For example… This week on Wednesday we had a crazy day with a 50 or so people showing up for the brown bag.  Having two separate print news agencies conducting interviews on two separate stories while a local news station was interviewing people on something unrelated.  Later that evening during hack night we had well over a 100 people showing up for about 4 or 5 concurrent events with venture capitalists and business leaders mixed in.  It would seem odd to most, but it’s more regular than not.

Fast forward to today.  After getting out of a sand rail that was off roading in the dirt lot behind Gangplank and loading it back on it’s trailer pulled by a monster truck.  I’m sitting here writing this as the first ReOpenPhoenix is going on and @dfactor is rocking an electric guitar at full blast jamming on a stage with a quarter stack and an audience of people watching.  Again this while odd seems par for the course around here.  Some call it magical, while it certainly is, there is a fair amount of planning that goes on.  I am a big believer in serendipity and I think those that are and prepare for it, open doors for awesome/magic to happen.  Those that know me, know that when I started down the path of constructing a stage for gangplank that I was laughed at quite a bit.  “Why do we need a stage?”  When I stated that I envisioned having a full sound stage and live bands playing here, the laughing changed and turned to them getting out the little white jacket for the “crazy” guy.

I didn’t know when, how or why there would be live music on a stage here, but I knew that it needed to happen and we needed to be prepared.  Nearly 9 months later low and behold… There is live ELECTRIC music from multiple acts taking the stage (earlier this year we had an acoustic act ‘Zilch the TorySteller’ on stage)

My point is that if you want to run a circus, you have to dream and you have to prepare, but you don’t have to have all the answers and you don’t have to do it all at once.  Just be prepared to accept the opportunities that you have prepared for and enjoy them for what they are, imperfections and all.  Weeks like this make me realize how awesome Phoenix is and how incredible of a community is being formed.  We are truly blessed to be sitting it’s backyard!

64 teams submitted
137 unique people placed on teams
25 people placed on more than 1 team
@chuckreynolds was the most desired team member being selected for 12 teams

Top Ten Requested Members
1.  @chuckreynolds
2.  @jmoriarty
3.  @iboughtamac
4.  @tdhurst
5.  @dneighbors
6.  @brianshaler
@bullybully32
@markdudlik
@wardandrews
10. @seanriceaz
@susanbaier
@tysoncrosbie

Teams I was placed on that I agree would be fun to be on!
@markdudlik, @jmoriarty, @dneighbors, @bullybully32
@tdhurst, @dneighbors, @jmoriarty, @evo_terra
@dneighbors, @iamruinous, @chuckreynolds, @garyhoward
@dneighbors, @chuckreynolds, @amylamp, @realjoe
@dneighbors, @tryharter, @chuckreynolds, @bethcochran

It is clear I need to work with @jmoriarty and @chuckreynolds in the near future.

Teams submitted that I would love see do work together!
@iboughtamac, @markdudlik, @strebel, @brianshaler
@hardaway, @iamruinous, @wardandrews, @conrey
@rtmfd, @kstaken, @andyrichter
@tehcurtis, @kkzell, @jasonnewlin, @claytonlz

Team Guaranteed to have the best time!
@benleivian, @chuckreynolds, @acmephotography, @evo_terra

Part Two of the Experiment

If you are interested in doing product development, in helping put Phoenix on the map for having a strong start-up culture and are on this list below please email me at derek@gangplankhq.com.  I would like to invite you to participate in part of two of this madness.  If you happen to know someone on this list, please tell them that I want to talk to them about round 2!  If you are not on the list, there is nothing personal involved I am just using data from the experiment.  At the very least you should consider following these people on twitter!

