[Setup - In the early days of CNN and Turner Broadcasting Ted Turner would prowl his office building and drop in unannounced into random meetings.   One day he walked into a meeting where people were planning a cross-channel week-long special on dinosaurs]

Speaker – “Okay – now all we need to do now is come up with the name.”

[Assembled marketing people] – “Prehistoric Times”, “Before the Comet”, “Things That Walked Tall”, etc, etc

Slowly Ted Turner raises his hand.

Speaker (nervously) – “Yes Mr Turner”

Ted Turner: “Why don’t you call it “Dinosaur”

Speaker (nervously) – “Well, Mr Turner, we were looking to convey a bigger brand and feel than simply calling it dinosaur.  Does anyone else have any other ideas?”

[Assembled marketing people] – “A Different Kind of Tail”, “Some Were Vegetarians”, “Jurassic Park – For Real!”, etc, etc

Ted Turner: “Why don’t you call it “Dinosaurs”

Speaker (even more nervously) – “Mr Turner, that’s still not what we’re looking for.”

Ted Turner: “About twenty years ago I started a cable news network.  You know what I called it?  Cable News Network!”

The marketing people named their special “Dinosaurs“

In Sum: The Turner Rule: If  you cannot decide quickly on a marketing matter, just be obvious.

photo credit: mil8

I did not see that many familiar faces and fewer people attended than than attended the March Meetup, but the specialization made the people who did attend more involved.  Georgia Tech was nice enough to loan out the Georgia Tech Research Institute facility auditorium.  I enjoyed meeting everyone and Mike Schinkel and his volunteers moved things along well.  It is impossible to overstate how important it is to keep these events running on time.  Daniel from Friendly Human recorded the event for video posterity.

And now, the contestants! We listened to the presentations, and voted via twitter for our favorites, here are mine, recorded here for posterity. I judge startups by the following criteria, on a scale of 1-10 (higher is better).

1. Problem Solving - It can be a cool product, but does it make anyone’s life easier?
2. Actual Customers - I am defining the customer as someone with both problems and money.
3. Simplicity of Pricing – can the fees be described to anyone, do you need more information about the prospect before you can offer a quote?
4. Chicken and Egg Problem – does the product require a lot of Customer A before Customer B becomes interested, and vice versa? This applies a good bit to middleman/broker type companies like E-Bay.
5. Remarkability – that is to say, can someone who heard a quick presentation about it describe it to someone the next day, and have it be understood?

Note, I do not judge the passion of the founders, quality of marketing, execution etc. That’s too hard to judge based off of a short presentation.

And so, with no further ado, here are the startups from last night. I’m omitting detailed descriptions of the startups as those can be found on their websites.

• Guild Quality – @GuildQuality – basically they do surveying for homebuilders
  1. Problem Solving – 6/10 – I’m unconvinced that the lack of surveying is a problem for homebuilders.    This product seems to exist to keep internal marketing departments busy.  Then again, selling products to internal marketing departments is a huge industry.  New home buyers are not shy, so I’m not sure this is a needed solution.
  2. Actual Customers – 7/10 – There are a lot of homebuilders.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 6/10 – Stepped and variable pricing, fairly complex
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 9/10 – not that big of a deal
  5. Remarkability- 8/10 – “Surveys for home builders” – pretty simple.

  Total Score: 36

• We Find Housing – @WeFindHousing – A listing service. – One quick side note – the speaker spent almost all of her time explaining the company, and almost no time explaining the product.
  1. Problem Solving – 7/10 – There is always a need to exchange information about housing
  2. Actual Customers – 6/10 – When I was in the market I don’t think I would have jumped up and down raving about this, and I don’t know of anyone who would.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 7/10 – Simple pricing
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 2/10 – Big chicken and egg problems – buyers and sellers must be there at the same time
  5. Remarkability- 6/10 – The specifics of what they offer are vauge.

  Total Score: 28

• Creative Roof – @CreativeRoof – IDX search, and tagging of anonymous users which allows their search patterns to be captured.
  1. Problem Solving – 5/10 – This doesn’t seem to help that many people. I can see realtors finding it cool, but not actually useful
  2. Actual Customers – 5/10 -It’s novel, but will it make any difference in anyone’s life.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 9/10 – One monthly price!
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 1/10 – Big chicken and egg problems – buyer and seller must be present at the same time
  5. Remarkability- 4/10 – Free IDX search doesn’t mean that much to anyone.

