motivated now. Can you build something that capitalized on this uncertainty?

So in summary, focus on revenue, cut overhead to the bone, focus on specific customers and make them taste it using the "cute kitten" technique, make it easy for them to say yes and remember ... this financial mess may be the best thing for you.

So, what do you think? Am I full of it? Do you have any advice of your own? I would love to hear it.

Cheers,

Allan

tweak to blog and new posts on "connect the world" blog

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:34:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

I recently launched a new blog to focus on world changing socially oriented topics. You can find the blog here http://connecttheworld.wordpress.com . There is some pretty interesting stuff on there and I urge you to check it out.

I will continue to use this existing blog but will change the focus a bit and will become more active. I have many new thoughts, tips and links and am also looking to start discussions with other entrepreneurs. I may also touch on FaveQuest but there will be less focus on that as I will eventually write a blog specific to FaveQuest when we launch the full site.

Cheers,

Allan

face your fears - it feels great

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:40:00 +0000

If you're anything like me, you are afraid of pain and suffering. You live in fear that you might lose your job, lose your house, not be able to feed your family and so on. Quitting your job without another lined up would be insane. Check.

There are also other kinds of pain to be avoided ... the type that physically hurts. Breaking bones, cracking your head on rocks, drowning and such. You walk across a bridge over a raging waterfall, imagine falling in and get wobbly at the knees. I'm somewhat afraid of heights and not big a raging waters either ... so what do I do ... zip line across the waterfall in a harness !!!! Absolutely crazy but exhilarating!!

Facing your fears and punching through feels really good. Go ahead ... do it!

Check out this video of me and two of my girls zip lining across Ste Anne Canyon Falls just outside Quebec City.

Here is the link (for those getting this through email)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpM0HtSX51M

THEM = US can change the world

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:26:00 +0000

Hey Everyone,
I have taken the THEM = US concept a little bit further and am kicking off a grassroots campaign of awareness for now, and action soon thereafter.

I have started a brand new blog focused on this world changing topic http://connecttheworld.wordpress.com

The presentation below tells you a bit about myself and my goals. I have entered it in SlideShare's "worlds best presentation" competition. Please register at slideshare to vote and help get the word out. The contest ends July 31, 2008 (really really soon) so please don't wait.

After you watch the slide show (you need to go to the actual blog page if you subscribe via email), if you think it is worthy, please click on the SlideShare icon at the bottom right of the player, register on the site and vote!!!!

Change the world one child at a time

view presentation (tags: canada france romania war)

is blogging dead?

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:44:00 +0000

John Calacanis (ceo omahalo) recently gave up on blogging and is moving back to email http://www.calacanis.com/2008/07/11/official-announcement-regarding-my-retirement-from-blogging/. He is writing more of a newsletter with a limited distribution (I'm fortunate to have signed on before he capped the distribution list). Not sure if that is a good move but it got me thinking.

Email is still very central to my activities. I have my email with me at all times and tie it in to my social activities. For example, I use it to register to blogs so that I get updates in my email (easier than rss reader). I get key facebook info, some twitter activities and so on. Email is still a radically untapped social utility and for many of us includes a huge number of contacts and most of our communications. You could easily build a social graph out of email by mapping out interactions and then organizing emails by importance rather than time. For example, an email from someone I interact with often is more important than newsletter I signed up to.

I am imagining a new breed of communication tools anchored around email but that aggregate all your activities both outbound and inbound. On the outbound side, you pick who and what receives your message. That could include emailing friends, facebook status, twitter, friendfeed and so on. On the inbound side, you get messagaes regarding all major social activities but they come in automatically segmented and organized so that you don't end up with a ridiculous stream of emails.My business stuff here, my social stuff there, my blogs stuff over there.

I could even interact with the originating service by replying to an email. For example, I get an email telling me a friend left me a facebook message. If I want to reply, I have to go to facebook, log in and punch in the reply. This a major annoyance, especially if you're on a mobile device. It would be much easier if I could just reply to the email and the new email S/W automatically generates a facebook reply message for me. Another example: you the loyal reader get one of my inspiring blogs in your email because you registered (if you haven't, look to the right and register your email). You want to leave a comment but would have to go to the actual blog, go to comments and so on. Why can't you just leave a comment by replying to the email? Very simple! What if all of you could blog your thoughts without having to register to an actual blog service and go through the learning curve. Someone could easily build an email based blogging system.

I'm not going to build this ... Got enough cool things on my plate ... But I sure hope someone does. I suspect google is doing this or will eventually. They have all the right pieces (gmail, blogger, igoogle, google reader, orkut, opensocial and android to deal with mobile aspect). They have figured out how to make money from free email by including relevant sponsored links in gmail. Plus, their mission is to organize the world's information ... It would be great if they could start with mine.

