No Snivelling

I've been wrestling with this one for a while, and I think many entrepreneurs have as well. See, as soon as you start a company, raise some money, and launch your business, suddenly people want to 'buy you coffee/lunch' to 'pick your brain' and 'get networking introductions'.

I can appreciate that. I did it too. But, when you're accommodating (as I, Andy Sack, Marcelo Calbucci, Joe Heitzeberg, Roy Leban, and many others try to be), you tend to get overwhelmed with the requests. And, then, my days disappear on me, I end up working nights to catch up, and sit here on the weekend with 5-10 favors in my inbox which take 1-2+ hours to complete (I met with a woman last week, who I really liked... I told her I'd be happy to make some intros... she wrote back with 9 companies in the list... acck!)

So, here's my offer:

1. I'll meet with you for free, at Hops and Chops (I helped organize it for exactly this purpose... sort of a lightweight office hours... I think Andy Sack created Seattle Open Coffee for the same reason) or another Seattle startup event that I happen to attend (you can find out my schedule via twitter/daveschappell or plancast/daveschappell). I'll be happy to talk with you, give you advice, and make any in-person intros, assuming the other folks are there in person. But, that's it. Don't ask for more, because it comes at the expense of my family, loved ones, and personal sanity.
2. You pay me $1,000 for up to 3 hours of my time talking with you about entrepreneurship. That will likely be spread over two 1-hour meetings, and another hour of my time making introductions, if I think they're warranted. If I don't, I'll be honest with you, and we'll spend that last hour working on your plans, or whatever. Then, when you've started your company and booked your first $1,000 in revenues, I'll give you $700 back. That's it. I want you to get off your ass and build whatever it is your dreaming up. But, if you don't, I keep your money, because you took up 3 hours that I could have been spending on other tasks. Sound fair? Do I think my advice is worth $100-333/hour? No! But, you seem to think I'll help you somehow, and I likely will -- and, if you don't want to pay, there are tons of other folks around who will surely help you.

I look forward to any feedback about this setup. I'm sure it will upset some, but I'm not sure why -- I'm still out there, and incredibly available. But, there's now a market rate on my "premium services", and it comes with a 70% refund, assuming you deliver the goods!

Labels: entrepreneur, networking, seattle

Oh, I'm so proud -- I have so many people to thank. My computer teachers, Mr. Fisher and Ms. Rothermel, who taught me everything I know about BASIC. Radio Shack, for developing and marketing the wonderful TRS-80 that I pined over. Texas Instruments for making the even more incredible TI-99/4A, that was connected to my tape recorder backup drive. My parents, for getting me my own phone line, to power my bedroom-powered bulletin board, the Magical Tavern. All of the engineers at TeachStreet, who I've taught so much to as we've built the site -- they've learned quickly and have taken well to my guidance and technical wisdom.

Thank you all -- I love you all.

Yes, I'm Seattle's Geek of the Week -- take THAT, Daryn -- who's your daddy now?!?

Labels: geek, seattle, teachstreet

It's been a great year -- and, heck, I may just hit the Mega Million Lottery yet, and have it get even better (in which case, none of you... not even the people on the list below, will ever see me again... except maybe my wife and Zach the Dog).

As I reflect on 2008, I can't believe how many wonderful people who I've met, or become even better friends with -- really, the list below is in no particular order... and I'm sure I'll be leaving a bunch of great folks off... but it's a reminder of how great 2008 was:

• Chris Hurley and the crew at Beacon Law -- you rock (although your bills kinda suck)
• Bill Nordwall -- you and your hair are the highlight of any day
  
• John Braseth at our downstairs art gallery -- you can chat with the best of them, and have some sweet art as well -- thanks for helping take the edge off of rough days
• Dave McClure -- your new year's resolution should be to make scheduling of board meetings easier by about 18 e-mails each, but other than that, u da man
• Jon Bischke at EduFire -- you continue to amaze and inspire
• Scott, Matt, Ayush, Greg and team at Madrona; Melinda and Steve at Bezos Expeditions and the rest of our investors/advisors-- all I/we can say is thank you, both for your financial support and also for everything else you've done to help us improve (Note, if you're an investor and would like to make this list next year, you can contact me in many ways...)
• My wife -- you are amazing. And, Zach the Dog, you inspire me.
• Todd Sawicki - your mastery of all knowledge is awe-inspiring
  