  Total Score: 24

• REDataCenter – @REDataCenter – Market research.
  1. Problem Solving – 3/10 – While interesting, I don’t see how this makes anyone’s life better. The standard deviation of real estate seems too high to make most statistics useful
  2. Actual Customers – 5/10 -It’s novel, but seemingly the product would be better off being sold to banks.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 4/10 – Variable pricing
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 5/10 – Seemingly this is a saturation product, but I don’t say that for any particular reason
  5. Remarkability- 8/10 – “Real Estate Charts!” It can be done in 3 words, which is pretty good.

  Total Score: 25

• REOneSpot – @REOneSpot – BaseCamp for realtors, more or less. Fixes silo apps, single point of data entry.
  1. Problem Solving – 8/10
  2. Actual Customers – 7/10 – I’m not sure if realtors actually will latch onto something technical, but if they will, it is likely to be this.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 9/10 – One price per seat per month is good
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 6/10 – This needs saturation to work
  5. Remarkability- 8/10 – “One stop app for realtors!”

  Total Score: 38

• Realty Join – @RealtyJoin – Social Networking for the Real Estate Industry.
  1. Problem Solving – 6/10 – see below
  2. Actual Customers – 5/10 – Don’t realtors already know every “type” of person they need to know? It seems that way.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 2/10 – Not simple
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 3/10 – There needs to be a critical mass for this to work.
  5. Remarkability- 9/10 – “One stop app for realtors!”

  Total Score: 25

So, I chose REOneSpot and Guild Quality as my top picks.    Looking forward to the next one.

photo credit: alexdecarvalho

The community was quite nice (I saw a number of familiar faces, and met some new people too), and the Georgia Tech was nice enough to loan out the Georgia Tech Research Institute facility auditorium. I had a great time meeting everyone and Mike Schinkel and his volunteers moved things along well. It is impossible to overstate how important it is to keep these events running on time.

And now, the contestants! We listened to the presentations, and voted via twitter for our favorites, here were mine, recorded here for posterity. I judge startups by the following criteria, on a scale of 1-10 (higher is better). I thought I would share it here for the first time.

1. Problem Solving - It can be a cool product, but does it make anyone’s life easier?
2. Actual Customers - I am defining the customer as someone with both problems and money.
3. Simplicity of Pricing – can the fees be described to anyone, do you need more information about the prospect before you can offer a quote?
4. Chicken and Egg Problem – does the product require a lot of Customer A before Customer B becomes interested, and vice versa? This applies a good bit to middleman/broker type companies like E-Bay.
5. Remarkability – that is to say, can someone who heard a quick presentation about it describe it to someone the next day, and have it be understood?

Note, I do not judge the passion of the founders, quality of marketing, execution etc. That’s too hard to judge based off of a short presentation.

And so, with no further ado, here are the startups from last night. I’m going to omit descriptions of the startups as those can be found on their websites.

• Less Meeting – Jeff Steinke presenting – Short Version – a web based application that plays the role of a crotchety timekeeper enforcing the meeting agenda.
  1. Problem Solving – 10/10
  2. Actual Customers – 10/10
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 5/10
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 7/10
  5. Remarkability- 6/10 – I find it easier to describe the effect rather than the cause

  Total Score:38

• Spitter – David Eckhoff presenting – Spitter.com provides real-time, relevant sports information (the wheat is separated from the chaff somewhere along the line)
  1. Problem Solving – 5/10 – Providing relevant information is going to be a relative thing for everyone, both provider and consumer.  If I were a bigger sports fan I might see the utility in this.  Seemingly it would be better used spinning off into politics or outright inside gambling tips.
  2. Actual Customers – 0/10 – Apparently they were not at the point of defining the people who actually pay money yet,  David Eckhoff is a capable guy, so I assume they do exist, but since they were not presented, I’m rating this a zero.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 0/10 – No pricing yet either
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 10/10 – no problem that I can see.
  5. Remarkability- 10/10 – “Twitter for Sports!” – It is a highly remarkable venture

