CrowdVine - Meet Smarter

Earlier this year, I accepted an advisory and research position with CrowdVine.  CrowdVine is in the “white label” social networking business.  The company helps people in groups, associations, and attending events to meet smarter through their software solutions and associated services.  You can learn more about the current product features here:  http://www.crowdvine.com/home/features

I can’t believe my good fortune! It is an honor to work with and learn from CrowdVine’s visionary product team and their dedicated customers.  The company is viable and boot strapped.   My role is to help the CrowdVine community “cross the chasm” in pursuit of a sustainable social networking platform.

My thoughts on social networking, product management and community management will likely be organized on CrowdVine’s blog in the future and cross referenced here when appropriate.

Welcome to your Network!

The invention of Brand equity was loosely defined in the 90s as intangible value that companies and products held in the mind of a prototypical“consumer”.  Brand equity was driven by a comprehensive brand strategy or brand identity.   Brand marketing enthusiasts featured the difference between a company’s asset book value and its stock price as one representation of brand equity.  They also pointed to price premiums commanded by market leaders as another representation of brand equity.  The priority for brand development during this time was placed on developing a brand identity through differentiation messaging first, and form (billboards, magazines, sponsorships, etc.) second.

Brand equity proved as difficult to measure as it was to define.  The introduction of the internet and e-commerce within the consumer value change has further complicated the process of creating a “brand”identity and driving brand equity.

I believe the last 10 years has seen a priority shift in marketing efforts from“brand identity content” to “brand identity context”.   In today’s “branding” arms race, how a a company messages is perhaps more important than what a company messages.

Engaging customers through Twitter, blogs, forums, chat rooms, instant messaging, physical to virtual product promotions, Second Life, user affiliate communities, rating systems like yelp, mobile applications, Youtube, technology partners/vendor promotions,  etc. all inform the connected customer about your company, your products, and how you relate to your customer.

In the early days of internet marketing, the following maxim held true: If you can’t search for it, it doesn’t exist.   While this is still true in today’s marketing world, it is highly likely that if you maintain a top competitor position within a mass market niche, your name WILL come back in a search result.  It also highly likley that you name WILL come back via a communication context you have not leveraged, containing content you did not create!

Companies need to choose how they engage their customers and stakeholders through internet carefully.  A company’s messaging and listening capabilities informs the world about its brand just as much as its logos and other marketing materials.  Marketing leaders are recognizing this shift.  They recognize the internet IS NOT a “paved cow path” replacing magazine and billboard placements.  They recognize the need to proceed with caution when engaging customers on the internet because the internet is an interactive medium and captures a reference-able digital product history forever.   Building a marketing presence on the internet is no longer about placing an ad, but rather, building a relationship.

A friend pointed me to the postcrossing service the other day.

I love the idea of this service.  I have many international friends and love to travel.  When I am unable to enjoy these interests, receiving little random notes from around the world sounds like an interesting substitute.

I think this is yet another idea that could have a positive transitional impact within large, globally dispersed companies.   Forging a company culture is a processing of forging employee communication and connections.   Getting to know your Indian, Chinese, Latin America, and other geographically dispersed counterparts is potentially awkward to do via email and instant message.  Video messages and conference calls can also be intiimating for those on both sides of the call.

Why not have a company sponsered penpal service!  If can work for 2nd and 3rd graders, then it probably should be able to work for those grown up kids with business cards.   I can’t think of a more user friendly and personable way to share insights on the company, concerns, or to start building relationships beyond 9-5 and across organizational structures than with this post carding service.

Leveraging partner ecosystems is not new.  Social Media has not reinvented the space.   Regardless of how you are experimenting with social media and partnering to drive customer value, I would recommend to not stray too far from basics.  Here are 3 rules I recommend:

1. Never embarrass your partners in front of their customers
2. Maintain a [highly] visible profile in your Partner’s income statement
3. My Golden Rule:  Whether selling directly or through the channel, never let others define the value of your product.  Define a market disruptive “promise”, and then continually exceed expectations.

