Let’s look back at what has happened since the beginning of August ‘08…

Betaworks raises more than $10 million in September ‘08.

First Growth Venture Network formed to mentor high potential seed and early stage companies.

First Round Capital makes 11 new investments in NYC, hires me to be here fulltime, and announces a new NYC office in Union Square.

Founder Collective raises $40 million in September ‘09.

Nate Westheimer hired by Flybridge as an advisor.

Jon Steinberg joins Polaris and opens Dogpatch.

Roger Ehrenberg is announces a new $25 million fund.

The Lerers raise a $7 million fund.

NYC Seed announces a summer incubator for 2010 that includes 20k investments.

Yeah, I’d say problem solved, no?  And if that doesn’t do it, then this is certainly the cherry on top.  I’m excited to announce that the Open Angel Forum is coming to NYC.

So what is the Open Angel Forum?  Well, remember the dust up a while back with the backlash against “pay to play” pitch events where startups had to pay to meet angels?  Jason Calacanis came up with a solution—creating an event where angel investors and startups get to know each other in a casual environment without a cost to the entrepreneur.   

I’ll be running Open Angel Forum NYC with Brian Alvey on April 8th, 2010.  Here’s how it works.  Startups apply here. (UPDATE: Applications due 3/25) They are not charged to present, but five will be chosen by a committee on merit to attend free.  Angel investors are not charged to attend, and we’ll have around 12-15 top folks in attendence.  Angels can indicate their interest in attending here, but they must be active (3 deals in the last year).   We respect an entrepreneur’s time and want to put them in front of people who are actually writing checks.  After the event the five startups receive a list of angels who express their interest level in their startup: a) Setup a followup meeting, b) Keep me posted but not a fit right now, c) Not a fit.

The format of the event is a dinner where five companies get to present their ideas for 10 minutes each with a short Q&A afterwards.  The dinner is paid for by service providers and sponsors who pay $1500 each to participate.  (Interested in being an attending sponsor?  Apply here.)

So if you’re a startup and you want to amass the most experienced, savvy investors NYC has to offer, please fill out the form and apply to join us as we build better connections between startups and investors in the Big Apple.

Hopefully, you can find a way in to some of these events as most are sold out.  Try the waitlists... I think you'll have a good shot at getting in.  If not, just try to slip the dude at the front door a few Twitter followers.

Monday, February 1st

10:30AM Branding the Future with Social Engagement, sponsored by Pepsi Refresh

The opening session of Social Media Week will focus on a top-level discussion of the increasing importance in utilizing social media to grow and develop corporate brands in the twenty-first century.

RSVP: http://smwnycpepsibrands.eventbrite.com/

Tuesday, February 2nd

9AM Crowdsourcery Potions 101: Why Some Marketing Potions Fail and Others Thrive, Hosted By JWT

Some have predicted that crowdsourcing is the future of the marketing, advertising and industrial design industry. The phenomenon, they argue, will accelerate creativity across a larger network. Others, meanwhile, have predicted that it is a passing fad but one that downward pressure on prices on current agency work.  So which is it? Does crowdsourcing represent the beginning of the end of creative organizations? Or does it herald the beginning of something bigger and transformational for those agencies - and for business in general?

RSVP: http://smwnyccrowdsource.eventbrite.com/

12PM Networked News Gatherers: Defining the Social Media Editor Role, hosted by Time Inc.

There's lots of talk about who "owns" social media for companies that decide to enter the space to reach their consumers. Usually these discussions focus on Marketing, PR, Customer Service or an Agency. But in the media world there's another option: the Social Media Editor.

We'll bring together Social Media Editors from some of the largest and most well-respected media outlets, as well as those in more traditional Editorial roles to discuss this new specialty role.

RSVP: http://smwnyctimeinc.eventbrite.com/

5PM NY Tech Meetup Student Mingle

The NYTM Student Group's mission is to encourage the involvement of students and student leaders in the New York City tech community and thereby better educate and prepare tomorrow's entrepreneurs.  We hold a monthly social event for undergraduate students and recent graduates to mingle and exchange ideas.