• Brian Westbrook - you really much find a job -- your twitter volume may be the root cause of the Fail Whale
• Buzz Bruggeman - you're connecting abilities are inspiring
  
• Denali Fitness - for keeping me under 190 pounds (and helping me to beat Daryn in the 31-day end-of-year weight loss challenge)
• Karen Cho - you don't believe it, but we're all inspired by you
  
• Twitter - for giving me another place to waste hundreds of hours
• Bill Bryant - you do so much to support early-stage entrepreneurs - rock on
• Barack Obama - I admit, that I've heard less from you since you asked me for money every day for about 8 months running, but I still think there's chance for a relationship
  
• David Stern and Saar Gur - definition of supportive -- great meeting & getting to know you
• Terri Fujinaga - world's greatest accountant and 4-th nicest person in North America
  
• Dave Hanley - you've been there for us time and again -- now, see if you can convince that Amazon team to continue their torrid acquisition pace, OK?
• Kushal Chakrabarti - you inspire us to try to change the world
• Jeff Lawson - how did I miss the Rick Rolling phenomenon? Thank you for catching me up -- you're one of the best
• Dave and Karim -- you're raising the bar -- I look forward to '09 and our collaborations!
• Hanh - thank you for moving to Seattle -- now, take the bad weather with you back to Santa Monica, please
• iLike Emily Glassman - rock on, girl
• i also like Shawn Stewart - you power my streaming radio (don't tell the tech guys that I do this on our network, though)
• Vikas and Reza -- you barely made the list... since I'm still awaiting my referral commission for Mikhail...
• David Geller -- you continue to be a big supporter of the Seattle tech community
• Mark Mader -- my '09 resolution is to win the Smartsheet football pool
• David Eraker -- keep dreaming big, brotha -- schappell-show is behind you
• Keith Schorsh -- tru-sera
• Galen & Estately - you give us all hope!
• Marc Barros at VholdR - I need one of them cameras for my snow shoveling -- it's action packed
• Hanson Hosein and Kathy Gill at UW -- your passion inspires
  
• The entire TeachStreet team -- really, to call any of you out wouldn't be fair... you've been amazing -- have seen me through highs and lows -- rock on
  

Then, in the Festivus tradition, here are people who have disappointed me -- best of luck in 2009 for you grinches:

• you didn't really think I'd have anyone here, did you? seriously... i started the list... but, the caffeine high precluded publishing... we'll have to look forward to that in '09 :-)
  

p.s. If you weren't in the list above, it's because:
1) you weren't in my recent twitter feed
2) you didn't send me a JibJab Elf Yourself card
3) no money has arrived recently
4) you didn't work hard enough -- you can always increase your odds by purchasing gifts

Seriously -- am sure I left many off... just wanted to give a sense of how wonderful a year's it's been -- so many great people, new/old friends, and support -- couldn't have made it without all of you and your love/support!

Labels: seattle, thank you

We've been doing this for 2-3 months now, so I guess it's a success -- if you'd like to catch up (and escape the office) sometime, pop by Linda's on Pine St. (on Capitol Hill) -- we're there every Thursday night from 6:30 til ~8:30pm. No real agenda -- just bloggers, startuppers, techsters, investors, and your occasional female as well (who'd a thunk?!?)

How did we come up with the name Hops and Chops? Really, you need to blame the engineer for that one -- sort of... drink some hops, show us your chops... yeah, I know...

Oh, and if you're into that Twitter think, you can follow Hops and Chops on twitter here:

http://www.twitter.com/hopsandchops

Labels: blogger, hops and chops, seattle, tech, vc

John Cook and Todd Bishop, of Seattle P-I Blogger fame have just launched their new Puget Sound Business Journal-based Seattle Technology News Source website, TechFlash.

Congrats to their team -- it looks fantastic.

TechFlash, plus the new Seattle 2.0 site make a perfect combination -- we've been desperately needing them both.

