chriskurdziel.com

Building Community

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:12:00 -0500

YouTube recently released stats that 60+ hours of content are being uploaded to their site per minute. That sort of data is pretty impressive, but when you take a look at a lot of that content, it becomes a little less impressive. I’ve noticed an increasing amount of video responses to popular videos on YouTube that feature women with low cut shirts in the thumbnails blathering on about whatever video they’re responding to. This sort of content is not exactly enhancing the community at YouTube, so I can only assume these types of people are trying to cash in on ad revenue via traffic from the videos they’re responding to.

Linkbait is nothing new and I’m not the only one who has noticed this, but I was recently reminded of all this because of a video from reddit the other day. This guy isn’t the most articulate speaker, but he makes his point pretty well.

Problems like this one indicate that communities and curation have become increasingly important in the online world. At Shelby.tv, as we think about the future of what video community should look like, we are building the type of community that doesn’t promote the “spammy” user-generated-content (UGC) that we see on places like YouTube. Recommendations and organic UGC are great, but recommendations (especially as related to the long tail of UGC) powered without a social filter or strong context around them feel empty, spammy and often result in the lower quality kind of stuff I’m referring to here.

We believe the social filter is the key to building a community of content that doesn’t promote this sort of abusive behavior and we’re really excited about sharing what we’re building with the rest of the world. More on this soon. ;)

"The magic, the alchemy, occurs when what we do mixes with who we are and is cooked by the heat of..."

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:03:12 -0500

“

The magic, the alchemy, occurs when what we do mixes with who we are and is cooked by the heat of what we believe…

…Without heat, there is no alchemy.

”

- Jerry Colonna has written a fantastic post about becoming a leader over on AVC.com.

I’ve probably read this post 3 times so far this week. My favorite part is the story about the Buddhist saint Milarepa and the cave demons. It’s a powerful story of self-reflection and as Jerry says, “acknowledging the ways you contribute to [a] problem without descending into pointless self-flagellation adds to the heat beneath the crucible. Without heat, there is no alchemy.”

Powerful stuff. If you haven’t had the chance, head on over to AVC.com and check it out.

This past Monday, I spent about an hour and a half in...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:33:14 -0500

using CG to model heat/energy efficiency

getting 3D mapped

not done

playing with multi-touch surfaces

i'm in 3D!

This past Monday, I spent about an hour and a half in Cornell’s lab for computer graphics. It was really neat to get outside the business school and check out some of the cool stuff that people at Cornell are up to. I’m excited by the number of consumer and business applications for a lot of this technology, but the most exciting thing is that devices like Microsoft’s Kinect and increasingly cheap touch surfaces are really opening up a world of possibilities for the mainstream to take advantage of.

New Meshuggah. Great groove. New album? Want.

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:31:00 -0500

New Meshuggah. Great groove. New album? Want.

How should startups approach CES?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:18:00 -0500

I (and the rest of team Shelby) recently attended CES, the largest consumer electronics show in the world. It was my first time going to such a huge event, so consequently, it was also my first time navigating the waters of a trade show that is largely geared toward large companies rather than small startups. In an effort to make things more accessible to the startups interested in attending CES in the future, I thought I’d share some of the questions I had as we planned for CES.

Do we need to have a booth at CES? Depends on what your goals are—the booth was useful for us because we are a consumer web startup and need to be visible. Not only did we attract investors and potential business partners, but we attracted users and were able to test different aspects of our pitch on them. In this sense, the booth was invaluable. If you’re not a consumer-facing startup and are on a tight budget, a booth may not be worth it (unless you can get it for free like we did). You’re still better off with some kind of meeting place to gather at (could be a hotel room) and schedule BD meetings for, and you’ll have to get more creative about how you generate awareness around your startup.

How much money do we need? Cost can vary greatly between companies, so it’s hard to provide a straight answer on this one. If you’re a small startup under 10 employees and on a tight budget, it’s possible to scrap together stuff pretty cheaply. The biggest expenses will be airfare, hotel, and official CES expenses (booth & press events if you choose to get pay for these).

