(really) entrepreneureal

I recently sent a YouTube video to a friend of mine living in Beijing.  I immediately got an email back with the following response:

It is so easy to take for granted just how connected we are, especially in the US.  Barriers to information effectively don’t exist, and if they do they’re often a question of technological limitations, not political ones.

What happens to a country, its individuals, when the connective tissue we integrate so easily into our daily lives simply isn’t there?

For those who are interested, the video is from a recent AARP competition, and is pretty stunning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

I’m definitely conflicted when it comes to Nassim Nicolas Taleb.  Equal parts genius, futurist and critic, his ideas are inflammatory, his rhetoric intriguing, and his humor catching.

So why do I dislike him so very very much?

I think it’s because he represents what we all love to hate: an armchair critic who just so happens to have made it big.  Sure, he has the qualifications (an MBA and PhD, for starters), and the requisite NY Times bestseller (the Black Swan), but his biggest asset of all, and I think the reason I dislike him so, is the humongous hat he needs to go along with his equally magnificent pate (and it is a pate).  Add to this his penchant for making criticisms that are only really useful in hindsight, not to mention his almost disarming idealism when it comes to how we should fix our economy, and you have, if nothing else, a tidbit for conversation over drinks with strangers in a hotel bar.

This is all disarming, that is, until you realize that the only thing worse than a rogue trader or hedge fund manager with nary a care in the world (until his bonus doesn’t come through as the economy collapses) is an ex-trader who loves to point fingers and say “I told you so”.  Shame.

For those interested in collaboration as core principle of doing business, I’m happy to announce that The Hub is coming to San Francisco.

Known for their unique, open workspaces that foster collaboration, The Hub has slowly been making the business case for co-working.  The Hub’s research suggests that co-working in their spaces results in higher dealflow for tenants, which, in a penny-pinching economy, might wmake a whole lot of sense.

Imagine attending a networking event every day, just by showing up to work.  Awesome.

I couldn’t write this without mentioning that I work in Architecture For Humanity’s coworking Co-Lab space, and had the privilege of chatting with Alex at Altrupreneur a bit about his grassroots movement in Knoxville.  Definitely a movement to be watched.

We’re all pretty good at valuing things, and we do it every day without even thinking.  There are the obvious suspects, like products and services.  Latte? $4 please.  Bus ticket? That’ll be $1.50. Getting your taxes done the weekend before the 15th? $500 and your firstborn child, thank you.

But there are a whole range of things that are hard to value and that we don’t even notice on a day to day basis. The heartfelt thanks from the valet when you gave him a good tip?  The barista who took the time to make latte art? (even though they don’t really have to) That feeling you get when you miss your bus? (because let’s face it, not everything has a positive value)  Or how about what you owe your best friend for setting you up with your (now) spouse?  How much is that worth?

The web is full of great examples, too.  This includes all the social networks (Facebook, Digg, Linked In, Hi5, MySpace, Ning), as well as the free (or semi free) services that make our lives easier (Plaxo, Mint, Facebook Connect, RSS).  And let’s not forget the increasingly ubiquitous Twitter.  What the heck are 140 characters worth?  If it’s used for chronicling sometimes lunch habits, probably not very much – but what if someone’s Twittering helped land them a job.  What would it be worth then? (and the question we all know that Twitter is wondering, “How can we make money off this worth?”)

As the focus shifts from the things we think we know how to value to those we don’t or haven’t even considered, it’s getting more and more important to figure out just what the space between, the connective tissue, is worth.  Watch this space.

This idea of connective tissue has started popping up of late. For example, while we tend to focus on the things that are easy to see and recognize (successes, failures, Black Swans, Purple Cows), sometimes it’s the space between, the things we don’t see, that are most important.

The current financial crisis shows this particularly well: look at what happens when nobody pays attention to the connective tissue binding the economy.  Trust without accountability.  Lots of money changing hands without transparency.  The end result is a system built on a web of connective tissue that destroys rather than positively reinforces.

The same goes for everything around us.  Failing personal relationship?  Probably aren’t paying enough attention to the connective tissue (i.e. love, trust, honesty, individuality).  Struggling at work?  Be mindful of negative work relationships, habits, and the fact that the work you’re in might not actually be suited for the connective tissue that makes you happy.  A friend of mine left the hedge fund world because she couldn’t stand the duplicity, stress and backstabbing – sounds like the connective tissue wasn’t the kind she needed.

All this can also be much simpler than financial systems, personal relationships, and work environment: what do you do with your “connecting” time?  Do you sit on the bus listening to music on an iPod every day, or do you sometimes take the time to read something, strike up a conversation with someone new, or think positively about the future?

What does your connective tissue look like?

Seth has totally hit the nail on the head (again).  He notes how networking events often end up being filled with useless interactions (like lectures, which are essentially one-way conversations), when everyone knows that the networking, the one-on-one brainstorms over coffee, a pee break, or a stale muffin, are what everyone really values.  These interactions he calls “hallways”, because this is generally where the conversations happen.  Ironically, with all the money spent on events, the banquets, tables, AV team and whatever, it ends up being the hallways that provide the connective tissue of the event. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve noticed a trend of late in web design: a shift toward edgier, more unconvential navigation, with a distinct injection of humor, sarcasm, and playfulness.

Let’s take a look – first up is Neutron, a San Francisco branding firm:

OK, this is a branding firm (so we can expect it to be edgier), but in many ways Neutron is flouting the basic tenets of “good” web design: clear language that users expect (and understand), a standard columned layout – all of which make it clear what a user is supposed to do next (i.e. click here, scroll over this or whatever). It gets clearer when you mouse over the text, which is almost impossible not to do (and this is good):

Click on the link, and things start to look more normal.  Standard blocks of text, a more sectioned layout…

But look a little closer, and the quirkier side of the company starts to show through:

Note the non-standard language: “What is” instead of “About us”, “Where is” instead of “Contact us” (which is where we usually find the requisite google map), and best of all… Read the rest of this entry »

I’m currently in Quebec, Canada, and have been having a great time visiting family, seeing friends, and eating poutine.  The one thing I do miss, however, is something I take totally for granted back in San Francisco: connectivity.

Always connected to the web in some way, either through my trusty MacBook Pro, slick – but battered – iPhone, or even those cool internet touch-tables at Tully’s, I’m never far from the trusted internets and Facebook, Twitter, all my blog feeds and gmail.

Arrive in Montreal, and the first thing I notice is how much I hate AT&T for charging an arm and a leg for data packages.  Airport mode and international data roaming off?  Yes please.  Secondly, I’m amazed at how few people have iPhones or other smartphones.  Because mobile internet access is so costly here, the number of people with traditional brickphones is astoundingly high – at least from an afternoon stroll through Montreal.

Get to Quebec City, and it’s even worse.  Read the rest of this entry »

This email was sitting in my inbox this morning:

Now, I’m not one of the rabid users who has a dedicated Facebook tab in their browser window, but I do check the site at least once, maybe twice a day (sometimes many more).  So why does Facebook think it’s at all OK to send me an email reminding me that I haven’t checked in for all of, what, 4 hours?!  And this to remind me that I have a poke waiting for me?

Please. Facebook, get a grip.

A quick shout out to the folks at MyMiniCards, who made the awesome minicards I carry everywhere with me.

Check em out: www.myminicards.com

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