Current undergrads who participate can attend the Tech Meetup for free and some guest entrepreneurs even stop by once in a while.

RSVP: http://anyvite.com/ica4sve9wa

7PM: NY Tech Meetup - Rally for the Future

Tuesday is an extravaganza.

Fewer demos this time. On 2/2/10 we discuss 2/2/20.  Prepare to be Recruited By The Future.

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/calendar/12287601/

Wednesday, February 3rd

9AM The Future of Space & Time hosted by Wired.com

Moderator:

- John C. Abell, New York Bureau Chief for Wired.com

Panelists:

- Tony Jebara, Associate Professor Computer Science, Columbia University & Chief Scientist at Sense Networks

- Chris Dixon, Co-founder, CEO at Hunch

- Denis Crowley, Founder and CEO of Foursquare

Exploring trends in lifecasting and the proliferation of location based services.

RSVP: http://smwnycwired.eventbrite.com/

4:30PM A Shaq to the System: Tebow, Tiger and The New Online Realities of Sports Journalism

The world of sports used to be ruled by the calendar - game dates, tournaments, TV events, with the odd DUI thrown in. Now a story breaks and before you can say "ESPN" it's all over Twitter.  What is going ON? Fortunately for sports media, a lot - and no one is better to tell you about it than the people on this panel: Dan Shanoff, Will Leitch, Jason Fry, and Stephanie Wei.

RSVP: http://smwsports.eventbrite.com/

6PM What Is Your $ocial Music Currency?

Artists are using Social Media as a a catalyst to boost popularity, create new revenue streams and promote global goodness. Join us as we explore what currencies social media trades in, how the power social media can be maximized by labels, artists, and corporations and discuss who has been the most successful.

RSVP: http://smwsoundctrl.eventbrite.com/

6:30PM SUXORZ: the worst social media campaigns of '09

Think you know everything about social media? Come laugh and learn as we dissect the twelve worst social media campaigns of 2009.  Amid tales of genius and triumph during #SMWNYC, the SUXORZ panel will be the Greek chorus.

The Suxorz occurs in four rounds. Each panelists talks about an '09 social media campaign she/he hates, showing a slide or Youtube clip, then the drunken mob audience comments and votes on the worst campaign of that round. Finally, we revisit the winners of each round and vote on the grand champion Suxorz campaign. Audience heckling and wisdom are welcome throughout.

RSVP: http://suxorz10.eventbrite.com/

Thursday, February 4th

6PM Digital Culture NYC: Breaking Down the Walls, hosted by MoMA

How are New York City’s cultural institutions using new and emerging technology to reach and engage audiences? Hear from six different arts organizations about their use of social media as a means of reaching out to the public, distributing and shaping content, and fostering dialogue with passionate, opinionated audiences in New York and around the world.

RSVP: http://smwnycmoma.eventbrite.com/

6:30PM Designing Social Websites

What is a social website? What makes a site social? Why people participate online. Why some social sites work and others don't. The psychology of online social interaction. An overview of interactive design patterns for online social interaction. What works and what doesn't. "Paving the cowpaths"

Visual design that complements interactive design. Launch of a social site. Bootstrapping a community from zero users. Getting over the "sign-up hurdle". Monitoring, analytics and design iteration for social interaction

RSVP: http://ultralightstartups.com/newyork/social-design.html

Friday, February 5th

12PM: The Future of Social Media in Higher Education

How is social media changing the way college students learn? How are digital applications changing how professors teach? What are the most significant education technology trends of 2010 and beyond? Join a panel of education technology and emerging media experts to explore how the social web is transforming higher education.

RSVP: http://mcgraw-hill-socialmedia.eventbrite.com/

3PM Whole Foods Market presents: Afternoon Snack. A New York New Food Media Panel

Milk, cookies, and an exploration of the new food media landscape.
with Liza Mosquito de Guia, Founder & Chief Storyteller, food. curated.

Cathy Erway, Not Eating Out In New York.