The last day of conference treated attendees to some really good KeyNote speakers.   Here are the big ideas I that made an impression on my notebook:

• Cool new concept:  “The Adopter Class”  These people live on the bleeding edge.  Pros:  They love the new and the next and will willingly sign up for any new web 2.0 service.   Cons:  They love the new and the next and will willingly sign up for any new web 2.0 service, but will be eternally disloyal!!!   “Tech Cool” changes faster than hem lines, but for these people, that okay, they weren’t actually relying on your service as a viable or valuable part of their lives (except to say they were on it before everyone else) in the first place.   New companies need to figure out ways to segregate this user base and deal with them for what they are.  You can’t plan a business around a user population that wasn’t intending to solve a technical problem, but rather takes joy in the “singing up” process itself!  

• The main highlight for me today was watching Marc Andresson speak.  Marc writes one of my favorite blogs and on this day shared many insights into the founding of Netscape and great prospective on the impending Web2.0  “nuclear winter”:  

1. When designing the original netscape communicator, the team is surprised at how many internet browsing “paradigms” have stuck and been adopted over 10 years later, including:  backward/forward buttons; Javascript; amongst other.
2. Convergence is a natural progression of the computing.  Its not a a conspiracy, but rather, meme competition.   Paradigms shift.  Ideas get present.  Something sticks and the industry moves on.
3. Marc had plenty of great things to say about Microsoft despite being baited to attach by the interviewer.  He challenged the interviewer and audience to Imagine what this world would be without the Bill Gates driven personal computing revolution?  He then answered by stating, “The industry was not going the direction it went after Bill got involved.  For better and for worse, Bill’s push toward standardization and uniformity in the PC space is what seeded the opportunity for a rich internet by delivering rich users. “

• I will not comment Jonathan Swartz’s speech but only to say that  its apparent that he needs to find his Ed Zander and find him fast, lest the sunset continue.  Sun should be doing better than continuing to be the punch-line dot in .bomb.  
• Data Portability continued to be a topic discussed frequently though out the keynotes.  It inspired the following question in my notebook:  What is the middle-ware of me?  I believe there will be a GRAND opportunity to invent in the “middleware of me” space.  A tool that organizes, combines, and re-articulates the many messages (data bits), mediums (contexts), and messengers (relationships)  I develop across social media platforms could be extremely valuable.  I am not talking about a simple life-stream aggregator, but application more rich than that.  Facebook is trying to do that, but that’s about as safe as having your entire computing experience be delivered by MIcrosoft.  I need a personal Brio or Microstrategy to combine and re-articulate my “social media” data.   Is it open social, android, or even Firefox itself?   

I grew up on a farm in the country, across the street from my grandparents.

The roots of my family’s involvement in farming began with their immigration to the United States at the turn of the 20th century.   My basque great grandparents settled in the Imperial Valley via Cuba (they moved on after 2 years because Cuba was poorer than the country they left!).   My Swiss grandparents (or great grandmother) settled in the Imperial Valley after losing her husband to Typhoid fever (year after the great SF Quake) and then remarrying (with 3 kids) via San Francisco.   The story of my family in farming continues today, but it is mostly written through our family friends (relationships forged through 3 farming generations) and my former classmates currently tending to their family farms.  This story may have lessons to teach to web entrepreneurs struggling to establish themselves amongst large corporate, venture capital, and governmental competitive interests.   Here are a few lessons that I have learned about how my [extended] family farm has adapted in the face of large and seemingly insurmountable challenges:

1. No Debt!: While easier said than done, there are many community strategies for bootstrapping your operation.  Debt is a four letter word to a farmer.  Those interests that have survived generation to generation never take on an obligation that isn’t readily serviceable if they can help it!
2. Own the means/ capacity to production: Those family farms that have survived through generations place high importance on owning their own capital equipment:  processing sheds; tractors; etc.   These capital outlays are incremental sources of revenue and reduce their operating costs.   Several family farms have also exited land farming completely to consolidate their interests behind being capital service providers to other farmers.  Most family farming operations run “cooperative” structures that leverage common capital services spread across several interests.   [Curious comparison to make here regarding cloud computing!  I wonder if Twitter would not be better served having a more immediate span of control over their service infrastructure.  The twitter model is very different from the Craiglist model. I believe the Craiglist's service "fidelity" is better served by their focus on owning their own means of production.]
3. Find your premium buyers – Be it Global or Local: Premium buyers exist for any product.  If traditional market servicing mechanisms are not delivering the price you need, go find your own buyer that will.  Great example:  Cattle Feed.  In my former home, a premium is paid  by Kobe beef ranchers to hay/grass growers because their very specific quality and nutrient requirements are met by Valley suppliers.  In response to servicing this outlet, farmers have created a cooperative that markets and sells their products into the Japanese market.  A “farmers market” / direct to consumer strategy can also be organized under this point.
4. Experiment with 10-15% of your capacity: Those family farms that have not only survived, but actually made money over the generations were DISCIPLINED experimenters!  Cash crops don’t just happen.  Lower operating costs don’t just happen.  These farmers MADE THEIR OWN LUCK, by diversifying their production across several crops and experimenting a % of their capacity with new types of crops.    Every business or activity has a learning curve and these successful family farmers know this point well.  I believe that Google’s 20% persona employee project edict is a fair mimic of this strategy.
5. Be involved in your local coffee shop: The coffee shop is a literal and figurative place where networking, knowledge sharing, and community happens.  Community can be ugly, protectionist, and exclusive, but that’s sort of the point isn’t it?   Community is personal and consistent.  It supports itself.  It fights like hell to maintain itself.  Its about status.  Its about influence.  But its mostly about “getting things done” and “having fun.”  This last point is the underpinning all others made here, so if you are trying to start a web business please note that the only thing more important than venture capital is social capital.

