@dacort yep still think that is an incredibly interesting project – especially when combined with @rescuetime data in reply to dacort #

@CalvinF yeah, you and I are friends for a good reason in reply to CalvinF #

@acomputerpro that was so funny I laughed out loud, had to retweet in reply to acomputerpro #

@kressaty good point – need to get a blog post out about your launch in reply to kressaty #

@kressaty welcome in reply to kressaty #

@brett aww bummer – hey I saw you are using Gatsby? It just introduced us what do you think of it? in reply to brett #

@Westkentman nope, I switched from Alaska to Virgin a year ago for the reliable wifi, and awesome Elevate program in reply to Westkentman #

@rkoffler that's cool, we're relatively new – http://bit.ly/dCdTgQ – feel free to email me danielle@twilio.com in reply to rkoffler #

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@moQuez ah now that is the secret we will announce the new category on Monday next week on our blog and I can ping you in reply to moQuez #

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Tomorrow I’m on the road again, headed to Las Vegas for LeadsCon for a couple days, then back home in San Francisco Thursday and then out again to Sunday for a trip to New York where I’ll be doing some speaking and meeting with cool geeks to spread the word about Twilio, host a hackathon, and maybe even find some people we’d like to hire.  So I’m back late Thursday night from that trip and home for about a week, then off to South by Southwest.  And so it goes.

This song made me think about what its like being on the road.  I’m happy, although I do wish I had heeded my Dad’s advice to travel light and hadn’t bough the house back in ‘07. Oh well, live and learn I guess.  Hopefully I’ll see you in my travels.

@danmartell @ToddRLevy thanks for the retweets #

@wordpress3 unfortunately my custom link slugs don't follow any kind of pattern thanks for the offer though in reply to wordpress3 #

@blakespierson you must be pyschic i was just checking to see what time our meeting was for – it's on in reply to blakespierson #

@JacquieK_atDell yep, all fixed now but thank you in reply to JacquieK_atDell #

@stevesmename that's not very friendly is it I'll fix that in reply to stevesmename #

@krystyl yes, but you've gotta love that something like @GrubHub exists. I'm crushing so hard on that service! in reply to krystyl #

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@alabut thank you in reply to alabut #

@alabut so randomly awesome to see you, its been too long – excited for your news in reply to alabut #

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The Story of My Stuff

In 2004 I purged everything I owned except for what would fit into the Land Rover I bought, and moved to downtown Seattle.  That felt great, and being free of stuff also kept my mind free of clutter as I embarked on the beginning of my career.  While I was making $9 as an hour, I had no money for buying anything except for the occasional professional clothing item or meal out with a friend.  If I was spending money, it was on experiences.

By 2006 I was making good money, and dating the man who would become my husband.  I had moved into a penthouse studio apartment and wanted to impress him (duh) with my taste, as well as enjoy the freedom of not having to conform to the tastes of a roommate.  Ikea furniture, books I had been storing at my parent’s house, kitchen utensils, clothes, SHOES… the “stuff” began to accumulate, and soon the studio was feeling pretty cramped.

We got married in the summer of 2007 and moved into his bachelor pad, which had even less personal space than my studio.  The cheap Ikea furniture had to go and once again my personal style was subordinated to someone else’s idea of “home” – which at the time was uber-sparse and uber-expensive (and uber-masculine) urban chic.  I got rid of my car too, which was wonderful at first but later felt stifling, in favor of his Audi.  In all, from a materialistic point of view my entire lifestyle was upgraded when our possessions became shared.  All I really brought my ever-growing book collection, and enormous collection of designer shoes and fabulous clothes.  For two newlyweds, this was a lot of stuff to manage.

So what did we do?  We bought a bigger container for our stuff, in the form of a 4,000 square foot house in the suburbs.  What started out as curiousity about what was on the market turning into me finding our dream house.  We moved in on Halloween 2007, a mere 3 months after getting married.  Our stuff began to expand again… we left all the furniture at the Seattle condo (we were renting it out) and took on a bunch of furniture from my parent’s house that they had been saving for us, as well as piano, 8 person dining room table, and new couches, bar stools, etc.  AHHH!  We were in stuff acquisition mode, shopping every weekend for stuff to make our not-so-little nest feel like a home.

And then the economy tanked.

I wish I could say that we’d been frugal with our acquisitions, but with Kevin’s job at Microsoft and my investments flying high we weren’t too concerned.  I was working for a startup, making a startup income, but we were still a two income household without anyone depending on us.  My walk in closet was stocked with fabulous outfits, I wore labels, and we threw dinner parties almost every week.  While the market crashed we were in Las Vegas, treating my little sister to a memorable 21st birthday.  Looking back, that was probably one of the best ways we spent money that year.

Traveling Sets Me Free of My Stuff

On Friday, I flew from SFO to Seattle with my most important “stuff”: my black Kate Spade purse, MacBook pro, iPhone, engagement ring and necklace my husband gave me for Valentine’s Day this year, my passport and some cash.  I could have flown anywhere in the world and started my life from that moment in time with the items in that bag.  That’s a pretty empowering thought, and lead me to think that the lack of “stuff” might be part of why people find travel so liberating – it certainly is for me.