Nick Fauchald, editor-in-chief, Tasting Table

Emily Fleischaker, Associate Multimedia Editor, Bon Appetit

Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, Food 52

Nicole Taylor, host, Hot Grease

RSVP: http://wfmafternoonsnack.eventbrite.com/

Saturday, February 6th

All day - EventCamp

EventCamp 2010 is the first industry gathering of its kind, offering an intimate and low cost alternative to the large annual conference and allowing attendees the option to generate their own content, encouraging participation and allowing for a more interactive environment.

Approximately half the session topics will be pre-determined, and aim to assist planners in utilizing social media and technology in event and meeting planning, execution, business development and networking. All levels of Social Media, Technology, and Event enthusiasts are welcome and encouraged!

RSVP: http://eventcamp.eventbrite.com/

Well, let me break the news to you bluntly—most of you are going about this startup thing completely ass backwards and no early stage startup that I know of is really dying to hire an MBA.  What they want is a ninja, and a hundred grand or so later, your diploma is not universally recognized as a “I haz ninja skillz” card. 

I probably get two or three MBAs a week asking me about what opportunities there are at startups and whether or not we can sit down and chat about them.  I take some of these meetings, but right off the bat, the approach is wrong on nearly all of them.  Instead of asking what opportunities there are for you, you should be telling me what opportunities you are going to create for the startups I know.  (“Ask not what startups can do for you…”)  Just tell me right off the bat what you can do for [insert First Round portfolio company] and why, when I pass you off, that CEO is going to thank me a million times over for sending you over—because if you’re not of immediate and immense value, you’re just a time sink.  If someone is hiring one of the first 10 or 20 or even 50 people in their company, they need to be awesome.  You can’t hide in a startup and there’s no room for dead weight or mailing it in. 

There’s often going to be very little structure and guidance on how to create value when you’re at a startup, so if in your approach to me, you’re asking me to do work for you right off the bat, like tell you about the opportunities and tell you how to find them, I’m going to be very suspect about your ability to just kick ass.

Here’s a different approach:  If I don’t know you, go find three opportunities at startup companies that you think you could kick ass at.  It’s so easy to find… just do a job search on Indeed.com or on the First Round jobs page.  Outline a couple of ideas for ways in which that company could improve its efforts related to that job.  Ex: “As Community Manager, I would get Modcloth on Tumblr because their users are already talking about the company there and it’s the right demo.”  That’s the kind of thing that I can just forward outright to the CEO and say, “Check out this person’s awesome ideas.”

Even better would be if you were to suggest ways in which you could be working at companies that didn’t even have openings listed for what you want.  If you think there’s a clear need for what you can do, create the opportunity for yourself!  Tell me why this company absolutely needs to hire you to get to the next level—and don’t say because you could “help their strategy”.  You know what startups hear when you say that as an MBA?  “This person is going to write a report.”  Startups don’t need more reports.  Some of them don’t even have printers.  They need sales, users, biz dev wins, etc… and they have little time and even less money to explain to you how to get that.

Another note on the approach—a resume attachment is fail on delivery.  It’s 2010.  We may not have flying cars just yet, but attached word docs are archaic.  Send around your public and visible LinkedIn profile at minimum, with a well written bio and bullets that tell me what you did and what you know.  Even better would be additional links to your blog and Twitter.

Here’s the thing about the social media stuff: You’re being hired as a knowledge worker.  We want you for your brains and a resume and even a LinkedIn profile just don’t do a good job of explaining to me why your brain is different than anyone elses.  MBAs, for the most part, kinda look all the same on paper.  However, when I can see that you wrote some awesome posts on why a COO should be one of the first 10 hires in a startup and how poor startup operations cost companies more than they realize in the long run, that’s going to get me thinking and maybe even passing it to a few startups that I know that are organizationally challenged. 

When you’re not blogging, even occasionally, here’s what a startup is going to think, fairly or unfairly:

• This person isn’t passionate enough to share their ideas about this industry.
• This person has no ideas about this industry.
• This person’s ideas about this industry aren’t vetted thoroughly because they’ve never been shared.
• This person has not attracted a network around themselves and their ideas.
• This person is the same as everyone else.