What sort of stuff should we pay for, and what should we try to get for free? How does a startup get the most ROI for the least cost at an event where many of the vendors have deep pockets? Staying close to the action was really important to us. If you’re planning on taking meetings, the right hotel room can also double as space for that; consider ponying up for the right room. Almost everything at CES (from carpet in the booth to press releases through the CEA) costs money. Figure out what your priorities are ahead of time and optimize your spend accordingly. That said, little things like upgrading to nicer carpet in the booth can make a big difference when you’re on your feet 16+ hours a day.

Other tips? In the weeks prior to CES, schedule the meetings you can for the afternoons to take place in your suite or booth. This timing allows you to hunt down other people during your mornings on the show floor. Also, only send the number of employees that is right for you—we found 4 at the booth was pretty ideal. We had at least 2 people pitching at a time, but the extra two often helped pull in additional onlookers and generate more buzz around our booth (or were available to go scout other booths). Our neighbors started coming over to check us out because of the volume of traffic that we attracted as a team.

Overall recommendation: be creative! There are a lot of low budget (but interesting) ways to engage people at CES and other trade shows. This is what being a startup is all about, so be comfortable in your own skin and people will love it!

The questions above aren’t exhaustive, but they’re pretty representative of the stuff we thought about this year and hopefully will be helpful to startups in the future that attend CES. A lot of people may think CES is a waste of time, and while it might be if you approach it incorrectly, there’s a lot to be learned and achieved if you approach things with an open, but focused, mind. More thoughts on how to crush CES? Leave a comment and I’ll add to the list!

I saw this video in Disruptive Technologies class yesterday and...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:47:00 -0500

I saw this video in Disruptive Technologies class yesterday and it absolutely blew me away. By today’s standards, what you see in this video is pretty trivial from a computer graphics perspective, but when you realize that this video was created in 1972 (at Cornell!), that changes everything. Furthermore, each frame in the video was rendered by a computer that was programmed using PUNCH CARDS (!!) and then all the frames were stitched together using film. The full length film is much longer and depicts Cornell’s main quad from a number of angles.

This video was created by Professor Don Greenberg, who teaches the class. Professor Greenberg has been around for a while and has had a huge hand in many disruptive technologies (most specifically in computer graphics - for more info check out his Wikipedia page). When a student asked if this was the first computer graphics video ever made, Professor Greenberg responded casually, “maybe” (as if he hadn’t bothered to find out). Embedded in this response is Professor Greenberg’s passion for technology and doing innovative things with it, not the recognition that comes along with such achievements.

It’s pretty awesome to be taught by someone who has worked alongside Carl Sagan (who is probably one of the most inspiring minds of the past century) and who helped train many of the early employees at Pixar. I’m feeling pretty lucky to be part of a university that encourages and supports this sort of forward thinking stuff.

Introducing TouchPlay for Shelby.tv

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:45:00 -0500

Really excited about this. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. :)

If you’re headed to CES next week, come check out our booth (#73110) in the Venetian and see this in action for yourself.

…and thanks to all the lovely folks at TechCrunch, Mashable and BetaBeat for the coverage!

shelbytv:

Next week, team Shelby is headed to CES. I know what you’re thinking, why would a tiny startup head to one of the biggest consumer electronics shows in the world, especially when Apple has already won CES?

It all started when we won a booth at CES this past summer as part of a competition here in NYC. Ever since releasing our iPad app this past October, we’ve been obsessed with making the Shelby experience on tablet as compelling and addictive as our web app. That’s why we didn’t stop at simply integrating standard AirPlay functions. We decided to take advantage of iOS Mirroring functionality (something that many iOS apps treat as an afterthought) and build something even more compelling. Next week at CES, we’ll be showcasing an awesome new experience for our iPad users, something we’re calling TouchPlay.

To activate TouchPlay, turn on AirPlay with Mirroring in your iPad settings and when you launch the Shelby app, you’ll be greeted with gorgeous full screen video on your TV that has that familiar Shelby look and feel. We’ve also added a gesture remote, which turns your iPad into a no-look controller so you can kick back and fully enjoy what you’re watching. Check out this quick filmed-at-2AM demo of what it looks like below:

We’re really excited about what’s possible with Apple’s Mirroring technology and where we think more companies will be focusing attention as Apple gets closer to releasing a full-fledged TV experience. The marriage of the iPad and the TV is creating some amazing opportunities for dual-screen viewing and interaction; this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Can’t wait to get your hands on this new feature? You won’t have to wait long, look for it in the App store soon.