What I’ve Learned: Buy Experiences, Not Things

Enabling great experiences and memories, shared with people I enjoy, is the most important leisure activity in my life.  My rule of thumb now is that my “stuff” needs to enhance or enable experiences in some way, or it isn’t valid.  Additionally, the more expensive the item (both in terms of money and amount of trouble I go to keeping it) it better generate lasting and repeat value.

Another important thing I’ve learned is that owning expensive things is great, but only if you use them.  Each time you use them, its a part of the experience of owning something.  If you know me, you know that I have a thing for expensive leather purses and shoes, and that’s because when I use/wear them the luxury and stylishness of the items creates an experience for me personally.  I love that.  It’s the same for things like owning silver and china, or crystal.  Use it or give it to someone who will.

10 Things I Need to Travel the World

1. Internet (Sprint mifi)
2. iPhone & charger (Apple)
3. MacBook pro & charger (Apple)
4. jeans & a t-shirt
5. expensive & indestructible purse (Kate Spade)
6. expensive & durable/comfortable shoes (Tory Burch)
7. all-in-one makeup kit (Lancome, buy it at the airport)
8. passport
9. cash (or access to cash via ATM card)
10. my wonderful husband Kevin

Here is the screencast we made to go with it – which I am very proud of

@ColinAC it was great to see you too, it's been awhile! – see you tonight I'll hook you up with the Twilio shirt you liked too in reply to ColinAC #

@dacort haha not sure how useful that would be, for $250 you'd think maybe Twitter integration would be thrown in in reply to dacort #

@arianna blog post coming soon in reply to arianna #

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RT @thekenyeung: Wow…@gregarious's party is going off. Just don't say the "T" word or you take a shot. #

@LeTwistedMentat haha "assymetrical" – no pun intended? in reply to LeTwistedMentat #

@RippolEffect cool, I will come find you at the next break – I am the redhead wearing a mens suit jacket… if that helps in reply to RippolEffect #

@ericries hearing you say that you've made some of these mistakes is kind of therapeutic for me, thanks #

@jf it WAS awesome! in reply to jf #

@heathermeeker thanks for the intros that was really generous, feels like things are off to a good start #

@gregavola thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it – that is high praise indeed #wcbos in reply to gregavola #

@mulka yay I'm registered for Chirp too! see you there in reply to mulka #

@ElishaNYC thank you #WCBos #Wordpress #FlipVid in reply to ElishaNYC #

@JeremyKrantz its up now! http://bit.ly/5qCrLI enjoy in reply to JeremyKrantz #

@tombiro ah yes, that's true — it get it now in reply to tombiro #

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Lately, I’ve been following along more closely with Eric Ries, Steve Blank and others who are talking about Lean Startup.  I think it is really cool that “lean” has finally made it down from the ivory tower of Six Sigma to the nerf gun wielding floppy haired startup kids.  And with the state of the economy, it couldn’t come at a better time.

How I Came To Love Lean

When I was 15, I started  working for my Dad’s newly formed financial consulting company (he’s blogging now, woo!).  After two failed startups that had attempted to marry technology and the finance/healthcare benefits industry he was ready to strike out on his own, and I served as his tech-support/office-manager/generalist.  It was my sophomore year of high school, and the first year I really got to know my road-warrior of a father.  As consult, the business was basically a one-man-show so I began to set up processes that would help things like reporting to scale as we took on more customers.  The first business book I ever took down from his shelf was The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox, and it was the seminal work that brought the concept of lean manufacturing to the average businessman when it was published in 1984.

I was fascinated by the “Theory of Constraints” – the idea that you have to run your business in a way that is appropriate to your constraints.  You have a broken machine, materials shortage, broken supply chain, damaged orders?  Figure out how to restructure your processes to serve your end goals and take the reality of your situation into consideration.

Why “Constraint Marketing” for Startups?

Marketing in the technology world is more than just brand awareness, it’s a core distribution channel for consumer and enterprise products that are sold on the internet.  The new product supply chain isn’t interested in planes, trains, trucks, and boats.  Instead it is interested in channels like display advertising, social media, webinars, and ultimately a call-to-action that leads to conversion.

So what if we applied the rules of lean manufacturing and supply chain to startup marketing?  What would happen, what can we learn, and would be more effective marketers?  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard marketers derided for not being cost conscious enough, or efficient enough – and in that way I think I have a lot in common with a plant manager at a factory.

I think my experiences working in logistics (Expeditors International) as well as on-site for highly productive lean manufacturing factory concerns such as a Genie Industries and distributors like Zumiez were some of the most fascinating and formative experiences of my life.  In the same way I am marrying the old and the new in telecommunications with Twilio, let me marry the old and new wisdom of product distribution for online products.  We’ll see where this goes… I’m looking forward to feedback.

Stay tuned, http://www.constraintmarketing.com will be live soon