Don’t get me wrong, you could be absolutely awesome without a blog, but it’s very hard to prove that in just a resume when you’re cold emailing someone or even getting a lukewarm intro and asking for an entrepreneur’s time. Plus, if this is something that thought leaders are doing, it’s legitimate to ask why you aren’t striving to be a thought leader.

Same thing with Twitter.  Clearly Twitter is commonly accepted in the startup world as a business and networking tool.  It’s an indication of how well networked you are, and what the community thinks of your ideas. 

Think of it this way:  If my business depends on email conversion and I need to hire a killer e-mail marketing manager, then am I going to look for an attached Word doc that will often get lost in e-mails?  Wouldn’t I rather have a note from someone who links to a popular and thoughtful e-mail marketing blog they write and a twitter account where 500 more people follow you than follow you back—and indication that you say things worth listening to.  Running the e-mail marketing Meetup group wouldn’t be a bad thing either—because then I know that you’re tapped in to the flow of best practices and that you could even perhaps bring your network to bear when we need to expand the team under you. 

The point is, startups assume that MBAs are going to look for too much money, have classroom knowledge that won’t likely transfer to the real world, and want things to be handed to them.  You’ve got to counter that by providing immediate upfront value, differentiating yourself, and creating your own opportunities.  From what I see, these aren’t necessarily skills most business schools are teaching well.

We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of “Start-Up America.”

via www.nytimes.com

This just in:  Six states have now lifted the marriage ban.  You are now free to marry the soon to be released Apple Tablet in California, New York, Arkansas, Ohio, Maine and Vermont.  The rest of you will just have to go to one of these events to try to find human life partners:

Monday, January 25th
6:00PM The Future of Music: with Lyor Cohen, CEO Rec. Music, Warner Music
Lyor Cohen (http://en.wikipedia.o...) - who has been a pioneer in the development of hip hop, and is Chairman and CEO Recorded Music of Recorded Music for Warner Music - will offer some thoughts and lead a discussion on what trends are effecting music in a +30 year sense.  There will be an iPod check at the door to determine the copyright status of your digital music.  Violators will be prosecuted.  No, just kidding...I think.

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/BLKNY30/calendar/12276640/

7:00PM Moble Monday Brooklyn (MoMoBK) Inaugural Event: NY Apps, So Hot Right Now
Mobile Monday Brooklyn demo night of awesome apps created by local NYC and Brooklyn developers.   The following apps will be presented:  Hot Potato- Event sharing app for iPhone, Sit or Squat- Public restroom locator,  Where Brooklyn App?- AR app with Brooklyn points of interest,  StyleCaster- Provides daily looks based on the weather,  BigMapple- Uses Twitter and Flickr to map NYC events,  BeerCloud- Ultimate beer lover app,  PegShot- Photo/video service to share what you're doing with friends,  Guerilla Apps- Broken Parking Meters helps you find these free spots,  SpokesNYC- Bicycle routing app for city dwellers.

RSVP: http://momobkjan10.eventbrite.com/

Tuesday, January 26th

8AM Regulatory Scrutiny of Social Media: The Impact on PR Communicators in 2010 and Beyond

Join our panel of experts in media law, health care communications and digital/social media as we explore what this heightened government scrutiny may mean for PR practitioners, marketers and media strategists.

RSVP:  http://www.prsany.org/index.php?s=event&itemid=163

Wednesday, January 27th

RSVP:  http://www.meetup.com/nyvideo/calendar/12134493/

7:00PM: NYC MusicTechnology Meetup

Presenters will include:
    * Morgan Lang, presenting RebelX iPhone app.
    * Unha Engels, presenting CuriousBrain iPhone app.
    * Craig Swann, presenting ClubCreate
    * Thomas Tracey, presenting Thumbplay Music service.
Also a Special Announcement from Jesse Kirshbaum of SoundCtrl

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/music-techster/calendar/12329809/

Thursday, January 28th

RSVP:  http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2ot4f1u5a7aacf0&oseq=

Friday, January 29th

9:30AM  North Brooklyn Breakfast Club

10AM through the weekend   Crisis Camp Haiti NYC-New York technologists helping the Haiti relief effort

Crisis Camp Haiti NYC will take place January 30 & 31, 2010 joining together with technology volunteers at Crisis Camps in three countries and 10 cities to provide local opportunities for citizens to assist in crisis mapping, data management, and RSS feed aggregation. In addition, people with specialized skills such as translation, computer programing and literacy advocates are encouraged to participate.