@chuckreynolds
@jmoriarty
@iboughtamac
@tdhurst
@dneighbors
@brianshaler
@bullybully32
@markdudlik
@wardandrews
@seanriceaz
@susanbaier
@tysoncrosbie
@chadwickfowler
@conrey
@evo_terra
@hildebrant
@iamruinous
@jamesarcher
@joshrossman
@alandd
@asuwebguy
@benleivian
@bethcochran
@bwilley
@chasers
@chimpsahoy
@chuckshaw
@Cimmer
@claytonlz
@courdek
@garyhoward
@gtea
@hart_actualized
@hathfor
@iamboz
@JamesDCook
@jannrandall
@jasonnewlin
@jdphillips
@jose602
@joshsprague
@kathysacks
@kdbdallas
@krysvs
@mathyou124
@MatthewPhx
@MeganMMyers
@melaniewilke
@mikeluby
@mkosach
@ninky
@photomarketer
@phxnerd
@PuuChuu
@rachelreese
@rarmendariz
@remitaylor
@resound
@rshavice
@RyanNelson
@samuelisaac
@SerenaU
@sietsema
@sleeman44
@StaceeAmos
@strebel
@sugargirlxox
@sunnythaper
@swedler
@tannerwoodford
@tryharter

To everyone that has participated I thank you very much.  I know your time is valuable and as @tdhurst might say, “You are obviously awesome!”

I was chatting one day with Chris Young about my frustration with not being able to aptly express myself in words on paper.  He did a glorious thing and just let me talk, the whole time taking down notes as I explained what Gangplank was to me.  He shared his very terse but powerful set of bullet points with me when we were done and I was amazed.  He captured the very essence of what I felt in so few words.  He used a technique that helped created the Agile Manifesto to extract what Gangplank values by contrasting it to what existing values that are commonly held in high esteem.

A few days later I met with most of the Gangplank Anchors and other trusted individuals and we hammered out a rough draft of the “Gangplank Manifesto”.  We spent a fair amount of time choosing which words we used hoping to express ourselves properly.  I then shared what we had with many regulars of Gangplank for feedback to make sure we were not grossly mis-representing the ideals.  Like all things we probably have gotten it wrong and will need to make some adjustments.  Here it is in it’s fairly raw form…

Gangplank Manifesto

I think the manifesto dove tails nicely with our originally posted “beliefs” that we came up when we original started formalizing Gangplank (see below).  Hopefully the this helps turn the question from “what is gangplank” to “how can I help shape the future” as then I get to hear what you are passionate about!

—-

Gangplank “Beliefs”

In its most general sense, Gangplank is a set of beliefs:

• We believe that Phoenix can be a fantastic center for innovation—once committed.
• We believe that web professionals should focus on collaboration over competition, and that ideas should be shared freely.
• We believe that small businesses, micro-businesses, and freelancers, bridged together in common cause, will be the core of this revolution in Phoenix.

First article of refute “Skysong has risen”

228,000 square feet of research, development and commercial space… $300 million valuation… The project is distinguished by a soaring 125-shade structure…

That’s right folks.  $300 million from this brain trust gets us an award winning and noteworthy, SHADE STRUCTURE.  While art is important and the piece out front gives Skysong a hint of character (something it completely lacked before), it still is a poor investment of $300 million.

But once it was off the ground, would tenants come?  They did.

*cough* bullshit *cough*.. Your biggest draw is Ticketmaster.  Yeah, Ticketmaster, innovator of the bend you over ticket convenience fee.

The connection with ASU has driven a majority of tenants to date.  The school has a great global reach and they’re a huge innovator and technology engine in North America

Unless we are counting the innovative ways ASU students have advanced consuming alcohol, I suspect this is a purely speculative comment.  The statement might hold for Standford or MIT, but ASU…  Not to mention if they are developing such great innovators why is Skysong recruiting international companies instead of bolstering ASU grads/alumni?

that was the plan all along: Leverage ASU’s global connections to attract international companies, then use that to appeal to local, more conventional firms

Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.  You mean this craptastic execution was in fact the plan all along?  I know so many startups who are clamoring to locate next to a no name international company that it’s not even funny.  No wonder Skysong is leasing space so quickly (sic) everyone wants to be next an international power house like Litree or iAxil.

his team developed a strategy they hoped would put Sky Song on foreign companies’ radar screens.

Because spending millions to beg international firms to locate a few workers in Arizona is a way to build a technology/innovation economy from the ground up?  Don’t get me wrong, having some international players and recruiting in companies to the economy is important, but the money would be much better served helping the local start-up scene.

