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West Michigan start-ups

billhr — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:00:54 GMT

To be specific, the map above shows the known computer technology startups in the West Michigan area…all three of them (although I know for a fact that there are at least a couple others!). Startup Warrior (link above) provides this Google Maps mash-up of start-up from around the world. Of course, when you look at the map of the rest of the states, you see the startup pockets where you’d expect them to be (coasts, major cities and places like Denver and Austin). And, although West Michigan isn’t known for technology, it is still somewhat shocking (not surprising) that we only have three…ok…maybe 6, but still…

So what others startups are missing from this list? By my recollection we have:

What else…help me fill in the list…

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

The Word of Mouth Manual, Volume II

billhr — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:00:52 GMT

A little confession: I’ve been a BzzAgent for the past three years, but have only participated in a couple BzzCampaigns. It’s not that I’m not a natural evangelist for a wide variety of products. It’s just that I’m typically not too excited about the campaigns I’ve been invited to thus far (I must not be within their target demographic for the really cool stuff?). I am excited about this one though. Not only has Dave Balter been a major force in the word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing word, but he now (apparently) has written the book on it…AND even more importantly so, is willing to practice what he preaches. The entire book’s marketing campaign is being done WOM-style. I LOVE that level of committment to an idea.

Although I have not read the book yet (which, quite franly, I typically have problems getting past the first couple chapters of any book), I will be downloading it for free at one of these sites:

And what timing too. The Spout Marketing Team is working on getting reinvigorated by this approach to creating great customer experiences and increasing site loyalty. If the book is any good, perhaps I’ll have to make it essential reading…more to come.

Tags: bzzagent, bzzcampaign, womma, wom, marketing, word-of-mouth, dave-balter

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

What is twitter? An explanation for my Mom

billhr — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:00:42 GMT

Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter from biz stone on Vimeo

I get asked questions like this an awful lot from my family. Actually, less about things like twitter and more about things like Spout (and for the umpteenth time, “We help people find movies they will love”). I think that Jack does a pretty good job in explaining twitter starting with his early observation about his mother’s daily life and end with her using twitter to better communicate. According to Jack, twitter is all about helping people to more efficiently and effectively communicate their state and status. It is a real-time application that sparks conversation and highlights trends.

But I guess the real test will be if my Mom can understand it (although my Mom is not the standard Septuagenarian…she IM’s with the family and has her own blog).

So Mom, does twitter make any sense?

Tags: twitter, spout, jack-dorsey, jackdorsey

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

Organizing my feed

billhr — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:00:17 GMT

I took some time this weekend to do something I have been thinking about for a while now: organizing my feed. That is, taking stock of all of the places that I participate online, organizing them and making sure that they work (pass information back and forth) together. In the process, I have also come up with a basic approach/philosophy to being an early adopter of online tools.

Catalog

Although I below to a ton of online communities, sites and services, I have narrowed down my regular participation to a handful:

appliedthinking (this site)
Spout - Helping people find movies they’ll love.
twitter - Micro-format blogging.
del.icio.us - Social bookmarking.
LinkedIn - Professional online network.
vodpod - Video cataloging and sharing.
LibraryThing - Online book catalog for sharing and reviewing.
Last.FM - The “social music revolution”
flickr - Online photo management and sharing.
facebook - A “a social utility that connects people with friends and others…”
FriendFeed - A place to share everything you do online.
tumblr - The “scrapbook” of blogs.
plaxo - An online address book with a “Pulse.”
BrightKite - A “locaiton based social network.”

Be assured that there are others, but this is the list that I keep going back to for one reason or another.

Organize

The way I use them, these sites can be broken down into:

Primary feeds - Places that I go to post unique bits of content.
Secondary/derivative feeds - Places that I use to aggregate content from the primary sources. These are typically the places that I am less focused on a topic and more social.

Additionally, I have a series of tools for:

Input - A mix of online and desktop tools and hardware.
Tracking - Primarily used to track my success. That is, am I growing a brand and how strong is it?

AND…there are typically a set of sites that I am evaluating:

New tools - Are they primary feeds? Derivative? Inputs? Trackers?

To that end, I’ve organized the above sites like this:

…and mapped their interaction like this:

My goal in all of this has been to: limit the sites I visit on a regular basis and increase the overall effectiveness of the ones I do…all the while trying not to duplicate too much information which just leads to junking up the web.

Results

Although this is still a work in progress, I think I have accomplished a couple of things. First, I’ve realized which sites/services I have committed to and second, I have a way to quickly compare new site/services/tools to the way I think about .

For example, I have signed-up to the beta of BrightKite. In the past I would have evaluated it in a bit of a vacuum. Now I ask some relevant questions based upon the way I use the other site’s in my daily arsenal:

Is this a primary or secondary/derivative feed?
Based upon that, is it better or different than the other feeds I produce in that category?
Can it be updated through other input devises?
How does it add value to my brand?