RSVP:  http://www.eventbrite.com/event/543649069

This was the source of a lot of debate—because you couldn’t be certain what the quality would be of hashtags of people who may not be aware of Hot Potato getting pulled into what is essentially a live chatroom.  Would they appear out of sync, disjointed, etc?  It’s only one data point, but I think it was a big win.  Interestingly enough, I thought more people started taking part in the conversation who weren’t on Hot Potato because they now knew their thoughts were being syndicated to an app where more people were talking about the event.

The bigger picture here wasn’t so much whether this was the right feature for this market—it was more about the entrepreneur and the team.  A less product-focused entrepreneur would not have been able to make that call.  From the beginning, we knew that there was a big market opportunity with Hot Potato, but we also knew there was still a lot of work to do on the product side.  If Justin Shaffer was more of a “deal guy”, someone less familiar with building products, he might have gone a long time without recognizing the need for, or at least testing, this feature.  Instead, what we have is a bobbing and weaving product with a product-focused entrepreneur—one who takes in the feedback of those around him, his customers, and sees the existing trend and is able to discern a product strategy around it—a nice fit.

On the other hand, I recently saw a deal where it was clear that we needed a very business development focused entrepreneur.  There were lots of sources of value in his market that needed to be tapped—you couldn’t really get to important value inflection points without the data and channel access that other companies had.  It wasn’t clear, however, that this kind of deal savvy was present on the founding team.  It seemed like they were a strong team by any account and they had built a pretty cool product, but without a deal rainmaker—and perhaps that kind of DNA infused into more than just the CEO—it was going to be tough slogging.

Similarly, and not to beat the examples to a pulp, but I also saw a great idea in the legal space—big market, still lots of inefficiencies, but getting customers would necessarily mean getting mixed up in the dogfight that is litigation related keyword advertising and search optimization.  That’s a pretty competitive market and without someone on the team who lives and breathes search marketing in the legal space, it’s tough to see how the company could succeed.  Simply put, the product demanded a certain skillset of the entrepreneur, and without a match, you’d be in almost as difficult position if you didn’t have the right product for your market at all.  

The reason why I focus on this a lot is because product-market fit is something you can tweak and iterate on.  You can get there eventually, but you can’t really get there on the founding team if they don’t have the skill set that matches what their idea will demand of them.  Similarly, there would be no sense in putting my dad in a Ferrari because that’s just not the way he drives—regardless of what’s under the hood.

This is something that founders should pay a lot of attention to when choosing a partner.  Think about what your product and market will demand of you.  Will a product like yours win because of product design, business development, savvy customer acquisition, founder visibility, or something else?  Are you or any of the members of the founding team awesome at the right things?  (And by awesome, I mean that you’d look for the best person to execute this strategy and after a long exhaustive search, hire yourself.)  If not, then that should perhaps inform you of what you should seek in a partner, instead of just finding what compliments you.  If you’re not good at marketing and the product itself doesn’t really need much marketing, then don’t feel the need to hire a marketing expert just to compliment you.  Hire what compliments the product and necessary strategy.

Apparently, Yelp misread the most.

In a direct rip off of Foursquare, they added check-in functionality.

As Wired’s John Abell puts it:

“Yelp isn’t even bothering to hide its direct aping of FourSquare with version 4.0.0 of its iPhone app, which allows you to “‘Check-in’ to businesses when you are out to tell your friends where you are.” That’s the exact same language Foursquare uses to encourage users to report their location.”

What that does is to signal to the market that if you have a good idea in local, Yelp will eat you without even so much as giving you the courtesy of reviewing you after.  The hilarious thing is that Yelp actually thinks it can beat Foursquare at its own game—and it is a game, one that founder Dennis Crowley has been thinking about for at least 8 years.  Gaming dynamics is not the core competency of Yelp, so why bother?  In the long history of bigger companies thinking they can beat out the small guy that only thinks about this one thing, the small guy just about always wins.