The big lie here, is that Sky Song is NOT an innovation center, it is a REAL ESTATE DEAL.  It’s true motive is to make money for those that invested in it. Pure and simple.  Think anything less and you are a fool.  In fact two of the developers are not even based in Arizona, Higgins Development Partners (Chicago) and USAA Real Estate Co (San Antonio).  There is nothing wrong with real estate deals nor making money on them.  There is just nothing innovative in doing so.

Let’s break down the first piece “Valley tech industry No. 29 among 100 U.S. metro areas”

The study lists Tucson 18th and Phoenix 29th

I think you have to be kidding.  I would love to see the data they are using to produce these rankings.  This is not a knock on Tucson, I think they have a ton of potential and a solid foundation, but I do not think they are 11 places ahead of Phoenix.

During the past year, Science Foundation Arizona teamed with industry leaders to launch the Aerospace Institute and the Solar Institute.

Launching institutes only helps those launching them stroke their ego, they are largely ineffective in “instituting” real change.  Less saying, more doing please.

Arizona’s leaders have shown recently they understand the state’s future depends on investing in our technology base.

I can’t even hold a straight face on this one.  All that can escape my lips are expletivies and I’m trying to cut down on those for pieces that I hope a larger audience might be interested in.  WTF have they done that shows they understand any form of economics much less ones that deal with increasing technology?

But only 7.5% of the area’s residents have master’s degrees or doctorates, placing Phoenix well below San Jose, at 17 percent, or even Tucson at 10.2 percent

Is this an advertising pitch for our universities?  They seem to indicate that because 4 of the top 5 “ranked” cities are in the top 5 in masters/phd’s that this is the reason for their success.  This is just faulty logic.  There are plenty of people that have masters/phd that fail in high tech and lots of people that do not have masters/phd that have success in high tech.

We are not aggressive enough in supporting corporate relocation, and need to take a longer view on the sustaining benefits resulting from an increase in corporate headquarters.

I agree with the increase in benefits of having corporate headquarters.  However recruiting outside corporations is NOT the answer.  It is extremely expensive and short sighted.  We rarely are able to recruit the headquarters and instead end up with some operational arm instead.  Think “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”  If we really want a SUSTAINABLE technology economy we need to invest in people starting tech companies.  Growing and not recruiting future head quarters is where we need to be.

The technology industries that create goods, engage in trade and create higher-than-average paying jobs are the underpinning for the state’s entire economy.

I would love this to be true, but right now it’s just not.  Technology is light years behind land development and tourism with regards to how it’s viewed as an economy in Arizona.  This needs to change if we want to avoid being crushed every time real estate takes a dip.

More criticisms coming soon…

We had been approached by Jay McGavren about doing something with MIT’s Scratch programming language.  So we set a date and told a few people.  Jay came in and got computers setup and ready to go.  Before we knew it the day was here.  We had over 40 people show up including over 20 students under the age of 13.  It was glorious.  With nearly no instruction (just exploration) every kid created at least one working software program.  They even published them for others to see in many cases (you can find examples here).  This was merely an expirement.  We have so much more planned.  If you are interested in helping in the future direction of Gangplank JR please let me know.

My favorite of course happens to be my son’s master piece “Demond Spin” (You can click the image to play).

Steve mentioned he had been thinking about “how children believe anything is possible and that we tend to try to be realists as we grow up.  No matter how much of dreamers we think we are, but the truth is that anything is possible…”.  Oddly this is something I think about intensely on a regular basis.  I think we crush the creativity out of our children and limit our potential daily because we don’t “believe”.  However, I also think that dreaming big without having the capability is ultimately frustrating and so at some point there has to be honesty within ourselves and others.  This is my notion of practicing “pragmatic idealism”.

If I wanted to become a professional soccer player, when I’m on the verge of turning 35 and being overweight by 100lbs.  I might be pushing the limit of pragmatism, but it might not be entirely impossible either.  However, I suspect it would end in frustration.  However, there are many dreams that are not likely possible in fact even highly improbable, but attainable given the right circumstances.  For example creating a search engine to displace Google.  While not likely and highly improbable for most people it is certainly possible, despite what others may think.

I think the pragmatic part comes in being honest with yourself and in your pursuits.  Too often we continue down paths that aren’t going to happen far too long.  I definitely think it’s worth STARTING down the path, but knowing when it’s becoming fruitless is the hard part.  I have observed over time that people generally fall into one of two buckets when pursuing their dreams (self included).