Cheers,

Allan

O'Canada, our home and native land

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Patriotism is a curious and sometimes contradictory thing for me. As a Canadian, I'm proud of what this country stands for. On the other hand, I was born in Romania lived in France and have traveled extensively. I feel at home in Paris, Barcelona, Corsica (I'm sure I have had a past life here), Quebec City and so on with each location connecting with me in a slightly different way.

I feel more a citizen of the world than anything else so allegiance to one country is a bit strange. Nevertheless, this country has been incredibly good to me. I arrived as a skinny little immigrant and have built a great life here. I met my wife at Quebec High School many many years ago, became and engineer, have three wonderful kids, have had some success in business and generally enjoy this country tremendously. Never once did I not feel welcome here. So I wear this country's flag proudly, try to contribute as much as I can and will hopefully do something to pull the world a bit closer together.

In the meantime, please check out a beautiful song by my oldest daughter (she didn't write it btw).

A big dream, a big mission: THEM = US

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:56:00 +0000

I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart pumping and brain full of thoughts and couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to document a big dream I've been having for the last couple of months.

Many people are calling for entrepreneurs to start launching companies that solve real problems.

For example, Fred Wilson's "Am I Bored With “Web 2.0”? http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/06/am-i-bored-with.html

or

Umair Haque's multiple blogs at http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/ .

So I'm going to share a dream that I've had that was in large part inspired by Pangea Day www.pangeaday.org, an event that took place on May 10th of this year, as well as my children as I watch them play on-line.

As some of you may know, I'm the co-founder of favequest, a company that is building a social video platform. We have a first stab at an app running in facebook http://apps.facebook.com/favequest/ and we're working on a branded one for a media company as part of revenue generation plan. Our platform is meant to create communities centered around video.

So what does this have to do with the big dream? My big dream is to use media (primarily video) to connect kids across the world to each other and their planet. I'm talking about creating a safe place for kids in the range of 6-12 where they can find content specifically for them and interact with other kids across the world. Ideally the content is created by other kids but it can also be professional content like National Geographic that kids can watch, share and talk about. The content itself doesn't matter as long as it is remarkable enough for kids to want to talk about it and learn about their world.

Why do I think this can make a big impact? Pangea Day was a good example of the use of film to connect people across the world. It was a day during which my family, friends and I learned about life in other parts of the world. Reacting to the story about a war child, one of my girls actually said ... I didn't know there was a war going on!! What better way for her to understand this than the media created by another kid living through this. Much more powerful than CNN.

The key point though is not the learning for the sake of knowledge ... it is the realization that people across the world all have the same needs and desires, whether you are a kid or an adult. It is a realization that we are all the same no matter what colour and where we live.

A realization that THEM = US leads to empathy and hopefully caring which can leads to action. If people don't care, nothing happens.

This realization can be incredibly powerful. It has caused things like "Combatants for Peace" http://www.pangeaday.org/filmDetail.php?id=73 . This incredible documentary was filmed by the organizer of Pangea Day about Israeli and Palestinian former soldiers that denounced violence and instead sit around the table to talk and seek an end to the conflict.

Without worrying too much right now about the details and many roadblocks ... imagine that our kids got engaged with each other across the world. Imagine having Pangea Day every day with our your kids at the center. Imagine what these kids would grow up to be and how they could impact our world?

I think this is a dream worth chasing ... and I can't do it alone. I've spoken to people like Tom Williams (CEO of GiveMeaning.com), the founder of Club Penguin, David Usher (the singer http://www.davidusher.com/) and many others. This will happen!

Please comment or email me, find me on facebook or twitter (@isfan) and tell me what you think about this and what you want to do to help.

Cheers,

Allan
PS. As I finish this blog, it is 6:14am and my eight year old walks in to the office and boots up the computer to go on webkinz ... ironic

Success is about perseverance ... plain and simple

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:49:00 +0000

I really truly believe success is about perseverance. Sure you need some decent brains, a good team, being in the right place at the right time, some luck and so on. It clearly takes a lot to be successful as an individual or as a business.

But ultimately, it is about not giving up, believing in yourself and just continuing to push hard even in the face of adversity. My parents managed to get out of Romania even with two young kids in tow and not a penny to their name. They made a great life for their family eventually bringing us to Canada. My wife launched her own graphic design business straight out of school and has been running it very successfully for many years. You just have to decide you are going for it no matter how hard it is.

And now, my oldest daughter reminds us of this in spades. We were at her elementary graduation this morning. It was a beautiful affair in the brand new church in Stittsville and all the kids looked great. The place was packed with lots of proud family. They called up several kids for awards and although we were hoping she would get something, we knew the odds were not great.