  Total Score:25

• Other Number – Andrew Johnson and Walter Duncan presenting – They provide a virtual PBX
  1. Problem Solving – 7/10 – Phones seem to be a solved problem, so I’m not sure of the benefits of having a virtual PBX, but it does seem like a cool product.
  2. Actual Customers – 6/10 – In my limited experience nobody ever wants to switch PBX systems.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 5/10 – Variable pricing!
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 7/10 – no problem that I can see.
  5. Remarkability- 7/10 – “Virtual PBX!” – which is easy enough for those who know what a PBX actually means

  Total Score:32

• Chirbit – Ivan Reyes presenting – Online swapping of sound files for social media. Full disclosure, I’ve been friends with Ivan for the past several years
  1. Problem Solving – 8/10 – Chirbit does supply a way to move sound files easily, especially the recording of them.
  2. Actual Customers – 6/10 – Voiceover talent isn’t the largest market, but this would solve a lot of problems for them.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 0/10 – No announced pricing
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 7/10
  5. Remarkability- 5/10 – “Social Media Condiment” was how Ivan described it, but that doesn’t really tell the story

  Total Score:26

• Co-Thrive – Rachel Orston presenting – Online task management with lots of cool email features
  1. Problem Solving – 7/10 – I’m still waiting for an application that insists on the active voice and won’t let you use adverbs. Their system does not fix the human problem of task management (that would make it a 10) – Their system does take it quite far.
  2. Actual Customers – 8/10 – they have actual customers! A wonderful thing for a startup.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 7/10
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 7/10
  5. Remarkability- 5/10 – The product is a well executed application of a simple concept (the best kind) but I honesty can’t think of a simple, accurate way to describe it

  Total Score:34

So, my rankings were LessMeeting, Co-Thrive, and Other Number.  I learned quite a bit from all of the presenters, particularly David Eckhoff.  I look forward to the next one!

photo credit: juhansonin

Last February I purchased a Triton Woodworking 3.5 Horsepower router, the only “elite” tool I have for my woodworking hobby.  About 4 months ago I managed to get a 1″ radius round-over bit stuck (“Frozen” in woodworking jargon) into the router.  I tried everything I could think of to remove the frozen router bit.  I pulled so hard I bent the factory wrench (really, I did), I tried using micro lubrication, I let it run long enough for everything to heat up, I consulted the woodworking elders at Highland Woodworking, all to no avail.  As Triton is an Australian company, they do not have a local service center.

Then I ran into the good people at Sommerfeld Tools at the woodworking convention and I asked the person doing their demo what he would do.  (We now go to our normal “How To Fix” format)

The Problem – A bit is stuck in the router, and will not come out, no matter what you try.

The Cause – The bit is most likely bottomed out in the router, as well as either a small wood shaving or clump of dust is jammed in there as well.  The shaving or the dust buildup accumulates moisture and swells, which makes it impossible to remove.

The Solution – Use a nail set and hit the steel (not the carbide) of the shaft of the router bit about 20 times or so from several side.  Then try again with a wrench.  This causes (or seems to cause anyway) the clump of dust or wood shaving to dissipate and the bit can be removed.

A huge thank you to the people at Sommerfeld Tools for telling me that trick.

Please use all relevant safety precaution, the most important protection is safety glasses, your mileage may vary, etc.

photo credit: Let Ideas Compete

1) Actionable:

a) Sales: detecting the interaction of a prospect who is in a stalled sales opportunity, and pinging the salesperson’s Blackberry, in real time, that they need to call the prospect

b) Marketing: real-time revenue reporting from Google AdWord campaign clicks

* Corporate Purchasing: Pricing starts at $99/m; below the radar of corporate purchasing

* Pricing: simple consumption model with 3 tiers
* Remarkability: “Enables your business to detect, track and target potential customers”

-Regarding actionability – I have always thought that the missing information link in sales is not timeliness but rather the lack of product knowledge on the part of the salesperson, a problem which is not solvable via web applications.  Timelyness has seldom been a problem for me when dealing with salespeople.  I could quite easily be wrong about that.