1. They keep going down the path long after they have passed the law of diminishing returns.
2. They turn and go back (give up), just before they are really ready to hit stride.

*Note this would be similar to Seth Godin’s concept of “The Dip”

Overall, when I look at those that have come out as the dream catchers and successfully hit their goals, I see a pattern, a wisdom.  I think perhaps my mother’s favorite singer (Kenny Rogers) nailed it best.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

Now evry gambler knows that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
cause evry hands a winner and evry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

You see dreams are kind of like a poker hand.  Regardless of what you are dealt you stand a chance to walk away a winner.  It’s all a matter of knowing the game, the players and when to go all in and when to quit.  I encourage you to at some point watch professional poker players.  They usually know their strategy the minute they see their first two cards for a hand.  Sometimes they fold before placing a bet and other times they will ride what appears a miserable hand to glory.

They are able to quickly assess their hand, their competition and the situation.  Calculate the odds based on all three factors and make a gut decision.  When I get pitched an idea, I kind of think of that as the first two cards dealt.  I have to take a hard look at what those cards are and what I think the competition is holding as well as the situation and the odds.  Sometimes it is time to fold them and other times it’s worth putting some ante on the table to see the flop.  Generally I see the prototype as the flop.  This gives a good indication on how the other players are perceiving the market and how strong the hand really is.

Remember there are many factors that go into folding or calling.  Including how many chips you have on hand (are you playing a short stack or leading the table?), the presence of the players in the game and how you are feeling at the moment.  Life circumstances dictate how aggressive you can be in taking risks on your dreams.

Moral of the story?  The best way to get good at poker is to play a lot.  I think the same goes for pursuing dreams.  Invest in yourself and your dreams.  Teach yourself through trial and error to know when to hold them and know when to fold them.  When you think have it down, start to go after your really big dreams, but above all don’t get caught up in the game.  Be honest with yourself and know what your odds are and what you are risking and bet accordingly.  Most of all, have a blast doing it.

So several months back I was approached by someone at CloudMade about using Gangplank for an OpenSreetMap party.  I agreed, because that is what we do.  I happened to stop by the party and talk to some people about what it is they do.  I left understanding very little and wondering how this was different than google maps.  The following day I talked to Todd Huffman in some detail about mapping Afghanistan and it all clicked.  This stuff is very important.  I instantly started to do mapping and contributing. A few months later I answered a survey on the work I was doing and I ended up winning a Garmin eTrex.  Yesterday I opened up a FedEx package and a new Garmin and bag were enclosed!!!!!  Thanks CloudMade!

1. Local businesses have few effective options to advertise because direct mail, radio and newspapers are losing traction.
2. Existing marketers/advertisers are running out of viable mediums to use for their customers.

We have been tracking the space for the last 12 months with lots of interest, but have long struggled with what is the right strategy to “track” effectiveness. While newspapers, magazines and radio have no real way to track effectiveness, they tend to get away with it because they were “grand fathered” in as already being accepted. Counting the number of “eye balls” is sufficient for them to base pricing on.

Click-thru web advertising has ushered in a the age of “prove it” before I will pay you. Something similar needs to happen on the non “internet” side of things. A “brick-thru” so to speak. A way to track conversions and pay on a sliding scale.

The mobile company I’m involved with Held, LLC has put together a platform to address some of these concepts. We have working pilots and companies actively testing the platform. Initially we started the platform as a research project to test all functionality of the iPhone including geo spatial awareness and connecting back to the cloud. It wasn’t until we started sharing our research findings that we realized the true potential.

I opened the Wall Street Journal the other day and saw the following graph:

These numbers are in BILLIONS!!! Everyone seems to indicate newspapers are failing. Radio and magazine’s are not growing. Think about that for a minute. That is $50 billion in advertising looking for a home. As you can see by LOCAL TV @ $28.8 billion that local is important. I think that mobile which is not on the chart is going to be competing for those dollars. Mobifestival this weekend will hopefully explore these opportunities more. If you are interested in this space or technology drop me a line. I’d love to meet and discuss.