She has struggled with ADHD every since she was little but we have refused to drug her. She has a beautiful sparkling personality and an amazing imagination that we don't want to snuff out. It is a gift even it makes school very difficult. So she has to work harder ... everything takes twice as long to do as her peers and she meets with a tutor every week on top of us staying on her case (especially her mother who doesn't let up thankfully ... just like my mother who would study with me late into the night). Her marks have steadily improved with all the hard work to such a degree that she won a medal for having the most improved scholastic achievement. It is a big deal and the lesson learned is even more important than anything else she may have learned in school ... don't give ... don't give up ... don't give up!

Cheers,

Allan

favequest to take over the world

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:27:00 +0000

In due time.

I promised a couple of blogs ago that I would tell you a bit more about where we are headed here at favequest. So why did I then get into twitter on my last post? I've realized that, although some people have heard the name, they don't know what it is and why they should care. This also goes for major brands and publishers (i.e. Media companies). There is just so much going on in the social space that it is nearly impossible to keep up. It is really wild out there to put it mildly. Twitter, friend feed, openid, data portability, friend connect, open social and on and on.

Media companies,major brands, sports franchises are extremely busy doing what they do ... Create content, promotion and advertising. They often just don't have the time, resources and the background to keep up with all this stuff on a daily basis and then capitalize on it.

And yet, people are spending more and more of their time in social networks, communicating with each other, watching youtube, reading blogs and so on. People want to be in control of their time, what they consume and what they do with the content. This is extremely clear. I personally consume about ten times more media on my laptop or smartphone (which is what I'm using to write this blog) than tv or print.

Our mission at favequest is therefore to build a bridge between media companies and consumers. We will do this by giving the publishers the tools (essentially a new video platform) to reach consumers where they hang out. They hand us an RSS feed of all the content they want to make available and we do everything else. Consumers benefit because they can get at great relevant content on their terms, finally breaking down the walled garden. They will be able to create their own channels and shows which get filled automatically by our engine making their experience truly personal. They will even be able to embed the portal into their blogs. Imagine being able to create you own CNN news portal, or have a place to follow just the sports and teams you are interested in. That's the idea.

Because we'll be hanging out in all the major social networks and utilities, you'll be able to reach all of your friends on your terms. You want to share a channel you created with friends on MySpace, Facebook, the people that follow you on twitter, have it show up in Friend Feed and your Facebook news feed? Go right ahead ... a one click experience.

Ok ... so I have told you a bit more about the "why" and not that much about "how". That will come.

In the meantime, we're about to launch our latest facebook video app and we'll be making this one public. Let me know if you want to get in on the beta test list. We've also started working on a branded facebook app for a great media company in the sports space. More on that later.

why twitter is better than facebook

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Ok ... so that is not completely true. I enjoy both but I have found twitter surprisingly powerful. The two features I enjoy most on facebook are the picture and status updates. I find those two apps give the best sense for who an individual is. Twitter does a great job of both of those features without a pile of other garbage.

Twitter is like facebook status updates on steroids. Message are limited to 140 characters and allow you to very quickly send messages to a group of people that follow you. You can use it from a computer using many different programs. I use Twhirl which is a light desktop app based on Adobe Air. There's also a facebook app. When I send something on twitter, it shows up in my facebook status. You can also receive and send tweets from a mobile device.

If you've ever seen a friend's facebook status and would like to reply to it ... and can't ... well ... you can do that in twitter. You can even send pictures using twitpic.

What I find cool is the stuff that people are building on top of twitter (which is extremely open). For example, a venture capital guy in NYC called Fred Wilson kicked off "lyric of the day". When you hear a lyric that you like, you post a message with @lotd at the front and everyone that follows @lotd gets the lyric. Pretty cool but just an early example.

I follow a few people on twitter and I have found that it is a much better way to get to know people than facebook. If you are looking for a way to connect to others and have others connect with you, you might want to give twitter a try. Of course , the issue is that you have to get your friends on twitter first and right now it is mostly used by propeller heads but that will change. So go ahead ... sign up. I'm @isfan.

Cheers,

Allan

Pangea Day ... why such a big deal?

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:24:00 +0000

Hey Everyone,

As some of you may have heard, I'm hosting a major event at my place for Pangea Day this coming Saturday May 10 (pls arrive at 1:30 so we're ready for 2pm start). People sometimes look at me like I have a third eye. What the heck is Pangea Day? I try to explain and some get it while others go blank.

If you really want to get the lowdown, go to http://www.pangeaday.org/ and flip through the site to see what it is all about. Here is a quote from the site:

"The Pangea Day Mission & Purpose

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.

Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film."

As an individual, I've always believed in people's equality and treat people as such, no matter what background, education level, skin color or gender. I also have a propensity to organize big parties to bring people together. I hope to connect with people individually and learn from them (a bit selfish), share stories and have fun. I also hope that people that come to these events connect with each other and Pangea Day is an especially good opportunity to do that since there will be lots to talk about.