1. Is my cloud computing strategy full of hot air? Bubble talk abounded at the conference, but I was amazed when I walked the expo floor.  There were many “infrastructure” service providers offering computing scaling services, build in IT Ops services, On demand storage and CPUs, Ad networks for hire, etc  which got me to thinking:  Can this even be real?   “Computing as a service” isn’t easy.  For every “on demand” provider, there were probably .5 providers offering services to monitoring these venders’ service performance and uptime.   This is a space that definitely carries a “buyer beware” flag and may be the first to get impacted by any Web2.0 bubble pop.  These providers represent significant capital outlays in terms of infrastructure and people (or a least they should if they are any good).
2. Facebook vs. Wordpress – Like comparing a MTV teen show to a cellur network!  One the speakers mentioned that the difference between the recent Facebook valuation as compared to WordPress is argument in favor of social media platform consolidation! (It may have been Tim O’Riely).   What!   Bias disclosure:  this blog is written with wordpress. I completely disagree with this comment.   Wordpress is a true “social” platform that is open, easy to use, extend-able, and built to last in the future because of its commitment to supporting and integrating evolving technical standards for social media.  It has true ” hig personalization fidelity”, as in the user really has the flexibility to change anything and everything about their digital “broadcast.”   Facebook on the other hand is a VHI pop video channel version of classmates.com.  The company treats its plebes, I mean, members, as “ad units” and it shows.   Windows dominated the PC market because of the relative value contained within its application ecosystem, value add partner base, and extendability.   Apple only became SOMEWHAT relevant recently when they decided to borrow the opensource value ecosystem of Linux and OpenBSD. My money might not be on Wordpress to evolve into the only Social Media “operating system” of choice, but it is certainly against Facebook taking this title.  I am almost embarrassed to say I even started a facebook account last fall. As data portability and other “broadcast” technologies become more standardized, people will choose their social media platform based on personalization and overall extendability  motives as opposed to the “critical mass and lock in” reasons that dominate the market today.  Skeptical?  Want Proof?  Then go try Twitter (also integrated in my current wordpress set up).   While “Fascism” may be good for business, in a social context, its boring.  If Warren Buffet actually bet on technology, I think he would bet on Wordpress now and into the future.  This is not to suggest that Wordpress does not have strategic holes to fill, but systems that are open, standardized, and get out of the way from their community’s creativity tend to win over time (just look at the Internet, right?).
3. Ambient computing is the future!  Web 3.0 will not exist because a new term will be coined for describing the inclusion of our digital heartbeat (representing physical space, time, and social context) into our connected lives!!!!   Welcome to the Interweb!  – I didn’t really hear this at the conference, but it is an idea that I have captivated with for some time.   It was started by Time’s person of the year article.  When given a choice, people, or at least Americans, tend to be very lazy.   Social Media is now work to many of us and its tangible ROE (return of effort) is unclear to many participants.   A digital connected pulse view of the world combines both the passive (lazy) and voyeuristic instincts of man.  It would be a future that represents the most natural progression from our current state (Assuming a Malthusian conspiracy is not unleashed to keep the masses in check).