-Chris

Note: The full functionality of the gesture remote and mirroring mode require iOS 5 on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. Other iOS devices (older iPads and iPhones) will still work with regular Shelby Airplay functionality.

"I hadn’t played with Shelby.tv for a while since I don’t ever just browse video on my iPad. I..."

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:17:39 -0500

“I hadn’t played with Shelby.tv for a while since I don’t ever just browse video on my iPad. I clicked the Shelby.tv icon. 65 minutes later my run was over and I was still watching amazing video.”

- Shelby.tv Is Perfect For People On Treadmills

Really humbling that Brad has had such an awesome experience with Shelby. Hearing this sort of stuff never gets old.

“a learning computer” from Christmas of yesteryear....

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:13:22 -0500

“a learning computer” from Christmas of yesteryear. 45 years later, we’re opening iPads and iPods. blows my mind. Merry Christmas, everyone. (Taken with instagram)

"FIRE! (huh! woo!)" - The Ohio Players

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:23:53 -0500

"FIRE! (huh! woo!)" - The Ohio Players:

If there’s one thing we love at Shelby.tv, it’s holiday disco. We’re pretty sure the Ohio Players also love holiday disco, which is why they had the foresight to write the hit song “Fire,” (an ode to keeping warm with loved ones) over 30 years before we released this little holiday easter egg…er, present. Inspired by these disco greats of yesteryear, today we’re inviting all our users to gather ‘round the Shelby fireplace for a little fire of our own (bring your own disco)!

Check out our fireplace here or click the little “fireplace” text in the lower righthand corner of Shelby. If you’re in a tinkering mood (any elves out there?), we’ve even set it up so you can add the names of your loved ones to the stockings by editing the URL.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!

shelbytv: nasdaq: As part of our ongoing commitment to...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:17:45 -0500

shelbytv:

nasdaq:

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting and celebrating innovation, NASDAQ has hosted a series of hackathons demonstrating what clever developers can create given 24-hours and the latest technological advances. You may have already seen our recap of Photo Hack Day. What you see above is a glimpse at Video Hack Day, hosted by our friends at Shelby.tv. With 80 teams competing, the winner was Terminator Vision, which equips the user with the famous cyborg’s eyesight. Very cool.

If there are two things we love, it’s hacking and video. That’s why we put together hackday.tv this past fall, with the help of our wonderful sponsors, NASDAQ, Pepsi, Vid.ly, Encoding.com, Boxee, and Twilio. We can’t express enough how fantastic it was to work with them. This gorgeous recap was created by our friends at NASDAQ, and only makes us even more excited to plan another video hackathon this spring. Until then, check out this year’s winning app, Terminator Vision.

Super excited to see some this sort of content getting created from our hackday.tv event earlier this fall. I’m proud to have organized such an fun event and had such a great turnout and support from everyone here in NYC. Excited about what’s next for hackday.tv…

Today, Fugazi is releasing the first 130 live recordings in...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:31:06 -0500

Today, Fugazi is releasing the first 130 live recordings in their Fugazi Live Series project. By the time they’re done releasing recordings, they’ll have roughly 800 shows up for download.

13 Songs was the first Fugazi album I bought and Waiting Room was (by extension) the first song that I heard. Never saw them live, but if the picture below and this video are any indication, they put on one hell of a show. Crank it up and enjoy the tune.

This is the first week I’m participating in Metal Mondays...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:45:00 -0500

This is the first week I’m participating in Metal Mondays (something Andy Weissman at USV has started recently). With that in mind, I figured I’d post a track that most people probably haven’t heard and wouldn’t otherwise hear.

This one is from Ulver’s first album, Bergtatt, circa 1995. If you’re one of those people who have no idea what the heck black metal is, take this one (and the rest of the album) for a spin. Though most of the lyrics are in archaic Danish, it’s still got a great vibe and captures all of the stuff that I love about black metal with some folky parts mixed in.

