No Snivelling

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
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
* 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!
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
* 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