Yesterday I had the opportunity to have many great conversations about Web 2.0 tools, techniques, and business strategies. Here are a few points that stand out to me:

1. I need business cards! I need a reference flier that describes my services. Old media / traditional networking is still modus operandi for the business professionals I met with. They weren’t interested in my handout that had my social networking information on it AND they told me so!

2. Social Media is now synonymous with WORK! Social network fatigue was discussed often. People are really not interested in another service or rating system. In the evolving expectations of customers, people want their tools to bring more value to them than is required for them to maintain in their profile.

3. Most people I spoke with are more interested in building on existing social networks and adding to communities than inventing new communities. I believe this is short sighted. Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, and High 5 will not be the significant social platforms that stick over time! Remember when there were 15 search engines, and then 3 major ones, and people thought the space was dead? Then remember how Google made the space relevant through magic and marketing? My bet is the same thing is going to happen in the social networking space. Those companies that figure out how to “embed” social networking in background functions are ultimately going to win. Maybe its Tumblr, or better yet, why not Firefox / Flex / Flack and the like?   This horse race has just begun in this space. People want portable data.   If you are going to target a platform, I believe the smart money is figuring out a way to bolt on to the emerging social media middle utilities – Twitter or Flickr or Unnamed company X – or become that middle ware yourself. Customers will demand to eventually demand to “not enter data all”. They will just want it to be collected in the background, access as it suits them, and MOVE it anywhere they choose.

4. Monetization angles were very very very weak across the board. The motivation behind many of the services I spoke with (aside from the source technology suppliers) was crowd entertainment. The mantra was “build a crowd” and figure out ads later. Just because all boats rise with the rising tide (ad money shifting from old to new media) does not mean they are fit for an ocean voyage. A micro bubble is going to pop with these “pop-entertainment” companies. If you take a fashion designer prospective with the products you build, I guess you deserve to be cast aside in the following fashion season.

For the past few months, I have been training for my first marathon.  When I successfully complete the Big Sur marathon in 2 weeks time, I will have many new friends and mentors to thank from the Kstar running club.

Long distance running has been a very positive habit that I have added to my life.   While I am a good athlete, I did not take to long distance running easily.  My mental mindset has always been oriented towards sprinting.  Long distance running has taught me to better appreciate the “experience of running.”    It has me appreciate the talents of focus, discipline, and understanding of planning and achieving long term goals.   I believe the gifts from my long distance running experience have many parallels that are equally true within a business context.  Here are a few I found to be meaningful:

• Find your own joy in the training/preparing process – Running long distances is demanding.  There are many variables you will encounter in preparing yourself – which is another way of saying – there will be many negative experiences as part of your journey.  Overcome negative variables by making sure you understand and reward yourself with positives during the training process.  Fellow runners at Kstars rewards themselves through all types of different methods:  Large breakfasts after runs, charging hills, music inspired workouts, being inspired by the tiny technical details of running (time, weight, form, shoe technology), or being free spirits and taking pause breaks from atop vistas or doing lots of yoga, etc.   My joy:  Running from the SF Ferry Building to Tiburon! (twice and counting)  I like impressing myself with these long distance and inspiring “monument” running adventures and then bragging about them later to friends and family!
• Test yourself monthly, but only once a month – If you go full effort for every training run, you are guaranteed to be “out of the race”.  On the flip side, if you never take an accurate measure of your ability, then you will never maximize and develop your potential.   Runners spend most of their training time preparing. As part of that process, it is a good habit to test your abilities once a month, but only once.  Over time, those “tests” may likely evolve.   For example, in the first few months of marathon training, a hard high paced run for 5-7 miles may be an appropriate test.   But after 4-5 months of continued training, a 12-15 high paced run may be feel like more of a test.   This isn’t an insight about pushing your limits.  This is an insight about giving yourself the space to prepare so you can improve.  The tests are there to measure the improvement.  This mindset applies to business as well.    Constantly pushing the envelop, without preparing, is a great way to destroy motivation and risk your organizations long term success.   At the same time, when businesses stop finding ways to add new value or improve upon existing capabilities, they will become stagnant and loose their competitive edge.
• Don’t wish for success, plan for it (but be an extreme realist) – I have been humbled on the training running course by women, the elderly, and others I have underestimated athletically.   Distance running is a great equalizer for athletic potential.   Age, gender, and muscle mass are a lot less important than mental discipline, breathing, form, and training context.   Here is an example.  One Thursday I ran 4 miles in the morning.  At the time, I thought it wasn’t a very long run.  That evening I participated in Track workout that was structured around 7 medium distance sprints (400m – 800m).  The first two or three sprints I was a leader amongst the group.  I pride myself on being a fast sprinter and expected to continue to winning the exercises [remember that pride comes before the fall]. This was ego at its worst as there were no medals being given out at this training practice!   I ignored feeling of tired legs for the first 2-3 sprints.  Then my legs gave out.   The final 4 sprints had me struggling to finish.  I was lapped by everyone including a 78 year old man.   I wished for a good outcome, but didn’t apply rationale planning to my task.  If you aren’t realistic about your potential at the start of 26.2 miles or even 15, then the odds are likely you may not finish the task.  Experience is what we it when we don’t get our way.  Testing yourself, setting a realistic plan, executing the plan, and then testing again is runner’s way for achieving performance over time.
• “Healthy” change only occurs as a matter of degrees (10 – 30%)- People can wake up one day and go for a 26.2 mile run.  They will hate life for long period of time afterwards, but it is possible to complete distance without training.  A responsible person realizes that building a distance running talent only happens with patience by a matter of degrees of change.  During my training, the advice I have received is the body can only support ~20% increase in mileage per week.  This puts the ideal “minimum” marathon preparation plan at ~4 months.   I think responsible business managers should be in tune with the limits of change imposed into their organizations.  It is troubling when business leaders don’t believe they have enough time to implement a change right, but they have enough time to do it twice (or 4 times)!  Building talents that are worthwhile, happen by a matter of degrees and that process should be planned for – unless you are okay with the idea of hating life for a period of time after your “quick fix” change has been implemented (see point #2).