Cornell + NYC = awesome sauce

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:00:06 -0500

It’s no secret that Cornell and Stanford are both gunning for NYC’s applied science and tech campus initiative. I’m obviously biased here, but I’m not the only one who thinks there are a few pretty compelling reasons that Cornell would be the best choice for the city.

Cornell already has an active and engaged alumni base in NYC. We’ve got a huge network of alumni (including the Cornell Angel Network) who stay in New York after graduation. Scott Belsky makes a great point that a good portion of the existing Cornell network is already in New York and that the network effects of the existing alumni base will KEEP tech talent in NYC over the long term. I agree.
Incredible engineering talent and unique programs. MIT and Stanford get a lot of press for their kick-ass engineering programs. Cornell gets less, but having spent a bunch of time in and around the engineering buildings on campus this fall, I have to say that I’m blown away by some of the talent here. The biggest problem is that a lot of the engineering talent isn’t as aware of what’s going on in NYC - a campus in NYC would change that. We’ve also got some non-traditional curricula like Fabric Science and Food Science that I think embody the interesting conflux between technology and other industries (such fashion and food) that are part of the New York culture. Top it off with extracurriculars like BR Venture Fund, the business school’s small $1.5M seed stage venture fund (full disclosure: I’m one of the lucky MBAs that helps run this fund) and you’ve got a really unique set of complements to Cornell’s core engineering program that set it apart from the competition.
We’re not already in NYC but are still close by. As I’ve been traveling back and forth between NYC and Ithaca, I’m slowly coming to the realization that each place has served a distinct purpose in my development over the past year. This may seem a little counter-intuitive, but the fact that Cornell’s main campus is not in NYC is a good thing. Ithaca is a quiet (albeit brutally cold) safe haven from the bustle of the city. I think there’s a real benefit to being able to learn in an environment that is solely focused on learning. I also think having a campus in NYC and in Ithaca gives students the opportunity to both focus on real world application of their learning (in NYC) and escape for some more introspective learning (in Ithaca).

If you’re interested in more of Cornell’s propsal, check out the Cornell in NYC website here and make sure to follow the twitter account for updates as well! This is a really exciting time for the tech community in NYC and I’m really excited that Cornell has the opportunity to be a bigger part of it than it already is. Whether we win the proposal or not, I have no doubt that our alumni will continue to make a dent in the NYC tech scene for years to come.

I had the unexpected surprise of discovering that there are two...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:15:00 -0500

I had the unexpected surprise of discovering that there are two new Cloudkicker albums out this weekend. Check out Ben’s Bandcamp for free downloads of both Loop and Let Yourself Be Huge. If you’re into a bit heavier stuff, also check out one of my favorites: Beacons.

Pretty awesome that one guy can write, record and produce all this stuff and release it into the world.

How do you sell your corporate experience to a startup?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:32:05 -0500

I’ve had a few conversations with classmates, prospective MBAs and others looking to get into the startup world lately about making the transition from a big corporation to a small startup. One of the common questions that comes up is “how did you sell your corporate experience to a startup?”

One of the underlying assumptions here is that corporate experience isn’t particularly valuable in the startup world, but I don’t think that could be farther from the truth. Here’s a few reasons why your experience at a big company might actually make you more valuable to a startup:

You know how the incumbent works. If you’re looking to join a startup that is disrupting an industry you used to work in, you know what the existing challenges are in that industry. Long sales cycle? Complicated barriers to entry? Excessive government regulation? User adoption issues? All this stuff is relevant to startups and your experience from the perspective of a big company can be really valuable to a startup.
You know what an idea looks like at scale. While it’s certainly awesome to work for a startup because startups are agile, startups want to be successful. With that success comes scale, and if you’re someone that knows what works and what doesn’t at scale, you can add a ton of value.
You might be the only one with corporate experience. A lot of young tech entrepreneurs have been building businesses for their entire professional careers and thus may not have experience in a big company. Guess what that means? You can think differently and that’s a GOOD thing.

There are probably a bunch of items I’m missing here, but I think the real point is ultimately this:

If you really want to work at a startup and identify with the product and the vision, your experience is only as relevant as you make it.

Any experience is better than no experience, so get out there and do stuff! Then figure out what makes you unique and sell that to the founders.