If I were using the Yelp API for anything important now, I’d be unplugging faster than that gooey scene in the Matrix where the tubes start popping off of Neo.  Good luck hiring anyone innovative, too.  If Yelp proves this startup unfriendly, how long before they start going after its own engineers who undoubtedly have their own side projects?  If I were thinking about a startup or participating in any kind of startup activity, like classes or an incubator, and I worked at Yelp fulltime, I’d go take a look at the assignment of IP rights in my employment contract.  Yelp just showed its true colors:  It’s not a startup anymore, and it will try to crush anyone that gets in its way—Microsoft 90’s style.  That’s not the kind of place innovators tend to like to work.

Undoubtedly, that kind of strategy will actually work against Yelp in today’s ecology.  As we learned from Fred’s post, an innovation friendly approach to working with other companies around it, like Twitter does, can actually create a reach up to 5x that of it’s core service.  Given that the people that actually pay Yelp, venues, only care about reach—by scaring off innovative partners who might want to work with the company, Yelp is doing a disservice to its long term value creation strategy for itself and its customers. 

On top of that, news broke that the company is taking $50 million from Elevation Partners—which includes a secondary offering for long-time employees as well.  That’s key, because it means that the core DNA of the company—the key folks who have been there for years and built it into what it is today, just took money off the table.  Count on that money going to a lot of mortgage down payments and moves to the suburbs—and count on the startup hunger of the little social reviews company that could to fall off the table.  Yelp missed its chance to exit at a nice valuation after six years of hard work.  With money off the table and big company bad behavior in the innovation community, look for the mass exodus soon—I’m sure the recruiters are already circling. 

Am I the only one that thinks that perhaps Steve Jobs will be introducing two Apple tablets next week... made of stone...  from a mountain?  Seems like anything less would be a letdown.

Oh, and btw...  big miss on someone not doing a diversity hack-a-thon on Monday.  That would have been awesomesauce.  Next year!

Tuesday, January 19th
5:00PM Jan #140conf NYC Meetup

An opportunity to discuss the emerging Real-Time Internet and the effects on business. A monthly gathering for friends of #140conf to get together and discuss issues of the day.

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/140conf/calendar/11989892/

Fashion 2.0 and FashInvest invite the online fashion community to present their startups to the audience and special feedback panel consisting of leading investors in the space.

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/fashion20/calendar/12126247/

6:30PM Ultra Light Legal Series: January 2010

The Ultra Light Roundtable features a set of short talks on related topics of interest to entrepreneurs and business owners.  This month's talk is about corporate formation, investor visas and and tax accounting for startups.

RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/498815972
6:30PM Digital Media MBA January '10 Happy Hour w/Foursquare Co-Founder

Please join other MBA grads from top tier schools for our Happy Hour this month when we will be joined by our latest "Featured Guest", Naveen Selvadurai, who is the co-founder of Foursquare, one of the most talked about startups in the mobile social networking industry.

RSVP: http://dmmbajanuary10hh.eventbrite.com/

Wednesday, January 20th
EVENT OF THE WEEK: 7PM Kevin Ryan & Henry Blodget: NYTech -10 +10 @ 92Y Tribecca

The city's enhancement-free version of the "Bash Brothers" talk NYC Tech in 2000, 2010, and 2020... what is changing/what isn't -- what are we willing to bet on, and where are the wildcards.

RSVP:  http://www.meetup.com/BLKNY30/calendar/12226340/


Thursday, January 21st

At this Entrepreneurs Roundtable, we will have pitches from students and first-time entrepreneurs who are being mentored by highly-experienced VCs, investors and entrepreneurs.
Get updated on future Entrepreneurs Roundtable events: http://www.eroundtable.net/

7:00PM: Etsy Speaker Series: Douglas Rushkoff

Douglas Rushkoff is an award-winning writer, documentary filmmaker and scholar. He made the PBS Frontline documentaries Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders, and the upcoming Digital Nationpremiering February 2. 
RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/529092530

I’ll admit it: Everytime I hear that familiar “Ra-ra, ah-ah ah-ah, Ra-ma ra ma-ma, Ga-ga ooh la-la”, I crank up the volume.  The outlandishly costumed fellow former Upper East Side prep schooler has garnered some serious mass appeal over the last two years.  But what can you attribute Ms. Germanotta’s success to, and moreover, what can the average tech startup learn from it?