Additionally, I now have a clearer way of looking at the growing list of purely social sites. If they allow me to create activity by pulling (RSS) from my primary sites/services, I’ll do it. I mean, why not? Limited work for a high potential of return. Typically all I need to do is maintain my profile (and keep the avatar fresh) and let the primary sites/services keep my presence active.

This isn’t rocket science, right? But it certainly does help in making a quick evaluation of what site/services I merely sign-up for (which is a lot) and which ones I incorporate into my life.

Do you do it another way? See any flaws in my method? I’m all ears…

* BrightKite, by the way, isn’t looking very good for me. Limited value for the amount of work I need to do to keep up with it. Can’t it be tied to my iPhone’s quasi-GPS?

Tags: appliedthinking, spout, twitter, del.icio.us, linkedin, vodpod, librarything, last.fm, flickr, facebook, friendfeed, tumblr, plaxo, brightkite, organization, feed, feeds

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

Know thy gut

billhr — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:00:37 GMT

Sometimes I get confused between when my gut is telling me to do something (or make a particular decision) and when it is my head. Case in point: Tuesday evening I was asked to speak at a local entrepreneur group near my home town. Weeks ago, and in preparation, I purchased the book Presentation Zen. Even though it just came out, this book had been on my “gotta read it” list for some time. In it, Garr Reynolds gives some basic, no nonsense advise about preparing for presentations. Things like:

Be concise
Be enthusiastic when you speak
And know the answer to this: What is my absolutely central point?

Not rocket science by any means, but certainly stuff it’s healthy to be reminded of. The entire book is filled with insights like this, but more so it provides a really great method for thinking about speaking and preparing presentations (so go out and buy this book now!).

Somewhere in the text, or between the lines, Reynolds creates the impression that a great presentation is half method/preparation and half the not-so-simple task of knowing your self. I think he specifically talks about unleashing the creativity we all have, but I equate this to knowing thy self - knowing your abilities and bounds free you to think creatively within those limits.

With that in mind, I certainly didn’t listen to my gut nor did I leverage my personal strengths to their fullest extent for this presentation. What was my gut saying? It was telling me to go in with the single slide above. No multi-slide presentation, just a simple one that would leave me with the ability to speak about my passions and riff on a subject. This is what I do best (I think): listen to my audience and tailor my conversation directly to them. No detailed outline and step-by-step dialog to get in the way.

But no…my head told me that I needed more slides by way of introduction of me and Spout to my audience. As a result, I talked more about the details of Spout, had problems following my slide progression and talked less about what I really wanted to discuss. This doesn’t mean the presentation wasn’t a success. But it certainly wasn’t as good as I could have made it. Next time, I’ll listen to myself AND my gut.

Anyone need a speaker?

Tags: presentation-zen,, garr-reynolds,, garr

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

True Films eBook

billhr — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:09:31 GMT

True Films eBook

True Films is a list of 200 documentaries compiled by Kevin Kelly and is currently free to download at his site. If you are a fan of documentaries, I highly recommend this list. Docs in the list I am looking forward to seeing?:

Tags: documentaries,, kevin-kelly,, spout,, true, films,, ebook

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

Sundance Film Festival 2008

billhr — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:09:30 GMT

Sundance Film Festival

I’ve been in Park City for 6 days now and have only been able to see a handful of films (Up the Yangtze, Diary of the Dead, Be Kind Rewind and Where In The World Is Osama Bin Ladin?). Why? Too busy being the “suit” for Spout. I’ve been purposefully skipping some of the press screenings I’ve had scheduled to make time to talk to people within the industry. And by people in the industry, I’m not talking about celebrities. I’m talking about the people who get the work done at media companies, distributors, other film festivals, etc. Not that I don’t enjoy a celebrity sighting as much as the next guy. In fact, here is the list of people I have seen so far:

Oliver Stone
Maroon 5
Dennis Quaid
John Legend
Colin Firth
Livia Firth
Woody Harrelson
Morgan Spurlock
Colin Ferrel
Giada DeLaurentis
Rachel Dratch
Stanley Tucci
George Romero

And there are probably others, but as cold as it’s been around here, it is hard to recognize people with their hoods up and knit caps pulled low.

Tomorrow, we’re headed home. In the meantime, if you haven’t checked it out already, take a look at our blog and video coverage that has been presented by MySpace Film.

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

2007 Technology Review: The stuff I use

billhr — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:09:29 GMT

I hope this is still early enough into the new year that I can call this my 2007 Technology Review. The list of websites, software and hardware below are those that I had repeatedly gone back to or have purchase this past year.