What do you think about making the transition from a big company to a startup? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

#ATHLETE? Not quite, but I did run the marathon.

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:04:06 -0500

I used to hate running.

About a week and a half ago (yeah, I know this post is late), I had the pleasure of running the 42nd ING NYC Marathon along with a few of my colleagues at Shelby.tv and a few classmates at Cornell. Aside from the obvious numerical significance of the event, my 26.2 mile journey gave me a chance to think about what the whole experience of training, fundraising and running has done for me personally.

Unlike a few of my compadres at Shelby, I’ve never considered myself much of an athlete. I didn’t have a time goal for the marathon - instead my focus was on running the entire 26.2 miles and making it across the finish line.

Looking back on the day, I’m incredibly grateful that my legs held out and that I was able to finish the race. Though my time wasn’t the best, I’m definitely proud of the fact that my splits actually got faster during each subsequent mile. Some more experienced marathoners have told me that this is a pretty tough thing to do, so I guess that means I did something right. As many who have run marathons will tell you, the last six miles are brutal (at any pace) and in that final stretch, I discovered I had more mental fortitude than I thought to finish.

Aside from the mental (and obvious physical) benefits of running a marathon, I was lucky enough to participate in the Team in Training program, which is an extension of the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. My grandfather died from lymphoplasmactic lymphoma a few years ago and I wanted to honor his memory and support a cause that is dear to my heart. There were definitely a few moments during the run on Sunday when I spent a lot of time reflecting on how lucky I am to be in good health and to be able to run such an amazing race. Thanks to everyone - family, friends and others - who took the time to support me in raising money for this cause. I can’t thank you enough - you helped our team become the top fundraising family & friends team in the NYC chapter for Team in Training!

Over the course of my run, I ran into a bunch of people I met in NY tech this summer, family, friends and a few thousand new faces as well. Much like my experience in NY tech, I’ve found that my level of success and happiness is really tightly coupled with the awesome people I surround myself with. With that in mind, thanks to everyone in NYC for coming out and supporting all of the runners. Never thought I’d say this…but…I don’t think this was my last marathon.

PS - If you’re interested in donating to my Team in Training campaign (you still can!), check out my donation page.

Stop censorship.

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:30:00 -0500

If you’re visiting my blog today, you might notice that it looks like this:

That’s because today is American Censorship Day and Congress is holding a hearing on two bills that would create America’s first system for internet censorship (SOPA and Protect IP).

I’d encourage you to read Bijan Sabet’s post, Brad Burnham’s post, and Albert Wenger’s post about this and check out the video below if you’re interesting in learning more about the the Protect IP Act. As with a bunch of government legislation, the name suggests that it’s doing something positive while the real consequences could be disastrous.

The internet has been so transformative because it is open and free. Let’s keep it that way.

Update: Here are some more awesome posts on SOPA and Protect IP and why they both suck:

Josh Kopelman (First Round Capital)
Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures)
A letter to congress from a bunch of internet companies (Google, Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, and more)

Big thanks to my friend Caitlin for taking me out to see St....

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:09:00 -0400

Big thanks to my friend Caitlin for taking me out to see St. Vincent last night at Webster Hall here in NYC! This is one of my favorites on the new album and happens to have a great video as well. Trunk guitar solo FTW!

Love this pic. As someone who works for a startup and is...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:14:55 -0400

Love this pic. As someone who works for a startup and is running the marathon (let’s hope I finish!), I agree.

arainert:

With the NYC Marathon a few weeks away (November 6th, people! Make sure you get out there and support those runners during one of the best NYC events around), I wanted to post a photo of what was my favorite sign we saw when Karen and I ran the race in 2007 (I carried a disposable camera with me to capture photos along the way).

What was most amazing about this is the guy moved along the race course so every few miles you might see the sign pop up on the side of the road. It made me smile but also reminded me (when I needed it most) that finishing was the only option.

Seeing it again today, the sentiment captured in that sign reminds me a bit of the attitude you have to have while you’re building a startup. You’re going to be exhausted, the finish line is going to feel like it doesn’t exist (and it doesn’t), you have to pace yourself, it’s going to be chaotic the whole way but you’ve got to keep moving forward because finishing is your only fucking option.