Yes…  I’m totally writing this post, and you can’t stop me.  There will be no more stops on this trainwreck, so you’re on until the end of the line.

1) Be remarkable.  People forget what that word actually means—to Two words: bubble dress.  It’s so outlandish that you can’t help but notice.  “Is she really wearing… a bubble dress?”  You want to force your users to stop for a moment and actually take note of something you did for them.  “Was it really that easy?”  “How did they figure that out?”  You want them to turn to the next person and say “Hey, check this out.”  I think too often people add “share on Twitter” buttons to their apps without first adding something that people would actually want to share.  What is it about your service that will make people stop and notice?

2) Repeat the message as often as possible: “Pa-pa-pa-Poker Face”, “Ra-ma ra ma-ma”, “Papa-paparazzi”, “Let’s play a love game, play a love game”…   Many of Gaga’s lyrics and sounds are repeated one right after another—simple, but memorable when listened to over and over again.  Figuring out what your simple message is and repeating it across your site, your marketing copy, PR, and in business development meetings is a way to build brand awareness and clarity.  Too often, I hear from startups all the things they could possibly be instead of hearing the one simple thing they want to be, over and over again.   Your audience looks at a million brand messages a day and to cut through, you can’t be a different thing everytime someone experiences you—or worse yet, everything to everyone.  Sometimes, broken records aren’t so bad.

3) Be relentless.  Startups, like a lot of music acts, are often one hit wonders.  They make a big splash upon launch, everyone fusses over them, and then they have no follow up.  They quickly lose momentum.  On the other hand, just when one Lady Gaga song starts losing steam—BOOM—here comes another tune that you just can’t get out of your head, seemingly once every couple of months.  Startups need to do this more with both their product and their public relations strategy.  You might be the new new thing now, but what’s going to be your next hit?  A big business development deal?  A killer new feature?  Rarely are startups ever made on their launch, and neither are lasting music careers.  You can’t ever rest on your laurels in either game.  Always be raising the bar.

4) Create something bigger than just the individual.  At some point, you go from two developers in an apartment to a real company—and things take on a life of its own that is over and above the individual identities of the founders.  Lady Gaga did this by creating a persona separate from her real self.  I’m pretty sure her family still calls her Stefani, but Gaga has become larger than life.  For a startup, this happens when a company actually starts to act like a real company—getting outside board members to regularly report to, taking strategy and process seriously, maintaining consistent corporate identities.  It also means delegation of duty and responsibility, adherence of procedure.  The earlier the founders of a company act like they’ve created something bigger than themselves, the sooner they actually get there.    

5) Respect success.  Lady Gaga has clearly been influenced by Madonna, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, and others—and she seamlessly and subtlety incorporates little homages to these superstars into her performance.  On the other hand, some stars pick fights with those who have come before them or portray themselves as a replacement instead of recognizing that there’s a reason why others are successful, even if they aren’t always the most innovative.  This is something I wish more startups would do—see what’s working for other companies way more successful than you are and adopt well executed strategies used by others.  Too many times I ask a company about some feature or strategy that the industry leader has, and the startup is quick to dismiss it.  They mistake different for new and better.  It’s as if they think I won’t be interested in an investment unless they’re going to crush the leader feature by feature with a whole new approach.  If you can’t recognize greatness, and build off of it, then you’re going to be unlikely to be great on your own. 

6:30PM Agile UX at the Economist (Waitlist only)

The Economist online will share their experiences, successes and lessons learned around practicing user-centered design in an Agile development process. This includes user research and testing, Drupal-based surveys, collaborative design tools using Google docs and a Drupal-based site called Good Ideas that supports collaboration around internal bottom-up (grass-roots) innovation.