Labels: seattle, seattle 2.0, techflash, technology

Fun lifelong learning factoid of the day -- using search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN actually helps to jumpstart your brain and keep it functioning at high levels. Who knew that all of our time online was actually fueling our brain cells?

Learn more about the Internet from Seattle teachers like Home Computing Coach via her web search classes!

Labels: lifelong learning, seattle, teachstreet

Happy days! Several weeks ago, I applied to the Seattle P-I to author a Seattle lifelong learning blog, and I was approved! They do a great job of enabling Seattle reader blogs amongst their community, and we've pledged to keep it very open and inclusive -- so we'll be linking to great local teachers, classes and organizations that help improve local learning and the discovery of great Seattle-area teachers. If you have suggestions, please send them my way!

The kickoff post featured a Settle lindy hop class / Seattle swing dance lesson instructor named Chris Chapman, of Hepcat Seattle Swing Dance. My new swing dancing class starts tonight!

Labels: lifelong learning, seattle, seattle p-i, teachstreet

I've posted frequently about Unitus (if you're passionate about solving a great world problem, poverty, I highly recommend that you get involved with Unitus).

This summer, The Police are promoting Unitus during their summer tour; as part of that, the whole team came up on stage during sound check, and they then invited a Unitus employee, Jessica Ketola, to come and sign with Sting -- amazing!

Labels: gorge, microfinance, police, poverty, seattle, sting, the police, unitus

Had a great weekend in the San Juans (OK, I worked on TeachStreet stuff almost all weekend... but it was quite peaceful, really!). Saw a fox, many deer, some Alpacas, and just had gorgeous weather -- got a jog in with Zach the Dog, and had two great/long sleeps -- can't get much better than that :-)

Here's a quick pic from the ferry terminal in Friday Harbor -- snapped this right before Zach the Dog and I got back on, to head back to Anacortes.

Labels: friday harbor, san juan islands, seattle

For those of you who haven't seen Karen and I in awhile, here's a quick picture that our friend took of us in her store, Urchin, locate on 1st Ave in downtown Seattle (where we did more than half of our holiday shopping, by the way!)

Happy Holidays, everyone :-)

Labels: 98101, dave schappell, daveschappell, seattle, urchin, urchin seattle

Seriously, make it easy on yourself, and do all of your holiday shopping in one fell swoop -- head to Urchin on 1st Ave in Seattle, and in under and hour, you be done (note -- this works much better for men on a mission :-) )

Address:
1922 First Ave
Seattle, WA 98101

www.urchinseattle.com

Labels: seattle, shopping, urchin, urchin seattle

In the early days of TeachStreet, I was working out of coffee shops, my dining room and pretty much anywhere I could find a power outlet. About that time, I met Jacob Sayles (pictured above with his co-founder (and co-janitor) Susan), who had the idea to create a coworking space in Seattle, where individuals could band/work together in a group space, with each person paying a monthly fee (or daily fees, if needs were less frequent) to have the rights to use a large office space. It's been a few months, but I'm so excited to announce that Seattle's Office Nomads has officially opened for business!

Of course, you can get all the pertinent details via the link above, but if you're considering a startup in Seattle, this is exactly the type of first step that can get you moving your dream from idea to reality -- get yourself a space where you can focus your thinking/plans, and surround yourself with other creators -- the energy's contagious!

From their site:
Open for drop-ins Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 6pm
1617 Boylston Ave, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98122-6730
Main: (206) 323-6500 Fax: (206) 323-6501

There's a short video intro to coworking on the Office Nomads site (I tried to embed here, but the link code just kept breaking)

Labels: coworking, jacobsayles, officenomads, seattle, startup

I've been trying to start this company by working out of coffeeshops, but I'm happy to have discovered early on that that just isn't going to work. I need a whiteboard, a printer and a place to leave "my stuff". I think we all aspire to the exposed brick and timber ceiling'd loft, but at this point, I think I'll settle for a spot with a lock on the door!

If you know of anyone in downtown Seattle who's got a few hundred square feet of sublease space (or coworking space like OfficeNomads is contemplating), please let me know ASAP -- I really need it starting Wednesday of next week!