I recently read a summarization of Aristotle’s points of virtue. As someone who studied both business and philosophy in college, I find it interesting that the concept of virtue is a best an individual concern. Aristotle defines virtues in reference to their excess. As IT professional I can relate to that analytical approach. Often times, business users have a very difficult time defining when a business system/process is working well or what it means to “work well”, but they have a better time understanding when it is not working well.

In my business readings over the years, I have noticed much talk about of “corporate culture” and “socially responsible” within business texts, but a basic virtue assessment is missing from popular business literature. Even the great business ethics cases studies are driven with an evaluation of the values of market economy, competitiveness, and policies related to information sharing – not the virtues of man or of the business concern (a collection of men). Is the modern business enterprise beyond virtue? Does participating in the global economy (an organization made by man, of man, and for man) presume a disconnect between the virtues most natural to man?

I think not. Below is a virtue map that I will use in future management endeavors to understand and make better project and program decisions beyond analytic constraints of dollars and cents.

Can Aristotle\'s virtue map be applied to the modern business, a collection of men organized to serve men, or is there another value system more applicable to these \"wisdom of crowds\"?

Contact Me [leads at lucefocus dot com] for more information! I will work on a fix bid basis for “sprint” research projects between 6-10 hours. Get results today!

A myriad of information forms are making their way onto the Internet about everything and everyone. Your customers, potential customers, vendors, and yourself leave a digital trance on the net through blog forums, search engines, web pages, professional and social networks, etc. I am available to help you understand this thread for any given “information target” and to advise you on what the implications of this information means for your tactical sales, product development, or public relations goals.

In the late 90s, I really enjoyed doing this work for the Strategic Account Sales Force of Jupiter Communications. This national accounts Sales team sold internet research to the Fortune 1000, Venture Capital firms, and across the “startup” ecosystem. Their clients were experimenting with the internet in many ways. They wanted to understand the business potential of the internet, new markets, usage trends and predictions, emerging technology, and the dynamic competitive landscape (remember Webvan?).  My job for Jupiter Communications, was to make sure their Sales Representatives were able to understand the following types of information about their most important clients:

• New product announcements or agreements (especially in areas where we could sell new market research)
• Company Promotions and PR announcements – especially as it related to any Internet division / product line
• Company Mergers and Acquisition Information – this was an active space in the late 90s and early 2000s
• Manage and Update Company Organizational Charts, Profiling a top 5 of Who’s Who as it related to Internet Research sales

This work demanded incredible research discipline, ability to synthesize large amount of information into actionable suggestions, and an efficient communication style. This service is now available for your company or organization. Contact me for a Sales Quote today!