I truly and deeply believe the world becomes a better place when people get to know and understand each other. This leads to compassion. From wikipedia:

"Compassion is an understanding of the emotional state of another or oneself. Not to be confused with empathy, compassion is often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of another or to show special kindness to those who suffer. However, compassion may lead an individual to feel empathy with another person."

Compassion can lead to action because if you are truly compassionate, you do not have the choice but to act. Someone else's suffering is your own suffering.

What does this have to do with FaveQuest? Like the Pangea Day events and films, my secret dream and goal is for FaveQuest to connect people, have them share and collaborate and thereby make the world a smaller place. We will use the platform ourselves and make it available to others to achieve this. Of course, we're shooting to build a thriving business and I believe we will but there is something bigger in it for me.

I hope you come out to our event or catch Pangea Day elsewhere.

PS. I'll be twittering during our event. You can follow me on Twitter ... I'm @isfan.

social video

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:27:00 +0000

In case you are new to this blog, the easiest way to get updates is to register your email on the right and you'll get updates in your email inbox automatically.

Favequest is playing in the 'social video' space and I thought it would be worthwhile to explain what that means to me. It might give you a sense for why we are building what we are building.

I have to come to realize that I get a much bigger kick out of media when I have a chance to use that media to interact with others. I write this blog to interact with you, even if people don't leave comments. I run into many of you through my travels and the blog often comes up which helps connect us. Why does that matter? I think it matters because the only way for us to evolve is to understand each other and work together to achieve greater things. This is one reason I'm supporting Pangea day http://www.pangeaday.org/index.php in a big way (reminder about event at my place on May 10 at 1:30). We're all much too isolated and busy living our lives to care or worry about others and that simply must change.

Why did I start this train?

One way media like tv is feeling increasingly empty to me. I only watch it occasionally when I'm relaxing with my wife but would NEVER just sit down to watch anything on tv. It feels like having dinner alone in a strange town or traveling and seeing something exciting and having no one to share it with. It's like watching a hockey game alone in the basement vs being with friends and screaming together. Enough with the analogies, I hope you get the idea.

Just watching video on-line is also empty if all I can do is watch it in isolation. Let me share with others, tell them what I think, have them do the same and start a conversation (can't really do that on YouTube). Let me discover exciting topics and meet new people with whom I can exchange ideas and create action. Let me reconnect with my Romanian friends and family all over the world by collaborating and sharing on Romanian topics.

I'm willing to bet a lot of money (done) and my reputation (done) that there are many others like me. If I'm the only one, were kinda screwed ... But I don't think so.

So we are building a platform that is totally about social interaction around video. So you should ask .... why does this matter? What are you really trying to do? What's the big picture? If you know me, you know there's always a big picture even it doesn't seem like it.

Look for the next blog for answers to some of these questions.

Cheers,

Allan

the fans are the most powerful distribution points

noreply@blogger.com (allan isfan) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:50:00 +0000

The title of this blog was pulled out of context from Fred Wilson's recent post about some major things going on in the world of music http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/04/something-impor.html . Sorry Fred. I think this is true on a much larger scale than just music. The signs are absolutely everywhere. It is pretty wild actually from my vantage point.

People ... i.e. you and I, are increasingly powering the new economy. Some of the most successful and revolutionary things in recent years are powered by people in some way. People create and/or distribute content and messages on their own ... often with no clear incentive. Even google, though powered by complex algorithms, is ultimately powered by people they got the word out (ever see a google ad?)

Canvas & Paint Brush
The internet has connected us and some smart people gave us canvas and paint brushes so we could create and/or share. MySpace started out as an empty canvas which allowed people to express themselves and feel important. Similarly for youtube, facebook, blogger, digg, hypemachine, flickr, texting, twitter ... heck ... even email, still the most powerful (and undervalued) social utility. There are so many ways for people to communicate and express themselves that this will lead to a new economy. It is not possible for it not to.

Word of Mouth
It used to be that a brand could reach millions of people and become successful purely through advertising on tv. No more. Even pure advertising online (banners ...), though easier to track, is ultimately doomed. I've never seen an add for google, or twitter or facebook. I heard about these from friends and others I respect. The beauty in all of this is that people are willing to carry your message ... you "just" need to create something worth talking about and give them the tools to get the message out(and some incentives like fun & notoriety... don't hurt).

We Canadians have always been good at building things to help people communicate .... perhaps because the population is spread out. Basic communication is now ubiquitous & and is increasingly moving to a more complex level which is pretty exciting and I'm so glad to be part of it.

Cheers,

Allan

PS. Check out Umair Haque's blogs at http://www.bubblegeneration.com/ and http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/2008/03/the_future_is_goople.html for some much deeper and insightful discussion. I've had the good fortune to chat with Umair on a couple of occasions and rarely will you meet someone with such a deep insight.