Dave

Labels: co-working, coworking, seattle, startup

I've been in a bit of a blogging funk -- my reason is a good one. I'm going on public record that I'm starting a company. There. I said it!

As part of that process, I got sidetracked reading local Seattle entrepreneur Andy Sack's blog -- he's the driving force behind community review site turned local deal and coupon site Judy's Book.

What I found so compelling is that he opened up and shared the good and the bad from the Judy's Book trials and tribulations. Along the way they found some things going well (and vice versa) and they decided to change course -- it makes for incredibly interesting reading.

To save you some time, here are my favorite posts from August 2006 thru May 2007:

* If you're considering a User Generated Content (UGC) site, set rules for contributing editors up front -- tell them what you want / give guidelines/ideas
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* Give users control -- be open to different uses you didn't anticipate

* Talk to Customers!!! What do they want/value most? How to deliver (beyond just reviews)?
Focus on 'only local' wasn't working -- product had created too many empty local silos

* life for local UGC sites is hard - achieving critical mass in local is hard / attracting+keeping consumers is hard (difficult to convert & then convert to loyal) / SEO is hard

* Life for local UGC sites can be easy - Easier Stuff (PR/Story, Offers&Discounts, Q&A&Community, Status&Validation)

* Leadership is about many things � Simplicity is a big one

* Focus on small before trying to conquer the world - create the �best foo� for a niche / neighborhood / topic, before working to scale (or, a city...)

* Guy Kawasaki lessons... Make meaning/mantra, jump to next/10x curve, don�t worry/be crappy, let a hundred flowers blossom, churn baby churn, chine thyself, 10/20/30 rule, don�t let bozos grind you down

* Speed matters... Easy navigation matters... Use underlined links

* keep organization size to less than 20... Less than 10 ideally... Eliminate need for extra mgmt level

* Good Keyword analysis tools for SEO

* don�t game the system... But DO educate the system... Teach your users how to leverage best practices

* Tips for UGC site (for Keith at peerwisdom.com) -- focus/focus/focus, address daily needs, address needs that solve passionate problems

* think deeply about the business process for content generation � how to ensure Quality content?

* before talking to the media, get ahold of your metaphor

* focusing on younger demographic... More prone to write reviews... make your customers feel loved

* link to Dick Costolo�s post about fear of failure vs. confidence in ideas... Entrepreneurs are all scared about whether the idea will work... Just find a market oppty that seems like it will need to be addressed and for which we feel we have an angle... Then pull out shovels and start digging... Figure out the rest as you go!
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* Low Risk hiring... They come from referrals! Great resumes and interviews don�t make great hires

* Time is the Enemy... part 2...

* Pick your partners carefully � you�ll learn their true natures when the chips are down
entrepreneurial perseverance counts for a lot!

Labels: andy sack, judys book, seattle, startup, ugc, user generated content

No, I'm not adding a Rolex to my bling collection. Rather, I was just trying to get an example of a 'store locator' for a premium brand. What could be more premium than Rolex? I went to their website and looked for the normal choices (Store Locator, Dealer, Contact Us) to no avail. Not only did they not have a phone number to call for this information, but I had to sit through Flash downloads before getting information on each screen -- I wanted to scream!

I eventually relented and called the closest number I could find, their New York affiliate. There, I got voice mail and after listening to their entire message, I found what I was looking for.

Find your local Rolex dealer by dialing 1-800-36-ROLEX (1-800-367-6539).

And, for those looking for a local Seattle Rolex dealer, the correct answer is Ben Bridge Jewelers at 409 Pike Street - 206-628-6800.

I then called that number and expressed my frustration. The representative told me that they hear that a lot, but that they intentionally make it difficult "for security purposes". Who are they kidding?!? If my goal were truly to steal a Rolex, this amount of effort is nothing. So, rather than optimize for their customers, they focus on thieves. They may think that they're reinforcing their brand with this hard-to-find experience, but I really don't think they're accomplishing their goal -- instead, they're driving people away.

Labels: dealer, find, rolex, seattle