RSVP for waitlist: http://www.meetup.com/Agile-Experience-Design/calendar/11903449/

Wednesday, January 13th

6PM Digital Somethings: 2010 and Beyond

WHO: @JennyDeluxe (Jenna Wortham, NY Times, Bits Blog), @AdamOstrow (Editor in Chief, Mashable), @DanPatterson (ABC News Radio, Blog), @RSHotel (Blog, Website), @PRNewswire (Jim King, SVP, Audience)

WHAT 2010 and Beyond - The Trends That Will Alter Media and Technology As We Know It (Open Bar from 8-9 p.m.)

RSVP:  http://ds3.eventbrite.com/

6:30PM Health 2.0 NYC Chapter January 2010 Meetup

January meetup is dedicated to " enabling better care by enabling clinical staff" and we have just the presenters for that.

January 2010 Presenters:

1. YourNurseIsOn - Matthew Browning, CEO

2. OmniPACS - Francisco Parin, President & CEO

RSVP:  http://www.health20nyc.com/calendar/12172752/

Thursday, January 14th

This month, we'll be hosting a special format of "lightning demos" at Dogpatch Labs in Union Square before usual beer and burgers.

RSVP:  http://anyvite.com/rafgiuegjc

6:30PM: DigitalFlashNYC Networking Event on E-Readers

Kindle, Nook, Sony E-Reader, the Apple tablet (maybe?). Electronic “books” are rapidly changing the way we read information. Popular Science Magazine is developing a revolutionary way to view magazines and they want you to tell them what you think. Is this a good idea? How does this effect digital marketing? Just as the internet changed the way we could market, will e-books do the same?

Come see what the Popular Science guys have to say and give your 2 cents – trust us, they want your feedback!

RSVP: http://digitalflashnyc.com/index.php?option=com_registrationpro&view=event&Itemid=2&did=2


6:30PM: What the RDF? ... Firsthand perspectives from Semantic Technology in action

Semantic technologies promise to change the landscape of the web and enhance the user experience. Like many evolving technologies, there remains a gap between theory and practice.

We’ll share our experience developing enterprise and consumer facing semantic search applications from three perspectives: Content and user experience, knowledge engineering and technology.

RSVP: http://semweb.meetup.com/25/calendar/11294754/

Being in China right now I am more convinced than ever that when historians look back at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, they will say that the most important thing to happen was not the Great Recession, but China’s Green Leap Forward. The Beijing leadership clearly understands that the E.T. — Energy Technology — revolution is both a necessity and an opportunity, and they do not intend to miss it.

We, by contrast, intend to fix Afghanistan. Have a nice day.

via www.nytimes.com

I still want to know where all the Green jobs are.

Still, we’re not at the point where every single purchase, down to the bar of soap, what brand of razor I use, and what kind of cheese I eat, is captured.  Point of sale systems have all this data—hell, those that control the POS even share it with mass marketers like Catalina, who actually know more about what I buy than I do.  The rest of us are stuck with the “Fresh Direct - $89.53” we pull out of Mint or check out in our credit card statement online. 

So when and why does that change?  Seems to me that Square is going to do this, but will that be enough to move the industry?  This could really break open recommendations and also innovation around deals & savings, but at the same time give the user greater control.  Perhaps one day I’ll have a Catalina login where I can indicate that I purchased that wine for a party and that I don’t actually drink, so take it off my profile, just like taking things out of the Last.fm queue or Tivo. 

Who’s thinking about this?  

Physical activity has long been known to bestow such benefits as helping to maintain a healthy weight and reduce stress, not to mention tightening those abs. Now, a growing body of research is showing that regular exercise—as simple as a brisk 30- to 45-minute walk five times a week—can boost the body's immune system, increasing the circulation of natural killer cells that fight off viruses and bacteria. And exercise has been shown to improve the body's response to the influenza vaccine, making it more effective at keeping the virus at bay.

"No pill or nutritional supplement has the power of near-daily moderate activity in lowering the number of sick days people take," says David Nieman, director of Appalachian State University's Human Performance Lab in Kannapolis, N.C.

via online.wsj.com