-Regarding corporate purchasing – God willing $99 a month is below the purchasing radar of purchasing departments, but I was under the impression that ongoing charges tended to be handled by purchasing departments.

- Regarding pricing – I’m quite draconian on judging pricing – an ongoing charge is more complicated than a one-time fee, and 3 prices is more complicated than one price.  I do realize that not all products are capable of having a single price.  For what it’s worth, the current plan for Stronico will be a single price on a recurring basis.

- Regarding remarkability – I stand largely corrected on that.  I would mention that web app part of it in my description though.

The community was quite nice, and the venue, Ignition Alley was cool too.  Ignition Alley is a co-working facility about four miles away from Stronico HQ which is on my short list of places to go when I need an office.   I had a great time meeting everyone and the event was quite well run.

And now, the contestants!  We listened to the presentations, and voted via twitter for our favorites, here were mine, recorded here for posterity.  I judge startups by the following criteria, on a scale of 1-10 (higher is better).  I thought I would share it here for the first time.

1. Problem Solving - It can be a cool product, but does it make anyone’s life easier?
2. Actual Customers - I am defining the customer as someone with both problems and money.
3. Simplicity of Pricing – can the fees be described to anyone, do you need more information about the prospect before you can offer a quote?
4. Chicken and Egg Problem – does the product require a lot of Customer A before Customer B becomes interested,  and vice versa?  This applies a good bit to middleman/broker type companies like E-Bay.
5. Remarkability – that is to say, can someone who heard a quick presentation about it describe it to someone the next day, and have it be understood?

Note, I do not judge the passion of the founders, quality of marketing, execution etc.  That’s too hard to judge based off of a short presentation.

And so, with no further ado, here are the startups from last night.  I’m going to omit descriptions of the startups as those can be found on their websites.

• RocketDispatch – they send notifications to people in a variety of ways, in an ad supported model.
  1. Problem Solving – 6/10
  2. Actual Customers – 3/10 (it’s always that way with advertising)
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 3/10 (it’s also always that way with advertising)
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 5/10 (they need the free customers before they can sell the advertising, beyond that, it’s not too bad)
  5. Remarkability- 8/10 (“They call, text, and email people for you” for you is the shortest description I can come up with)

  Total Score:25

• Core Motives – they provide information on customers.
  1. Problem Solving – 6/10 – information on customers is great, but how is it actionable?  That was not obvious about the product.
  2. Actual Customers – 3/10 (while the target market is sales people, the pricing is such that they would be dealing with corporate purchasing departments.  Corporate purchasing departments are the great complicators of life)
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 2/10 (there is no simple way to do variable pricing)
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 10/10 (I don’t think they would have a chicken and egg problem at all)
  5. Remarkability- 2/10 (The current message presupposes a lot of knowledge that is hard to distill into a few words.)

  Total Score:23

• Net-Arb- Internet Aritration
  1. Problem Solving – 9/10 – It is the internet solution to an existing dilemma, so a high degree of problem solving.
  2. Actual Customers – 9/10  Problems and money in the same person
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 10/10 One price can’t be more simple
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 10/10 (I don’t think they would have a chicken and egg problem at all)
  5. Remarkability- 10/10 (“Resolve legal disputes online” – 4 words, that’s hard to beat)

  Total Score:48

• NapStay- Rental Property
  1. Problem Solving – 8/10.
  2. Actual Customers – 4/10 – I don’t know much about this market, so it’s hard for me to guess, but the problems and the money do not seem to be concentrated in the same person.
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 7/10
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 2/10 – this is a big factor
  5. Remarkability- 5/10 (Describing a broker is never easy)

  Total Score:26

• Neybor- Marketing for Real Estate
  1. Problem Solving – 7/10.
  2. Actual Customers – 9/10 – They serve small city newspapers (with local monoploies, something they mentioned quite late in the presentation).
  3. Simplicity of Pricing- 3/10
  4. Chicken and Egg Problem- 8/10 – not a big deal
  5. Remarkability- 7/10

  Total Score:34

The winner, by a larger margin than I would have thought is Net-Arb.  I liked the entire evening and will certainly be attending the others, and hopefully presenting Stronico at the April event.
photo credit: jm3