Websites

Spout: Of course I hang out here, it’s the best place to discover movies - new and old, mainstream an obscure. Find me here (member since 2005).
LinkedIn: LinkedIn seemed to get really popular with my friends and business associates. I use this site to maintain my professional persona as well as use it to manage my business network. Find me here (member since 2004).
Facebook: As many of my friends are here, I try to keep up with them on a daily basis. This site is social for being social sake. Find me here (member since 2006).
Google Reader: I’ve gone through a number of feed readers over the past few years (including Bloglines and NewsFire), but Google Reader has been the best.
Twitter: All I can say is, haven’t gotten sick of Twitter yet. Find me here (first post on January 21, 2007)
Various blogs: Yes, I’ve been actively reading blogs since 2002 or so, which means I wasn’t an early adopter. But, I read a ton of them now. Check out my blogroll over here ? (or the right-side of my blog).
Blogging tools: I’ve gone from hosted accounts at Blogger, TypePad and now have finally come to rest, hosting my own account with Wordpress.

Software

Firefox v2.0.0.11: Browser of choice and using these add-ons - del.icio.us v1.2, Digg This! v.5, and Extended Statusbar v.1.2.6.
Aperture v1.5.6: I’ve been using Aperture since March 2007 when I received it as a gift at TED (Thanks Apple!). Previously I had been using the beta version of Adobe’s Lightroom and before that, iPhoto. Now I am 100% with Aperture, coupled with FlickrExport.
iWeb: All of my developer friends will wince at this, but I kinda like using iWeb. For those of us who only know rudimentary HTML, it is an easy to use WYSIWYG.
FileZilla: And since I think the fees for .Mac are exorbitant, I use FileZilla to publish my iWeb site.
Adium: Is there any better solution to having multiple IM accounts?
Quicken: Been a happy user of Quicken since 2002 or so, first with my PC and now with my Mac.
Galleon Server: This application helps me connect my Mac to my Tivo, search what is on the hard-drive, then download it.
TivoDecode Manager: Then, this app let’s me take those downloaded files from my Tivo and load them for my viewing pleasure on my iPod. “No Reservations” at 35,000 feet is a treat.
iTunes: Seriously, what else would I use?
Omnigraffle: Better than Visio.
MindManager: A great little tool for creating mind-maps and then translating them into projects via FastTrack.
FastTrack: Project management software.
Office for Mac: Nothing much to say about this, just that I’m hoping the 2008 upgrade is worth it.
DAplus: Helps me get fit by track my dietary intakes and creates a full nutritional analysis.

Hardware

Blackberry Curve (8300)
iPod Video (30 gig)
MacBook Pro: 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3GB SDRAM and a 160 GB Hard-drive.
Flip Video (2 gig)
TeleNav: Used with their software for BlackBerry, this pack-of-gum sized GPS unit keeps me from getting lost.
Tivo Serie3 HD DVR

Old school habits

Moleskine: I’ve been using these for years, but mostly on and off. Right now, I’m on.
Hipster PDA: I’ve been using these for years too, but only within the past few (after re-reading GTD) have I been recommitted.
Retro 51 Pens

Things I’m exploring

Grand Central: This beta service (which was acquired by Google) provides some really useful features, but I just can’t get myself to commit yet. For something as fundamental as my phone, I want to understand what the costs will be down the road. Maybe I’d pay $15 a month for it?
VoIP: Anyone have any recommendation on what service to use or whether I should go down this path at all?
HDTV: Sure would make my new HD Tivo more fancy.

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

Yeah, West Michigan!

billhr — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:09:28 GMT

The Right Place, an economic development organization located in Grand Rapids, MI, developed this great little video in support of the greater West Michigan area (is that Benjamin Gott wearing sunglasses?). And the fact that it has been posted to YouTube means that people around here are finally getting the “embed and spread” philosophy. Check it out. The community around here has some really great potential. We just need to get people (everyone from investors to regular Joe’s) adopting a growth mentality. But more on that later.

Originally posted on:appliedthinking

Headed to Toronto

billhr — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 01:06:37 GMT

TIFF ‘07

I’ll be headed to the Toronto Film Festival next week and participating in a panel discussion entitled, “Social Networks: Connecting Filmmakers to Audiences.” According to Scott Kirsner, the moderator, our discussion will explore two areas:

What are the tools, technologies, and strategies that filmmakers/
producers/studios are using to build an audience for their work?
How will the process of building an audience for a film change in
the future?

I’m really looking forward to participating as the other panelists include:

Corey Marr, Producer, Corey Marr Productions, www.coreymarr.com
Christine Moore, Content Producer, Myspace, www.myspace.com
Sandi DuBowski, producer, A Jihad For Love, www.filmsthatchangetheworld.com
Jason Klein, President and CEO, Special Ops Media, www.specialopsmedia.com

Follow by flickr account or mobile blog for updates…as well as my round-up commentary after the panel on SpoutBlog.

Originally posted on: